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Old 03-26-2016, 04:33 PM   #105
Icelander
 
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Location: Iceland*
Default Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
Most common are Inland and Winchester. Here's a link.

I'm not entirely certain when M1 carbines became collectors' items as opposed to "a cheap semi auto you can buy from the guvmint." Common versions run around $400-$500 nowadays, but Rock-Olas can be a couple of grand, if you can find one, which you can't.

I think that in the late-80s they were still just cheap semi-autos, though, so getting a Rock-Ola from the CMP would be a matter of luck back then.
In 1975, then, Ricky Sommiers, Esq. accepted a Rock-Ola M1 carbine in lieu of payment for legal services from a WWII veteran client.

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
Honestly, not many people mounted scopes on their M1 carbines. Not that it couldn't be done- you'd have to get the receiver tapped first, but that's pretty simple gunsmithing. But I haven't seen many.
Well, twilight/night hunting of predators is a pretty niche sport, especially in the 80s.

A decent scope really helps with light gathering in twilight. Not to mention that for eyes in their 50s, those iron sights get harder to focus on every year.

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
If you want night vision, maybe he got his hands on an M3 carbine? I'm not sure if CMP ever sold them, though. Well, actually, no they never would have sold the M3 because it's fully auto, but some surplus dealer might have sold the scope and accessories, which would be easy to mount on an ordinary M1.
My research suggests that the WWII 'Sniperscope/Snooperscope' would probably have been more expensive to buy in the 1980s than a more modern Gen 1 commercial night sight. As far as I understand, only a few dozen of the WWII-era weapons survived official destruction. Not to mention that having to source WWII military model lead-acid wet cell batteries that only last for a couple of hours would be a major pain.

The similar Korean War era 'Sniperscope' 20,000 volt Set No. 1 would be more promising. Those were converted to use commercial batteries and sold off as surplus in the late 60s. They are still a major pain to carry and use, weighing close to 30 lbs. with the battery pack.

The Vietnam-era passive Gen 1 starlight scopes are a much more useful technology. They are exemplified by the AN/PVS-2 STANO sight on p. 26 in GURPS SEALS in Vietnam. Unfortunately, I don't know if these (or commercial variants) were relatively affordable or easily available in the 1980s, by the time they had all been phased out of military service. Best guess, after considerable Googling, is that you could get some Gen 1 sights for around $500 in the late 80s. That converts to something like $750 GURPS.

I'm guessing that Ricky Sommiers will not have actual night vision sights. Clayborn Allen might have mounted some mid-range ones on Bushmaster First Generation .223 rifles he received as gifts from the factory in 1976 and 1980 (he was an investor after they ran into trouble in '76), once this annual hunting trip was moved after the deer season to accomodate his brother's schedule and they started to focus on night hunting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
There were literally tons and tons of cheap surplus military ball ammo available in the 80s for both .30-06 and .30 carbine. You could buy it by the pallet. But, as you have mentioned, the stopping power of .30 carbine ball is limited. The Israelis load soft-points and swear by them.
I think that Sommiers will stick with surplus ball ammo, as he can't really be bothered to find anything else. Unless expanding hunting bullets in it would be easily commercially available.

Note, however, that for predator hunting, the idea is not to buy expanding ammo to get better terminal performance. The idea is to reduce the damage to the fur by preventing the bullet from yawing or tumbling inside the animal and then making a huge exit hole. The ideal expanding fur-friendly bullet will enter the prey, but not exit at all.

These will usually be light grain bullet JSP/JHP or other expanding type bullet and will have a lower Wounding Modifier than expanding anti-personnel or deer loads with higher grain bullets (though unless you are geek happy with fractional wounding modifiers, it won't matter in game terms). Significantly, such loads in .223 Remington are probably less impressive in terminal performance than standard military ball ammo at short ranges.

In GURPS terms, very light, very fast bullets with expanding properties might simply provide another method to justify pi for a .22 caliber round. Some of them might even have a Wound Channel Modifier of 0.7, which might be rounded to pi- or pi depending on GM's choice. Reducing Damage would not be unreasonable for a bullet of a lower grain than usual for the caliber.

The alternate method of fur friendly bullet selection is to choose something that will zip through a target of fox or bobcat size without any tumbling or yawing. At typical Western varmint ranges, both the .30 carbine and .223 Remington will do this, but in Eastern woods, at ranges that are often below 50 yards, I'm concerned that both will exhibit that fragmenting, tumbling joy de vivre that delights the CQB soldier, but ruins fur with a huge exit hole.

In GURPS terms, a fur-friendly round of the latter kind should be pi- at the range you are using it.

I have no idea what .22 WMR, .22 Hornet, .223 Remington, .30 Carbine or .243 Winchester loads were commercially available in the 1970s and 1980s. How easy was it to get loads with expanding bullets, preferably of light grain for the caliber? Were there any non-expanding loads with a stable target bullet that would be unlikely to yaw or tumble excessively?

What were some popular hunting loads in these calibers? What do you find in a small outdoors store? What about a well-stocked gun store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
A good varmint gun would be a Mini-14, and they're already tapped to mount a cheap Bushnell scope. That sounds more like this Sommier guy. Are there GURPS stats for it somewhere? Hell, if the A-Team used them they have to be awesome, right? :)

EDIT- Yeah, the Mini-14 is in High-Tech.
The Ruger Mini-14 is actually a very fine choice for a novice shooter for the purpose. It also has a more traditional look than 'black rifles'. I'm considering having one of the hunters carry one. If George Bolton can't find a classy, but economical bolt-action rifle in .223 Remington or .22 Hornet, he might carry a Mini-14.

If a rifle is tapped to mount a cheap Bushnell scope, does that mean it will require expensive gunsmithing to mount a more expensive Bushnell scope on it, such as a Scopechief V?

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
ANOTHER EDIT- Nowadays there are scope mounts for the M1 that just required you to remove the rear sight, but I don't know if something similar was available in the 80s.

YET ANOTHER EDIT- Ha! Yes! Weaver made drop-in scope mounts. You can see one in the pic of the commemorative model on that page.

EDIT AGAIN- Nope, I was wrong again. The Universal (aftermarket non-USGI) carbines came tapped for scope mounting, so that Weaver mount wan't drop-in. It still needed a tapped receiver. But, again, that's pretty routine gunsmithing. And would indeed look very hillbilly, which seems to fit your character concept.
I had picked the Tasco 2.75x40mm Turkey/Brush Gun scope (+1 Acc, -1 darkness penalty, $150, 0.7 lbs.) for Sommier's M1 carbine. Any pressing reason why this would be impractical or expensive to mount?

If so, I suppose he could go to a Weaver scope, assuming I can find a budget one with decent light gathering.*

*The Tasco is an economical scope which has a great reputation for clarity, brightness and robustness, at least if you got a 1970s Japanese-made one.
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Last edited by Icelander; 03-26-2016 at 04:37 PM.
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