The Firearm Blog

[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by Matt Groom.]

For many of us, our window to the world of guns is books, magazines, and the internet. Unfortunately, when you see a word or a name that you aren’t familiar with, you tend to do what you learned to do in school, sound it out in your head. This has lead to a plethora of often mispronounced words and names in the firearms community, and it makes us all look like rubes. I would like to point out some often heard examples along with the proper enunciation of each. Please note that I am neither German nor Scandinavian and I speak no languages other than American English, but I have asked and been corrected by people who do speak these languages.

Heckler & Koch

Probably one of the most well-know arms companies in the world is known by its initials because nobody seems to know how to pronounce the last names of its founders. And everybody says their marketing department is SO great...

How most people say it: Heck-ler and C-au-k like “Cock”, or Coach, or KA-t-ch (?)

How it’s actually pronounced: “Heck-ler and Coke” Example: “Well, I’ll have a coke, then.”

Why is it mispronounced? “Cock” would be a very appropriate name for a gun company “Cock your hammer!” or “Those guys at H&K are a bunch of… Germans.”

Krag-Jorgensen

America’s first military repeater is also the most mispronounced of all service rifle names. No less and authority than the late great Col. Jeff Cooper corrected me on the proper way to say this name, and ultimately, he was incorrect.

How most people say it: Ker-Ag ,or Ker-egg Jor-gen-son

How it’s actually pronounced: Kr-Ah-g (like “Frog”) Yor-gen-sen.

Why is it mispronounced? A popular ballad during the Spanish-American War and the Pilipino Insurrection had a refrain that went “Underneath our starry flag, civilize ‘em with a Krag!” which certainly had a better ring to it than “If you want to eat a frog, do not shoot him with a Krag”. The proper enunciation may have been intentionally bastardized for pop-culture.

Makers of everything from Weed whackers to Motorcycles to full-auto military rifles, this name seems to dumbfound even the people who sell them. A Swede who was a former employee of the firm in the 1960’s told me how to say it.

How most people say it: Husk-a-varn-a, Husk-Q-var-na

How you’re supposed to say it: Who-sk-Var-na

Why is it mispronounced? It’s Swedish.

These Serbian makers of high quality ammunition available at bargain basement prices have rapidly earned popularity in the US. After being sold for a number of years under different names by different distributors, they are now selling ammo under their own name and confusing many people with their Balkan-esque spelling.

How most people say it: Pervy Party-san

How you’re supposed to say it: PR-iv-A Part-iZ-on

Why is it mispronounced? Triple Consonants don’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense to most English speakers.

I have it on good authority that these are correct, but nobody’s perfect. There are lots more of these, but we’ll save those for another post. Let’s hear some suggestions for gun related names and words that are often mispronounced or which are confusing in the comments!

UPDATE:

Roy recorded himself pronouncing Heckler & Koch, Walther, Sauer, Luger, Mauser, Blaser, Weihrauch and Schmeisser.

Stefan recorded himself saying Anschütz, Heckler & Koch, Mauser, Sauer, Steyr Mannlicher, Walther and Weihrauch.

There is an interesting video at WorldRadio.ch about the famous unique gun culture of Switzerland. At the start of the video a Swiss guy shows the rifle he used in military service, his fathers service rifle and says that his grandfather's service rifle is hanging in his office. How cool is that?

This was my father’s military rifle and of course he got to keep it when he was finished. I have my grandfather’s military rifle hanging on the office wall. This was mine when I did service. It’s quite an old one it was introduced in 1957 and used until 1990. And this is my son’s. It’s the current model. That’s what’s being used today. That’s what we’ll be using the shoot the Feldschiessen today.

The Feldschessen, or Tiro Federale in Campagna as it’s known in these parts is an annual Swiss event and the largest shooting festival in the world. Roughly 200 thousand people come out to target practice all across the country. ammunition is provided by the government.

A shooting content with 200,000 people! Crazy!

And for your viewing benefit, here are some swiss made Sig 550 rifles from CS's collection.

Many thanks to CS for the photos and the link.

Another car dealer, this time in Ohio, is now offering shotguns, rifles or crossbows with the purchase of a truck.

With the hunting season starting I think we will be seeing a lot more of these offers.

Many thanks to Jonathan for the info.

Chauss513 is an artist whose unusual medium is guns that have been destroyed by the U.S. Attorney's Office. He turns the firearm pieces he receives into furniture and steampunk-esque replica guns. His latest batch of raw material come from a local gun buy-back program.

Chauss513 creations are for sale and he can be contacted through Flickr. His Flickr account has over a hundred photos of his many creations. I highly recommend checking it out.

Thanks to Todd for putting me in contact with his friend Chauss513.

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article about the legal and illegal gun cultures in China, a country where civilian gun ownership is banned (at least among those without wealth or power).

