Mechanical Permanence
The terrific combat reporter C. J. Chivers, who has written what looks like a great syncretic narrative of the Kalashnikov rifle, maintains a blog where he posts notes and marginalia from both his book and his embedded reporting. In one of his posts, Chivers shares a snapshot of the receiver of a rifle bearing a 1954 factory stamp:
What makes that interesting? This particular rifle was more than a half-century old that day I made this picture, and it was not in a reserve armory or a museum. It was still in active use, and was carried on this day, a few years ago, by an Afghan soldier on a joint Afghan-American patrol in Ghazni Province. Can you think of tools that last this long, or that you expect to? Your pickup truck? Cell phone? Refrigerator? Television? Laptop? Do you own anything that was manufactured in the 1950s and still is in regular, active use in your life? Sure, there are examples. (The original toilets in older buildings are one; older electric lamps are another, although many antique lamps have been rewired by their owners, so maybe they don’t count.) When set against almost all products, the list is not large.
This inventory of which machines endure explains a lot about why some of us enjoy guns. A well-maintained rifle, shotgun, or handgun will continue to perform what is expected of it more or less the same after twenty, thirty, fifty years. Firearms offer a shelter from planned obsolescence, so prevalent everywhere else in our material culture.
But there's one more piece of technology that belongs next to guns in Chivers' inventory of durable tools. I mean the book, of course.
- Comment (29)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Re: Mechanical Permanence
Michael Tee: the Jeremy Clarkson piece is indeed great. Thanks for that.
May '10
Re: Mechanical Permanence
~Paules: I know that Dave is fond of the .357 magnum which certainly has its uses. I'm just a wee bit leery (especially in an urban area) about a round with superior penetration that doesn't necessarily offer the advantages of a larger caliber. The .357 will go through a bad guy, his accomplice, a wall, and into your neighbor's house if you're not careful! · Sep 17 at 5:37am
Edited on Sep 17 at 05:41 am
My dad was with Southwestern Bell for several decades and attended a training seminar in Spokane along with some guys from Alaska. The phone company up there issued all their guys a .357 revolver along with the rest of their gear. They needed them to ward off moose attacks. Moose, however, are stout creatures. These guys said the .357 wouldn't take the moose down, but it would give you time to hightail it out of there.
May '10
Re: Mechanical Permanence
Matt Frost: Trace,
Get some earplugs and old flowerpots and I'll show you "twee..." · Sep 16 at 8:58pm
I have this recurring notion that my role on this site is as set-up man. Touche.
Jun '10
Re: Mechanical Permanence
Matthew Gilley
~Paules: I know that Dave is fond of the .357 magnum which certainly has its uses. I'm just a wee bit leery (especially in an urban area) about a round with superior penetration that doesn't necessarily offer the advantages of a larger caliber. The .357 will go through a bad guy, his accomplice, a wall, and into your neighbor's house if you're not careful! · Sep 17 at 5:37am
Edited on Sep 17 at 05:41 am
My dad was with Southwestern Bell for several decades and attended a training seminar in Spokane along with some guys from Alaska. The phone company up there issued all their guys a .357 revolver along with the rest of their gear. They needed them to ward off moose attacks. Moose, however, are stout creatures. These guys said the .357 wouldn't take the moose down, but it would give you time to hightail it out of there. · Sep 17 at 8:31am
The .357 is the wrong round for dangerous game like moose or grizzly. The proper weapon would be something chambered in .44 magnum.
May '10
Re: Mechanical Permanence
I'll echo Matt's thanks for those articles, Michael. I know the show but had not seen the site.
Warnings about the decline of the "craftsman" ethic among engineers, builders, mechanics and the like have been heard since my grandfather's day, and there is some truth in that, but also there remain engineering/manufacturing teams that are clearly committed to beautiful craftsmanship and design. I do hope it survives.
I have a thought that one gift we could give to young generations is to make a requirement in schools that each student make something, really create and build it, and do it very, very well. It could be a pie, a painting, a cabinet, a skateboard or a web site, but it has to be a truly creative act, and they need to master it. At some point in their lives everyone should make something wonderful.
I worry about a world where everyone just observes and consumes. Or where people have never experienced what it means to become well skilled in some task. A nation of muddlers.
Re: Mechanical Permanence
G.A. Dean:
At some point in their lives everyone should make something wonderful.
And then they should take it out to the countryside and blast it to pieces!
Or maybe that's not where you were going with that comment...
Jun '10
Re: Mechanical Permanence
A prime example would be the only sidearm design more widely spread than JMB's 1911: the CZ75. The ergonomics are at least as good as the M1911, it utilizes a reverse slide arrangement that gives it tighter tolerances than any comparable steel- or alloy-framed pistol, and was the favorite double-action pistol of no less a light than the inestimable COL Jeff Cooper. Not bad for a COMBLOC hunk of steel.
Matthew Gilley:
At least we Americans have unchallenged primacy in handguns. I'm not aware of any Eastern Bloc pistol that was worth a flip. · Sep 17 at 3:49am
Jun '10
Re: Mechanical Permanence
Only with full metal jacketed ammunition, which should never be used for self-defense. Why we in the military are confined to FMJ ammo is another thread... but I digress.
There's not too many defensive handgun rounds in common use that can equal the magic equation of mass x velocity that one can find in hot .357 rounds out of a 4" barrel. That said, .357 bullets are much lighter than .45 bullets and lose their velocity at a much faster rate after penetration than does .45 ACP. It really comes down to ammo selection.
The least risk of overpenetration in urban settings? 5.56 NATO from a 16" barrel.
~Paules: I know that Dave is fond of the .357 magnum which certainly has its uses. I'm just a wee bit leery (especially in an urban area) about a round with superior penetration that doesn't necessarily offer the advantages of a larger caliber. The .357 will go through a bad guy, his accomplice, a wall, and into your neighbor's house if you're not careful! · Sep 17 at 5:37am
Edited on Sep 17 at 05:41 am
Re: Mechanical Permanence
G.A. Dean: Well if we can include books as "devices" then we might add musical instruments (the acoustic kind) many of which get better with age. I've guitars that were made in the '60s, and that's pretty commonplace.
Sep 16 at 11:20pm
I'm bumping this thread only because a reader suggested exactly this point to C.J. Chivers: