Happy 1911 Day.
At least, according to Brownell’s.
I’d celebrate by going to the range and putting a few rounds through mine, but today’s going to be a busy day. Also, I’m not sure if it is religiously appropriate to go to the range on Good Friday. Though Luke 22:36 seems like an appropriate response to anybody who would complain…
I got an invoice this morning from “Colt Archive Properties, LLC” for a historical letter on this gun. While this is only an invoice, and not the actual letter itself, the invoice says they have completed their research and “Once the invoice has been paid, your letter will be typed & mailed to you by USPS, and you should receive it within 2-3 weeks.”
I submitted the letter request on September 30th of 2023. So we’re looking at almost exactly six months from Colt letter request to completion of the research and notification. The FAQ says “90 to 100 days“.
Not that I’m complaining, just providing a data point for anyone out there who may want to request a letter.
I haven’t done one of these in a bit, and need to get back to it. And since it looks like the baseball season begins this week, I’m going to take the opportunity to throw a metaphorical change-up pitch with a train related book.
I would love to be able to document a book about guns on trains, but I don’t have a copy of Gerald Bull’s book. Yet.
After the jump…
The airport director who was shot by BATFE has passed away.
Neither the ATF, state police nor federal prosecutors would provide details of what agents were looking for, citing an ongoing investigation.
Around 2:35 p.m., Little Rock firefighters carrying a power saw and a Halligan tool —a large pry bar— were seen walking toward the house. An ATF agent was overheard saying they were at the scene to help agents open a safe in Malinowski’s house, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Edited to add: the NYT published a story that includes information from a redacted version of the search warrant affidavit.
The authorities accused Mr. Malinowski of having purchased more than 100 guns in recent years and of illegally selling many of them, including at least three that were later found to be connected with a crime. Mr. Malinowski first bought the guns legally, checking a box on purchase forms stating that the guns were for himself, before selling them privately to individuals, the affidavit states.
He would go to gun shows, the affidavit said, including two in Arkansas and one in Tennessee, and sell guns to people “without asking for any identification or paperwork.”
Photographs included in the redacted affidavit show Mr. Malinowski at a gun show, standing behind a booth filled with firearms. The affidavit also states that Mr. Malinowski had sold guns to two undercover agents who were investigating him.
…
This raises all sorts of interesting questions which a) I don’t have time to go into right now, and II) other people have covered at length: what constitutes being a dealer? How many guns do you have to sell in a year before you have to get an FFL? How long do you have to keep a gun before you can resell it? How many years is “recent years”? How many guns can you buy in a year before triggering (ha!) BATFE suspicions? Does BATFE track how many purchases someone makes in a year, or at least how many background checks they have done? Isn’t that illegal? And what if you don’t have background checks done? (In Texas, I don’t have to have a background check done because I have a valid license to carry.)
And what prompted the shooting? Was this a no-knock warrant, and Mr. Malinowski thought someone was trying to rob him? Did BATFE knock and announce, or did they just start breaking down doors?
I’m still thinking this is going to be swept under the rug.
Well, this is certainly an odd one.
Our good friends at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted a raid on a house in Little Rock, Arkansas yesterday.
Someone inside the house fired shots. BATFE agents shot back.
An ATF agent, whose identity was not released, was also shot in the exchange of gunfire but suffered a non-life-threatening wound, officials said. The agent, too, was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
The apparent shooter was also injured, and is apparently in the hospital.
The weird part? The injured apparent shooter (and, I think, the homeowner, but this is not explicitly stated) is…
…the executive director for the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.
I’ll pause for a moment here so you can insert your own “I have evidence that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton” meme.
There’s something strange about BATFE raiding the home of an airport executive. But not completely implausible: they could have been looking for something like a Glock switch or other illegal machine guns. Or perhaps “fuel filters” from China.
I’ll be curious to see if there’s any follow-up on this, or if the story just gets quietly buried.
(Hattip: Miguel at Gun Free Zone.)
