How British Gun Manufacturers Changed the Industrial World Lock, Stock and Barrel

[Larry Davis]

How British Gun Manufacturers Changed the Industrial World Lock, Stock and Barrel


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...uns-180968774/




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[Geoff Walden]

Thanks, Larry!

To paraphrase the article ... I think it would be very easy to make the argument that the Industrial Revolution in Britain was built on firearms manufacture.

Although the hand-making system described in the article resulted mainly in parts that would only fit one gun, the precision machine-made 1860s-1880s products of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock are beauties to behold!

[Jean-Loup]

Some interesting points:

How has the use of guns changed in the 21st century?

Now we do use them in crimes of passion a lot. We also use them in casual crimes of violence, these mass shootings are definitely a kind of almost casual violence. They’re not about a personal animosity; it’s general terror. That’s because the gun itself has evolved so much. The AR-15 is nothing like the 18th-century musket. They’re the same thing only in name. It’s like saying the smartphone and Alexander Bell’s phone are the same.

Why does knowing this history matter, if the technology and our use for it have changed so much since then?

When you look at the Second Amendment [to the U.S. Constitution], written in 1791 in which we’re talking about muzzle-loading muskets, it’s a stretch to assume that what they mean by arms is an AR-15. The technology itself has really changed and so in different contexts it seems reasonable to have different rule.

[Larry Davis]

Thanks, Larry!

To paraphrase the article ... I think it would be very easy to make the argument that the Industrial Revolution in Britain was built on firearms manufacture.

Although the hand-making system described in the article resulted mainly in parts that would only fit one gun, the precision machine-made 1860s-1880s products of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock are beauties to behold!

You are most welcome.

If you ever get to London, visit the Tower and see if you can get an appointment to view the first patents area where they house all the prototypes of firearms submitted to the board of ordinance prior to approval to manufacture. It's a real treat if you like old firearms. Some real oddballs and variants rarely if ever seen by the public.


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[Larry Davis]

"Why does knowing this history matter, if the technology and our use for it have changed so much since then?"

Jean-Loup, I am surprised that you of all people should be asking that question.



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[Jean-Loup]

I am not asking any questions mate, just posting a couple of "food for thought" quotes from the link.

JL

[Tim Curley]

The 18th century musket was the "cutting edge" weapon of its day.

[Geoff Walden]

You are most welcome.
If you ever get to London, visit the Tower and see if you can get an appointment to view the first patents area where they house all the prototypes of firearms submitted to the board of ordinance prior to approval to manufacture. It's a real treat if you like old firearms. Some real oddballs and variants rarely if ever seen by the public..

Thanks, I visited the Tower like, 1980 or so, and drooled all down my shirt over all the great stuff on display.
Did you mean the Pattern Room Collection, for the prototypes, or some other collection that's still in the Tower? I think the Pattern Room Collection went to Leeds some years ago, but I never got to see it either.
Geoff

[Larry Davis]

Yes the Pattern Room Collection, I was not aware that it went up to Leeds, but it makes perfect sense that it would have been shifted there. So much to see, only just so much available time to do it all in.

Speaking of finite amounts of available time, I was only just this week speaking to a very intelligent young fellow, just getting ready to set out on his first solo overseas traveling adventure, I advised him to be very careful how he constructs his life, because one day it will become his prison.



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[Larry Davis]

I am not asking any questions mate, just posting a couple of "food for thought" quotes from the link.

JL

No worries mate, but had the sentence been bracketed by quotation marks I would not have assumed that the thought was yours, and looked for it within the body of the linked text itself.

I really couldn't get my mind around you asking such a question. Nothing is really new and unique, everything we see and have today has been built upon the foundations of someone else's work and thought, and those foundations built with material stolen (not borrowed, stolen, one mustn't forget human nature) from other peoples endeavours. Just look at people like Edison for one, built his empire upon the backs of many brilliant but unacknowledged people in and out of his employ. And yes, Tesla was robbed! But that's another story, and yes he also built his research upon the works of many other brilliant predecessors. But just look at what he did with it!

Unfortunately hubris was his achilles heel.






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