My Guns Over 40 Years of Shooting

The above, the Featured Image, doesn’t pertain to what I owned, save as is described herein. But it is a Size Comparison of three of the guns shown, and the image was found online.

They are:

Mosin Nagant, M1891 or 1891/30 On the Top

#1 Mk 3 Lee Enfield In the Middle

Mosin Nagant M-44 On the Bottom

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I do not currently own the semi-automatic guns following 

But wish I did 

#1. I no longer have them, unless otherwise specified, these images are online images of what I had, not my exact guns.

#2. I did not have all of them at the same time (except as described) because I sold them to buy others, I did have several at the same time. But boy it was fun over the years.

#3. I watched them closely, none of them tried to get out of the house to do things on their own. I really don’t believe that guns shoot people, guns are mechanisms that utilize a striking mechanism to ignite powder or release air or CO2 to exert force on projectile contained within the gun and force the projectile out to be propelled through the air. No conscious intent there.

#4. Also see #1 – I sold them; oh the angst, frustrated by the endless legislative attempts to get them; and started collecting old military rifles and classic style American firearms, which in itself is fun.

My current stuff is nothing special, to me it is, but worth? – the bolt action military guns were surplus, readily available and inexpensive. But they shoot well, are in great shape, and are part of history.

We should not have restrictions on the types of guns that can be owned by law abiding citizens. 1934 saw taxes and permits for fully automatics, barrel lengths imposed for other long guns, and prohibition on shoulder stocks for handguns, but they didn’t ban. Zoom ahead to 1986, and new fully automatics were banned, and we’ve been on a downhill slope since then.

#5. Of the guns I formerly owned: 

* All had 16″ Barrels or greater, all were semi-automatic only.
* Did I tell you that all had 16″ Barrels or greater, all were semi-automatic only?
* Did I tell you that I sold them all and started collecting military bolt actions?

Emphatically, I do not currently own the semi-automatic guns following, but wish I did.

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* I owned five AR-15s in one form or another, together, at one time, all Colts:

AR-15 SP-1 in .223/5.56 mm

My first Semi-Automatic Rifle. These are semi-automatic versions of the Vietnam War era AR-15s designated the M-16 in the versions the govt had.

AR-15 in 9mm

Mine was a Colt, it was manufactured that way, but I had a separate .223/5.56 mm Upper Receiver. There are 3 roll pins that held in the magazine inserts to adapt it to 9 mm. If you changed the complete upper receiver, and removed these pins with a punch, you could shoot .223/5.56 mm ammo in it. But repeated removal of the pins would ruin the lower receiver, so I sold the .223/5.56 mm upper receiver. This is a nice gun for defense. The 9 mm in a rifle should generate marginally higher velocities and power, but around homes, it will minimize the penetration. Wish I kept it.

AR-15 HBAR (Heavy Barrel) in .223/5.56 mm
It had a heavier barrel, thickness wise, nice for target shooting, competition.

And two others, one standard barrel, but looked like 3rd one, I can’t remember the configuration of the other. And oddly enough, I wonder if this wasn’t mine, I had this identical case? Weird. 

Ruger Mini 14 in .223 (I had two of these, over the years, fine Gun. Both were Blued Finish and Wood Stocks). This is a serious gun for anyone interested in Military Styled Semi-Automatic Weapons. Things are more straightforward than AR-15s, and they are performers. 

AK-47 in 7.62×39
Milled and Stamped versions of the following, one was thumb hole stocked. Milled was a solid block of steel that is machined to create the receiver. Stamped is a flat sheet of steel bent into the receiver shape, much cheaper to do, a very common form. The image shown is a Stamped Receiver.

Thompson in .45 ACP
Mine had a stick magazine only but it also took a drum. The military had a version that only took Stick Magazines.

Uzi in 9 mm
Made by Israeli Military Industries. I wish I had it still, but with the 16″ barrel, people were constantly asking if it was a .22, it wasn’t. Rifles must have 16″ or greater in length barrels, shotguns 18″ in length or greater. Although the barrel is removable, and a shorter barrel would work, in the U.S. you need a Short Barreled Rifle Registration with shorter barrels, see the link below:

Short Barreled Rifle Registration Requirements. I had no Short Barrel Rifles, or Shoulder Stocked Pistols, EVER! This is included to demonstrate why the Long Barrel MUST ONLY BE USED on the Uzi, else you’d have a Short Barreled Rifle.

Did I mention I had no Short Barreled Rifles or Shoulder Stocked Pistols, EVER?

SKS Rifle in 7.62×39, As shown, only 1 though, this is a Left and Right View.

#6. My guns never even expressed a desire to hurt someone, they were well behaved, but expensive to feed. I had them at a time when they were less common, and a few people at the range, at that time, gave me dirty looks and comments, but today, they are the usual weapons people have.

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Sold all the above, then eventually moved on to:

Did I tell you I sold all the above?

Why am I repeating things?

So some enforcement agency can’t say “Oh, we must have missed that part”.

• British

#1 Mk 3 Lee Enfield (Alas, I sold them, I had two of these).

#4 Mk 1 Lee Enfield (I had 2 of these, sold one, still have one).

• German

1888 Commission Rifle (Left/Right Views, I had one and I sold it, never fired it).

• 98K (Right/Left Views. I had one, I sold it, too much recoil).

• Swiss

Schmidt Rubin Straight Pull Bolt Action Rifle, Never Fired it, I had no Ammunition, I sold it. 

• Russian

Mosin Nagants

#1 Russian 1891/30 (Left/Right Views, Owned one but I sold it).

#2 Russian M-44 (I own one, the one I have is colored as above rifle, and Russian made).

French

MAS 36 (Never fired it, didn’t have ammunition, I sold it).

U.S.

M-1917 Enfield aka Pattern 17

I had one, for a short period of time. Turned out it was stolen, I returned it to the gun store where I bought it, money refunded, and refunded for the money I paid for minor gunsmithing work. This style gun was used by Sargent York, of historical note, not the 1903 Springfield usually depicted in movies. This is a gun, hefty, 30’06. Nice! 

Bolt action military guns, fun to collect, all of my military bolt actions were inexpensive. The Swiss one I paid $75 for it, I didn’t even look at it, but the dealer didn’t want to pack it up to go home, and he blurted out that price. I never fired it, I didn’t have ammunition, but it was in very good condition.

I sold the German 98K while I still had the others, it was an abusive recoil.

The .303 #4 Mk 1 Lee Enfield and 7.62x54R M44 are my favorite Bolt Actions.

Please ask questions, I’m more than happy to reply.