The firearm thread

[Wolf]

Assistance required, please. I've located Chris's place on Google Maps - apparently, they do have maps out there - and I've figured that getting to it may pose some problems.

AFAIK, I can catch a bus to Auckland on New Year's Day - I could possibly even get off at or near Mercer or some such place closer to Chris's house than downtown Auckland.

I will, however, need some assistance getting from [wherever I land up that way] to Chris's place, so if anyone is able to help out in that regard, please let me know.

Also, if there's anyone heading towards North Shore on the 2nd, would it be possible for me to catch a lift in that direction?

Cheers.

Planning to book my ticket on Thursday and would like to know by that time where would be the best place to get off the bus.

[Mr Merde]

Best place to get off would be the bombay services. We can arrange a lift from there to here. its only about 10 min away.

Chris

[Indiana_Jones]

sweet as, if you do that then I'll take the car down so I can give you a lift up to the shore or I'll work something out with RM

-Indy

[Wolf]

Cheers for that, guys.

Looking forward to a great time - the start of my "week off".

[sAsLEX]

wtf they make the bullets out of? Lead?!

My .308 in its case is 18kg.

[The Pastor]

sweet as, if you do that then I'll take the car down so I can give you a lift up to the shore or I'll work something out with RM

-Indy

Im not going

[Wolf]

Im not going

That's a pity.

[Indiana_Jones]

Sweet as, I'll get in touch with you Wolf a little closer to the time

-Indy

[Wolf]

Sweet as, I'll get in touch with you Wolf a little closer to the time

-Indy

Cool as. Thanks.

[The Pastor]

Merry Christmas!

[jono035]

Forgot the damn bolt for my possum hunting rifle so my dad managed to scavenge an old .22 off one of our neighbours. It turned out to be a really rusty old open-bolt Gevarm, funnily enough.

Doesn't have a mag though, so I've managed to bash the hell out of the mag for my Stirling bolt action so that it'll fit, still doesn't quite feed perfectly because it's a different feed angle.

Neat little gun, slightly heavy trigger but really simple design and looks like it should keep working perfectly pretty much til the end of time.

I also didn't realise that they're takedown rifles, which means they're pretty much useless for use with a scope. Even with the mounting screws tightened up as much as I dare, it has enough movement in the barrel that the point of impact was shifting +/- 4" at 25m even as I was trying to zero the scope.

So, long eye relief scope mounted to the barrel or using a laser sight on a barrel clamp would be the way to go... Might see if the guy is willing to sell it, could be an amusing toy.

[jono035]

Bought a Venturini .22 rifle instead, which appears to be an Argentinian copy of the Gevarm A3/A6. These have a fixed barrel rather than being takedown rifles, so a bit more appropriate for anything I'm likely to use it for.

The lower receiver casting is broken around where the mag well is, but it's such a simple piece that I can repair it with a plate and some epoxy (similar to what my Stirling bolt-action needed, goddamn muck metal castings).

I quite like the idea for using it as a hunting/possuming gun. I'm not a big fan of relying on safeties, so the idea of being able to just drop the mag out and have the rifle be 100% safe is quite nice. It's a similar idea to the hold-open lever I was contemplating for the 10/22.

[scumdog]

Bought a Venturini .22 rifle instead, which appears to be an Argentinian copy of the Gevarm A3/A6. These have a fixed barrel rather than being takedown rifles, so a bit more appropriate for anything I'm likely to use it for.

The lower receiver casting is broken around where the mag well is, but it's such a simple piece that I can repair it with a plate and some epoxy (similar to what my Stirling bolt-action needed, goddamn muck metal castings).

I quite like the idea for using it as a hunting/possuming gun. I'm not a big fan of relying on safeties, so the idea of being able to just drop the mag out and have the rifle be 100% safe is quite nice. It's a similar idea to the hold-open lever I was contemplating for the 10/22.

It was a long time ago but a mate of mine had an Argentinian copy of a Gevarm and it stopped firing from time to time - turns out the 'firing-pin' had hammered a groove into the rear of the barrel hence the mis-fires.

So another mate FILED down the rear of the barrel to eliminate the 'groove'!

It might give you a clue as to the quality of material used to make the rifle.

And yes, the open-bolt system is very safe:
Bolt shut? - it won't fire
Bolt open? - you can see if there's (a) a magazine there, (b) if there's any ammo in it (c) if there's somehow a round in the breech.

CAUTION: Hypothetically if you had the bolt shut and a full magazine in place and slammed the butt down on a hard surface it COULD cause the bolt to fly back but not far enough to engage the sear, this would allow it to fly forwards, strip a round out of the mag, chamber it and fire it - who knows where!

Stens operate a similar system and it has happened with them to guys making parachute drops.

