Colt bought by CZ

 I dunno, I kinda like the idea.

If given a choice between Colt fading away and dying or being bought by furreners?  No problem.  But CZ?  I like CZ.  They are high on my list when I want a bolt action rifle.  I wish the Varmint came in lefty and .308.  I'd pay WAY too much for that.  But the regular lefty is fine.

Getting Colt is a good way to up their game.  A start to upping their game.  Now design something better than a Glock but at a similar price point and "CZColt" will take over the world.

I overlook the French

And at my detriment.

When I think of great engineering feats in history I think of Germany and Scotland and America. 

My engineering school had OODLES of looted war-booty from WWII in the library.  Stacks and stacks of engineering books written in German.  German engineering is and was important.

But the French were no slouches.  I think the language barrier is a big obstacle for the French stuff.  German less so because we were motivated to translate a lot of that library.

Sometime the French had a problem with timing or follow through.  The Lebel rifle for example.  Way ahead of it's time when introduced.  But then they didn't keep at it.  Improving or upgrading... if they kept their advantage and were diligent can you imagine the advanced weapon they COULD have entered WWI with?  Maybe the MAS-49, but 40 years earlier.  Wouldn't that have been something?

Oz in Merrica

Juan of the Dead

You HAVE to see this zombie movie.

It's the finest in post Castro Cuban cinema.  But that doesn't mean much.  It's Cuban cinema and it is actually GOOD.

It's sort of a take off on Sean of the Dead.  But I forgive them that indulgence considering the source.  It's just the broad concept, not plagiarism.  Plus all the Cuban flare, and on shoe string budget it seems.  By our standards.

You think it's hard for an average Joe to get an effective firearm in Britain?  Be a civilian in Cuba.

You got a feeling the filmakers are winking at you all the time.  Like when the news man blames troubles on US disidents.  "sure sure... riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..." seems to be the subtext throughout. 

But forget the subtext.  The Text is decent furren zaniness in a zombie package.

It follows the usual tropes.  "Like what T-bolt?"  Well, this is Cuba.  They don't have the rich zombie tapestry to draw from.  At least of the diseased shamblor variety.  So, like most movies, the protagonists have to luck out in their discovery of the ins and outs of zombie combat.  There is the usual "Ah-HAH!  A shot to the head does the trick!  Hand me that baseball bat and stop stabbing them in the heart."  In a horror movie, this is done to frighten.  The discovery is milked for laughs, invariably in a comedy.  Like this.

This character's angle?  It's Cuba.  In a crisis, charge neighbors money.  It's a way to bankroll his Angola hand to hand skills.

Taurus Ug

Saw this review on the Firearm Blog.

Scroll down.  Look at the picture that shows the back of the pistol.  Third picture down. THAT.  THAT is why I'd not buy a Taurus for myself.  Or keep one if I got it for free.  Look at that dog's breakfast.  Did they machine it with dull nippers?  Yick. 

"Oh but they are only $150 and all 4 of my Tauri work great, and they have a great warranty system if one does break, NJT!"

So?  (And I know they are more than $150, but even if they were $5 I wouldn't keep one.  Not even as a bury-gun-in-case-the-Feds-go-rogue.)

[update:  Whoa, I didn't see the comments over on the OP article.  Lots of people displeased with Taurus over there.  But they DID add a better picture of the back end of the Taurus that makes the gun look better than the one pic I referred to.  Check it out.  Yeah, better, but it still looks pretty rough.]

Jihad Jean-Claude

This terrist in France, they are reporting here that he used, "a World War II 11.43 gun," to murder those children and rabbi and French soldiers.  There are separate reports of other weapons at his apartment and that will make a news show Junk on the Bunk shot.

But any clue what the 'World War II 11.43 gun,' might be?  It's a .44 or .45 ish round if the 11.43 is in millimeters.

Identify

Identify the pistol in this Germanish photo.

I'm guessing pellet gun, but you never know...

I got nuffin'

Tapped on blog fodder.

Well, maybe this.  On 2 separate occasions folks have done the equivalent of "Is a Mosin Nagant ok of a rifle?"

Well, for that price, I don't see how you can go wrong, really.  Only a few negatives.   Sometime, the extractor is broken.  You'll find that out at the range.  The ammo tends to be corrosive so you gotta watch out for that and clean it good everytime, right away.  Cosmoline can be annoying to clean off when you get it, but that's a one time thing.  And it kicks like a mule. 

