H. J. Popowski

Askari Arms

Posted: 08/22/2008

The Prussian army and its allies in the North German Confederation had been, since 1841, armed with the Dreyse Rifle, the Zündnadelgewehr, but it had shown itself to be dated by the time of the Six Weeks War of 1866 and simply outclassed by the French Chassepot M1868 during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.  The German army, like the US Army following the Spanish-American War, adopted the Mauser system. Paul von Mauser, (born June 27, 1838 in Oberndorf am Neckar, died May 29, 1914 in Oberndorf am Neckar), and his brother Whilhelm were the inventors and developers of the Mauser turn-bolt rifle which replaced the outdated Dreyse M1841 Rifle with the Mauser Model 1871, the first of many such rifles.  The greatest fault of the M71 was that it was a single shot.  The German army switched away from the Mauser design in 1878 and adopted the tubular magazine Gewehr 88 or as its more commonly known Commission Rifle.  Though not as bad as some authorities would have you believe, being a pastiche of elements from several contemporary military rifles most notably Mannlicher, Schoenauer, Werndel and Vittorelli, the Gewehr 88 was short-lived in German service.  The Mauser brothers made the necessary design changes in the M71 to give it a 3-round capacity with an internal magazine, and the German army redesignated it as the Gewehr 1884. The M71-84 was chambered in the German-standard 11.15 x 60R mm (usually just called the 11mm Mauser, the 'R' is for Rimmed cartridge) also designed by Paul Mauser.  It is very similar to the US 45-70 Government which precluded its ever being  popular as a hunting cartridge in North America as it was in Europe, though a smokeless powder version was loaded by Krieghoff of Suhl in the 1920s.  The correct bullet diameter for the round is .446".  The military version used a 370 gr lead bullet ahead of 77 gr of blackpowder for 1430 fps generating 1680 ft/lbs at the muzzle.   The Gew 71-84 was carried by all Imperial German Colonial Troops until the end of WWI. The Mauser company, established by the two Mauser brothers, earned its reputation in firearms making from the last decades of the 19th century until the end of the World War II. Some years after WW2 (1955) the Mauser company was restored in the West Germany and continued to build firearms. But some of earlier Mausers became the standard against which all others designs are judged, even after some 100 years. The Gewehr 1893 chambered in 7x57mm was adopted by the Spanish military and a plentitude of other countries.  The Gewehr 1895 chambered in 6.5 x 55mm was adopted by Sweden. But the greatest was the  model 1898 rifle, also known as Gew 98 or simply G98 (G = Gewehr, rifle in German). This rifle was designed from the experience, gained on previous Mauser designs as the standard German army infantry rifle. It was carried by Germans through the First World war, along with carbine shortened version, known as K98 (or Kar-98, from Karbiner) In 1903 the US Army Ordnance Department paid Mauser to license some parts of his original designs incorporated into the M1903 Springfield Rifle, which would be the standard US rifle until the adoption of the M1 Garand in 1936.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=buaTh6t8SWo&NR=1 In the 1904 Germans were first to introduce the new, "spitzer" bullet (with pointed tip, instead of the older blunt, round-shaped tip)—the 'S' Patrone. New bullet had much better long-range ballistic, so all sights were regraduated for new ammunition. However, the German army also changed the diameter of the bullet at the same time going from .318" to .323" in the 7.92 x 57 mm cartridge.  Although both of these cartridges are usually referred to as the 8mm Mauser, they are, in fact designated differently.  The earlier .318" bullet (chambered from 1898 until 1904 is really the 7.9 x 57mm J—the 'J' is for Jaeger.  From 1905 on the cartridge and chambering has been 7.92 x 57mm JS—Jaeger S Patrone, sometimes also called the Schnell Patrone. The same idea was incorporated by the US Army Ordnance Department in the redesign of the .30 caliber 1903 cartridge in 1906—hence the designation 30/06. During the interwar period this fine design was slightly altered to became the K98k—Karbiner  Kurz—or short carbine. This version appeared in 1935 and was manufactured until well after 1945 in large numbers in numerous countries. Many versions of this design also were licensed to other countries, which built their own versions to bdcome known as, variously, Persian, Turkish, Czech VZ-24, Yugoslavian M48 and Israeli.  The Gew98 is a manually operated, magazine fed, bolt action. The magazine is a double-row, integral box, with a detachable floorplate. The magazine can be topped-off with either single rounds or via stripper clips holding five cartridges. The stripper clip is inserted into guides machined into the rear receiver bridge. After the loading, empty clip is ejected automatically when bolt is closed. The magazine can be unloaded by cycling the bolt (with the rotating safety in the middle position) or by opening the magazine floorplate The Mauser bolt is a simple, strong design. There are three locking lugs, two at the bolt head and one at the rear of the bolt. The bolt handle is rigidly attached to the bolt body. On the original Gew 98 rifles it was straight. On the K98k the bolt handle was bent down. The bolt has gas vent holes designed to prevent hot gases from a punctured primer or case rupture from blowing back into the shooter's face. A non-rotating claw extractor was designed to engage the cartridge rim as the round is stripped from the top of the magazine, holding it firmly against the bolt face throughout the firing cycle. This "controlled feed" extractor has been employed on a multitude of other military and sporting bolt action rifles since 1898—most notably on "The Rifleman's Rifle", the Model 70 Winchester—pre-1964. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygz0kE5zzwM

There HEEEERE

Posted: 08/19/2008

The shipment of HAYA SAFARI arrived this PM. Pre-orders are boxed and going out in the mail tomorrow AM.  Direct orders from me can now proceed forthwith--or onethwith if you prefer. And for all of you wondering what Haya Safari was, or know that it was a march and would like to know what it sounded like, try this Youtube link--it's in German, but it has some nice images of Askaris and Ruga-ruga, and the first verse of Haya Safari is the first tune.  Enjoy www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ-71YPwa7k

Haya Safari and counting	Posted: 08/13/2008
According to the good folk at AuthorHouse, 5-7 days for the print version of Haya Safari.

