Thread: Semi-automatic guns sold by Defence Force being used by gangs

When the SLRs were coming up for tender/disposal a minute came around to all us soldiers that if we wanted one and had a current nzfirearms licence we could put our names down which a few of us did. And we could go to trentham and pick out the one or how ever many we wanted at a real low price. I cant remember if their was a limit per person. Anyway the police HQ stepped in and put a stop to it.
I ended up buying one privately then off to the Q store who gave me heaps of spares then off the the armorers who fitted a new gas tube and showed me how to repair if it started leaking.
Little while later Aramoana happened and then they became E cat. Eventually traded it into gunshop and bought a mini14.

I once saw a ruger 10/22 that developed a nasty wee habit of suddenly going full auto.the owners fiancee fancied himself as a gunsmith and had so called smoothed out the trigger action.most bloody disconcerting when youre shooting next to it and youre lining up a vital shot(a stuff up here could cost you a jug!)and Brrrrr-holy fuck whaaaaaat.
range master without 2nd thoughts instantly banned it from use for rest of day.I dunno if she ever got it fixed ,tho she certainly got him sorted -a DCM-(dont come monday)

@turtle that's pretty much what a couple of Veitnam vets told me.
Slr didn't care if the opposition was hiding behind a tree. M16 not so much.
Same issues with the forces in the middle east over the last 20 years. Taking on combatants with multi layered clothing and gear, sometimes a long way away with a short barrelled M4 not giving the ammo its full performance as well as needing something with more punch to take out suicide bombers quickly has given impetus for larger calibres like the 6.5s, 6.8s and even bigger.
And this one I never heard of until recently
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...usamu-264-usa/

And a mention of a sister 277USA cartridge in there.

Slightly off-topic but SLR related. A mate told me of his first ever contact in the jungle. Everyone hit the deck and looked for targets, and seeing one cross the track in front he fired a shot and dropped him. Then another ran across so he fired again and dropped him as well. Not bad, he thought - two for two! Then he saw 3 empty magazines on the ground. A lucky combination of combat 'tunnel vision' and good training!

@gundoc I seem to recall a lovely SLR related item in your work shop one time,

a .243 converted SLR or was it an SLR converted to .243
Some say tomatoe some say tomato.
I know at the time I was enamoured of it

Originally Posted by johnd

@gundoc I seem to recall a lovely SLR related item in your work shop one time,

a .243 converted SLR or was it an SLR converted to .243
Some say tomatoe some say tomato.
I know at the time I was enamoured of it

Yes, I did a few of them in both .243 and .308. The Shilen barrel blanks (I was importing them at the time) were turned to a slightly heavier profile which gave better accuracy, a steel Weaver type base on the dust cover which was tightly refitted, the metal work polished and blued, and the stocks refinished with a recoil pad fitted. I did a few batches of them and have a photo somewhere of a finished batch in a workshop rack. I also did a couple of presentation ones with some engraving and gold-plated trigger, safety, and body latch. The magazines were black powder-coated.

You have good memory as that would have been about 1990.

i really liked the FAL with the custom woodwork etc, that was stunning

It would have been the gold inlaid ones I saw, for it to stick in my mind.

I was probably picking up a 745 so maybe .... '89

Originally Posted by gonetropo

i really liked the FAL with the custom woodwork etc, that was stunning

Im intrigued by the custom woodwork. Can you give me a description please?

Originally Posted by Towely

Im intrigued by the custom woodwork. Can you give me a description please?

Gundoc may still have some photos of it.

Originally Posted by Towely

Im intrigued by the custom woodwork. Can you give me a description please?

It was a FN FAL, engraved and high polish blue, fully restocked in high-grade NZ walnut with fleur-de-lis checkering on the grip and fore-end.

Originally Posted by johnd

I was probably picking up a 745 so maybe .... '89

Ah, yes! 9 June 1989. How are you, my friend?

great memory there @gundoc

Originally Posted by csmiffy

great memory there @gundoc

No, just knowing where to look in my records.