You Will Shoot Your Eye Out

In 1986, visionary filmmaker James Cameron came out with what was, in my opinion at least, his masterwork. Aliens was the ultimate combat science fiction movie. Alongside Terminator 2, it was also one of the two best sequels ever made. Created at the very end of the analog era before digital special effects transformed the film industry, Aliens is simply cinematic perfection.

The original Ridley Scott Alien was a horror movie and a stupendous one at that. The narrative had the small crew of space freighter respond to a distress beacon that ultimately allowed a single most horrific alien monster onboard. The rest of the film was a series of creepy scenes, ample gore and jump scares. It also served to introduce us to Sigourney Weaver’s iconic character, Ellen Ripley.

When James Cameron was pitching the idea of a sequel to the execs at 20th Century Fox, he purportedly took a big whiteboard, wrote the word “ALIEN” in giant letters, and then put a dollar sign behind it. The resulting ALIEN$ pitch green-lit the project.

The narrative has Ripley narrowly escaping the rampaging monster and being lost in space for 57 years. She awakens to find that, in the interim, there has been a colony established on LV-426, the small planet where they first found the alien creature. Coincidentally, contact with the colony has been mysteriously lost. Ripley reluctantly agrees to return to LV-426, this time in the company of a squad of heavily armed U.S. Colonial Marines.

There results 137 minutes of gunslinging mayhem as the Marines discover hundreds of alien monsters, a single child survivor and peril aplenty. I’ll spare you the details. You need to see the movie yourself if you haven’t already. You’ll thank me later.

The Weapons of “Aliens”

Arguably the coolest aspect of this homogenously cool movie for the gun nerd committed to his craft was the weapons. Developed under the guidance of Cameron himself by Bapty Limited in London, the same gun-bodging wizards who made the weapons for Star Wars, the weapons of Aliens made the film. Unlike later iterations that might include digital muzzle flashes and artificially enhanced action effects, these guns were the real deal. All the cool-guy stuff had to be created by special effects specialists in the real world.

There were two handguns featured in the movie. The machinegunner Vasquez packs a stock S&W Model 39 with white/ivory grips. The rest of the team uses HK VP70 9mm pistols.

The VP70s used in the film are otherwise unmodified VP70M selective-fire versions of the gun. In the real world, attaching a VP70M to a separate buttstock allows semiauto and 3-round burst functions. The same gun in semi auto only was imported and sold in the U.S. as the VP70Z. The VP70Z has a smooth grip, while that of the VP70M is ridged. One of the VP70M pistols used in the movie and demilled to UK standards sold for $12,700 at auction in 2022.

The M56 Smart Gun was created by mounting a WWII-vintage MG42 belt-fed machinegun onto a gyro-stabilized Cinema Products Model III Steadicam harness. This gave the big gun a most sinister gliding effect when used in the movie. When Vasquez shouted, “Let’s rock!” and opened up with her M56 that first time in the theater it was a near-religious experience for me. One of the two guns used in the movie was demilled and sold for $150,000 at auction in the U.S. in 2022.

The M41 Pulse Rifles used by the rank-and-file Marines were created from three different real-world weapons. The basic chassis was an M1A1 Thompson submachine gun. The 30mm pump-action grenade launcher was a radically shortened Remington 870 shotgun. The window dressing on the outside came from a Franchi SPAS-12 12-gauge.

The original plan had the M41 built around a 9mm HK MP5, but the muzzle flash was inadequate for Cameron’s needs. The .45ACP version from the Thompson was much more satisfying. Only one of the prop guns built for the movie had a functioning shotgun/grenade launcher. At the same 2022 auction, a demilled but screen-used Pulse Rifle went for $142,787.

Michael Biehn’s character CPL Duane Hicks also carried a curious cut-down Ithaca Model 37 shotgun. This gun had the pistol grip from a German MP40 grafted on. The same gun was used in the TV shows The Professionals and Dempsey and Makepeace. This gun was also demilled and sold for $63,481 at the same 2022 auction.

