Being "locked-down" for an extended period has an interesting effect on folks. I have cast about here for projects to pursue and have stayed fairly busy on everything from old car maintenance to yard and housework. When not otherwise busied, I'm researching different topics to see what I might have overlooked in my steady pursuit of the almighty dollar over the years.
Something that caught my eye recently is the reproduction industry for Civil War era weaponry. It is largely focused in Italy and it seems that they've been steadily been working away (for some time now) at re-creating the now-obscure handguns and rifles of that era. Their efforts have gotten to the point of producing very-good, functioning copies of the better firearm designs from that period. Since all the weapons then were black-powder, their efforts have gone largely unregulated by the government types, as such weapons are considered "non-firearms" for any legal purposes. These reproductions are of-course made with modern steels and manufacturing techniques and can, in reality, be very good firearms. In many ways, they are significant improvements in quality (w/far-stronger steels & much better tolerances) over the ancient Colts, Remingtons and Winchesters they were intended to copy. They are also largely dirt cheap(!). An industry blossomed just after the Civil War ended (and during the later 1870s and 1880s) that allowed for the use of the then newly-invented "metallic" cartridges by boring through the cylinders of the revolvers of that time and converting them to fire said cartridges. It would seem that such an industry still exists, even to this day (look up Taylor and Company sometime). If you've been raised on a steady diet of movies dated from that period, you're more-than familiar with the genre and may even have a passing interest in such things. No background check is necessary (a big plus in modern-day Colorado) and shipping can be done to your door (unless you live in the usually-suspect places, such as NYC, DC and LA).
Last edited by Lloyd3; 04/08/20 10:32 AM.