I was running pretty much flat out from mid-Friday afternoon until late Sunday night, so this is the first chance I’ve had to post anything. But: the NYT finally ran an obit for Chuck Mawhinney. (Previously.)
After graduating from high school in 1967, Chuck wanted to become a Navy pilot. But a Marine Corps recruiter won him over by promising that he could delay his enlistment by four months, until the end of deer season.
The Marines had not had dedicated snipers since World War II, but by 1967 the corps had changed its mind. Mr. Mawhinney was among the first to complete the new Scout Sniper School at Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps installation in Southern California. He graduated at the top of his class.
Lawrence sent over an obit for Golden Richards, former Dallas Cowboy receiver.
José DeLeón, pitcher.
Jackie Loughery, actress (and Jack Webb’s third wife). Other credits include OG “Perry Mason”, “Surfside 6”, and “Marcus Welby, M.D.”.
Charles Dierkop, actor.
Other credits include “Matt Houston”, “Bearcats!” and…two episodes of “Mannix” (“A Penny for the Peep Show”, season 3, episode 6. “Desert Run”, season 7, episode 6).
Eddie Driscoll, actor. IMDB.
Chris Gauthier, actor. Fair number of genre credits, including “Supernatural”, “Watchmen”, and the “Earthsea” mini series.
Kenneth Mitchell, actor. Other credits include “NCIS”, “CSI: Cyber”, and “Detroit 1-8-7”.
…here’s another gun that was featured in a “Preview of coming attractions” post a while back.
Since I’ve written a lot about the 1911 in the past, and plan to write a lot about 1911s in the future, I can make this a somewhat shorter than usual for gun crankery post.
(Also, I think at this point I need a “1911” sub-category under “Guns”. I think a “Smith and Wesson” category was long overdue as well.)
Mike and I were out at Provident Arms in Spicewood a while back, just making the rounds and poking around.
The guy behind the counter (GBtC) said, “Hey, do you want to see something cool?”
“Hey, do you want to see something cool?” is, to my mind, one of the most dangerous phrases you can hear in a gun shop. Especially if, like me, you have Smith and Wesson tastes and a Jennings budget.
Anyway, we indicated our assent, and GBtC pulled this out.
It’s not a 1911A1. It’s a real honest to God Colt 1911.
Yes, it has the four line Colt patent and the US property mark.
And the Model of 1911 stamp on the side, along with the RIA marking.
I realize the differences between the 1911 and the 1911A1 are subtle, especially if you’re not a 1911 aficionado. Your average member of the Colt Collector’s Association can probably recite them from memory: as for me, I have to look them up.
Here’s my CMP gun side-by-side with the 1911:
Not a great picture, but I think you can at least see some of the differnces: specifically, the relief cuts and the shortened trigger.
This particular 1911 isn’t the best example, as it has been modified by a previous owner. I was told the sights had been replaced, and the mainspring housing modified. Also, both the GBtC and I are pretty sure it has been refinished, but whoever refinished it did a nice job. It doesn’t have as much collector value as it would unaltered, but I really like the way it feels in the hand.
(And the CMP gun is sort of a mixmaster anyway. Not that I’m complaining, just saying it probably isn’t a perfect exemplar of the 1911A1 for historians, either.)
Colt has an online serial number lookup tool, which says this one shipped in 1918. I’ve sent off for a historical letter, but have not received it yet.
As I have so often quoted, “You’re not paying for the gun. You’re paying for the story behind it.” The story I got was that the person who brought this in, received it as a gift from his father-in-law. That seems very much like a G.K. Chesterton sort of moment to me. It also feels like, given the modifications, this was owned by someone who knew what he wanted in a defensive handgun at the time, and didn’t value “history” more than he did “practicality”. I kind of like that in a person, and in a gun.
Unfortunately, however, the father-in-law was now the ex-father-in-law. Guy couldn’t stand having the memory of his ex-wife around? He was a Glock aficionado? Just not a gun guy at all, and wanted to convert the gun into some jingle in his jeans? No idea, but his desire to part with the gun was Provident’s gain.
And about two weeks later, my bonus payment from Cisco came through, so…it followed me home, Ma, can I keep it?