That's it.  The negatives I know.  Everything else is positive, pretty much.  Especially, like I said, for that price.  As cheap as a 'tomator stake.'

G36

JayG was reviewing full size .45s, comparing the smallish Glock and a Scandium 1911. He mentioned the single stack Glock in passing, the G36.

I knew OF the G36 but hadn’t applied the head juice to it that I did after reading Jay’s post.

Glocks are notorious to being bricks in the hand, necessitated by the double stack magazine. They, and SIGs (the two double-stack varieties I have the most experience shooting), ARE fat in the grips. Almost too fat. Fatter than a baseball bat. Jeff Cooper lamented this, and it was one of his beefs with the 2 non-1911 varieties (the other was the trigger types being inadequate to his needs and his doctrine… but that’s another story.) A fat grip is hard to get your hand around to fire it to best effect. Especially if you have smallish hands. And Cooper, would argue, why do you need all those bullets if you can hit your target?

Anyway… the other problem with fat grips is the difficulty to conceal the bulk and carry the extra weight on your belt.

The G36 goes a way toward this by providing a compact single stack Glock for your carrying needs. It sports 6 rounds of .45 ACP goodness in the arguably more reliable and definitely slimmer single stack magazine.

I’m not a Glock person, but Glocks are CERTAINLY an adequate shooting platform, to say the least, if they are for you.

My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast is a mixed architecture sort of shooter. He loves Glocks, but lately he has been liking 1911s too. His full size Glock is carried in a Man-Purse or Turse or fanny-pack type arrangement. But he also likes the Commander size 1911 in an IWB holster at 2 o’clock. I wonder if he has considered the G36?

