Even though California lawmakers are sure to take a swipe at the right to bear arms when they return to Sacramento to kick off the 2023 legislative session, gun owners in one of the state’s most hostile environments for the Second Amendment are still flocking to their local sheriff’s office to apply for their concealed handgun permit.
The high demand has left many departments unable to keep up, including in Contra Costa County, where sheriff’s department spokesman Jimmy Lee says the surge in applications has been overwhelming.
Prior to this decision, the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office would typically receive about 20 concealed carry weapon applications each month, which would be processed by one employee, Lee said.
Since the decision in June, the Sheriff’s Office has been receiving “several hundred” applications a month and now has a backlog of over 1,000 applications.
The reason why applications were so low before the Bruen decision is simple; folks knew they stood little chance of being approved. Contra Costa County had about 500 active concealed handgun permits before the Supreme Court decision was handed down; an absurdly small number considering more than 1-million people call the county home. And some gun owners in the county say that even after the Bruen decision, it doesn’t feel like much has changed.
Scores of hopeful applicants recently resorted to Reddit and online forums to complain about the situation in Contra Costa, while arguing that officials there should do more to hasten the application process. Many complained that they’ve received few responses from sheriff’s offices to even the most basic inquiries about the process.
“There’s a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding with the actual process because the information on the sheriff’s website is so vague,” said Alex Urikh, 21, of Walnut Creek. He accused the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office of “dragging their feet,” while lamenting that other gun owners across the state had experienced similar delays.
Other Bay Area-counties are seeing similar delays. The East Bay Times reports that there are currently about 1,500 applications waiting to be processed in Alameda County, where only 300 residents possessed a carry permit before the Bruen decision was handed down. Lt. Ray Kelly with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office says the department is now considering letting local police departments handle applications in the hopes they might be processed in a more timely fashion.
Simply put, the sheriff’s office doesn’t have the resources to handle the crushing demand for permits, Kelly said. Of the roughly 1,500 applications received by the agency, only about a couple dozen have been granted due to the paperwork and bureaucratic difficulty of processing each request, he said.
“We’ve never seen this number before,” said Kelly, adding that other law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area have encountered similar increases. “It’s a massive change in the way we do business, based on the Supreme Court ruling.”
In contrast, the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office said Thursday it plans to hire a sergeant and at least one more specialist to help process applications. Exactly when that backlog will begin to ease, however, remains unclear. The agency did not respond to messages seeking how many permits it had approved since the Supreme Court’s ruling in June.
SCOTUS warned in the Bruen decision that while “shall-issue” licensing laws were constitutional, if they resulted in lengthy delays for approvals or tacked on outrageously high fees in an attempt to dissuade citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights then those policies could rightfully be called into question.
Given the glacial pace of issuing gun permits in these California counties (San Francisco, for example, has received just 65 carry applications since June but has yet to approve a single one), it might be time to haul these officials into court to force them to comply with the Bruen decision. A right delayed is a right denied, and there are thousands of Californians right now who are being deprived of a fundamental civil right because of the toxic mix of government bureaucracy and anti-gun ideology.
Throughout the human experience, there has been any number of weapons that fundamentally changed the way wars were fought. The Roman pilum and gladius, skillfully wielded, subdued the civilized world and poured tribute uncountable into the city-state of Rome. The British Brown Bess musket helped spread the Pax Britannia around the globe. In the 1930s, the Germans secretly contrived a gun that changed absolutely everything about infantry combat. The MG 34 started a revolution that burns brightly even today.
The German MG 34 general purpose machinegun revolutionized infantry tactics.
Root Causes
Before the MG 34, the infantry was organized around the rifle. Hundreds of thousands of Americans on both sides died during the American Civil War lined up in massive vulnerable formations designed solely to maximize the effectiveness of their slow-firing percussion weapons. In the hemoclysm that was World War I, it was the infantryman with his rifle who fought to seize and hold terrain. With the man-portable MG 34, however, a single mobile machine gun team could transport serious supporting automatic fire anyplace a man could walk. Warfare would never be the same.
Recoil-operated, air-cooled and portable, the MG 34 delivered devastating mobile firepower.
Origin Story
The MG 34 was developed in 1934 and issued to combat troops in 1936. A recoil-operated, air-cooled design, the MG 34 was an absolute nightmare to build. Everything about the gun is meticulously machined out of big chunks of forged steel. However, in the Einheitsmaschinengewehr (or “Universal Machine Gun”) we see the face of the future.
