Remarkable man. Simple yet functional. His first gun by our definition would be classed as a zip gun. The following is taken from the book,
Carbine: The Story of David Marshall Williams by Ross E. Beard. If you enjoyed Curt Gentry's book on John Moses Browing, you'll enjoy this one too. Get it via interlibrary loan or buy one second hand (they've been out of print for a while). The following is from pages 149-50.
Quote:
"I guess i was around ten years old when I made my first wooden pistol. To begin with, it shot black powder, buckshot and paper wadding. To make one of these weapons I used a reed, like you fish with, for the barrel, I cut out the partition between the joints and drilled a small hole in the breech end of the reed, which I call the 'touch hole.' The pistol grip I carved from juniper wood using my pocket knife. The reed barrel is first wrapped with strong twine or fishing cord to reinforce the barrel so that it will stand a good charge of black powder. You then wrap the barrel to the pistol grip with the same kind of twine.
"The ignition takes place by way of an old-fashioned kitchen match with the head snipped off and clamped in place over the touch hole by means of a piece of corset stay that slides in and out under the string wrapping. The hammer is wooden and has a nail head driven into the hammer face. The hammer is operated by thumb release and is powered by rubber bands. When the hammer is thumb released, the nail head strikes the corset stay holder, which crushes and ignites the match head, which in turn flashes through the touch hole, igniting the black powder that has been measured and packed into the barrel. This blows the buckshot and paper wadding out of the front of the barrel. There have been several occasions when, due to intentional or unintentional overloading, the weapon exploded."
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Williams is best know for the M-1 Carbine and the floating chamber Colt Ace.
May 15, 2015, 07:07 PM