[Mr Merde]

SSANZ Newsletter December 2010.
A Tale of Two Accidents
The accidental fatal night-time shooting of trainee teacher Rosemary Ives by a hunter spotlighting round the Turangi D.oC campsite in late October is just one of a number of preventable accidental deaths that have occurred over the past couple of years.
The fact that Andrew Mears, the young family man who fired the fatal shot is both remorseful and responsible enough to accept blame for his actions reflects well on him. The fact he pleaded guilty to the upgraded (and very serious) charge of manslaughter and accepts that he will almost inevitably receive a jail sentence shows courage. Most importantly, because he is a productive member of society, no matter what sentence the court imposes he will impose a far greater sentence on himself through a lifetime of guilt, regret, sadness and shame for his split-second of carelessness and irresponsibility.
We also however need to look beyond the emotive headlines and vengeful comments on various blogs. We need to ask ourselves whether police and Crown Law upgraded the original charge of reckless use of a firearm to manslaughter because of perceived media pressure and public opinion at the time rather than for any good legal reason. If that is the case, then it suggests New Zealand no longer has a neutral police force that serves and respects the law but one willing to be selective in enforcing the law should this appear expedient,
To see whether this is true, let us compare the accidental shooting of Rosemary Ives at Turangi with the shooting of 17 year old courier driver Halatau Kianamanu Naitoko by an unidentified police officer in January 2009.
In this case, far from quickly accepting liability, police hierarchy (who had the true facts within hours) almost immediately started to muddy the waters in an attempt to deflect attention and blame away from their officers. Greg O’Connor of the Police Association, who would also have been informed of the true facts virtually immediately, went even further and claimed that "police were doing their job protecting the public”. Quite how he believes Mr Naitoko was “protected” is unclear.
So while Andrew Mears quickly pleaded guilty and his sentencing early in the New Year will bring closure of a sort to the family of Rosemary Ives, how have our police and justice systems performed for the family of Halatau Naitoko?
It took over a year (until February 2010) for the so called Independent Police Conduct Authority to complete their investigation into the shooting. It will not release its findings until December, probably timing the release to perfection for just before Christmas.
Meanwhile the Coroners inquest in Auckland is almost complete, having been delayed until after the IPCA had completed its investigation. Coroner Gordon Matenga reserved his findings at the inquest in Auckland Coroner's Court in March, because
the police evidence about the shooting raised many questions.(our italics) And in an unusual move, he asked former Inspector Neville Matthews to review police statements about the Halatau case and to report back to the Coroner's Court on December 20.
One conclusion that could be drawn from this is that police were either caught out misinforming the coroner or there were so many inconsistencies in the evidence presented by them that it rendered it unreliable.
In fact, Halatau’s mother was correct when she said that her son had done nothing wrong. She could not see it as an “accident” because her son was working, he had a right to be on the road and it was the actions of police that cost her son his life. What is also clear is that after hearing the evidence at the Coroner's inquest, Mr Naitoko's family want police held legally accountable.
The Naitoko family's lawyer is now on record as saying they are likely to sue police once the inquest into Mr Naitoko's death is complete. He said it was even possible the coroner conducting the inquest would recommend the officer who fired the fatal shot be prosecuted for manslaughter. He was also correct in pointing out that the fatal shooting was done by one of two members of the armed offenders squad who, he would have thought, would have been far more experienced. .
This is because firstly, there is a perfectly reasonable public expectation that armed police be properly trained and competent both in the safe use of firearms and in avoiding innocent loss of life.
Secondly, in a democracy the shooting of an innocent citizen by an armed police officer is the greatest transgression that police can commit. So whenever this happens, the facts need to be arrived at quickly in an open court because that is the minimum accountability required to maintain public confidence in both the police and the judiciary.
Thirdly, all firearms owners have to demonstrate they have learnt the Arms Code before being granted a firearms licence. Rule 4 is quite straightforward- “IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET. Never fire until you are absolutely certain.
There should be no difference between what police require of law abiding firearms licence holders and what they require of their own officers. In both the Turangi and NW motorway incidents the shooters failed (for whatever reason) to properly identify their target. Yet the same police force that very quickly charged Andrew Mears with careless use of a firearm and then manslaughter have for almost two years ignored the fact that their own officer was guilty of exactly the same error.In doing so they have ignored their strict obligation to enforce the law without fear or favour and have demeaned both the memory and the family of the young man their officer killed.
If Andrew Mears is sentenced to prison but the police officer who shot and killed 17 year old courier driver Halatau Naitoko escapes with nothing more than a blot on his service record, then the police will have escaped from effective legal accountability and become virtually above the law.
If the IPCA has indeed simply accepted the police (and Police Association lawyer’s) version of events and is simply waiting to release its report at a time when the media are least likely to pick up on its findings, then we are seeing a dangerous travesty of justice playing out before our eyes.
One of the fundamental legal and political/constitutional principles that defines and protects a free society and its citizens is the concept of “one law for all”. This must mean that no one individual or group, no matter how wealthy or influential, is above the law.
Who watches the watchers?

[jono035]

It was a long time ago but a mate of mine had an Argentinian copy of a Gevarm and it stopped firing from time to time - turns out the 'firing-pin' had hammered a groove into the rear of the barrel hence the mis-fires.

So another mate FILED down the rear of the barrel to eliminate the 'groove'!

It might give you a clue as to the quality of material used to make the rifle.

And yes, the open-bolt system is very safe:
Bolt shut? - it won't fire
Bolt open? - you can see if there's (a) a magazine there, (b) if there's any ammo in it (c) if there's somehow a round in the breech.

CAUTION: Hypothetically if you had the bolt shut and a full magazine in place and slammed the butt down on a hard surface it COULD cause the bolt to fly back but not far enough to engage the sear, this would allow it to fly forwards, strip a round out of the mag, chamber it and fire it - who knows where!

Stens operate a similar system and it has happened with them to guys making parachute drops.

Interesting... I'll make sure to take the mag out before parachuting then

Don't know about the quality of the materials but the receiver is a steel tube rather than the aluminium casting of the Gevarm I looked at means it should hold up a little bit better, hopefully. I'll definitely take a look at the barrel and see if it has worn a groove at all.

Still, it doesn't owe me much if it does crap out.