Gun Porn 3

Posted: 08/05/2008

The 'gauging' of shotgun or 'fowling piece' barrels predates the Trans-Mississippi American Western Frontier by over a century.  Essentially, the gauge of a barrel is determined by the number of lead balls of a given size are equal to one pound in weight:  8 gauge--which was quite common for taking waterfowl, and was parenthetically Zane Grey's favorite—meant 8 lead ball yielded a .835" bore diameter; 10 gauge = 10 balls of .775" diameter, 12 gauge = 12 lead balls of .729"; 16 gauge = .663" and you can do the others your own-self.   (As an aside, wouldn't you just know that some math-nerd with too little life and too much time would sit down and come up  a formula for working all of this stuff out (in German this is known as Scientifikergeschttenwerke):   "An n-gauge diameter means that n balls of lead (density 11.352 g/cm³) with that diameter weigh one pound (453.5924 g). Therefore an n-gauge shotgun or n-bore rifle has a bore diameter (millimeters) of approximately   dn = ( 6 x 453.59237 g / 11.352 g/cm3 x n x pi)1/3 = 42.416 x 1 / cuberoot n mm.   Kitty Feller's most used firearm was her Double Barreled 16 gauge.  It was the gun she used to teach Henry Feller how to shoot.  Kitty's 16 Double, more than any other gun in these books is the typical gun of the frontier.   According to firearms expert and historian Chuck Hawks  "The last couple decades of the 19th Century were a time of great change in the shotgun world, in terms of both guns and shells. Guns went from twist barrels to fluid steel, choke boring had appeared in the late 1870's, and external hammer double guns became hammerless. Self contained shot shells went from brass hulls to paper hulls. In 1880 the 10 gauge rivaled the 12 gauge as an all-around gauge, and the 8 gauge was fairly popular for waterfowl hunting. The 16 gauge was the specialized upland gauge, and the 20 was regarded as something of a curiosity. 10 gauge shells were loaded with 1 1/4 ounces of shot, and 12 gauge shells with 1 ounce.   The period was also the time when some of the greatest names in American firearms were at work. Daniel Lyon LeFever introduced the first hammerless shotgun in 1878. Saint John the Devine—John Moses Browning, JMB—while working for Winchester Repeating Firearms (WRA) designed the first lever action shotgun, the Model 1887 Winchester Lever Action Repeating Shotgun.  JMB also designed the Winchester pump action shotgun Model 1893, and its refined version the Winchester Model 1897 Pump Action Repeating Shotgun (known in WWI as the Trench Broom).  Working for Browning Firearms, JMB also designed, and patented the Browning Auto-5, the first semi-automatic shotgun, which remained in production until 1998, a 98 year production run, not bad for a shotgun that sounds like a corn-sheller when it cycles.

FILM AT 11	Posted: 08/04/2008
According to the good folks at AuthorHouse, the electronic version of Haya Safari is now available.  The print version should be along any day on account of printing presses do NOT work at the speed of light.

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Posted: 08/04/2008

OK so it only took three weeks to break my own rules of engagement.  It's my website so tough noogies.   Democratic Party Platform, 1864 Resolved, That in the future, as in the past, we will adhere with unswerving fidelity to the Union under  the Constitution as the only solid foundation of our strength, security, and happiness as a people, and as a framework of government equally conducive to the welfare and prosperity of all the States, both Northern and Southern.   Resolved, That this convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military necessity of war-power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view of an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States.  [This is the so called Vallandigham Plank, named after the author, Clement Laird Vallandigham, of Dayton, OH and Windsor, Ontario.] Resolved, That the direct interference of the military authorities of the United States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware was a shameful violation of the Constitution, and a repetition of such acts in the approaching election will be held as revolutionary, and resisted with all the means and power under our control.  Resolved, That the aim and object of the Democratic party is to preserve the Federal Union and the rights of the States unimpaired, [that is SLAVERY] and they hereby declare that they consider that the administrative usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution — the subversion of the civil by military law in States not in insurrection; the arbitrary military arrest, imprisonment, trial, and sentence of American citizens in States where civil law exists in full force; the suppression of freedom of speech and of the press; the denial of the right of asylum; the open and avowed disregard of State rights; the employment of unusual test-oaths; and the interference with and denial of the right of the people to bear arms in their defense is calculated to prevent a restoration of the Union and the perpetuation of a Government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed.  Resolved, That the shameful disregard of the Administration to its duty in respect to our fellow citizens who now are and long have been prisoners of war and in a suffering condition, deserves the severest reprobation on the score alike of public policy and common humanity.  Resolved, That the sympathy of the Democratic party is heartily and earnestly extended to the soldiery of our army and sailors of our navy, who are and have been in the field and on the sea under the flag of our country, and, in the events of its attaining power, they will receive all the care, protection, and regard that the brave soldiers and sailors of the republic have so nobly earned."  SOURCE:   Reprinted in Donald Bruce Johnson, comp., National Party Platforms, vol. 1, 1840-1956, rev. ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), pages 34-35.   Of course you could counter all of the above with the statement made by Illinois Democrat Senator John Alexander Logan, who said, on the floor of the US Senate: "Though not all Democrats were traitors, Every traitor was a Democrat—though to be historically correct—he revised the record to read 'Rebel' instead of 'traitor', the two terms being synonymous to John A. 'Black Jack' Logan.