Wednesday 12 May 2010

Size Doesn't Matter

Just to refute the suggestions made by some of the crueler commentators about telescope envy, here's a picture of my little .410.

When all the other members of my vintage gun, shooting club were competing with each other about who had the biggest gun, I decided to go in the opposite direction and buy this old 410 (an American measurement, meaning .410 of an inch - that's under half an inch bore size). When the dealer asked what I wanted one for (they are usually used for rabbits, rats, sitting pigeons, and the folding ones were often used for poaching) and I answered 'to shoot clays', he laughed in disbelief and wished me luck.

Well, in fact, they are extremely efficient at breaking clays, though you have to be a lot more accurate with them, as they obviously throw a lot less lead into the sky. The muzzle velocity of a .410 is actually greater than a 12 bore, so they are deadly little things which need to be taken very seriously indeed.

Like I said, some little things need to be taken very seriously indeed...

8 comments:

  1. I'd always imagined that the .410 was a modern idea. My boyhood version was single-barreled and bolt-actioned. I must say, yours looks rather dandy.

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  2. What about an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle? Those are nice : ).

    Just Kidding.

    Some nice fellows at AW have helped me narrow down the gun that would be best for my character, Emma. A Smith & Wesson .38 special.

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  3. This one's a side by side, hammer action, dating from around 1890 and made in Belgium Cro.

    There's an American man who has refined an 80 shot, round magazine machine shotgun which also shoots armour-piercing shells and anti-personel shrapnel rounds, Amy - that would suit better maybe?

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  4. Oh, my head. I'm sticking with the Smith & Wesson. If it was good enough for Annie Oakley, then it's good enough for Emma.

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  5. A.O. used a Smith & Wesson? Didn't know that. If you ever find a dented penny with 'A..O' stamped on it, buy it. They were souveniers from her trip to England and worth loads. There are fakes, though.

    Hang on, I thought you were a hippy!? Maybe you are talking about your characters... alter-egos???

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  6. Yes, I'm talking about Emma, not me. She's a hippie too, and is just as clueless.

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  7. Hmm. I used to have a flintlock from 1806 - now that was a gun! ;-)

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  8. Shame you still haven't got it Carol. We shoot flintlocks in our club. One member has a huge gun which started life as a match-lock (very primitive ignition). Engraved on the barrel is an inscription saying that it was present at Tilbury when Elizabeth 1st made the famous speech - it belonged to one of her bodyguards! It is now a flintlock, and I have seen him fire it - and hit a clay with it!

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