Weer'd World

I think we’ve seen various posts about GI issue 1911s being able to be totally stripped without any tools. This is the first, and very good video showing it done.

This of course only works with guns configured with GI parts, as some updated parts (like hex grip screws, and squared hammer plungers) won’t work.

Doesn’t really matter to me as if I’m stuck in the field with no tools and a broken gun, chances are I won’t be able to fix that gun. The only circumstance I can think of where this would be useful is if I’m stuck in a trench somewhere and there are several broken and identical 1911 you could probably use this technique to tear down the broken guns and maybe take 5 broken guns and make 3 working ones, or something like that.

Still for even basic cleaning, what are you gonna do, Swish the gun parts in a stream before re-assembly? If you have your cleaning kit, shouldn’t you also have some punches and a screwdriver or multi-tool?

He’s got some cool videos, here’s one of a series 80 Colt done with tools, tho I wonder why he seems to have punches, but is using toothpicks to push pins…

Still fun to see, and how cool is John Browning to design a gun like that?

So I’m currently reading Stressfire II By Mas Ayoob, and Mas talks a pretty good game about semi-auto combat shotguns. I’m not much of a shotgunner, and my go-to scatter-gun is a Mossberg 590 pump-action. I’m a fan of pump actions, but as I said, Mas really makes a good case for auto-loaders.

Now the wife has a Beretta Urika as a trap gun. I really like this gun, mechanically, and I love the ergonomics of it. Still this is a fowling piece, and a 28″ barrel is really going to hang you up in defensive shootings. Still the self-regulating gas-action on the gun makes a VERY sleek package, and the self-regulating action means that low-brass trap loads feed just as well as 3″ magnum loads do. And the gun does eat a bunch of recoil without being overly bulky and heavy.

Now wouldn’t it be awesome if Beretta made a riot gun out of that shotgun action? Well they do in the Tx4 Storm. Wanna see more?, Well I found this video.

The first thing that struck me was that messed-up loading system. The wife’s Urika runs like any other semi-auto out there, you can stoke up the mag, and run the charging handle to put the first round in the pipe. Her’s DOES have that funky button on the back of the elevator, but that simply engages the bolt catch manually so the next time the action is cycled the bolt locks back.

And what’s with the crazy unloading? For those who don’t know, the easiest and IMHO the safest way to unload a tube-fed shotgun is to open the action (on a semi-auto lock the bolt back, or simply hold it to the rear) then turn the gun on its side (be mindful of your muzzle) and dump the shell on the elevator either onto the ground or into your hand. Then close the action. At this point the chamber will be empty as you just pulled out the round in the chamber, as well as the round on the elevator that was “next up”. If you want you can do a quick press-check to verify the chamber is empty, but be careful as if you pull the bolt all the way back you will cycle the next round into the gun. With the chamber empty, and again the muzzle in a safe direction put your finger into the magazine and push the first round forward a fraction of an inch and feel around for the shell interrupter. It should feel like a spring-loaded nub. Push that out of the way and eject the round into your hand or on the ground. Repeat until the tube is empty, then cycle the gun and show clear.

Most shotguns allow you do do all of this with the safety engaged, which is also a good idea. Its a bit more complicated than unloading a detachable box-fed gun, but really not overly. And doesn’t require you to chamber and eject every round like some fixed-magazine guns. The risk is small, but every time you chamber and eject a round you run a small risk of a slam-fire, or a round going off in the ejection port. I’d just rather not do that.

Of course in the end Beretta notes that extended magazines are for military and law-enforcement only. According to Beretta this is because of Clinton’s Geroge HW Bush’s BS import laws, (Thanks Tam for the fact check!) and no word if you can get an after-market magazine, and frankly I don’t know the import laws well enough to know what’s legal and what isn’t.

Still all the workings of a really cool combat shotgun, messed up by people meddling with stuff that worked really well already.

BOOO!