Archive for January 18th, 2023

Day of the .45, part 1.5 (Brief random gun crankery)

Wednesday, January 18th, 2023

That FOIA request took about five days. The people at Redstone Arsenal (especially “Stephanie”) are a nice bunch of folks.

The following information was found in the Department of Defense (DoD) Small Arms/Light Weapons Registry for M1911A1, .45mm Automatic Pistol, NSN: 1005-00-726-5655, Serial Number XXXXXX.

1. 26 May 1995 - United States Property and Fiscal Office (USPFO) of Michigan (MI) National Guard (MIARNG), Lansing, Michigan performed multi-field corrections on the weapon.

2. 01 October 1996 - Rock Island Arsenal - Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center, Rock Island, Illinois received the weapon from United States Property and Fiscal Office (USPFO) of Michigan (MI) National Guard (MIARNG), Lansing, Michigan.

3. 28 January 1997, 30 November 1998, 18 March 2003, 13 August 2003, 08 October 2003, 07 January 2004, 02 March 2004, 21 April 2004, 01 July 2004, 04 October 2004, 03 January 2005, 22 February 2005, 18 April 2005, 15 July 2005, 31 January 2006, 04 April 2006, 05 February 2007, 22 January 2008, and 11 August 2008 - Rock Island Arsenal - Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center, Rock Island, Illinois performed reconciliations on the weapon.

4. 20 November 2008 - Rock Island Arsenal - Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center, Rock Island, Illinois shipped the weapon to Army General Supply (Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) Stock Records), Anniston, Alabama.

5. 17 April 2009 - Army General Supply (Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) Stock Records), Anniston, Alabama received the weapon from Rock Island Arsenal - Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center, Rock Island, Illinois.

6. 24 January 2010, 06 March 2011, 03 December 2011, 19 January 2013, 07 March 2015, 01 May 2016, 05 March 2017, 04 June 2017, 31 March 2019, 26 April 2020, 25 April 2021 - Army General Supply (Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) Stock Records), Anniston, Alabama performed reconciliations on the weapon.

Yes, I did edit out the serial number, which is plainly visible in the photos. But photos are not text, and I just feel better leaving that information out.

I’m slightly disappointed that the available information only goes back to 1995 (“The DoD Small Arms/Light Weapons Registry history only goes back to 1975 when the Registry was started.”) but that’s not Redstone’s fault. And I can talk myself into believing that this gun sat in a National Guard armory or depot in Lansing for a long time.

I’m not sure what “multi-field corrections” means: it might imply that the pistol was serviced at that time. But since the 1911 was replaced in service in 1985, it seems a little weird that they’d be working on them nine years later. Could be, though, that the military was keeping them in inventory and servicing them, just in case they were needed again. (See: the shortage of 1911 pistols during WWI.)

I am pretty sure “reconciliation” just means that they verified the serial number in question was still in inventory, and hadn’t grown legs and walked off.

Anyway, still a neat gun, and I see nothing in the historical record that refutes my theory this one may have seen action in WWII.

And thank you again, McThag!

Edited to add 1/19: according to this thread on the CMP Forums, “Multifield Correction” is “Used for correcting erroneous or invalid national stock number (NSN), owner DoDAAC/UIC, or weapon serial number (WSN) on the UIT Central Registry file”. So this seems to be more paperwork corrections than any sort of servicing/rebuilding/reworking of the gun.

Posted in 1911, Guns, History | 2 Comments »

Obit watch: January 18, 2023.

Wednesday, January 18th, 2023

Lucile Randon, better known as Sister André. She was 118.

The French nun became the world’s oldest known person after the death of Japan’s Kane Tanaka, who died last year at 119, according to Guinness World Records. With Sister André’s death, the oldest known person, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which validates those thought to be 110 or older, is Maria Branyas Morera. She was born in the United States, lives in Spain and is 115.

…

She was known to be a gourmet. For her 117th birthday, she ate foie gras, roasted capon, cheese and a dessert similar to a baked alaska. She said in several interviews that she enjoyed a daily diet of wine and chocolate.

Frank Thomas, one of the original Mets.

...Frank Thomas was an All-Star with the Pirates in 1954, 1955 and again in 1958, when he had his best season, hitting 35 home runs, driving in 109 runs and batting .281.
He later played for the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Braves, who traded him to the Mets in November 1961 when they were forming the roster for their National League debut.
Usually playing in left field for Manager Casey Stengel’s 1962 Mets team, which lost a record 120 games, Thomas drove in 94 runs in addition to his 34 homers — a club record that stood until Dave Kingman broke it with 36 in 1975 — taking advantage of the short left-field foul line at the Polo Grounds, the Mets’ home for their first two seasons.

…

He later played for the Houston Astros and again for the Milwaukee Braves before rejoining the Cubs, who released him early in the 1966 season, ending his career.
In addition to his 286 home runs, Thomas drove in 962 runs in his career and had a .266 batting average.

I encourage you to click over to the obit so you can read the “Yo la tengo!” story, which I think is too long to put here.

K. Alex Müller, winner (with J. Georg Bednorz) of a Nobel Prize for advances in high-temperature superconductivity.

Jay Briscoe, pro wrestler with Ring of Honor.

The Briscoes — Jay, and his brother Mark — are 13-time tag-team champions of the promotion, which included a present reign.

He was 38, and died in a car accident. He had two daughters in the car with him, who are currently hospitalized.

Wayne “Gino” Odjick, NHL player. The obit describes him as a “beloved enforcer”. He was 52, and died of a heart attack: he’d been diagnosed with AL amyloidosis in 2014. (Hattip: Lawrence.)

Wear your seatbelts, people. (Hattip: Lawrence.)

Posted in Obits, Religion, Sports | Comments Closed

At the weird intersection of sports firings and legal news…

Wednesday, January 18th, 2023

Firings news (sort of): Matt Weiss, “co-offensive coordinator” for the University of Michigan, has been placed on leave.

Legal news: He’s involved in a criminal investigation.

Weird news: It doesn’t involve domestic violence or any of the usual crimes.

“The University of Michigan Police Department is investigating a report of computer access crimes that occurred at Schembechler Hall during December 21-23, 2022,” University of Michigan Deputy Chief of Police Crystal James said in the statement. “Since this is an ongoing investigation there is no additional information to share.”
An entry from the university police’s online daily crime log on Jan. 5 notes that police received a report about “fraudulent activity involving someone accessing university email accounts without authorization” at Schembechler Hall. It is the only report of police activity at the football facility in the past month.

Posted in Firings, Law, Sports | Comments Closed

Frank Mansfield, call your office, please.

Wednesday, January 18th, 2023

According to some rooster men, the game fowl, or fighting chicken, was almost chosen to be the national bird of America. “And it should’ve,” a breeder once told me. “An eagle ain’t nothing more than a glorified buzzard.” Such game-fowl lore and sentiment abound: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were devoted rooster fighters. Union and Confederate soldiers put aside their differences on Sundays during the Civil War to pit their chickens against one another. Abraham Lincoln was given the nickname Honest Abe after he displayed impartiality as a cockfighting judge. Whatever the (dubious) historical merit of claims like these, they are meant to establish the deeply American identity of game fowl. “They fought them right out on the White House lawn,” says David Thurston, president of the United Gamefowl Breeders Association, a national nonprofit dedicated to the birds’ preservation.

(Alternative link for the NYT challenged.)

(Title reference explained.)

Posted in Birds, Clippings | Comments Closed