The scuttlebutt I have heard and read about double stack magazines is occasional feed reliability problems. That’s old scuttlebutt though. Has the double stack magazine of today addressed the problems of yesteryear and that’s why you don’t hear FTF (failure to feed) stories anymore? If so, that is a good development. This scuttlebutt, incidentally, is why I avoid cheaper magazines and whenever possible stick to more expensice factory or premium mags.


~~~

The OTHER G36 is a way cool gun to have when playing Call Of Duty Modern Warfare. It totally pwns the n00bs.

Schwerpunkt

In reading about the Battle of Wanat that lead to all the discussion about M4 and M249 failures from overheating after continuous use, I ran across a word I had never heard before.

Schwerpunkt

It’s a German military term from WWII. The Wehrmacht, from near the end of WWI were innovators in what is now known as maneuver warfare. It gelled for them as what we know as Blitzkrieg tactics, and progressed on to modern doctrines of Maneuver Warfare the US Military. And it’s a darn sight better than the previous style of static trench style warfare. Static defensive warfare is great for slaughter on both sides. It’s a strategy you employ when you care not for losses because you are either more numerous than your enemy and care not for the impact of mass casualties, or weaker and want to survive a war of attrition by hoping your enemy doesn’t have the stomach for it.

But as to schwerpunkt: emphasis or critical point of a battle. Is the translation. In battle is the point on which you apply maximum effort in order to achieve a decisive result. It can be the turning of a flank or a break through in line. Or it can be defensive, like holding a defensive position in the Wanat battle or the effort of the 20th Maine in the Battle of Gettysburg when, on the far end of the Union left swung out like a barn door, to keep that edge from being turned, then swung back in and surprising the enemy with a bayonet charge after their ammo ran out. The swing of that barn door was the swing of the battle, and the war.

But I just like the sound of the word. Schwerpunkt. The Germans contribution to Modern English for word that there is no real English equivalent is entertaining to me. Like schadenfreude, angst, doppleganger and kindergarten.

922r

My buddy the gun enthusiast bought a CX4 from Beretta to compliment his Beretta pistol. Both use the same caliber and magazines.

He wants to upgrade the CX4. He could easily transfer the silencer can from his pistol to his new carbine, so he is investigating paying a gunsmith to thread the barrel on the CX4.

Uh-oh. He runs afoul of reg 18 USC 922r.

What is that? Heck if I know, All I know about it is, if you buy something furren and change it, you run afould of John Law. If I were to get an AK for whatever GAWDAWFUL reason, I know enough to leave it stock. 922r is a goofy regulation where a certain number of parts of a rifle have to be domestic or it all has to be import… Heck it’s hard to grok. And I haven't bothered because I am not in the market for imports that I then want to modify.

What was the purpose of 922r? Well, one thing it did was help prop up domestic firearm makers by restricting the inflow of cheap imported guns. Chinese AKs could have been had for a double sawbuck, the way things were going. Well, actually, I think ANOTHER regulation (925(d)(3) ) said you couldn't import a certain subset of non-sporting furren guns, and 922r is how you can if you can make those guns more Muhrikin. Like I said, it's complicated, and I'd personally not like to delve too deep into it unless I want to get an AK or somesuch.

The reg plays HELL with people that want to customize their commie gun, but also applies to the CX4 Italian jobber of MBtGE. Somehow.

He can do it, get it threaded to take his silencer, but he has 2 options to keep it compliant. He can buy $416 worth of domestic parts to make it a domestic gun, or he can spend $200 to get an ATF tax stamp and make it a SBR (short barreled rifle) and 922r no longer applies. No brainer. He’s going SBR.

Heck at that rate he might as well get a whole new second suppressor for another $200 tax stamp. Better than spending $416 to ‘get’ nothing new. Spend $400 and be allowed to have a govvie approved silencer. Well, plus the expense of a suppressor and the work to get the barrel threaded.g

None of this would be a problem if he has bought a CX4 manufactured at the Beretta plant in the Great State Of Maryland, (the Free State!!) instead of one manufactured in Italy. Only one flaw in my thinking. The Maryland factory doesn’t make CX4s that MBtGE wanted to buy. Word on the street was the quality of domestic CX4s wasn't as good. But now he has to pay. Why it works that way is beyond me and is part and parcel of the vagaries of odd and confusing gun laws.

Bonus Money

So a buddy of mine got a BIG bonus. He spent it all on a spending jag, buying rifles. He got the missus something really nice, first, actually. Jewels. Patio furniture. And a new computer. He’s no dummy. But after he made the boss happy he made himself happy.

I’ve talked about him before. He’s Frozen. The guy I shovded down the slippery slope and got him to buy his first gun. Hmmm. He must have been standing on a particularly STEEP section of that slope. At this rate he’ll have his own table at gun shows in a couple years.

So what did he get? Brace yerself:

• K31 Schmidt Rubin
• CZ52 Romanian TTC (TT-33)
• An 1895 Chilean Mauser
• Enfield #4 Mk2
• Mosin-nagant m38
• Mosin reproduction sniper
• 1899 Mosin
• Yugoslavian m64 underfolding kit
• Romanian AK kit
• Bulgarian 5.45x39 Krinkov kit
• And a 10/22
  
  

And there is an order for a Garand or two from CMP in the works

And he got his XD upgraded with a trigger job and night sights from Springfield. He reported very fast service from their shop.

He needs a new BIG gun safe now, too. I picture myself getting roped in to help move it.

