Let me explain...no there is too much...

Let me sum up.  It's been a while.  Here's why:

1) Finished last bit of intensive research and living at the beef farm
2) Lived in the lab and office finishing lab work and writing dissertation
3) Job interviews
4) Job accepted (involves moving rather far)
5) Pack almost all belongings
6) Dissertation defense
7) Get house ready to sell

But, in the midst of all that, lots of fun firearms related stuffs have happened.  I picked out and acquired my very own pistol (any guesses?).  That deserves it's own post, and I promise to get to that ASAP.

I finished my dissertation, passed the exam, and my husband presented me with the best present ever!  My very own Cody range bag.  There is nothing not to love about this bag.  It holds everything with room to spare and has the most delightful pattern in a gold and grey color scheme.  Love love love!!!

Finally, I've been enjoying having my sister in the same town and taking her to the range for shooting fun.  We just got back from some sister bonding time at the range.  Good times!  More soon!

Grandma's Pistol (Part 2)

Thanks so much to everyone who sent notes here and on Facebook.  I've had fun learning about this little pistol.

To summarize what I've learned.  This basic style is referred to as a velodog pistol.  The name is a combination of the words velocipede (old term for bicycle) and dog.  They were used to scare off dogs that tried to chase and attack bicyclists.  They were designed to fit comfortably in a gentleman's pocket while riding a bike, thus the folding trigger and enclosed hammer.

However, a true velodog revolver had an elongated cylinder, chambered for 5.5mm center fire rounds.  My grandmother's gun does not have this elongation.  thus it is more likely a later revolver in the same style, but intended for personal defense, not dogs.

Auguste Francotte was based in Liege, and produced firearms beginning in 1810 and was most active in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The company produced no less that 150 revolver styles by the end of the 1800s.

Click to see full size. 

Thanks again to all those who helped in my hunting.  It's been a fun adventure!

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• Grandma's Pistol

Grandma's Pistol

Hello world.  Long time no see.  The good news is my PhD should be complete within a month (knock on wood).  For the past 6 months I haven't really had a spare moment.  But now I have a quandry for the masses out there that know so much more than I.

My husband and I are down to visit family for the holidays and were talking firearms and such, as you do.  This afternoon, grandma brought down this little guy for us to check out.  It was brought back from Belgium by my grandfather after WWII.  She doesn't remember ever firing it.  She much prefers her .22

I'm hoping y'all can help us ID this little guy.  It's simply gorgeous!

No serial number we could find.  The markings say A. Francotte a Liege.  Which matches with origins in Belgium, but my googling is finding my mostly long guns and a few larger revolvers by Francotte.  Heck, I'm not even finding dates they manufactured.  Definite search failure for me.

So, can anyone tell us more about this little gun?  It's about 3.5 inches long, folding trigger, pearl grips...  I'll let you see the rest in the pictures.  Not the best, but it gives the basics.  I can take more or different pictures if they would be helpful.

  

Jayne Austen Book and Gun Club!

It's been a crazy summer with no time at the range or do more than just dream about shooting.  But I couldn't resist posting this after if made me giggle this morning.

Found on Facebook, original by leshoward on Flickr

What's not to love?  The orange hats, historical costuming (I have mentioned that's another crazy hobby of mine right?), and firearms!  Complete awesomeness, now to find my local chapter...

A day of going thunk

Several weeks ago husband and I went on a date.  It was glorious to get out and enjoy the sun and good company.  We headed south to check out the archery range at the game preserve.  This time with bows in tow!

Despite it being a Saturday with weather to die for, we had the place to ourselves.  And what a place it is!  The front/static range has 10 targets ranging from 10 to 60 yards.  As neither of us had gotten much string time in the last year we started at the 15 and 20 yd range.  Just to make sure things were going well and to knock off the rust.  We did well, hitting the targets at least, if not precisely where we hoped.

Then we headed over to play at the the 40-60yd ranges.  Well...this is where the rust started to show!  My first bolt fell well short and the husband didn't fare much better.  My second gave a resounding thunk.  Unfortunately it wasn't the nice soft thunk of a good target bag hit.  Rather the hard, worrisome think that meant I had hit the wood frame.  At that point, I expected to lose a tip at least, if not have a broken bolt.