It’s been a good long time since we’ve done this here at RNS. So long, in fact, that it has rolled out of the main archives and currently resides in my harddrive.
I was reminded that we used to do this by Admiral Ahab at the WhatWouldJohnWayneDo blog when he posted one a couple weeks back.
In a nutshell, the premise is: What would you like to see the firearms industry produce in your perfect world?
One of mine actually came true! Someone is making a (relatively) inexpensive and very reliable clone of the HK-91.
I asked for it, and when someone made it, I bought it (The Hun Bastard); proof that I will buy what I ask for if they make it.
I’ll list a few of my wants here and you follow up with yours in the comments. If we get enough participation, I’ll put it in a permanent spot on the sidebar. Ahab went into calibers in his post, but I feel that there are quite enough calibers currently out there to choose from, so I won’t be. However, do feel free to leave your new ammo suggestions in the comments as well.
I’ll begin with my #1 from last time, since it is still my #1
#1: Wouldn’t it be neat if someone would please redesign the M35 Browning Hi Power to fire .45ACP and not change anything else!?!
I don’t care about the currently popular wave of Combat Tupperware on the market. I also don’t care that DA/SA and DAO guns are also currently very popular. If someone made an M35 in .45ACP, dealers wouldn’t be able to keep them in stock, even if they cost $1000 for a plain jane model. I’d buy two, even over the wife’s protests and I think that the proponents of the Plastic Fantastic guns would soon see the error of their ways when they wrapped their paws around a real pistol.
The pinnacle of JMB’s pistol designs shooting the most effective stopping power caliber available to concealable semi-auto pistols. Nuf said. (we’ll be discussing .40 and 10mm next week, I promise).
#2: Wouldn’t it be neat if someone other than Springfield Armory was building M1As (or at least quality manufactured and reasonably priced replacement parts)?
The only reason M1As cost what they do is because there is only one full-bore manufacturer and a couple of small ones. These rifles are not rocket science; you use the proper steel with the proper heat treatment, machine them to spec and assemble them. (And why do replacement parts have to be either wallet breaking due to scarcity or complete junk?)
#3: Same question goes to M1 Garands (but at least you can still get rebuilders/shooters from CMP).
Somebody buy up the Winchester name and equipment and start churning these things out by the thousands at under $1000 and I’ll buy five.
#4: Wouldn’t it be neat if you could buy a bolt action receiver, from say Remington, for less than the cost of an entire rifle?
Barak started out as a 700ADL rifle, bought new for $385 dollars. Last time I checked, Brownells wanted $400 for just a receiver and then I still have to pay someone to strip the trigger and bluing from it. Why can I not buy an “in the whiteâ€, triggerless, unbarrelled action for $250 to $300?
I know that it costs more than $85 to roll a barrel and screw it in and machine cut and finish or mold and finish a stock. So why isn’t Remington saving themselves some cash and gaining a few new customers by doing so?
#5: Same question as #3, but for Magnum caliber bolt actions (current minimum cost is approx. $695).
Like I said, I don’t really have any special ammo requirements; .22LR, .22-250, .25-06, .30-30, 7.62×51, .30-06, .300WinMag, .338Lapua and .50BMG are plenty for rifles, TYVM. And 22LR, .380ACP, 9mm, .38Special, .357Mag, .45ACP and .44Mag are plenty for handguns.
If we weren’t wasting time with new crap like the over-hyped Short Magnums (WTF kind of oxymoron is “short magnum” anyway?) we could be making more 7.62×51 (a mil-surp cartridge that currently costs over $0.50 a round. Again WTF!?!)
OK, now it is your turn.
A reliable semi auto carbine rifle in .45acp. I have a Marlin camp carbine but finding parts is a problem since they stopped making them. The conversion kits for a model 1911 do nothing for me, I want a rifle.Hi point has been rumored to be making a .45acp carbine but I can find nothing but gunboard rumors to confirm this.(double plus good if the rifle uses same mags as pistol)
Actual left-handed revolvers DA revolvers, with the cylinder release on the right and the cylinder swinging out the same direction. I’ll take two in .38 Spl (one snubby, one regular barrel length), one in .357 Mag with the 6″ barrel, and two in .45ACP (same requirements as the .38 Spl version).
Well, Charter Arms is kinda moving in this direction; they unveiled a lefty revolver at the SHOT show, but I think it was only in .38 Spl. In addition, I wasn’t pleased with the quality of the other Charter Arms piece I shot, so I’m suspicious of the quality of anything new they put out.
I’d like someone to make a new gun chambered for 9mm Largo – then I want Wolf to make a huge run of Largo ammo so I can shoot my Destroyer Carbine without crying.
What I’d really like is an affordable reproduction of a German MP-44. In a common caliber, maybe 7.62×39?
Also, a reliable, small and thin single stack .40S&W carry gun in DA/SA flavor with a nice trigger and good ergonomics.
BTW, you had mentioned below wanting a lifetime supply of mags for your PTR-91. Here ya go, act fact!
http://www.tapco.com/catalog.aspx?id=220
A Browning Hi-Power in .45ACP would be nice. There are a lot of makers out their that chamber for .45ACP and I would speculate that Browning may have looked at the market share they could expect and don’t think it would justify the expense of upsizing and re-tooling for a .45. They could be wrong.
I’ve got a Hi-Power in .40 Smith and it packs a good punch. A friend re-barrelled and configured his to a .357 Sig and got a good trigger job done on it as well. Very nice, I swear you can drive tacks with it.