The MG 34 provided a remarkably lightweight machine gun that could lay down serious firepower.
During World War I, the world received its rude awakening to total war in the Industrial Age. Before it was finally over in 1918, some 16 million people perished. No Man’s Land was dominated by belt-fed German Maxim and English Vickers, guns both driven by a common action designed by the American-born Englishman Hiram Stevens Maxim.
The MG 34’s portability represented a conceptual quantum leap in machine gun design.
These heavy machine guns fired from fixed positions and were water-cooled to facilitate protracted firing. In fact, in one 1916 engagement, the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired a million rounds through ten Vickers guns in one 12 hour period. They burned through 100 barrels but purportedly did not have a single stoppage.
The two-position trigger on the MG 34 offered instant access to either semi-auto or full-auto fire.
As devastating as these revolutionary weapons were, however, they were just not portable. The German MG08/15 was a legitimate effort, but at nearly 40 lbs. without ammo or water for its cooling jacket the MG08/15 was still grueling to carry, particularly in rough terrain. The MG 34 was the world’s first successful effort at producing a belt-fed light machine gun that could conceivably be hefted, moved and fired by a single gunner on a modern battlefield.
The MG 34 features an integral bipod for prone firing.
Details
The MG 34 weighs 26.7 lbs. empty and fires the German standard 7.92x57mm round at a cyclic rate of around 900 rounds per minute. The gun runs from the open bolt to enhance cooling and can be fired offhand or off of its integral bipod, a collapsible Lafette tripod, or an antiaircraft rig. Dual two-gun antiaircraft mounts were also used to enhance firepower.
The MG 34’s rear sight was slide adjustable out to 2,000 meters.
The gun is selective fire via a novel two-stage trigger. Pressure on the top part of the trigger produces semi-auto fire. Pulling the bottom bit is full-auto. The gun typically feeds from 50-round non-disintegrating reusable steel belts that can be hooked together as needed. There is a two-drum spring-loaded saddle magazine contraption that can feed the gun as well, but this requires a dedicated top cover adaptor. The gun was frequently equipped with a small sheet steel 50-round drum that kept the ammo out of the dirt.
The conical recoil booster mounted on the muzzle helped power the gun’s complicated mechanism.
The MG 34 featured a novel quick-change barrel mechanism as well. To swap out the barrels you lock the bolt to the rear and press the receiver release catch at the base of the barrel jacket. Rotate the receiver assembly clear and the barrel can be removed from the rear. Care must be exercised when the barrel is hot lest you roast your fingers.
The MG 34 includes flip-up sights both front and back as well as a detachable antiaircraft ring sight of dubious effectiveness. The Lafette tripod weighs 44 lbs. and is more complicated than the space shuttle. But, it was undeniably effective. The Lafette system included an optical sight and a cool spring-loaded soft mount that helped dampen the gun’s recoil.
The exquisitely made MG 34 operates from the open bolt position.
Trigger Time
At 900 rounds per minute, the MG 34 is a bit feisty for my tastes. American M1919-series machine guns cycled at a sedate 500 rounds per minute to facilitate sustained searching fire. By contrast, the German MG 34 and the equally revolutionary MG 42 that followed fired fast on the assumption that targets on the modern battlefield would be fleeting and rare. The end result is that the MG 34 can seem a bit of a handful.
The bipod on the MG 34 has an annoying tendency to collapse backwards under recoil. Lean into the gun and this can be avoided. However, that is one more thing to try to remember when folks are shooting at you.
Precisely machined from steel forgings, the MG 34 was a machinist’s nightmare to produce.
Every MG 34 I have encountered has been relatively finicky. They are all at least 75 years old nowadays and were originally built like sewing machines. Getting a surplus MG 34 to run reliably and well takes a bit of a jeweler’s touch along with a fair amount of experience and quality ammo.
Prior to the MG 34, grunts would engage in fire and maneuver based solely upon the capabilities of their rifles. After the advent of the MG 34, infantry operations orbited around the portable machine gun. Individual riflemen, therefore, existed to support and defend the machine gun team. So it remains today.
The MG 34 fed from non-disintegrating 50-round linkable belts. This drum helps keep crud away from the ammo in dirty conditions.
Conclusion
The MG 34 was expensive to produce, difficult to maintain and a bear to hump. However, it also changed the way the world fought wars. To paw over a vintage copy today is to touch a piece of history. Used from the beginning of World War II all the way through the Syrian Civil War today, the German MG 34 is one of the most influential machine guns in history.
