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Wandered by the 50-yard range and there sat something that looked like a miniature 50 cal machine gun. It's owner had taken a semi-automatic Browning 30-cal, removed the pistol grip, added handles and the butterfly so it fired like the 50-cal. He also had a home-built 24" tripod so you could sit behind it and fire. Homebuilt T&E mechanism. Replaced the barrel with a 30-06 barrel. He had done a good enough job on making the parts that at first glance it looked original. Told him that all he needed was a Willy's jeep. He said he had one in the garage being restored.

Think I'm going to add one of my camera's to the range bag.

Sounds like that would have been something to see. Some people get quite inventive, especially war reeanactors. They have to make legal equipment seem like true war stock. The modifications that you described would be good for a M2 Browning style replica.

R,
Bullseye

Sort of one of those head scratchers when I looked at it. From the rear it looked almost like an M2. The rest looked like an air cooled 30. He had done a pretty good job on it. Fired only in semi-auto but he can hit the butterfly fast enough that it almost sounds like full auto. The guy was hand loading the 30-06 and using a cloth belt. All done in a soothing shade of ODG.

It would be even more convincing considering the relatively low cyclic rate of a .50cal M2 Browning. I could see where one could toggle the butterfly fast enough to duplicate the sound of a browning with a set up like that. 30-06 is a lot more economical to shoot than .50 cal. Basically 50 BMG is about $5 a shot. And that's to reload it which is typically cheaper to shoot than commercial ammo.

Coincidentally, yesterday I ran into a guy driving one of those jeeps completely restored as a Vietnam era army scout vehicle, .30cal gun mounts and all. He was dressed in fatigues (greens) and said he was a reeanactor and had the semi auto version .30 cal Browning to go with it back at home.

R,
Bullseye

Those guys really get into it. Got an hour lesson a while back from a couple of guys who knew the correct manual of arms for darn near every musket/rifle from both the Revolutionary War and the Late Unpleasantness. Heaven forbid you show up at a re-enactment with the wrong gun for the battle or not know the proper procedures for clearing said firearm. The WWII guys seem to make up for the relative ease of getting uniforms and firearms by having to have trucks and jeeps from that era.

One of my co-workers in Michigan had his own cannon and did Civil War re-enactments. One of his high points was being in several scenes in the movie "Gettysburg". He was on both sides of the battle.

Reeanacting is not for me.

R,
Bullseye

Bullseye wrote:Reeanacting is not for me.

R,
Bullseye

At my age I am not worried about reenacting just happy to be able to react.

bearandoldman wrote:At my age I am not worried about reenacting just happy to be able to react.

Har! Har! har!... thanks for getting my day off on a big grin...

toyfj40 wrote:

bearandoldman wrote:At my age I am not worried about reenacting just happy to be able to react.

Har! Har! har!... thanks for getting my day off on a big grin...

Glad to be of help Tex