Okay, before I start sipping my kool-aid to keep up with all the other kids on the block, I would like to take a moment to welcome some new followers to the fold. In fact, as of now, I've hit another arbitrary milestone with the addition of my 50th and 51st official followers. We The People of the self titled blog has the honor of being the 50th person to click the follower button. He was closely followed a day or so later by TOGBlog of The Old Geezer Blog. Welcome both of you. Don't bother trying to save me from myself. It hasn't worked yet. I'd admonish you from stealing my stuff, but there's not much to steal. So, why bother?
Now, a new meme has surfaced amongst the cool kids (notably Tam, Borepatch and several others) asking people what five firearms they would purchase if money and legality were no object. I am normally immune to this sort of thing; however, since I've published my gunnie wish list on a couple of ocassions, I really can't pass this one up.
So, without further adieu...
1) I am going to flatter/shamelessly steal Borepatch's idea with this one. He suggested obtaining a Browning M-2 .50 cal machine gun. Six of them actually nicely packaged in a North American P-51 Mustang. There is no doubt that the Mustang is a sexy beast; however, it is not my first choice in the warbird department. Not even first among the WWII birds of prey still in flying condition. My choice here is the brutally effective GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm Gatling-type cannon mounted to the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt. If former Dallas Cowboy defensive back (at 6 foot 4 inches and 250 pounds) and Air Force Academy graduate Chad Hennings can shoe horn himself into one, I know I can. Can you imagine throwing depleted uranium bullets over an inch thick at a rounds per minute rate faster than most small armies and flying gracefully (if not in the most sexy of machines) through the air with the greatest of ease...where do I sign up?
2) CoH Craig Harrison's L115A3 Long Range Rifle in .338 Lapua Magnum. As a student of history and one fascinated with snipers, I think having the rifle that made the shot currently holding the longest distance sniper kill record would be awesome.
3) Perhaps the only single rifle more awesome than CoH Harrison's rifle would be Simo Hayha's M28 Mosin-Nagant Rifle in 7.62x54R. To have the rifle that killed more enemies on the field of battle than any other rifle in recorded history...that would be both chilling and thrilling all at the same time.
4) Any single firearm personally owned and used by John Moses Browning. Does anything else even come close to approaching reliquery status in the gunnie world?
5) A one of a kind, deep blued, engraved, custom 1911 made to my specs by John Moses Browning himself. I know this one is bending the rules just a little bit since it involves rewriting the laws of time, space and nature and is not in the spirit of the meme given the fact that the gun itself does not currently exist...but, I think those are minor issues.
My list. My grail guns. Deal with it or make your own list.
If you want to bend such rules a bit, in Larry Correia's Hard Magic, John Moses Browning had faked his own death and was even more of a genius gun maker than in this world.
ReplyDeleteExamples include a bullpuped BAR and the M1922(basically a double stacked 1911 overbuilt to handle high pressure ammo).
Odysseus, I have read all of Larry Carreia's work that has been published so far. The bullpupped BAR is intriguing, but full auto just doesn't interest me all that much (with the exception of the aforementioned GAU-8/A...and maybe a Ma Duece, or eight, wrapped in a nice WWII bird). The 1922 has definite possibilities as long as I get Jake Sullivan's abilities along with it. A Milo creation similar to Abomination but in a rifle caliber would definitely be of interest.
DeleteThis begs another question: How many firearms did JMB personally own, and where are they?
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, did he carry, and what?
Okay, that's three questions...
Guffaw, all excellent questions that I do not know the answers to and could not locate via Google in the time available. I would hazard a guess that the guns are mostly if not entirely in a museum...probably in Utah.
DeleteIf I'd have thought about it that way, I'd have put a Bolo, Mark XX or later, on my list. :D
ReplyDeleteHow's M&M doing?
HH, I must confess that it required a quick Google search to get your reference. I really need to read more of Laumer's work. The only one I've read was End As A Hero. But but, yeah, there was no rule against fiction though it might have bent the spirit of the meme.
DeleteOh, and M&M is doing well. More to follow soon.
DeleteSee if you can find the David Weber story "Miles to Go." Either in the third compilation Triumphant or in Weber's Bolo story anthology. Have a box of tissues handy, though, because the manliest of men have been known to well up. I, however, am not a man, and I bawled my eyes out.
DeleteHave an award for you :) You're the only GunDude to get the award, everyone else was a GunDiva, so hopefully The Queen won't mind you being surrounded (at least in blog land) by shootin' womens.
ReplyDeleteGunDiva, sweet! Blog bling. I haven't gotten any in a while. The Queen won't mind. She never reads here anyway unless I rub her nose in it.
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