What's Your Opinion? Firearms or Not?

[Canibul]

maybe I missed a post, but was curious as to whether anyone had any experience with the rifled inserts for the flare pistols? .38 bullets are easy to hide, non-ferrous, and easy to drop overboard. A piece of pipe could be easily hidden in plain view...maybe with a couple paper roses stuck in it.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Fishspearit

" Interesting thread. I have learnt one thing, don't approach an American Boat - unless armed with a Bazooka! "

Yes! That's the way I like it. Let that flag hanging off of the back serve as notice, if your a friend you're welcome anytime; if you're looking to rob and pillage, you better move along and find another boat because I'm probably armed and dangerous.

I will try and remember that...........

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by Fishspearit

Yes! That's the way I like it. Let that flag hanging off of the back serve as notice, if your a friend you're welcome anytime; if you're looking to rob and pillage, you better move along and find another boat because I'm probably armed and dangerous.

Reminds me of the old Mad Magazine routine with the two auto burglers
walking down the street.
Burgler one: I love these new street lamps.
Burgler two: Yea now you know which cars have luggage in them.

or

Pirate One: Look and American yacht and the dingy is gone.
Pirate Two: Let's steel their guns.
Pirate One: But what about the European boat?
Pirate Two: Wine is cheap. Go for the guns.

[ssullivan]

Since this thread is up near the top of things again... I just want to restate that I would *never* take guns to another country. They are solely for protection in my own.

[hellosailor]

Gord-
"Most modern societies operate under the principle of “proportionate punishment”, ". Nice concept, but many societies, and many miscreants, mistake that Christian Cheek-turning and Forgiveness as simple weakness. Which, from their point of view, it simply is.

I think proportionate ideas are very nice, but believe that there are times when you need to remember the meaning of "deadline" too. A deadline literally was a line drawn in the sand. Step over it, and you would be killed. Simple terms, cross the line and die, the reason you crossed won't matter.

In a world full of miscreants and apparently heading downhill on greased skids, one can also think of this as triage. If you're sure you can "save" someone, reform them, bring them back into society as a productive member, by all means, share the secret. I see a lot of crime and criminals as being a waste of limited resources, I'd rather triage them as "gonna die anyway don't waste any resources on them" and spend the resources on someone that *can* be helped.

I'll scratch any stray dog that comes over and asks. But...when you meet a rabid dog, you put it down. Period. Seems to be too much tolerance for rabid dogs these days, especially the 2-legged ones.

Canibul-
"That probably means you are outgunned," Could well be. But most bullies are also cowards, and as pretty much every prison interview has shown, aside from the real sickos, criminals don't want to get hurt, they want to use overwhelming force. Show 'em you're a hard target, and they're usually smart enough to run off and find a softer one. that, of course, has to be a judgement call in the exact case. And the unarmed slave simply has no options to make that call--he can only surrender and hope for mercy. From the sickos, sure. Legal ramifications & foreign systems? Yeah, they have to be considered as well.

I know someone who was on a delivery cruise up the ICW. (Ex-navy, an officer & gentlemen.) A boat hailed them for aid claiming to be totally disabled. They said sure, we'll help you, strip and swim over. And the crew brought up a 12-gauge because things just didn't smell right. Funny thing, the "totally disabled" vessel fired right up and motored away at great speed. Wanna guess what those "disabled" fellows had in mind? No shots fired, no shots needed. Just the *sight* of arms sent the bad guys running.

Sean, what you want in the US of A is just a good old fashioned hand-cranked gatling gun. Since they are hand-cranked, they are *not* automatic or semiautomatic weapons, they are considered single-fire and regulated the same was as a bolt-action rifle. But they can sure as heck make dotted lines in nearby objects.<G>

[cat man do]

Hello sailor , where are you based and where can I get me a "Gatlin gun"

Sean, you need to cash in your chips and sail down to Oz. Not quite so many nutters down here, but no gun's either. Not sure if that's a good idea or not.

Dave

[44'cruisingcat]

A gun might be a good idea in your own waters, but not if your'e visiting foreign places. You will have to declare it on entry, and it will most likely be taken away by the authorities untill you are leaving, so it won't be any good to you. The alternative is not to declare it, which could land you in a foreign jail.

As you said catmando, come to Oz, you won't need a gun here. (well maybe for the crocs)

[hellosailor]

Catman-
I don't sell guns, you may have to hunt around some to find someone selling Gatling guns, new or antique. Your local Missile-R-Us store, or Civil War/Western re-enactors club might have them.
Of course, the nice thing about hundred+ year old technology, is that any local machine shop can put one together for you, the patents have long run out and are publicly available.<G> Heck, they used to sell the plans in the back of COMIC BOOKS!
Just remember, if the brass falls overboard that's a MARPOL violation.<G>

[Tspringer]

I think hellosailer is talking about some of the hand crank trigger mechanism systems that can be fitted to semi-auto magazine fed rifles such as the Ruger 10-22 or Mini-14. These basically allow you to turn a crank that operates the trigger far faster than a finger can, in effect turning the gun into an automatic weapon through mechanical means rather than through typical gas operation and thus circumventing the legal restriction. Such systems will provide a rapid rate of fire but to say accuracy suffers is an extreme understatement. Plus, you can measure barrel life in seconds with such contraptions!

