The Gun thread

I think I'm going to buy an FN Fal receiver here in the next week. I want to make sure and get one before they are legislated into oblivion. I need a battle rifle in my life. So outside of the receiver, what do you need to buy? I probably will hold off on building it until next summer.
 
You need a parts kit to put it together - but PM me. I just came across one of my ideal weapons (an Israeli/Belgian heavy barrel FAL in LSW configuration) and my FAL may be up for sale cheap.
 
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Crossed another one off my immediate purchase list - the Rem 700. Instead of the PSS, I got the VTR - still in .308/7.62 NATO.

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I have never heard of this particular model, but it looks GREAT.
 
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Crossed another one off my immediate purchase list - the Rem 700. Instead of the PSS, I got the VTR - still in .308/7.62 NATO.
I was just looking at one of those yesterday (a .223 variant). Eventually I'm going to want a better bolt-action than my ancient Mauser. Finding ammo for it is a bitch and the scope would be nice. But that will be a little way down the road. I might just settle for a SKS instead.

Anyway, do any of you guys know anything about the Bersa .380 pistol? I borrowed one yesterday and it was fun shooting for such a small pistol. My friend only bought it because it was cheap/concealable and didn't know much about i beyond that. :rolleyes:
 
I was just looking at one of those yesterday (a .223 variant). Eventually I'm going to want a better bolt-action than my ancient Mauser. Finding ammo for it is a bitch and the scope would be nice. But that will be a little way down the road. I might just settle for a SKS instead.

Anyway, do any of you guys know anything about the Bersa .380 pistol? I borrowed one yesterday and it was fun shooting for such a small pistol. My friend only bought it because it was cheap/concealable and didn't know much about i beyond that. :rolleyes:

The Bersa Thunder .380 is basically a copy (with some modernizations and modifications) of the Walther PPK/S. It is well regarded, with some reviewers stating that it is actually better made than some of the actual Walthers of recent manufacture. It isn't a first-line pistol, not being as well made as the Glocks, Sigs and Springfields, for example - but it is of more than acceptable quality and at an excellent price. The Argentinans make some solid, quality guns.. can't think of one they've made that came to the US that was crap, actually. (Please note that while they are of the same form factor and size as well as general operating system, almost no parts interchange between the PPK/S and the Thunder.)

My comments above about the pocket pistol class and laser sights also apply to the Bersa - though it is larger than the Kel-Tecs and the sights are slightly better, they're still not what anyone would describe as "good". More importantly, the front sight is damn near impossible to replace without the aid of a machine shop - even if there were aftermarket iron sights, which there aren't. Crimson Trace makes replacement grips that incorporate a laser, which I recommend for small pistols. Not cheap, but IMHO priceless for engaging outside the Tueller radius (7 yards/meters).

The Bersa guys have their own forum at www.bersatalk.com if you have more questions.

As for the Mauser - you might want to trade for an FR8 or Israeli Mauser. Mauser 98 actions are great (the Rem 700 itself is a modernized Mauser 98 action, essentially), and the Spanish FR8 and the Israeli Mausers came in the very common .308 Win/7.62 NATO. Or you could have your Mauser converted to fire .308, which is also a common conversion.


Nice! Thats #1 on my gun bucket list. How much did that set you back?

$600 with rings, 20 rounds of ammo, case and Harris bipod.

Buying that is why my L1A1 FAL might be up for sale soon - I've tracked down a FALO, the heavy barrel/light support weapon configuration of the FAL that the Israelis used as semi-auto sniping weapons (with great success) until they could afford to buy/build something better. Call it a Western version of the Dragunov only unlike the Drag it can double as a squad weapon and you more or less have the idea. This one's semi-auto only, of course, but still - a very fearsome FAL. Perfect for sniping the feral hogs infesting my friend's South Texas ranch. :D

Edit: This is what an Israeli FALO looks like:
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The Bersa Thunder .380 is basically a copy (with some modernizations and modifications) of the Walther PPK/S. It is well regarded, with some reviewers stating that it is actually better made than some of the actual Walthers of recent manufacture. It isn't a first-line pistol, not being as well made as the Glocks, Sigs and Springfields, for example - but it is of more than acceptable quality and at an excellent price. The Argentinans make some solid, quality guns.. can't think of one they've made that came to the US that was crap, actually.



As for the Mauser - you might want to trade for an FR8 or Israeli Mauser. Mauser 98 actions are great (the Rem 700 itself is a modernized Mauser 98 action, essentially), and the Spanish FR8 and the Israeli Mausers came in the very common .308 Win/7.62 NATO. Or you could have your Mauser converted to fire .308, which is also a common conversion.
Thanks man. That little Bersa is sounding better and better.

The Mauser I've got is staying as-is and not for sale, mostly for sentimental reasons (ffs, my great-granddad bought it for my granddad). Plus other than being painful to shoot it works wonderfully.