Special thanks to www.worldwarsupply.com for the vintage reproduction gear used in the preparation of this article.
TG-638 stacked alongside his peers in the tight passageway of the Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer Devastator. The pursuit of the Rebel blockade runner Tantive IV had seemed interminable. However, now that the Rebel ship was secured inside the destroyer’s hangar bay it was showtime. TG-638 had trained since childhood for this moment. TG-638 was an Imperial Stormtrooper.
TG-638 and his mates from the 501st Legion were in the first wave. His breath came in furtive spurts as the engineers placed line charges on the sealed airlock. Not all of his anxiety, however, spawned from the Rebels lurking behind the bulkhead.
The BlasTech E-11 Stormtrooper Blaster armed the Imperial legions throughout most of the “Star Wars” films.
The Dark Lord of the Sith stood alongside silent and implacable, his lightsaber hanging inert in his right hand. TG-638 had never before seen Vader, but his reputation preceded him. Between armed Rebel troops and Vader’s saber, TG-638 would choose to face the Rebels any day.
The blinding flash momentarily overwhelmed his visor, and blaster bolts illuminated the passageway. The point man went down, a smoking hole in the center of his white chest armor the size of a Mynoch egg. TG-638 was number six through the breach.
The E-11 Blaster props from the “Star Wars” movies were crafted from British Mk IV Sterling submachine guns.
The lead fire team clearly couldn’t hit the broad side of a bantha. TG-638 raised his issue BlasTech E-11 Blaster, thumbed off the safety and liberally sprayed the passage with directed energy bolts. Then he heard the distinctive throb of Vader’s lightsaber. TG-638 stepped over the bodies of his comrades just as the Dark Lord strode past like a specter, his saber absorbing and deflecting incoming Rebel fire. Despite the cold synthetic nature of his Stormtrooper armor, TG-638 shivered.
The Phenomenon
I really like Star Wars. In 1977 when Star Wars hit theaters I was 11. Playground intel told of some amazing new science fiction movie. The Bad Guy was this big dude in a space suit. I envisioned Kareem Abdu Jabbar dressed in Neil Armstrong’s NASA moon rig. Then I actually saw the film. Wow.
Will is a huge fan of “Star Wars”, and that led to the project you see here.
Of course I collected the ships and figures. Most everybody did that. George Lucas purportedly forewent a substantial percentage of his salary in exchange for the marketing rights. That guy was brilliant. My obsession went somewhat deeper, however. How deep might you ask?
Well, the skeletal beast that the droids pass in the Tatooine desert is that of a Greater Krayt Dragon. Han Solo’s operating number when he was traipsing about the Death Star in stolen Stormtrooper armor was TK-421. The princess was being held in Cell 2187, Sub-Level 5, Detention Block AA-23. When finally I came of age and accumulated a few resources, it was time to take everything to the next level.
Will’s “Blaster” features extruded aluminum cooling fins on the barrel shroud that were formed from U-channel stock from Home Depot.
The Apex Predator
Per the back story, the BlasTech E-11 Blaster is the standard issue weapon for the Imperial Stormtrooper Legions. The E-11 features settings for kill, stun and sting, and the onboard power cells are good for about two hundred rounds. The telescopic sight includes a built-in rangefinder, while the collapsible stock has three positions. Despite their fearsome reputation, Stormtrooper marksmanship always seemed underwhelming. Perhaps there was a dearth of available range space onboard the Death Star.
Original WWII-era M47 tank optics are rarer than honest politicians. Will was fortunate to trip over this example on an online gun auction site.
The studio work for Star Wars was undertaken in England. In the 1970’s in the UK movie production companies had access to fairly current military weapons. The movie props used in the original film were standard Mk IV Sterling submachineguns outfitted with a little gratuitous window dressing.
The first Star Wars prop weapons were produced by Bapty and Co., the same British movie weapons concern that provided the guns for Aliens. Standard issue Sterling submachineguns were fitted with six linear grips running down the barrel shroud made from rubber T-Track. This same material was used to form the grip on Luke’s lightsaber, itself originally a Graflex flash gun from an antique camera.
You can see the M47’s markings here with 1942 manufacture date.
The scope was a 1942-era M47 telescopic sight from a Sherman tank mounted backwards. A Hengstler Corporation industrial counter box was affixed near the magazine well along with two small cylinders and a handful of random coiled wires. 34-round Sterling magazines were cut down to make the stubby versions used in the film.