I’ll never be able to afford an original Aliens weapon, but my kids and I did build a decent facsimile as a homeschool project many years ago. The receiver is a piece of 1-inch square steel tube, the chassis is cut from pine lumber, and the fire control group was harvested from an original M1A1 Thompson parts kit.

The SPAS-12 bits came from a cheap airsoft version of the shotgun. The end result isn’t quite screen-perfect, yet I remain prepared for my next serious bug hunt nonetheless.

Maybe it never got closer to the action than guard duty at an ammo dump. Or perhaps some poor dogface clutched the thing desperately close in the frozen wastes around Bastogne or the fetid jungles of Peleliu. Regardless, a soldier’s individual weapon is his most intimate tool. To heft such an artifact is to physically connect across the decades to an era of unimaginable significance.

Worlds Apart But Shrinking

We have a tough time comprehending the breadth of the Second World War today. During the course of the horrible conflict the world’s governments produced enough bullets to shoot everybody on the planet 40 times. We laid one landmine for every three humans. We built enough rifles to arm one-seventh of the world’s population. While the majority of those who actually served have passed on, many of their weapons remain to this day.

The Internet has revolutionized everything about our world. Previously folks with quirky hobbies might have thought themselves alone. Nowadays, however, a few mouse clicks can connect you with somebody on the other side of the world who shares your particular curious interests.

Fake animal noise competitions, conjuring art from magnetic VCR tape, extreme ironing wherein the participant irons clothes in exotic settings, and Hikaru Dorodango (compulsive dirt polishing) are all real things more than a couple of folks apparently do. As it relates to collectible firearms, sites like gunbroker.com and gunsamerica.com are like nationwide gun shows running 24/7. The treasures they offer are like little history batteries.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program

The CMP is a throwback to a previous era. Back when America was indeed a nation of riflemen, the government began this program to sell military surplus Infantry rifles and ammunition directly to the public. Back in the 1980s a really nice M1 Garand cost $165 through the CMP.

Like everything the government does, there is an onerous paperwork requirement. The details are available online. As I was pulling this article together much of the CMP inventory was depleted but they still had rifles starting at around $650. CMP guns do not have import marks and just drip with personality. Mine is fairly high mileage but sports an armorer’s repair to the upper handguard giving it special character. It also shoots like a dream.

The Big Leagues

If you have really deep pockets there are yet available some of the most tantalizing WWII-era German machineguns. I acquired my own modest collection over a long period of time using the proceeds from my writing gig. I am blessed with a day job which feeds my family so I can fold my writing cash into guns.

The MP40 submachine gun is a personal favorite. Long, front-heavy, and fairly ungainly, this iconic German subgun nonetheless cycles at a sedate 500 rpm and is eminently controllable. I got mine years ago when it was just plain expensive. Now they are ludicrously thus. However, it’s not like they’re making any more. Classic machineguns are reliably good investments.

Not unlike a supermodel, my MG34 belt-fed machinegun is both beautiful and finicky. The MG34 was the world’s first true General Purpose Machinegun and the workmanship and complexity of the design must be seen to be appreciated. A recoil-operated gun wherein the fire selector is built into the trigger, the MG34 is a complicated beast indeed.

Spare parts and accessories are still available, as is a .308 conversion kit. Serious collectors can drop a fortune on period accessories for classic guns and the MG34 is worse than most in this regard. However, it all melts away when you settle in behind the monster and launch 50 of those finger-sized rounds downrange at 900 rpm.

Denouement

It has been said “The Germans fought for Hitler, the Japanese fought for the emperor, the British fought for their king, and the Americans fought for souvenirs.” Once the new wore off, many of these old bring-back guns were sold off to pay for diapers and baby formula. Lugers, Walthers, 1911s, Nambus, Enfields, Nagants, Thompsons and Stens are all still floating around out there waiting to be collected and revered. Be patient, save your pennies, and strike when the opportunity arises. Quite literally anything is available, at a price.

Special thanks to www.worldwarsupply.com for the period gear used in our photographs.