NRA lauds gunsmith for protecting the Second Amendment

Rapid City Journal ^ | 05/02/2003 | Kevin Woster

[TexasCowboy]

"It's her hysterical laugh that kills the mood."

I know that laugh well, G.
Mine would always point and say, "It's so cute !!" - then burst out laughing.

[FreedomPoster]

That was my reaction as well. Any state whose laws drive away a man like this has some severe problems.

[.38sw]

I feel like sending a letter to the CA legislature, shaming them for chasing this man from the state.

Don't waste the postage. They won't be shamed, they'll be glad he's gone. They are mean, nasty, small-minded, vicious tyrants. Pistol Packin' Don Perata (state legislator) has even stated that he doesn't WANT people like Mr. First in California. He says things like "people with an unusual love for guns are not wanted here". Not an exact quote, but you get the idea. America's First Freedom had an article about him a couple of years back. He's not an unusual example.

[archy]

If I'm going to read a state newspaper, I have to read the RCJ online, because I just can't stomach the Gannett rag on this side of the state anymore.

Maine newspaperman Guy Gannett was an pioneering proponent of aviation and a respected WWI veteran, and his son John was an Army veteran of the Korean War. I think Guy Gannett would be disgusted and horrified at the thought of what Jean Gannett Williams Hawley, who died at age 70 in 1994, and her niece Madeleine Corson have done to the reputation of the newspaper and chain that Guy and his father founded, and would be disappointed in the direction they've taken, to say the least.

-archy-/-

[archy]

I feel like sending a letter to the CA legislature, shaming them for chasing this man from the state.

Don't waste the postage. They won't be shamed, they'll be glad he's gone. They are mean, nasty, small-minded, vicious tyrants.

You might note though, the similar relocation of Calico Industries, originally the CALifornia Instrument COmpany, which relocated from California after their innovative line of firearms were declatred assault rifles by the state, and banned for use by civilians. But in a fine example for other companies, CALICO's founder notified the California state prison system that as an agency of a totalitarian state, they were no longer eligible to purchase replacement magazines for the Calico pistols and submachineguns in use by the California prison system, and that since there was a liklihood of their being used against honest citizens, no further factory repair work or warranty service would be performed for them.

-archy-/-

[Hugin]

I feel like sending a letter to the CA legislature, shaming them for chasing this man from the state.

Waste of postage. They have no shame.

[glock rocks]

calico bump

[Pete-R-Bilt]

if that story is indead true, bless the founder of Calico i'd help pay his rent if he couldn't.

I love my calico, if for nothing more than the fun factor...

[PhilDragoo]

"Only free people have weapons,"

\

[demosthenes the elder]

I have owned two Calico M900-series carbines.
Both were highly persnickety weapons. Very picky about what ammunition they would eat (they both preferred +P silvertips and Hydrashoks, would not reliably eat factory power Ball ammo = expensive to feed), prone to jamming (and clearing a jam on one of those is a pain in the butt), and prone to randomly going "full-auto" due to mechanical malfunction... then jamming up badly.
I am of the opinion that the concept is wonderful, but it needs more development before it becomes a dependable combat arm.
I was outraged on the behalf of Calico when the mag-cap limits all but destroyed the company. Lack of civilian sales and revenues -and feedback- has almost certainly slowed down the needed refinement process and badly hurt the company.
I am delighted to hear of their summary response to the State of California. I do so hope that other gun manufacturers follow suit.

[basil]

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting this wonderful, kind man at the NRA convention. Second Amendment Sisters also presented him with 2 awards; a "Real Man" plaque, and a lifetime membership in SAS.

This is a truly remarkable pro-2A family. It has been a pleasure working with two of his daughters and his grandaughter.

[archy]

I have owned two Calico M900-series carbines. Both were highly persnickety weapons.

Also true of the M950 9mm I had for a while, until replaced as my *car gun* here in Tennessee by a 7,63mm C96 *broomhandle* Mauser pistol with 20-round magazine and shoulder stock.