There were both blank-firing blasters and inert dummy versions made for the first movie, Episode IV. The astute Star Wars nerd can catch sight of empty cases ejecting out of the weapons during the combat sequences. There were also minor variations from gun to gun as pieces fell off or were added during production.
Will crafted the stubby magazine for the Blaster from an inexpensive Sten mag rather than the more rare and expensive Sterling magazines.
A Live Blaster
I have actually built two of these weapons. The host for this example began life as a 9mm Sterling. The cooling fins on the barrel shroud are formed from aluminum U-stock from Home Depot mounted with machine screws and small wing nuts.
I could not bring myself to destroy one of those magnificent Sterling magazines for this project, so my stubby mag is fabricated from that of a Sten. The Sterling was designed from the outset to accommodate Sten mags as well. The left-sided magazine means that Stormtroopers carry their weapons in a holster on the left thigh. Many troopers in the movie fire their weapons left-handed as a result.
You can see an original curved Sterling magazine next to the cut-down Sten mag.
My first effort used a cheap Chinese red dot on an improvised aluminum mount. However, I serendipitously tripped over an original WWII-vintage M47 Sherman tank sight on GunBroker and did what it took to make it mine. I finished out the whole rig with bake-on ceramic engine block paint from my local auto parts store.
One of these guns is not like the others — but they all fire!
The gun weighs 6 lbs. and is fairly miserable to shoot off-hand. It seems I also can’t hit the broad side of a bantha. However, when run from the hip at the local firing range, my BlasTech E-11 Imperial Blaster does reliably draw a crowd.
S&W recently revived the Classic .45 Colt; leather is by Al Goerg.
I am going to take advantage of my advancing years looking at my favorite sixguns; this will definitely not be objective but rather entirely subjective. Choosing favorites is not always easy. Sometimes I can pick one favorite; other times it will be several. With this in mind, we herein look at Taffin’s Top .45 Colt DA sixguns.
S&W’s Heritage Model .45 Colt compared to the Classic Model .45 Colt.
Colt’s First
Colt not only offered the first .45 Colt sixgun with the Single Action Army in 1873, but they also followed five years later with the .45 Colt Model 1878 Double Action. The latter is basically an SAA fitted with a DA mechanism and a different grip. The Model 1878 loads and unloads the same way as the SAA, that is, with a loading gate and an ejector rod, however, the grip frame was designed along the lines of the Lightning .38 and Thunderer .41 to keep it from rolling in the hand as the SA grip was designed to do.
For fast work with a DA, one needs a grip that will stay in the same hand position from shot to shot. Shooters who felt they needed to shoot faster without having to cock the hammer bypassed the SA for the Model 1878. They were used by the military, especially by officers in the Philippines and Alaska, and they were often fitted with a larger than normal trigger guard to allow use with a gloved hand.
Approximately 20 years after the introduction of the Model 1878, Colt brought forth their first swing-out cylindered DA .45 Colt with the New Service. This was a large-framed sixgun with the grip frame made for those with large hands. For many years, the .45 Colt New Service was a standard sidearm of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and some U.S. government agencies. In 1940, the New Service suffered the same fate as the SAA when it was dropped from production. Unlike the SAA, it has never returned — a tremendous loss for sixgunners.
The S&W 83/8″ Model 25-5 is great for long-distance shooting.
Fitz Not to Be
Several years ago, I picked up a late-model .45 Colt New Service with the standard 51/2″ barrel. It has some real pitting on one side of the frame and cylinder, so I was able to acquire it for a good price. My thought at the time was to use it to make a Fitz Special. Fitz used all sizes of Colt DAs for his modifications; however, he preferred the .45 Colt New Service. When I visited Col. Rex Applegate in his home/museum, he had a very special .45 Fitz Special New Service engraved “To Rex From Fitz.” I wanted one just like it.
To make his Special, Fitz shortened the barrel, dehorned the hammer, made the grip frame smaller, and cut out the front of the trigger guard. Before sending off the .45 Colt New Service to Andy Horvath to be made into a Fitz Special, I made the mistake of shooting it. It shot so well I decided to look for another candidate which turned out to be a .44 Special, so I still don’t have a .45 Colt Fitz.
Colt’s premier DA .45 was the Anaconda; stocks are by BearHug.
Anaconda
Colt never did return the New Service to production, however, when the decision was finally made in the early 1990s to build a .44 Magnum, they also chambered the same sixgun in .45 Colt. The Anaconda is the largest, and probably the best, .45 Colt DA ever produced by Colt. It is all stainless-steel construction. Mine has a 6″ barrel, and some were also made with 4 and 8″ barrels, however, they are very rare.
