Good day Men!! New day new picture
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Cheers
Joe
That's interesting. Perhaps indications of awards won by crew?
How many guys in a Mk. 2?
Every time I'm outside when it's cold - minus 20C or so - and I fancy myself uncomfortable, I think back on Gus Sajer's book and get some perspective.
- It's not -40C.
- It hasn't been this cold for 120 consecutive days.
- I slept warm and dry last night, not cold in a trench.
- I don't have lice.
- My clothes are very adequate for conditions.
- I could make a fire without attracting arty.
- I ate a hell of a lot more than 200 calories today.
- There isn't a Russian out there about 120 yards to the east in his own trench, just as dirty, lousy, ill-fed and miserable as me, who wants to kill me more than he wants his next breath.
...and on and on and on.
Were I a survivor of the Eastern Front, I'd be very inclined to find every SOB responsible for sending me there and do unspeakable things to them for hours on end. What an absolutely awful place to be, and what a terrible job to do there.
This is up on the McSherry Auction site now, bubba has alot of time on his hands.
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There were a whole bunch of Johnsons done up like that in the 1960s. They were available in .270 and .30-'06. You could even have a 7x57 if you wanted one!
Most of the Johnsons in circulation seem to have come out of Indonesia and the Philippines and have a great deal of "character" (spelled r-u-s-t) and corroded bores from that lousy US War 2 ammo. The small lot of 7x57s came out of Chile and were in really nice shape; I think these are many of the ones used to convert to sporters as in this photo.
NICE thing about it is that you need only 2 major parts (Stock and Barrel Assembly) and you hve a MilSpec Johnson once again. That barrel changes-out REAL fast!
Interesting point about a Johnson: the whole rifle can be stripped into 3 parts and stuffed into a duty bag, fully loaded, then you can do a drop like that. You hit the ground, it takes less than 15 seconds to have the rifle functioning from the time your boots touch ground and you get the chute harness unlocked.
Another neat point: the entire rifle (or the MG version) can be stripped right down to the last part, by using only a live round (for the Barrel Latch) and ONE tool (for everything else): a screwdriver. For good measure, the Bolt Handle was cut specifically to BE this screwdriver! I have done it myself, just to prove to myself that it could be done. I should have known better: it's in the manual!
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Some photos of the 420mm Krupps Howitzer as used to reduce the Liege fortresses in August 1914, and later at the siege of Verdun.
Now THIS I would like to see Stencollector find in a scrapyard and restore in a CGN thread - lol.
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http://www.loutan.net/olivier/wp-content/images/2009/05/obusier-
de-420mm-gammagerat-krupp-01d.jpg
I am really surprised that the Johnson was not put into full service? Specially for the reasons above that smellie kindly posted.
Cheers
Joe
Yeah the Johnson was very forward thinking. In the end features of his were incorporated into the AR-10/ AR-15 platforms which he did have a part in as well.
If ANYONE does not get this reference...
You're missing out!! Big Time!!!
''The forgotten soldier'' by Guy Sajer
Find it, Buy it, Read it, Again and again and again
I couldn't resist my "what the hell is that" curiosity...
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu70.htm
very cool rifle, with the 10 rounds internal mag, where do you suppose that would fall in our restricted/prohibited/non-restricted list. Or is it a rare enough bird that it has been overlooked. [at $6k in the US I shudder to think what it might run up here!]