Many of these ready items were purchased from a gun store with a very good reputation that I haven’t visited yet. Gun Connection. I must remedy that someday.

Too bad my buddy’s bonus for a job well done came from AIG. He wasn’t even in the division for credit default swaps and securitized bond funds and whatnot. Dang shame the Congress had to unconstitutionally and illegally punish him for being so good at his job insuring airlines, and getting a big profit for his division, and such. I’m sure he deserves it for something he did. Or something.

Europe

Even their zombies are odd.

The Guy that Sits Next to Me

The guy that sits next to me at work?

Got him interested in a Mossberg Pursuader (oops, was thinking about comic book heros and called it a Punisher. I'm sure it is punishing. Especially if you use 3" magnum shells. Owwwie, my shoulder. Thanks, commenter.) last year because, A) he wanted a shotgun for home defense, and B) that IS a cool name… Good marketing there, Mossy. It’s a good value, a decent gun for the money, and is an effective goblin-smacker, as are many 12 gauge shotguns.

And recently he has expressed an interest in getting a pistol, and figured on Glock because he knows the name and they are cheap. I recommended the Springfield XD to him, instead. Something that shoots bullets that begin ".4-". I just like Springfield. The grip safety is a nice extra, in my mind. And I prefer the trigger. I've shot both, knowing I would shun plastic guns, probably forever, so I was essentially neutral. In that I was prejudiced against them from the get-go, and disliked the whole idea that they existed, so you know I'd not play favorites. That said, I was pleased at the way the XD shot for me.

The problem with this work colleague? He hasn’t actually GOTTEN them shootin' arns just yet. I tell him to hurry… Before he has no money. Chances are, his choices will have a less chance of being impacted by possible political inconveniences in the coming years, but you never know.

I recommended, also, that he get all the safety items when he gets the guns. A gun safe or locker that can resist the lockpicking skills of a child, for instance.

The Swiss

While buying American is a good instinct, it means less and less in a global economy. I still try to do it. Yet, I am enticed by Swiss quality and have been looking into offerings by SIG.

LOOK at this thing:

And it can be converted to a bolt on the lefty side. .308, .300 Win Mag, or .338 Lapua, and the USER can switch to a different barrel and caliber on the same rifle.

I have finally found the bolt rifle to covet. 5 year plan.

And their pistols are nothing to sneeze at. If the Springfields I covet are the Buicks of firearms, SIGs appear to be Cadillacs. Chuckles and Corky have been buying Sig products for smaller quality pistols, of late, and are loving them.

I'm just opening my mind to new ideas... Only zombies and Jacobins are fixated on a single thought.

Wait, Sig IS Swiss, right? Swiss? German? Cripes.

Guns Mag, July 1958

Guns Magazine puts up 50 year old issue in PDF format every month. I've mentioned this before. I love that they do that.

July 1958 is a particularly good issue.






Ads for Enfields, including the "first time ever offered, the Jungle Carbine..." Heh! It looks like a sporterized Enfield. I wonder how many of them were faked...


There is a great article on modern (1950s) cowboy guns. What real cowboys preferred to carry. Everything from the traditional single action and .30-30 levergun to a M1 Carbine, to one guy that preferred a furren gun that was an over under shotgun/rifle that he used to get ducks for the pot one winter day and later the same outing a fleeing coyote. Found it handy, he did.


There is an article on the importance of marksmanship training for police officers.


A neat article about Switzerland and how it is a nation of riflemen.


1950s Bullpup rifles, included converted Winchester bolt actions and even a bullpup BAR.


And, most importantly, a review of the brand new army rifle... the M-14. Ha! How convenient, since that may well be my next purchase. To get a product review from 50 years ago seems nice. The author's buddy was well trained with automatic fire and quickly figured out how to hold the rifle while shooting full auto. It was a different grip and stance than semi-auto fire. The Author didn't have as much luck with accurate fire.


They mentioned that some Commands were contemplating setting the rifles to semi-auto only, or full auto and 3 round burst, or semi and full auto, but easily converted back out if desired. They weren't sure, even then, of the effectiveness of full auto fire but figured the individual soldier would quickly figure out how to make the change themselves is full auto spray and pray was denied them in possible gunfight situation. Plus they noticed that even wave tactics by the communists in Korea tended to burn through their sub machine gun ammo fast, and the Garand's semi-auto methodical pick-offs after the enemy mag-dumped were actually an advantage. He also suspected the DCM Civilian Marksmanship Program would need to issue M14s to civilians like me and it would need to be a non machine-gun rifle to comply with the 1934 National Firearms Act. Such a shame this vision wasn't realized.


I like the semi-auto doctrine. You can fire and maneuver with half a squad laying down volume semi-auto rifle fire out of 20 round box magazines. A squad can also have 2 belt fed actual MACHINE GUNS for the purpose machine guns have. The machine guns can even be quite effective with the light .223 round, the better to carry lots. But a rifle is not a machine gun. A carbine is not a rifle. (A carbine is not a pistol, either, and a carbine has less of a role when you have a rifle about.) But what do I know?