Shanghai — China’s weapons laws are among the world’s toughest. Its blanket ban on private ownership of rifles, pistols and even gun replicas is a core tenet of social policy. Still, a gun culture is taking hold.

Even replica guns (airsoft guns) are banned!

Even as China’s government seeks to keep guns off the street, and shields its massive gun-manufacturing business behind state-secrets laws, it helps stoke the public imagination about guns. Schoolchildren learn to salute the flag shouldering imitation rifles, while state media celebrate the heroism of military and athletic marksmanship.

I have a Chinese friend who was very surprised to learn that Chinese state owned factories exports guns and ammunition to civilians overseas.

The main source of guns appears to be lax control of gun factories and theft from arsenals. China is one of the world’s largest gun manufacturers — for the export market and for its security forces. Older guns are left from past wars and a time when hunting was common. The police have also busted workshops that forge guns and bullets by hand inside China. Meanwhile, people illegally import replicas — exact-looking imitations of guns.

An airsoft gun in luggage is not going to be picked up by an airport scanner. I was in a gun shop a couple of years ago and an Australian guy came in asking where he can buy an airsoft gun. He said he they were banned back home but bringing them in from overseas for kids to play with is a common practice. He wanted a couple of airsoft pistols for his son to sell to his friends.

Beijing’s support for the sport has helped spur a rise of hobby enthusiasts. The government has sanctioned businesses such as the Shanghai East Shooting Club, a former bomb shelter where customers can have a drink and fire a variety of weapons. Owner Zhang Jiewei says his clients are looking to relax.

China must be the only country in the world which bans guns but allows shooting clubs (if you have enough money and connections)!

But increasingly, gun fans are gaining access to guns — and hunting illegally. In rural Anhui province last year, a group of wealthy businessmen, gun-club owners and former army officers organized wild-fowl shoots. Feasting on game cooked in a spicy brown sauce, one of them toasted, “Guns have brought us together.”

I asked my Chinese friend how people hunt if guns are banned. He told me nobody hunts because there is nothing to hunt anymore. Most of the larger sized game has been wiped out by the massive population and are now endangered.

Gun buffs can turn to Small Arms, a twice-monthly glossy magazine that claims 60,000 subscribers. The Beretta M9 semiautomatic pistol “is classic,” said Zheng Zhoujian, an 18-year-old reader. “I envy people in other countries where guns are legal.”

A bi-monthly magazine in a country with a total firearm ban! Incredible!

Every single day I am grateful that I own firearms. The full article is well worth reading.

Seen at SayUncle. I am at a loss for words, two of my favorite things, guns and meat, combined

Now if somebody would design a nice leather holster for it …
Hat Tip: UberGizmo

Photographer and shooter Shin-Ae recently held an exhibit entitled “Challenging Resistance” at Gana Art Gallery in New York.

Stunning photography. Photo by Cemetery’s Gun Blob

Cemetery’s Gun Blob has more photos (photos of the photos on exhibit) and information about the artist and the exhibit.

Very cool, it is even star-crimped. $97.77 at GreatBigStuff.com.

From the same company that makes the chocolate ammo boxes comes a chocolate Glock:

Very cool. Chocolate Weapons are selling it for $29.99.

Jennerson took this photo in response to my post about the Scottish police hunting down knife owners. Apart from the fact that it is a great photo, it seems to scream “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ”.

Black knife, black gun, black leather sofa. Click to expand. Used with permission.

For those of you not familiar to the phrase: “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ” (or in latin script “Molon labe”) means “Come and take them!”. It is what the Spartans reportedly said to the Persians when they were told to surrender their weapons. Yes … those Spartans …

The full sized version of Jennerson photo can be downloaded here. It is currently my desktop background.

Seen over at GunPundit:

Click to expand. Comic Strip from Dilbert.com

heh

Being sold by Swords, Knifes and Daggers for $15.

Ninja blowgun and Pocket knife combo. 5″ closed and has a 3 1/2″ 440 stainless steel blade. Includes 2 pieces of black tubing to make your pocket knife blowgun. Also includes 3 darts and a nylon pouch

Hat Tip: Nerd Approved via. Gizmodo

If shooting was still popular with hollywood types or if the gangsta’s had more class we would see more scopes like this:

Click to expand

The perfect scope to go with your diamond front sight or gold sniper rifle.

I am not sure what Swarovski Optik model this is.

Hat Tip: Хроники безумного Макса

Christie’s will be selling a 24 carat gold plated replica of the golden gun from the famous Bond film. From MP.net:

A Christie’s auction house staff poses with a 24 carat gold plated replica gun signed by actors Roger Moore and Christopher Lee at Christie’s auction house in London, Britain, 01 December 2008. The gun from the Bond film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ is expected to fetch 2,000 – 2,500 euros at Christie’s Pop Culture Sale 4 December

Click to expand.

The ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ movie poster.