lost precious time shot-to-shot, the M1 rifle’s semiautomatic operation
gave American infantrymen a distinct advantage in firepower as well
as the recovery time between shots. In 1936, the M1 replaced the
M1903 Springfield; In 1958, the M1 was replaced by the M14.
M14: After extensive testing and a tough head-to-head competition,
the first wave of M14s were delivered to the US Army in July
1959. The weapon had been developed to replace seven different
weapons: the M1 Garand, M1903 Springfield, M1917 Enfield, M1
carbine, M3 submachine gun, M1928/M1 Thompson, and the
M1918 – an ambitious undertaking. In all, 1.3 million were built
by Springfield Armory, Winchester Harrington & Richardson, and
Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge, Inc. They were produced from 1959
to 1964. Despite the rigorous development, extensive testing, and a
demanding competitive match-up, reality struck the weapon when it
was deployed to Vietnam where its weight and length were ill-suited
for the environment. In addition to being cumbersome, its wood
stock tended to swell and expand in the country’s humid jungles.
Plus, the weapon was reportedly difficult to control in full-automatic
mode. Some variants are still in use as sniper and designated
marksman rifles.
SMITH & WESSON
MODEL 29: In the movie
Dirty Harry (1971) the
.44 Magnum is described
by In
Inspector Callahan of the
San Francisco Police Department as
Francisc
power
“the most powerful handgun in the world.”
At the time, it wasn’t
a hyperbole. The Model 29
is a six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for
the hard-hitting .44 Magnum cartridge, an ammunition
in search of an appropriate delivery system when it was first
developed. That delivery system came into existence in 1950 with
the Model 29 which produced 767 foot-pounds of energy and a
velocity of 1,200 feet per second. Weighing nearly three pounds with
punishing recoil, the firearm is as complex as it is niche; with one
of its more exclusive roles equipping tunnel exploration personnel
during Vietnam, a.k.a. “Tunnel Rats”, who used a version called
the Deadly Quiet Special Purpose Revolver (QSPR) to clear out
communist forces in the many tunnels dug by members of the North
Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong.
DUCK FOOT PISTOL:
Some firearms are
remembered for their
historical significance,
like winning a battle
or launching a trend.
Much unlike the
Duck Foot, sometimes
referred to a volley gun. It’s an attention-getter because it looks
comical, like a duck’s webbed foot. It was reportedly popular among
bank guards, prison wardens, and sea captains. Why? Because its
multiple, wide-spread barrels gave the holder potential advantage in
crowd-control situations or clearing the deck on an enemy ship, but
it was not a perfect weapon; it had a reputation that not all barrels
always fired. The question people staring at a Duck Foot had to ask
is, “Just how lucky do I feel today?” In fact, sometimes the user of
such an eccentric firearm was on the bad end of some hard luck.
That’s what happened to Giuseppe Marco Fieschi in July 1835
when he pulled the trigger of a home-made, 25-barrel volley gun
in an attempt to assassinate King Louis Philippe The First in Paris.
Eighteen were killed in the attack, but not the king who only received
a minor wound. Fieschi was injured, captured, condemned to death,
and guillotined.
n
o
r
a
sho ,action
actio
62 The TRUMP RALLY Publication