Milsurp After Hours

thats pants thought i wouldnt be. suppose if you got a rifle with a dead barrel and kept the barrel over 12'' you could have one made lol pos maybe probs not

Vern, one of the things I have learned over the last 40 or so years is to never say

nobody is that stupid

Examples of such "Cut down" Muskets, rifles etc to virtually "Pistol-length" have existed since Flintlock days.

I have a Museum example of a 1795 Springfield Flintlock (USA) Musket, cut down with a File sometime during the Australian Gold rush era ( 1850s-60s)...the cuts on the barrel muzzle are obvious...and in two distinct bands...lools like he changed files halfway.

Ned Kelly, infamous Victorian Bushwacker, Murderer, Thief and bully-boy, used a cut-down Enfield P58 Musket as a "Horse Pistol" ( besides Colt "cap and Ball" revolvers)

Combatants in the Boer War used cut-down shotguns and even rifles whilst on Horseback; and during the Great War, Tunnelers ( Engineers) made up "shorty' SMLEs ( example in Museum in USA and also AWM) for use when "Mining" beneath German Lines...we made up Two working "Tunneler's specials" for the Film "Beneath Hill 60" copied from photos of the originals...I wonder what the regimental armourer would have said...but then, he probably did the work. Similarly, some rifles were "shortied" for trench raids. All, of course, reverted (rebuilt) to their original condition at War's end, or were destroyed.

Similar cut-downs were used in the Russian front in WW II, as well as other "partisan" areas...a sample of a cut-down SMLE has come back from the Malaysia Communist Insurgence, and similar articles have shown up in Vietnam's various Museums, from the SVN conflict. The key To "originality" is the complete lack of any professional care in doing the cut-down...usually a saw, rasp and file/hacksaw...No or rudimentary sights, lack of barrel bands, and even the Muzzle is usually not "square".

IN fact, of all the above examples, the "Tunneler's Special" is the most professionally done ( by an Armourer in a Field depot)

IN total, a truely "Backyard, Bubba Job."

The nice photo of a M91/30 shown is either a Photoshop, or a carefully-crafted workshop "Bubba" ( ie, Fake).

Would look nice in some "Fantasy/Sci-Fi Movie"...Like the smoke discharger SMLEs used by the Dwarf aliens on "Star Wars"..

Regards, Doc AV
AV Ballistics Film Ordnance Services

Yes, but owning the pistol would give you a reason to buy the Sportsman's Guide parts kit listed in the "I saw this and couldn't believe it" post.