The author admired the Garand, and was pleased the M14 was similar, sure anyone trained to fire a Garand would be able to be as good with an M14 with 5 minutes familiarization training, but the M14 was a pound lighter and centered the weight back a bit toward the shooter and between the hands. A marked improvement over the Garand. He was also pretty confident that the next war "will see an actual invasion of the Continental USA" and we'd need to issue lots of M14s to the civilian militias who got their training in the past 20 years on the Garand so the learning curve adopting the new rifle would be shallow.


People thought like this once. Just assumed that that sort of duty was in the offing and of course the government would find it desirable to quickly issue battle rifles to ordinary civilians and of course we'd need to train young men and teenager before they entered the service how to shoot in order to make thier basic training more productive when they do go into the Army. It was a different time, indeed.

One other thing I learned. In the assumption that the civilian militia issued these new rifles to fend off the invading pinko Jacobin hordes, he said that ammo would be widely available through sporting sources. I was not aware that the .308 was wide available as a hunting round at this time. I thought it was developed as a cut down .30-06 round, and new with the M-14, so it would likely to be not widely available. Like the 6.8mm Grendel round is contemplated for military use but isn't too widely available at places like Wal Mart just yet. Interesting historical point. .308 Winchester was only around since 1954, 4 years prior to this article. And yet the author insinuates wide distribution of it, commercially.


He liked the flash suppressor except for fact it has a lot hanging off it and started to wobble loose even during their test. Good thing for me to consider... There are aftermarket flash suppressors that may or may not address this, and if not, something to check on with routine maintenance to be sure I don't get surprised with an equipment failure.


Check out this extensive online documentation on the M14.

Cooper and Glocks

My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast sent me this quote of Jeff Cooper's

"The police establishment is now properly devoted to the Glock, and this seems to be a good choice. The Glock is a difficult piece to shoot well, and its safety problem has been solved by issuing it with a trigger that only a gorilla would love, but it has been generally admitted that the police today cannot be trained to shoot well - not so much because of time and ammunition expenditures, but because of motivation. A man will do well only at things he enjoys doing, and today's police departments are reluctant to hire a recruit who enjoys shooting. Thus the Glock's "shootability" is irrelevant. The piece is relatively cheap, it is usually reliable, and the company's service policies are outstanding."
- Jeff Cooper, Cooper Commentaries, Volume V, Number 11.

I'd read it before, but it doesn't hurt to re-read it. And comment on it, when you need blog fodder...


True, it seems. Glock made a special trigger pull model JUST for the NY police, making it a stronger draw to be more like a Double Action revolver that the police were more used to firing before switching over. A stronger trigger pull means less 'accidental' 'it just went OFF!' scenarios. And it hurts accuracy, too. Unintentional police discharges are bad for all concern, the cop, the civilian with the extra hole, bad-guy or not, the PR people down at the station, AND the confidence of the public toward the police when they learn about it.


And police are notorious for low standards or gun training. Oh sure, there are some cops that keep up with practice on their own in realistic scenarios, and recognize how important it is, both when they need to shoot and only hit what they are shooting, and when they need NOT to shoot. Too many officers only shoot at yearly range re-qualification after they leave the police academy, and then only at paper sillohuettes. The police chief of San Francisco had a minor scandal recently for not even doing THAT for a long long time.

And besides, it's not a Cop's primary job to SHOOT people. If it was, and that was all the cop did, and he could compress all the shootings he'd have to do in a career into the first week and then retire, most Cops would punch in at the time clock and punch out a second later. Few 'careers' would last a week even if they stretched it out. And that is probably a good thing. I am less impressed with the Cops that are trained as soldiers and get to act as soldiers in their police work. The problem being, when there is no 'soldier work' to do, there is too much temptation to MAKE soldier-work happen to stay in practice. Then we get shameful circumstances like the Elian Gonzales incident and unarmed grandmas experiencing what a flash-bang grenade feels like in her living room.

And few want that.

Corky's Milsurp

FINALLY, my influence is beginning to tell.

from Corky:

I have this friend, yeah a friend. We were talking about old rifles and I was telling him to skip them and buy something in the now but he will not listen to me. Well I, he.. is interested in possibly a M1903A4 springfield. What’s your opinion?

That what he gets for watching Saving Private Ryan.

The peep sight is a good improvement on the late 03s. Model A3? I believe that was the major difference between it an earlier models, other than quicker manufacturing technique with stamped parts and stuff. He really cannot go wrong picking this one as his primary bolt action milsurp. It's a very fine piece, and it's made in America.

But the A4 is the sniper version. To get a real, original, one is prolly very pricey. To get a bubbafied 03 is very good shape (other than the holes for a scope mount) and can be cheap because of the loss of collector value compare to an intact 03. Bubbafied ones are surplus iron-sight rifles that some hunter long ago had a gunsmith modify by tapping screw holes for a scope. If you happen to have a pretty pristine version without holes (like I do) you are better off selling it buying a Bubba special, and pocketting the was of cash you have extra, if you insist on an 03 with scope.

