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View Full Version : They don't make them like they used to!!


Pond, James Pond
November 10, 2011, 01:53 AM
Don't know if this is the right section.

Just saw a news report on the BBC of a historical excavation team who dug up a WW2 Spitfire plane. It crashed at 350mph! Apparently, most of the plane was intact courtesy of landing in an Irish peat bog. Amongst the salvage, some of the 8 Browning MGs.

Most staggering is that after a clean up, this 70 year old piece of hardware still fired!! Would a modern day firearm fare as well?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15660438

If you watch, be patient with the initial 30 second ad. Report comes afterwards.

DrLaw
November 10, 2011, 07:59 AM
Bill Mauldin in the book he wrote, UP FRONT, tells how the American soldiers would drop things all over, but God help the Limey who left anything behind or lost his rifle.

So immediately, I noticed that one of those test firing soldiers were policing up the brass right afterward.

Nice to know that some things never change, or that another John Browning designed device is even able to work after being buried for 70 years.

The Doc is out now. :cool:

darkroommike
November 10, 2011, 08:02 AM
Our local airplane museum is currently restoring a P-40 that had crashed in a Florida swamp, my inside guy said that the parts of the plane below the water were in very good condition, swamp water (and bog I suppose) is still water with very little oxygen and pH is high enough that corrosion is reduced.

Double Naught Spy
November 10, 2011, 09:22 AM
Right, the bog is a great place to preserve things (other than bone which dissolves). Notice that the ammo wasn't corroded and that the gun wasn't rusty and still had paint in good shape.

This isn't a testament to the manufacturing of the gun as much as to the preservative condition of the bog.

So yeah, a modern day firearm would likely do as well.

m.p.driver
November 10, 2011, 10:31 AM
Several year ago they found a T34 tank that had been captured by the Germans,then sank in a bog somewhere in one of the ex-soviet block countries.The weapons were fireable and once the engine and tranny were drained and cleaned the thing turned over and ran.
Or check out the story of Kiwi Bird,a B-29 that sat on a glacier for 50 years and was put back in flying condition while on the ice.Unfortunately it caught on fire while taxing for takeoff and went up in flames.

HeroHog
November 10, 2011, 04:14 PM
A old friend of mine was one of the crew on that plane recovery mission! VRJR, Vernon Rich Jr., a guy who used to race BMWs in the local SCCA Red River Region in Shreveport, LA!

It was so sad watching that beautiful bird go down in flames after all that work... :(

James K
November 10, 2011, 10:37 PM
Years ago, a DC-3 came down in the water in the Gulf of Mexico, not far from the Mexican shore. Everyone got off, expecting it to sink, but it didn't. After a week, they managed to crank the wheels down and towed it up on the beach. After letting it drain, blow drying the engines, and replacing the batteries, they started it up and took off.

Jim

saands
November 10, 2011, 10:43 PM
I think that they still do make firearms as good as they used to ... at least some of them.

But airplanes like a DC-3 ... maybe the C-130 comes close, but nothing else could compare :D

Skadoosh
November 16, 2011, 05:17 PM
Its a darn shame that "The machine guns will now be made safe..." which likely means permanently.

Gunplummer
November 17, 2011, 07:18 AM
I was in Germany in the 80's and WWII guns and ammo were popping up on the docks in the Netherlands. Seems there was a battle over a bridge in Germany and it was taken and re-taken by both sides. As it was retaken they threw the guns and ammo over the side. The cold mountain water preserved the guns.

Te Anau
November 17, 2011, 03:27 PM
Super cool!

Cartophilis
November 23, 2011, 02:53 PM
Man, theres no telling whats beneath our feet...........

JetTroop
November 25, 2011, 06:48 PM
As someone who lives right by the REAL Springfield Armory, its pretty sad that one of the best Armorys in the World at one time was closed down over 40 years ago. Some of the rifles they built there were amongst the best ever built! It's sad that we've gotten away from well-built, handcrafted weapons that were actually works of art, rather than just "implements".

So, yes, I'm not surprised that those guns worked, as they were built with pride by american workers back when we built things to last....