Funny story: I asked the folks at Provident if I could have a paper bag to put it in, as I didn’t want to leave it on the floor of my car in the open. The GBtC went into the back, rummaged around a bit, and came out with a really nice Glock pistol carrier that just fit the gun.
“No, no, I wasn’t asking for free stuff. I just wanted a paper bag or something.”
“No worries, chief. Glock sent us a whole box of these as promo items. I figure we can throw one in for you.”
I was a little concerned that putting a 1911 into a Glock carrier would be kind of like mixing matter and anti-matter, but so far nothing has exploded. Yet.
On the other hand, I haven’t gotten out to the range yet. I have to find some time to do that. Perhaps over spring break, as I expect to have a couple of Sunday afternoons free. And I still need to break it down and lube it…time is a flat circle indeed.
I recall reading somewhere (I think in Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It) that Lincoln was a big gun guy. If any inventor showed up at the White House with a new or improved weapon design, they were pretty much guaranteed an audience with Abe.
How much of that was desperation to win the war, and how much of it was a fascination with guns and the mechanics of machines, I have no idea.
Short shameful confession: it has been a while since I field stripped a 1911 pattern pistol.
I wanted to break down and lube one of my Commander length guns (using the lubrication suggestions from Bill Wilson’s Gun Guy, and also his lube). I had forgotten what a complete and utter (word that rhymes with “witch”) it is to get the slide stop pin through both the frame and the barrel link. Every time, the link got pushed backwards and into a position where I couldn’t get the stop into place.
I finally got it, but it took me probably 45 minutes. Maybe I need more practice. Good thing I have three more 1911s that need the same treatment. And plenty of Wilson lube left…
After the jump, a few gun books for the discerning eyes of my readers.
Both the NYPost (archived for your pleasure) and Task and Purpose are reporting the death of Sgt. Chuck Mawhinney (USMC – ret.).
For those unfamiliar with Sgt. Mawhinney, he is considered to be the most successful sniper of the Vietnam War.
From 1968 to 1969, Mawhinney — still only a teenager — was credited with 103 confirmed kills.
An additional 216 kills were listed as “probable” since the enemies’ bodies were risky to verify in the active war zone.
Mawhinney had confirmed kills over 1,000 yards, with the average kill shot for snipers during the Vietnam War taken at a distance of 300 to 800 yards.
After the war, he kept his head down.
He worked for the Forest Service for 27 years.
Joseph Ward, one of his spotters, wrote a book in 1991. (Dear Mom: A Sniper’s Vietnam. Affiliate link.) The book didn’t get a lot of attention at first, but people found Ward’s mention of Sgt. Mawhinney’s record, and it rapidly became public knowledge.
Jim Lindsay, author of “The Sniper: The Untold Story of the Marine Corps’ Greatest Marksman of All Time,” met Mawhinney in 1979 at the Idle Hour tavern in Baker City, Oregon. Lindsay said that people seemed to not believe Mawhinney, but he confirmed that he did, in fact, have 103 confirmed kills and 216 unconfirmed kills during his 16 months of duty in Vietnam.
“Chuck’s platoon leader had kept track of the kills. He had the kill sheets and verified Chuck’s numbers,” Lindsay said. “So, there was no argument then. His life changed overnight. All of a sudden, everybody knew him.”
The Sniper: The Untold Story of the Marine Corps’ Greatest Marksman of All Time on Amazon. (Affiliate link.)
Peter Senich, a military historian and author specializing in sniping and small arms, went to verify Ward’s claim in the Marine Corps archives and found he was wrong. Mawhinney didn’t have 101 kills — he had 103.
Mawhinney, a man who valued his privacy and was not seeking any fame for his actions in Vietnam, agreed to an interview with Senich in 1997, which was featured in the Baker City Herald.
“It’s an opportunity for me to get some recognition for a lot of the Vietnam vets that didn’t receive any recognition,” Mawhinney said.
“We were all there together. If I have to take recognition for it, that’s OK, because every time I talk to someone, I can talk about the vets. It gives me an opportunity to talk about what a great job they did.”