The Anaconda easily handles standard .45 Colt loads as well as my Heavy Duty .45 Colt loads consisting of a 300-grain bullet at 1,200 fps.
Two favored .45 S&Ws carry in classic Berns-Martin holsters; stainless s
teel Mountain Gun and Model 25-5. Grips are by BluMagnum.
Smith Swings Out
When S&W introduced their first large-framed, swing-out cylindered sixgun in late 1907, it was chambered in the new .44 Special. During the eight years this First Model Hand Ejector, or Triple-Lock was manufactured, very few were chambered in .45 Colt and are quite valuable collectors’ items today. The same can be said of the Second Model Hand Ejector, which lasted from 1915 to 1941. I don’t believe the Third Model, or 1926 Model, was ever offered in .45 Colt.
In 1950, S&W introduced the 1950 Target in both .44 Special and .45 ACP, with again a very small number being made in .45 Colt. In 1955, S&W upgraded their .45 ACP Target Model by adding a heavy ball barrel, target hammer and trigger, and target stocks. This became the Model 25 in 1957 and then in 1978 was offered as the Model 25-5 chambered in .45 Colt and three standard barrel lengths of 4, 6 and 83/8″. I could get along quite well with the 4″ Model 25-5 as a self-defense sixgun, and I thoroughly enjoy shooting long-range with the 83/8″ .45 Colt. S&W was not always careful with the chamber throats on their .45 Colt, and they can be found as large as 0.455–0.456″ in diameter.
Over the years S&W has offered several heavy underlugged barreled .45 Colts and their stainless-steel Model 625 5″ is as fine a shooting DA .45 Colt as can be found. However, for self-defense use it is somewhat heavy and bulky. S&W addressed this by coming up with the 4″ .45 Colt Mountain Gun with a tapered barrel. This makes it much lighter than the original 4″ Model 25-5. It would be my first choice as a self-defense .45 Colt DA sixgun. Colt has also resurrected the 1950 Target as the Classic .45 Colt, and it is an excellent shooting sixgun. Even before the Classic, S&W made a series of Heritage Revolvers, and one of these was in .45 Colt with a tapered barrel, enclosed ejector rod, and gold bead front sight. It may not be called the Classic, but it is sure a classic-looking revolver.
The Dan Wesson .45 Colt was built on a much larger frame than their .357 Magnum.
Dan Wesson
Once Dan Wesson brought their .44 Magnum to market, they soon began to offer it in other chamberings. The frame and cylinder were stretched to house the .357, .375, .414 and .445 SuperMags, however, they also used it in the standard version for the .41 Magnum, and thankfully, the .45 Colt.
Dan Wesson sixguns were known for two things, beautiful, high polished bright blue finishes and superb accuracy. The .45 Colt 8″ Heavy Barrel Dan Wesson is definitely a superbly accurate sixgun and weighing in right at 4 lbs. handles 300-grain bullets at 1,200 fps with no punishing felt recoil to the shooter. I purchased mine more than 20 years ago when I was deeply involved in long-range silhouetting. It has now been fitted with custom stocks by Rod Herrett and is simply a pure joy to shoot.
Ruger’s first big bore DA was the .44 Magnum Redhawk, top,
however it was soon followed by the .45 Colt version.
Ruger
With the coming of the .44 Magnum Ruger Redhawk in the 1980s, it was only natural it would soon be offered in .45 Colt. The Redhawk is probably a stronger DA .45 Colt than the Dan Wesson, however, being lighter and harder to stock with a good comfortable grip for my hands, it does not handle felt recoil as well as the Dan Wesson. Ruger just recently brought out a 4″ stainless steel Redhawk in .45 Colt which is fitted with pebble-grained, finger-grooved, recoil-reducing grips which make shooting any heavy .45 Colt load quite tolerable. With a cylinder longer than the Ruger .45 Colt Blackhawk, it will handle heavier and longer bullets.
When it comes to DA .45 Colt sixguns, I am mostly partial to 4″ sixguns. For everyday packing and self-defense use my hands-down favorite is the S&W stainless steel Mountain Gun; however, if I’m going to do a lot of shooting or use heavier than standard loads, I would go with the 4″ S&W Model 25-5. If I ever found myself, which at my age isn’t very likely, being outside in all kinds of weather and rough terrain, again, the choice would be easy. I would reach for the 4″ Ruger Redhawk.