I am with Thomas on this one: a reliable .45 ACP carbine. Hell, a revamped Thompson, made a little lighter by having synthetic furniture would rock. Also one that was able to shoot .45 Super or .460 Rowland. The extra velocity those rounds produce would be even better suited to a carbine length barrel than .45 ACP. With the right spring setup, you could have a carbine that shot both .45 Super and .45 ACP.
20 Rounds of .45 ACP or .45 Super out of a 16″ barrel? That sounds like good bear/goblin medicine to me.
A scaled up HiPower in 10mm? S&W to make the 1006 again? Bring back the Bren Ten, without the CZ lockwork?
Regards,
Somebody re-make the C-96 broomhandle: in .40 S&W and .45ACP and .30 Carbine and magazine-fed instead of just a stripper-clip.
1. Maybe this is goofy, but the Steyr Scout rifle (jeff cooper model) in 7.62 x 39, with a 15 rd mag. I don’t know whether it would be as accurate as the .308, but just play along with me. Or, along the same lines, a minimal weight sks (I swear I’m not a commie).
2. Ditto on the m35 .45
A Browning BPS style pistol-caliber carbine, in all the popular flavors. A modern break-top revolver in .357.
An American 180 in .223 would be neat, if not very useful.
Ditto a .45 semi auto carbine, something with high capacity mags. I got to shoot a Beretta Storm .45, I liked it, but you’re limited to 8 round mags, as I recall.
“S&W to make the 1006 again”
–Not a bad suggestion… course, I found a nearly brand new one for $300, so I’m set on that one. It came with half a box of 10mm+P ammo. I figure the guy shot half of it and said that was enough.
Although I’d love to have just about any of the guns y’all have mentioned, about the only thing I’d go out and buy right now (as opposed to putting it on the want list, and getting to it in time) is an inexpensive stripped bolt action. I’d really like a couple of savage actions (easier to install and headspace barrels) for some projects I’ve got in mind.
A .22 LR conversion kit for the 1911 that uses the same slide as the big cartridge. I would be willing to sacrifice some accuracy in order to have the same sight picture. It should also be cheaper, since the maker does not have to manufacture the slide.
A lever action whose magazine has a racetrack-shaped cross section, so that the shells can be staggered inside, allowing Spitzer bullets (and yes I’ve heard of the Hornady soft-pointed Spitzers, I forget the name). 30-06 would be nice, if they can preserve the slim receiver of Marlins and Winchesters.
One more set of dittos on the .45 Super/ACP carbine, but with (1) a double-stack 20-rd mag in front of the trigger guard and (2) some kind of locked breech setup, to reduce the weight of the bolt and the dirt left in the action due to straight blowback. I’d also like to see the same rifle available in .44 and .45 Mag.
New magazines, or a better supply of surplus, for the L1A1 FAL.
A wider supply of 1911s with short grips, 5-rd or 6-rd capacity, that also allow insertion of standard 7- or 8-round mags on the reload. 4″ barrels help concealability on one end, the same big butt does NOT help on the other end, HELLO?! Also, a factory-installed screw-adjustable rear sight.
20-ga shotgun loads in #4 or larger shot sizes, for home defense by 16-year-old girls who don’t want to handle 12-gauge.
I doubt you’ll see that .22 kit for your 1911. A slide that heavy probably wouldn’t move much. Especially if you didn’t change out the main spring. And, no mainspring change and you’ve got the originally specified, nearly square firing pin stop? Forget about it. The slide might not even move. You could, however, swap out the sights on the conversion slide. Probably cost a lot less than such a thing would, even if feasible. I’ve got a kimber .22 kit that works quite nicely, but the magazines have a tendancy to get gummed up over time. If they’re kept clean, they work pretty well.
-CZ-97 in 10mm. And I’d rather see S&W bring back the 1076 vice the 1006, unless they move to a frame mounted safety instead of the slide mounted one.
Cheap, but milspec M-14 and Garand.
Redesigned Mini-14 – to include a beefier barrel and gas piston.
I’d like to see reloading equipment bundled for sale. All this pick and choose, with a bazillion advocates for every different press and the other necessary pieces.
I want to be able to lay down my dollars, and take home a complete package ready to set up and use.
Anybody ever heard of an everything-in-the-box setup?
Rivrdog, The late and lamented Stilletto bought a bundled set of tools from, I believe, RCBS for around $250 a year plus ago.
Aughtsix wrote “I doubt you’ll see that .22 kit for your 1911. A slide that heavy probably wouldn’t move much. Especially if you didn’t change out the main spring. And, no mainspring change and you’ve got the originally specified, nearly square firing pin stop? Forget about it. The slide might not even move.”
That is conventional wisdom but isn’t correct. I recently patented a .22 conversion that does exactly what Morenuancedthanyou wants. The only original parts of a standard 1911 that it doesn’t use when installed is the barrel and magazine. It uses the original slide and spring. It functions semi-automatically,including last shot hold open. It still needs a bit of refinement in the accuracy and reliability department but it most definitely can be done. Whether it will ever get to market is a separate issue having more to do with finance than physics.
Dwight,
Very interesting… I stand corrected. You really use the standard spring? I’m really surprised that it’d work. Well done. And if you get one for sale, I’d be very interested in getting one.
A really decent .22lr revolver, 4″ barrel, full size frame along a K/L series line, for less than 4 bills and it needs to be dead nuts reliable, NEW.
Smith is just too damn high on their 617.
Number two; a good bolt .22 fed from a detach mag, carbine length that will shoot along the lines of the CZ 452, at a slightly more attractive price.
Some more competition on the M1/M14 front, as Phil has suggested would be nice, though I love my PTR just as much as he does.
Dwight, Congratulations on the development. I am looking forward to hearing more about that.