…
“He was a good man,” said Lindsay in an interview with The Oregonian Wednesday, sharing that Mawhinney never boasted about his kills and said he “did what I was trained to do.”
“He was a good father, a good husband and an asset to the community. He was a pretty cool cat.”
Not a bad way to be remembered.
Excuses, excuses.
I had fancy plans for a JMB birthday post. (And pants to match!)
I was going to post a triptych (not really, but you know what I mean) of three JMB designs, including one that I’m not sure most people associate with JMB. But the weather here the past few days has been awful: not just cold (by Austin standards) but also overcast and wet. That’s not good for taking firearm photos.
And I don’t really have a good space inside where I could set up a three-gun photo shoot. Not right now, anyway.
So some substitute links for your pleasure:
John M. Browning, American Gunmaker: An Illustrated Biography of the Man and His Guns. I can remember when this was easily available, at extremely reasonable prices, at Half-Price Books. I wonder what’s going on with those prices?
The Guns of John Moses Browning: The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World. Haven’t decided if I’m going to read this or The Rifle next.
Bob Rayburn’s Colt Woodsman Home Page. Mike-SMO asked a while back for some more Colt links, so I think this is going on the firearms reference sidebar. (Also, I have another reason. Hint. Hint.) Bob Rayburn was a serious Woodsman collector (he sold off his collection a few years ago) and this seems to be one of the best Internet references on the Woodsman.
I’m a little later than I would like on this one, but you still have time to get to your local gun shop, or to place an order online. Online orders count.
As I have written in the past:
Contrary to what some may believe, this holiday has nothing to do with any political events that take place on January 20th: rather, it is inspired by the classic Ice Cube song “It Was a Good Day” (“Today I didn’t even have to use my A.K./I got to say it was a good day“) and the hard work done by Donovan Strain who determined that the “good day” in the song was January 20, 1992.
I had a nice chat with one of the folks at my local gun shop. Sadly, they didn’t have a lot of AKs that I liked, and my budget has a car-sized hole in it right now. His comment to me was that there really aren’t a lot of good AKs out there these days. But he did also observe (and I have heard this from other people as well) that the Palmetto State Armory AK-47 pattern guns are surprisingly good.
My own personal feeling is that I want something in 7.62×39 (though that’s not as important right now, since Russian ammo can’t be imported any longer, so it is harder to get cheap 7.62), and something that’s (as I put it to the gun guy) “reasonably accurate”. I’m not looking for a minute-of-angle AK-47, but I also don’t want something that just sprays bullets randomly all over the place.
I think we’ve probably got another year before we have to start seriously worrying, so I may wait until January 20, 2025. Then, depending on the election results, I might just pull the trigger on a PSA AK-47.
(In a technical sense, I sort of do have an AK already. But it’s complicated.)
Some time back, I wrote about the guns of the presidential assassins.
GunsAmerica has an article up by Will Dabbs (who also writes for American Handgunner and is rapidly becoming the gun writer who amuses me the most): “The Assassination of William McKinley: Of Hopeless Causes and One Seriously Pathetic Pistol“.
…
Dr. Dabbs’s article includes photos of the musuem display (which is not the actual gun, but an identical one) and the actual gun (which is kept in storage, along with the handkerchief Czolgasz used to conceal the gun, and which is “available for viewing by appointment only” in the Buffalo museum).
Hattip on this to Active Response Training and their “Weekend Knowledge Dump- January 19, 2024“. You really should be reading Greg Ellifritz, or at least these Friday Weekend Knowledge Dumps.
From KRTraining’s blog: “Annual Maintenance Tasks“. Or gun related things you should be checking at the start of the year.
Replace batteries in optics, flashlights, smoke detectors, and anything else that uses batteries.
As a personal thing, I remind my teams at work to check and replace the batteries in their smoke, carbon monoxide, and other detectors twice a year, at the time change. I think I picked this tip up from one of the fire prevention associations by way of “Dear Abby” (or “Ann Landers”, I disremember which one).