A while back I ran into a really, really small revolver. A flare gun, actually, a .22 pinfire flare gun, to be precise, but still the smallest working revolver I have ever seen. And when i say small, I mean… Seriously puny:
Xythos Revolver -
Xythos Revolver - Open
This is the Xythos revolver from SmallFlare.com. This was designed to be an ultra portable, go anywhere flare gun for emergency its and wilderness enthusiasts for whom kit space is at a premium. And as you can see, they certainly fit the bill so far as miniaturization is concerned. The Xythos is not that much larger than a quarter!!
Xythos Revolver - Size Comparison
Now me personally, I’d probably have a hard time firing this thing, as I don’t really see how I’d get my paws around to squeeze the trigger without smooshing the rest of the gun, but I’m sure I’d be able to train a local squirrel for the job. It’d be a perfect fit for said squirrel. Presuming of course it didn’t have the urge to try and shoot me for some other stupid stunt I trained it to do that didn’t go so well. That might end badly. But I digress.
Xythos Revolver - Kit
The Xythos comes in Gold and Nickel, fires .22 pinfire blanks, and features a self advancing chamber, and a number of somewhat less diminutive accessories, including key chain and tie clasp so you can wear the gun (I kid you not!!) to make it a complete flare kit. Link to the manufacturers site is below. Though I have to say, something this delicate and as detailed “as a fine swiss watch” might not be the best choice for the more ham fisted survivalists among us.
Many years ago, I remember watching a movie where the bad guys used a very unique machine pistol. It was fairly compact, had a high rate of fire, and it’s most distinguishing feature was a cylindrical, high capacity magazine, mounted to the rear of the barrel, above the grip of the weapon. A most unusual configuration indeed, but I just loved the look. If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m talking about the venerable Calico M950, aka the Calico Liberty III, from Calico Light Weapon Systems:
Calico M950/Liberty III - 9mm, 50r Mag
I first encountered this weapon in the 1991 Movie “Stone Cold” with Brian Bosworth, and was immediately taken by its unusual design. At the time I didn’t know what it was, but later on I figured it all out after a bit of research. The design has not gone unnoticed by others, and it’s design has lent itself to being featured quite predominantly in a number of futuristic movies since then, such as “Total Recall” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and as an alien machine gun in “I Come in Peace” (AKA “Dark Angel”) Starring Dolph Lundgren.
Calico M950/Liberty III - 9mm, 100r Mag
However this machine pistol is not all show. It features a 50 or 100 round helical top mounted magazine, ambidextrous operation, downward facing brass ejection port, and a modular design, allowing it to be chambered in .22 LR, or 9mm, (there was even a .40cal version planned). The design lends itself to a wide range of design modifications, from assault rifle, to carbine, to machine pistol, to sport rifle, a version which to me, looks a lot like an old school tommy gun, minus the bottom mounted stick/drum magazine, which just adds to it’s appeal, even if it is only chambered in .22 LR:
Calico M105 - .22LR, 100r Mag, Walnut Stocks
Link to the Calico Light Weapons system website is below, though I must warn you that it features a somewhat corny video that looks like it was made in the 1990′ when they first came out, and has never been updated since… :D But either way, I thought I’d share this little piece of firearm nostalgia with you all.. Enjoy!
In the movie “Blade” starring Wesley Snipes, we see Blade using a variety of weapons. Clearly he loves his sword. But he’s also a big firearm guy, and one of his more interesting weapons is a modified Mac 11 sub-machine gun he totes alongside his sword:
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Blades Machine Gun
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Well, this guy decided to make a replica of the prop used in the movie, and I have to say, it looks pretty darn good:
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Blades Machine Gun - Front
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Blades Machine Gun - Back
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Blades Machine Gun - Side
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Yeah, sure, there doesn’t seem to be any real purpose to the extraneous shrouding that surrounds the muzzle area, I would have installed a battery pack and a UV mini maglite if I had been blade But is still looks pretty good. Link to the site and instructions below
I’m sure some of you may have already seen this vid, but I thought I’s post it anyway just for kicks:
In case you didn’t fully get what happened there, this guy fires a .50 cal sniper rife at an iron target set on a hillside. The round hits the target, ricochets off the iron target and back towards the shooter, ultimately clocking the poor sap right in the side of the head!
Incidentally, iron targets may not have been the best idea for target practice with a high caliber rifle, since the these rounds are not only huge, but carry a lot of energy a long, long, ways away. Be better to use a target the round can embed itself in, rather than ricochet off. I didn’t get a good look at the rifle, and what I could see of the stock looked wrong, but the flash suppressor looked a lot like that of a Barret .50 cal rifle, which has an effective range of roughly a mile, and a maximum range many times that, depending on conditions.
The target he was shooting at seems like it was a heckuvalot closer than that! Dude is lucky to still have a head!
Today I’m going to introduce you to what I think is perhaps one of the ugliest pistol designs I have ever come across. I found a couple of pics of it on my hard drive, and beyond the fact that it has a profile not even a mother could love, I couldn’t figure out where the pics came from. However I do know that it is called the FP-45 Liberator:
FP-45 Liberator
Ain’t that a trip? Apparently this pistol was designed and manufactured in WWII under the guise of being a flare gun. Hence the FP for “flare Pistol” in it’s designation. Not quite sure why the subterfuge was neccesary, but I certainly don’t think that was any excuse for the hideous design. I suppose it was intended to be a cheap throwaway gun, so maybe they got some poor blind metalworker to design it for free, but who knows.
FP-45 Liberator - Right Side
And it’s not like it had anything else going for it either. It was chambered in .45 CAP, had a short, unrifled barrel, and was single shot to boot. I means seriously. I’ve seen home made zip guns that were cheaper to make, and looked better than this. And yet they made approximately one million of these abominations. Honestly, what were they thinking?
FP-45 Liberator - Left Side
This looks like one of those sad cases of a weapon designed to such low standards, that it’s hard to think of any practical reason why you’d even develop such a thing. Seems like a complete and utter waste. But I suppose if you didn’t have anything else to shoot with, these would look pretty darn good…
There are unrealistic gun battles, and then there are unrealistic gun battles. As a fan of Anime, I’ve seen my share of crazy, wacky and just plain impossible shooter stunts, but sometimes I have to scratch my head. Especially when said stunts are actually from a live action movie, as opposed to an anime.
I speak of the movie Equilibrium, no less, which, while being one of my favorite Christian Bale flicks, besides “American Psycho” and “The Dark Knight” of course, also happens to have some of the most unrealistic gun play ever conceived by man. Of course I must admit that I love every campy second of it.
However what brings me to post today is that I just happened to run across a remarkably similar gun battle between two buxom, scantily clad animated combatants, apparently from the anime “Grenadier” which I haven’t watched, but couldn’t help but notice seemed to be very close in style to the Equilibrium final gun duel. Sans bouncy bust assisted revolver reloads, of course.
OK, so i just so happened to come across a few vids of the Mythbusters playing with miniguns, and thought it would make the perfect first real post for this blog… Seeing as both are things that I like..
Welcome to my latest Blog, Major Ballistics. This blog will be focused on cool firearms and weapons grade humor, with a little personal commentary thrown in.
I have to get a few other pages up, and do some fine tuning here and there, but once those are all done, we’ll be ready to rock and roll!
But is still looks pretty good. Link to the site and instructions below
