I think a lot of people here are missing the point, partly because they see firearms enthusiasts as conservative or even reactionary (here speaking only of firearms). Well, it wasn't always so. As I mentioned in a previous post, at one time people were happy to see stainless steel and plastic showing up on firearms. And there are certainly plenty of people here happy with their Glocks and Armalite-type firearms. They weren't all that ground shaking, really, but it was progress of a sort. But go back another 60 or 70 years.
Magazine guns were all the rage. You could get one in one of those small calibers like a .38-40 or .44-40, or even one in .45-70 and similiar calibers. Then someone came along and developed a smokeless powder. Then someone thought of making a smaller bore and pushing that bullet out a little faster. In this country you got the .30 Government, now usually called the .30-40, and also the .30-30, formerly called the .30 WCF. It wasn't ground shaking but it was progress and it was turning the corner. Sure, some folks didn't think so and never saw the point.
There were reactionaries then, too. Those repeating rifles wasted ammuntion. So lets put a magazine cut-off on the next army rifle. It usually takes a little war or two, sometimes a big one, to get folks to change their mind. Folks in high places, that is. The guy in the trench is a little quicker to make up his mind.
Were any of these things produced by basement and garage tinkerers? Don't think so. Browning would probably bristle at being called that. Yes, now and then somebody like that comes up with something useful but he didn't invent the Glock or the Nylon 66.
And yes, Bach might recognize most of the instruments in a modern orchestra but I'd sure be interested in what he would thought of an electronic keyboard. But he never saw a Sousaphone. I wonder what he thought of banjos, too.
In recalling lots of posts here, I'd also have to wonder why it is so difficult to manufacture a good pistol magazine.
Magazine guns were all the rage. You could get one in one of those small calibers like a .38-40 or .44-40, or even one in .45-70 and similiar calibers. Then someone came along and developed a smokeless powder. Then someone thought of making a smaller bore and pushing that bullet out a little faster. In this country you got the .30 Government, now usually called the .30-40, and also the .30-30, formerly called the .30 WCF. It wasn't ground shaking but it was progress and it was turning the corner. Sure, some folks didn't think so and never saw the point.
There were reactionaries then, too. Those repeating rifles wasted ammuntion. So lets put a magazine cut-off on the next army rifle. It usually takes a little war or two, sometimes a big one, to get folks to change their mind. Folks in high places, that is. The guy in the trench is a little quicker to make up his mind.
Were any of these things produced by basement and garage tinkerers? Don't think so. Browning would probably bristle at being called that. Yes, now and then somebody like that comes up with something useful but he didn't invent the Glock or the Nylon 66.
And yes, Bach might recognize most of the instruments in a modern orchestra but I'd sure be interested in what he would thought of an electronic keyboard. But he never saw a Sousaphone. I wonder what he thought of banjos, too.
In recalling lots of posts here, I'd also have to wonder why it is so difficult to manufacture a good pistol magazine.