IGX

DARTH wrote:

Blaidd Drwg wrote:Ever laid hands on a Helwan? Clone of a Beretta M 1951 Brigadier, I think.



Friend carried one, was a remarkbly sound piece though it looked like the grips were made of bakelite from the 1930's. Shot well, consumed all manner of shit ammo and you wouldn't think twice about using it as a hammer.

Back in the early 90's Helwan made an AK alot of the AK aficianados liked alot.

Never heard of the Helwan. It doesn't surprise me though that the Egyptians designed and manufactured their own side arm. The Egyptians are big on locally producing goods for their economy. The Egyptian Army makes stoves and freezers. Definately a command economy.

From a search of the gun boards I frequent, it looks like the military surplus models with Arabic script and numbers are the ones to own. Lot's of complaints about the variant that was produced for commercial import into the USA. Seems like the commercial version is shit. Lots of fans of the military version.

Egyptian AKs where and are still popular because they were produced with and on Russian machinery given to the Egyptians. Back in the 1980s & 1990s, before you could get your hands on a Russian made AK, an AK made with a Egyptian kit was considered close to having a Russian made AK. Plus, the Arabic script was different and neat for a lot of collectors.

They are still popular today, but the new imported kits don't have origianl barrels. I have owned and sold a couple of Egyptian AK kits and they are very solid. However, the Machining is rough and not as nice as the Russian AKs. The Polish, German, and Chinese made or make the best AKs.

The AK models to look for are any of the duffle bag imports from the Iraq war. Lots of collectors loves the variants and the look of the Iraqui made models. The Trabuk, a 7.62 x 39 designated rifleman version, being the most popular. Next would be an authentic Khyber pass stuff. Kind of hard to verify, since anything coming into the USA is almost always a quasi illegal import via a service member. If the are smart they chop up the receiver and maybe the barrel to avoid customs and BATF entanglements.

Batboy2/75 wrote:Try teaching her proper handgun machanics before you run out and buy a wheal gun.

Just a follow-up on this- I spent some time looking at proper racking technique and did get her to dependably rack the slide with a simultaneous push/pull motion close-in. Gonna stick with semi-auto as I had a brainwave and realized that the best way to have her enthusiastic about shooting is going to be to get her a Walther PPK. Silly as it seems, she's a complete Bond fangirl (Connery era in particular) and has already admitted this is probably a successful ploy. Gonna keep my eye out for a used one. In .32 it wouldn't kick that much either, so might not be too hard for her to learn on.

Schlegel wrote:

Batboy2/75 wrote:Try teaching her proper handgun machanics before you run out and buy a wheal gun.

Just a follow-up on this- I spent some time looking at proper racking technique and did get her to dependably rack the slide with a simultaneous push/pull motion close-in. Gonna stick with semi-auto as I had a brainwave and realized that the best way to have her enthusiastic about shooting is going to be to get her a Walther PPK. Silly as it seems, she's a complete Bond fangirl (Connery era in particular) and has already admitted this is probably a successful ploy. Gonna keep my eye out for a used one. In .32 it wouldn't kick that much either, so might not be too hard for her to learn on.

Bro, do her a favor and get the .380ACP in case she ever has to use it on a human. No one want to stand in front of it but that's a shit round. 380 is not that bad and it's not going to be shit of a kick.

I do like PPK's.

When I discussed the 2 calibers with her she admitted she might require the .380 as that is the "correct " caliber. Blued, of course.

Schlegel wrote:When I discussed the 2 calibers with her she admitted she might require the .380 as that is the "correct " caliber. Blued, of course.

In the early movies I know he used the .32 but i think he went to 380acp eventually.

Blued unless she's into the Equalizer too and he used a stainless PPKs in .380ACP.

They are a nice little gun. Hand chewer sometimes but they shoot pretty true and are easy to conceal. SAS slang for them used to be "Disco gun" because you could slip oe in your pants and no one would know you had it.

A gun of similar dimensions to the PPK is the single stack Makarov. As I mentioned above it's one of my EDC's. It is small and not quite up to full snot but I'm decent with it and it's cheap enough that if it were to disappear, I wouldn't feel too terribly bad.



I preferred a revolver but there's a good deal of value there in either 9x18 or .380.

In the books, Bond preferred the .25, and bitched about having to move up to the .32.

Blaidd Drwg wrote:A gun of similar dimensions to the PPK is the single stack Makarov. As I mentioned above it's one of my EDC's. It is small and not quite up to full snot but I'm decent with it and it's cheap enough that if it were to disappear, I wouldn't feel too terribly bad.



I preferred a revolver but there's a good deal of value there in either 9x18 or .380.

I almost got one instead of the Arcus. I still can't find 9x19 for sale, but could get stacks of Mak 9mm.

johno wrote:In the books, Bond preferred the .25, and bitched about having to move up to the .32.

Yeah, they show that in Dr.No, although apparently the prop used is a Beretta in 380, and then the Walther he's handed is not actually a PPK, but a PP, and in 380 as well, to boot. There's another scene where it magically becomes a Browning for one shot.

Darth, I thought I'd have to wait and take what caliber I could get given the current barren store inventories on line, but I happened to stop by a local shop today, and they had a blued PPK/s in 380 on consignment- preowned, yes, but obviously unused and uncarried. Basically NOS at a discount. I picked it up and it will be a wedding anniversary present. If it proves fun maybe I'll get a stainless one for me as a small carry gun.

Oh, and to get back on topic- I've found out that all the internals of the Arcus are interchangeable with Browning parts, it's just the frame and slide length differ. This is not true of the Arcus 98DA, the next gen. it has a DA initial pull, 15 round mag, and fewer parts match Browning.

Schlegel wrote: I still can't find 9x19 for sale, but could get stacks of Mak 9mm.

My last two orders of practice ammo have been from Freedom Munitions. The ammo is a little dirty and it might not come in trays, but I haven't had a problem with it yet.

I've got 3k of Freedom 9mm left - 2k of their Blaster training 115gr and 1k of the 147gr.

I was surprised that even the Blaster came in boxes and styrofoam trays, but I got that order in the day after Newtown, before shit really went nuts.

I ordered 45 from them before Newtown and still didn't get trays. I think they pack the ammo in whatever they have lying around at the time you place the order.

I hope you all are getting your anger management classes.

Turdacious wrote:I hope you all are getting your anger management classes.

That would piss me off.