Nowadays to get a real regular 03 is kinda pricey, too.

Plus everyone will warn you not to get an early serial number version because of tempering processes in manufacture weren't as refined in older guns, so the receiver can fail in use. A receiver failure is known as 'very big deal; day ruining event.' 'Light and get away.' Plenty of info about that around.

You can get a cheaper Mauser or Mosin milsurp. But thems is Furren Guns. Boo.

Sad News

So I got a new grip safety for my 1911 and was stopping by my gun-dealer after work to see if his gunsmith could help me fit it when I learned some sad news.

He is going out of business. Apparently he is just tired of the hassle. Not just regulatory stuff, but just the day to day stuff running a retail establishment. It's a shame, but. there is a silver lining:

"EVERYTHING must go!"

He sold me the M1A I've been drooling on for only $500. He threw in some aftermarket 20 round mags for free.

He let me have ALL the South African battle packs he had left. Six sealed ammo pouched filled with 140 round of 7.62 ammo. How much? $25 each!

I went ahead and bought TWO SKSs'. Yugoslavian type. I now need to get all this cosmoline off of them. Why two? They were only $75 each. Why not?

I got a Reminton pump shotgun, 870, for $180. It even has the tactical peep sights I wanted.

I mentioned the 1911 he had there? It had no grips and the finish was gone, but it was really cool with the patent dates and a manufacture date of 1914. After $300, I figure I can come to his house to pick it up in 7 days if the store is shuttered. It was silly purchase, as I won't fire it or carry it much. I'm a sucker for history. And this is a bonafide WWI era gun. Fortunately it's been a month since I got my last handgun, as Maryland is a One-A-Month State.

There was an M1 Carbine, made by IBM with matching serial numbers on the parts. The stock isn't pristine, but it's a good gun, and original. And only $250. I'd prefer Rock-Ola, but, beggars can't be choosers. Especially for a halfway decent price like that.

He had sold the really cool Ruger Mini-14 with a folding stock before I got there. It was old style with a Ruger stock, not after-market. I didn't ask how low the price tag was. Just as well, the credit card is SMOKING I used it so much.

I bought $300 worth of other ammo types and the surplus ammo cans to carry it all were only $1 each. Filled 4 cans with .38 Special, .45 ACP, M1 Carbine .30, and .357.

I think I did pretty good, getting 6 guns I already wanted for less than $2000 and LOTS of ammo. Now I gotta figure out where to PUT all this stuff. I'd have gotten more, and I might check back later. It's still a shame, but there isn't THAT much more stuff I'd ever want. I can get ammo in the future at Wal Mart or something. Bass Pro. Instead of here, but I will need to get a new 'place' to be my gunstore. The only thing left on my List, really, is a .22 revolver and carbines for .45 and .357.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Fictional Gun Meme

~ sigh ~

Another meme.

I'll play.

My favorite fictional gun was the Plager Katsumate Series-D Blaster, Model 2019 Chief's Special. It was carried by Blade Runner units and we know about becuase Rick Deckard carried it (Harrison Ford).

Realistic plastic replicas are made and sold to movie fanboys (I know because another buddy has one. Hi, Maxwell). Non firing. And a few SUPAH fan boys work on making funtioning models. At least for the revolver part. I can't see how you'd make the bolt action part work as it is JUST a receiver. This is one of the plastic replica kits:


This movie prop gun was cobbled together from a Steyr bolt action rifle and a .44 Special, apparently (or maybe, it's all quite convoluted). Double trigger, double barrel. 5 beans in the wheel-gun part for you ordinary dirt bag, and a second single rifle sized shot for the extra SPECIAL dirt bag. Or Replicant. Talk about stopping power. It had LEDs on it. To make it look cool and From The Future.

Heh, that bolt rifle part may have a box magazine for it on the under part. A cartridge would have to swing around the revolver barrel to get into the chamber. And that rifle barrel must be, what, a whole INCH long? Less? In some pictures you can see the breech face almost at the tip of the upper barrel. That can't be good for ballistics. And I am unimpressed with the sights of The FUTURE, but maybe you need to not have it snag on your holster when some super-strong android is trying to kill you. I believe THIS is a pic of the ACTUAL prop gun and all other pics here are various mock-ups:

Look close. The Steyr part still says 'Made In Austria' on the Steyr Mannlicher .222 Model SL receiver. In The FUTURE the Japanese were supposed to have eaten our economic lunch. At least people thought that in the early 80's. Someone, someday will become 'greater' than America, but chances are the expected usual suspects won't be it. China has that proud distinction today, and again (they were the bogeyman in the 60s, the Soviets in the 50s and shared it with the German's in the 30s, the Brits were the big boys before that.) My guess is that one day the mantle of world leadership and economic dominance with pass from American shoulders to... Bolivia? And I welcome our Bolivian-Superman Overlords!

Best part was... Cops in this envisioned future were carrying revolvers. They were cops, not soldiers, and didn't feel the need to lay down suppressing fire.

How bad is it when you long to have the future-distopia-neo-noire world because it was LESS perceptibly tyrannical than some conditions in this, the actual real world future?

Lots of prop guns are like that. Modding an existing firearm. Like Han Solo's blaster from Star Wars. Just a Broomhandle Mauser with a flash hider and couple other bits cobbled on. Second favorite.