The News
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While reading an article in Guns and Ammo about the Sons of Guns shotgun gatling episode, I noticed a lot of negative comments about the gun they built. The original gatling concept was abandoned when their design exploded, but the resulting inclusion of 3 Saiga shotguns in a rotating mount seems to some people to be a copout.
Be that as it may, the resulting gun may not be very useful for anything, but that isn't the point. These guys are making something, and they are using their hands, brains and wits to make it. Most of us are just consumers, we watch what others have filmed, and use stuff that other people have made, but it is liberating to take the helm of some technology and steer it your own way.
Some caution is advised here, so don't run out and start cranking out machine guns. Homemade guns are pretty unforgiving on areas of your body that are behind them, like your face. There is plenty to learn before you start hammering out big guns. That said, all the information in the world is about free now, so start reading, get your grinders and files out and go to work.
There is a pretty good video on YouTube showing the Saiga gun in action, if you can stand the commercials...
Some other links...
The MultiMachine, open source machine tools
And a little background on how guns are made...
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I'm just a working stiff, like most people, but I can afford to collect an old British gun or two. If I had a bit more money, I'd probably get a few Morgans, (at least one JAP engined 3-wheeler) and Jaguars, but if I was one of the co-founders of Google, I'd be getting a Spitfire. And not just any Spitfire, but an early Griffon engined hotrod built by Historic Flying Ltd. Those guys put them together like they just rolled off the factory floor in 1941, ready to turn back the hun.
One of the planes they just recently finished was an early 1940 built Spit whose pilot lasted just 55 minutes into his war till he was shot down over Calais and captured. The plane languished there, a backdrop to German picture takers, till it was buried by sand and surf. It popped back up in the 80's, and before the Duxford boys got to it, it was ripped apart by souvenir hunters, with at least 3 of the guns ripped out of the wings. There is a great article on this plane and it's history on the Telegraph, including a video of it up and flying. There is also a short history of the company on UK Warbirds.
Historic Flying has several spits for sale right now, and (at probably 1.25 million apiece) will deliver it and set it up, get it certified, and even get you trained to fly it. If you keep it in the UK, you can even get them to take care of it for you. If only I owned Google....