If I find a cheap FR8 I'll definitely pick it up. On rechambering to 7.62 NATO: a few sites commented that the earlier models (like mine) have a tendency to do pretty nasty things if you try to run some of the more powerful rounds through them. I think they were mostly concerned about hotter .308 ammo, not stuff like surplus NATO rounds.

Oh yeah, that FAL looks like a great gun. I've never seen one with a heavy barrel like that. How difficult/expensive is it to get something like that here?
 
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Thanks man. That little Bersa is sounding better and better.

The Mauser I've got is staying as-is and not for sale, mostly for sentimental reasons (ffs, my great-granddad bought it for my granddad). Plus other than being painful to shoot it works wonderfully.

If I find a cheap FR8 I'll definitely pick it up. On rechambering to 7.62 NATO: a few sites commented that the earlier models (like mine) have a tendency to do pretty nasty things if you try to run some of the more powerful rounds through them. I think they were mostly concerned about hotter .308 ammo, not stuff like surplus NATO rounds.

Oh yeah, that FAL looks like a great gun. I've never seen one with a heavy barrel like that. How difficult/expensive is it to get something like that here?

Well, most of those run $1200-2500 or so for a FALO (which is the heavy barrel FAL configured as a squad support weapon albeit semi-auto only for US sale) kit built on a US-legal receiver. You can also get a new-manufacture (as opposed to surplus weapons rebuilt into US-compliant guns) 'regular' heavy barrel FAL from DS Arms for about $1000 to start. FALOs are rather unusual and uncommon, but even so there's quite a few of them running around in the US. Most people that have them want to hang on to them for some reason, though....
 
Reminds me of a more modern BAR.

Very awesome looking though. I'm sure many hogs will be at the receiving end of some 7.62 very soon :mrgreen:

In Israeli service, it served alongside and supplanted the BAR (along with other guns) as it fills the same role.

And yes... anyone want some 'free-range bacon'? :D
 
(...) but getting a firearm licence in Germany is very difficult and expensive, and even then you're quite limited. (...)

I can think of a reason why.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm quite interested in weapons myself, especially WW2 era rifles and machine guns, but the reason for privately owning such things escapes me somewhat.
 
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I can think of a reason why.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm quite interested in weapons myself, especially WW2 era rifles and machine guns, but the reason for privately owning such things escapes me somewhat.

I don't think discussing gun control was really the intent of this thread.
And from my experience gun control debates on the internet tend to go very wrong very quickly, so I'll just refrain from taking that issue further.
 
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I can think of a reason why.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm quite interested in weapons myself, especially WW2 era rifles and machine guns, but the reason for privately owning such things escapes me somewhat.

I don't think discussing gun control was really the intent of this thread.
And from my experience gun control debates on the internet tend to go very wrong very quickly, so I'll just refrain from taking that issue further.

Correct, gun control issues are not the subject of this thread. If you wish to discuss gun control issues, we have several threads that cover it over in the Political subforum. Please take it there.

This thread is about showing off and discussing the firearms owned by forum members, or that forum members are attempting to legally purchase.
 
A few good films for those who want to see some interesting firearms in action are the three Mummy films. The armorer for the films knew his stuff quite well and it must have taken quite a bit of work to gather such a diverse collection and put it to use.

http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Mummy,_The
Colt M1911A1
Winchester Model 1897
Mauser C96
Chamelot-Delvigne Model 1873
French Lebel Rifle
Colt New Service
Colt Single Action Army
Mauser Rifle
Lewis Machine Gun
Lee-Enfield SMLE
Webley Mk.V
Remington Model 95 Double Derringer
http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Mummy_Returns,_The
Winchester Model 1887
M1928 Thompson
Steyr-Solothurn S1-100
Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE)
M2 Flamethrower
Luger P08
Mauser C96
Lee Enfield Mk.I*
M1911A1
Smith & Wesson Military & Police
Smith & Wesson New Century Hand Ejector
Webley Mk.V
French Lebel 1886 Rifle
Lee-Metford Mk.II Hunter Carbine
http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Mummy:_Tomb_of_the_Dragon_Emperor,_The
Thompson M1928
PPS-43
PPSh 41
Remington Model 8
Norinco Type 54
SKS Rifle
Sten Mk.II
Bren Mk.1
Browning M1919
Winchester Model 1912
M1911
Browning Hi-Power
Walther P38
Smith & Wesson Military & Police
Smith & Wesson Mk.II Hand Ejector
Webley Mk. VI
Colt 1873 Single Action Army
Winchester Model 1897
Winchester Model 1887
Colt Detective Special
Winchester Model 1894
Type Zhongzheng rifle
Arisaka Type 99 rifle
M9 Bazooka
Mk.II grenade

Not all are correct for the periods that the films are set in of course but still, quite impressive.
 
Looks like I shall pick up my FALO on Tuesday, pics to follow.
 
BEHOLD!

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It's missing the insert/locking collar for the bipod, so it's not properly mounted as of yet. It's also missing the carry handle, but both of these problems are easily remedied.
 
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