I also have wanted either one of the Calico M100 .22 pistols, or possibly one of the company's full wooden stocked .22 rifles based on the same actions, in hopes the .22 version had a few of the reliability bugs worked out of it, which surely would have come with further refinement of the design with advanced production.

Interestingly, the company had both a .45 ACP version and a helical-feed .223 carbine with a 50-round magazine capacity in the design process when the California law change spoiled the market for them. Perhaps the end of the *Assault weapons ban* at the end of next year will see those developments renewed.

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[supercat]

I also have wanted either one of the Calico M100 .22 pistols, or possibly one of the company's full wooden stocked .22 rifles based on the same actions, in hopes the .22 version had a few of the reliability bugs worked out of it, which surely would have come with further refinement of the design with advanced production.

What exactly does the term "tubular" mean in the AWB? Would there be any 'interesting' ways one could construct a .22 rimfire rifle with a rather-high-capacity 'tubular' magazine?

[archy]

What exactly does the term "tubular" mean in the AWB? Would there be any 'interesting' ways one could construct a .22 rimfire rifle with a rather-high-capacity 'tubular' magazine?

It means, like they said in Alice in Wonderland, what they want it to mean, no more, no less. The California Attorney General ruled that the Calico helical feed magazine is not a *tubular* magazine, which could have been a reasonable construction of the term.

In practical terms, a conventional tubular magazine is pretty well limited to being placed either in the buttstock or beneath the barrel [there may be some above-barrel design that escapes me, and the South African Neostaad shotgun uses twin underbarrel tubes, but for the mostpart, they're pretty conventional.

Of course, having a buttstock full of preloaded 10-shot tubes that successively feed into a single chammel as the preceeding one empties might be arranged. But there are better ways, like the Calico or Hill systems, of doing things.

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[supercat]

If a firearm had, e.g., six tubes around the barrel, each of which held 16 rounds of .22 short, would that be legal if there were never more than ten rounds 'in the pipeline' outside of those tubular magazines?

As an alternative idea, how about a pistol in .22LR, .22WMR, or .32ACP which had two 10-round magazines side-by-side in the grip, along with a mechanism that could draw ammo from either magazine and switch sides when a magazine was missing or empty? Think that would be fun?

[archy]

If a firearm had, e.g., six tubes around the barrel, each of which held 16 rounds of .22 short, would that be legal if there were never more than ten rounds 'in the pipeline' outside of those tubular magazines?

Neatest if they could be arranged to feed continuously without interryuption, still interesting if they could be changed with a simple release of an interlocking catch and a quick twist to the next detent-locked position. But I bet the *bullet hose* accusations would be spewing forthwith, and the new legislation to add it to the naughty guns list would follow shortly.

As an alternative idea, how about a pistol in .22LR, .22WMR, or .32ACP which had two 10-round magazines side-by-side in the grip, along with a mechanism that could draw ammo from either magazine and switch sides when a magazine was missing or empty? Think that would be fun?

Similar to the dual-magazine MP40/II submachine tried by the Germans during WWII as an answer to the capacity of the Russians PPSh SMG with a 71 round drum, as copied from the Finnish kp/31 Lahti SMG of the Russo-Finnish *Winter War of 1939-40. Though the MP40/II used a sliding bracket to scoot the second magazine into place, it required a recharging of the bolt between magazine changes, I believe- I've handled one, but didn't have the opportunity to fire it.

I think the Russians have something of that sort in development in a 9mm Makarov chambering. We shall see.

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[supercat]

I bet the *bullet hose* accusations would be spewing forthwith, and the new legislation to add it to the naughty guns list would follow shortly.

As with the Sub-2000 series by Kel-Tec?

[archy]

I bet the *bullet hose* accusations would be spewing forthwith, and the new legislation to add it to the naughty guns list would follow shortly.

As with the Sub-2000 series by Kel-Tec?

Kel-Tec, as in designer George Kelgren, whose transposed initials give a clue to the ancestry of the KG9 and KG99 predecessors of the California banned Tec-9s. Oh yeah, count on their trying....

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