A Gatling gun has multiple barrels.... impractical as a hand held or hand operated weapon despite what the movies like to portray. They are electrically operated, extremely heavy and a single person could carry the weapon and enough ammo for perhaps 10 seconds of firing.... if he is a huge body builder type.

I think a gun on board is a great idea..... Except that it would seem to make cruising to foreign nations a huge PITA. Just not worth dealing with all the customs and legal hassles.

Besides, there are other options. How about a really good sword? Various pepper sprays and such? How about keeping some ready to go pipe-bombs ready to toss into a bad guys boat as he pulls alongside? How about an alarm system with an EXTREMELY loud bullhorn device to drive the baddie away and alert others? A tazer device would seem a decent option, then you may even be able to capture the bad guy. (?take him out to sea... tie a cinder block....)

I would prefer a shotgun to all the above or anything else, but from everything I have read and understood the actual risks are just too low to warrant the hassles.



Terry

[cat man do]

Begone you evil pirate or i'll wave my sword at you, yaarrgh!!

Sound a bit like the English cop's, "Stop or i'll say Stop again"

Those electric Gatlin guns for some strange reason are called "Mini Guns" I think you'll find, like Big Arnie has in Terminator.

The manual ones are like John Wayne had in "War Wagon" I think.

Hard to have guns in OZ, and at over a dollar a bullet, the gatlin gun would keep me poor. Couldn't help crankin a few rounds through every day.

But if I really had to have one, a nice s/s shotty thanks.

Dave

[sluissa]

Has anyone ever considered simply investing in some martial arts lessons? There are styles dedicated to confined spaces. And I don't believe, but I could be wrong, that anyone has ever had to declare their hands and lock them in a sealed locker in a foreign port.

[cat man do]

I think your average AK47 or Machete weilding pirate would have a bit of a laugh if I started doing Bruce Lee impersinations in the cockpit, while not exactly being a gun lover, I reckon the idea is to not let 'em on in the first place. Don't have any solutions for this though.

Interesting show on ABC Brisbane a couple of nights ago, Pamela Stevenson [Billie Connolly's wife] is on a sailng adventure on her own boat, 120 odd foot motorsailer.

They showed her and the crew loading up with a variety of pistols and machine guns, and wearing full body armour enclosed in lifejackets.

Look like there of to war. Look out poor fisherman coming over to say g'day, they might be shooting you a new one.

They are leaving Cairn's and sailing up through Mallaca straights and would make a nice target.

Dave

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by cat man do

I reckon the idea is to not let 'em on in the first place.

That's it, Dave! Seriously. This is where people should be focusing attention when traveling outside your home countries. How can you keep someone off your boat to begin with, if they are not welcome guests. It would be nice to do from a distance.

[hellosailor]

Terry-
"I think hellosailer is talking about some of the hand crank trigger mechanism systems that can be fitted to semi-auto magazine fed rifles"
No, I isn't. I'm talking about a Gatling Gun.

"They are electrically operated, extremely heavy and a single person could carry the weapon and enough ammo for perhaps 10 seconds of firing.... if he is a huge body builder type. "
And no, it isn't. Gatling Guns refer to a wide variety of weapons. An electrically operated Gatling Gun, such as used on military helos, is usually called a "chain gun" because of the drive chain and power source used with it. A traditional Gatling Gun is in fact hand cranked, mounted on a tripod, and operated by one man. The originals were what we would call today "small caliber" not at all the same thing as the mechanically powered military models used today.

A traditional Gatling Gun is not a kludge job or a trigger modification, it is an "obsolete" and "historical" antique weapon that still does what it was designed to do. Not cost effective against modern automatic weapons...at least, not in the one-man size. OTOH:

The world's most powerful Gatling Gun actually flies, the USAF's A-10 "Warthog" is actually wrapped around a 30mm (not caliber) Gatling Gun that generates so much recoil, it can actually stall out the aircraft against the full power of the jet engine.
Not quite what Dr. Gatling originally had in mind, and not something that The Guvernator or Rambo could carry, either.<G>

I can't say how which country will regulate it, but here in the US? It is still regulated as a single-fire rifle, manually operated, same as any bolt-action rifle, no tax stamp ("machine gun license") needed because it is NOT automatic. Still's gonna upset anyone who sees it mounted on a pole, but the sight of arms tends to do that to some people anyhow.

What scares me is seeing a USCG or other patrol boat in an urban harbor, with the machine guns uncovered and manned. The phrase "extreme collateral damage" comes to mind, those weapons will put 600 rounds per minute down a two-three mile range. Given that my local PD usually misses their targets with 90-95% of their shots...You know where the rest wind up.

[cat man do]

And heres a pic of the new style of gatlin gun, and of course the long range favourite, the Barrett 50 cal. Bang Bang