Thank Goodness for Airborne Combat Engineer- after another couple of days without internet access, I again popped onto my Infernal Machine to check how much spam had been gathering in my Inbox and to have a quick gander at what was going on in the world. ACE was the first site I looked at and lo and behold- a new Ruger revolver! This one is a beauty, a snub-nosed, wilderness back up chambered in .454 Casull. Nice. ACE also has a few posts on the Smith and Wesson .500- including one on a Gary Reeder revolver. ACE mentioned a mastodon in the article and it got me thinking- if you were to go back to Cretaceous/Jurassic times (depending on you own particular preferences when it comes to dinosaur spotting/hunting) what weapons would you be packing? For the sake of it, you’ll have a secure operating base from which to venture out so there’s no real limit to your armoury. Each trip out though, you’d probably only be packing a single rifle and side-arm/carbine. Any thoughts? Comments left on this would be greatly appreciated for next time I get to come back online.
For a quick reference on the game around have a look here, a pretty handy resource for dinosaur information. Off the top of my head, I reckon my sidearm would be a .475 Linebaugh. Not sure about a rifle, though I’d be tempted to pack the aptly named .577 Tyrannosaur! More likely though, it’d be a more manageable .458 Lott with the A-Square Triad ammo selection. More on that later when I get a bit more time.
2 comments:
Wow! I'm honored that you would check A-C-E first. And thanks for the link. (Unfortunately, I'll not be able to post anything new today and possibly longer, but anyone reading this can click on the WEAPONS & FIREARMS category in the right sidebar to see lots of posts on this genre.)
Re. your hypothetical question:
If I could have a beast of burden (mule, or closest thing to it back then) I'd go with the semi-auto Barrett .50 BMG, with 2-3 boxes of API rounds. For the sidearm, the .577 Tyran. or the .600 Nitro would be good, but I might just go with the 10.25" barreled .500 S&W, as I'd probably only be using it for smaller game (a few tons or so). A M79 Grenade launcher would be a nice third weapon, if that were allowed.
As to a base of operations, I'd want it to be as close to the weapons and ammo plant as possible. ;-)
This whole question reminds me of the old US TV show (forgot the name) of a few guys riding around in the desert in a jeep with a .50 BMG, raiding enemy camps. We NEVER saw them in base camp and we never saw any other troops or vehicles. I guess we were supposed to assume there was a base camp in driving range.
While we're imagining impossible things, imagine if the Confederacy had the USS Enterprise with a full complement of planes and supporting ships. Or just one B-2 bomber with plenty of smart bombs. Or just a few A-10 Warthogs. The minds reels.
Oh well. Time to get back to the real world.
PS: If I could have a beast of burden, I'd take an M2 machine gun and plenty of API ammo. If not, I'd go with one of the lighter .50 BMGs. I believe one now has a magazine feed.
Re. the new Ruger Alaskan, it seems appropriately named. A commenter to that post says he lives in a remote part of Alaska and grizzlies there will almost always charge you if they pick up your scent. I only have experience with less agressive brown bears in the Appalachians. The few I've seen headed the other way or ignored me.
The only unfortunate thing about the name is there is (as you know) a .50 Alaskan round, which has a long shell. I believe SKS sells a barrel for the T/C Encore single shot for it. It's a little more than I care to fire in a handheld, but a BFR revolver chambered for it would be another candidate for a handgun in your hypothetical world of Dinos and Men with modern weapons.
Thinking hypothetically, I've always wondered how many would enjoy hunting if deers could fire back with .30-06s, or ducks were armed with .223 auto wing guns. That would separate the men from the boys. ;-)
Post a Comment