not too much off topic, but interesting

the suit that Jimmy Stewart wore in the movie Carbine Williams

James Stewart suit from Carbine Williams

Attachment 23760


Heres an M1A1 "signed" by Carbine Wms. Owned by friend with massive provenance.

I love the Carbine Williams story. He was in every aspect not a team player or a corporate man, but a fiercely-independant free-thinker - you know, like the guys who made America great? This makes him stand out to me regardless of his various foibles. The very fact that Winchester made every attempt to discredit him and make light of his contributions to the development of the carbine convinced me that they were lying to protect their corporate image. The one thing they could not dismiss is the fact that he did invent the short-stroke gas piston operating system of the M1 Carbine, because he had this patent on it - U.S. Patent 2,090,656.

Aside: I have no doubt why the words 'corporate' and 'coprolite' are so similar. Did I ever mention my definition of a team (in the corporate sense)? That's a bunch of jackasses hitched up to do the bidding of an a..hole with a whip.

thats cool, i thought this topic would of gotten more banter lol guess not

A bit more on Carbine Williams, much of which I wrote about a good while ago. Maybe some new readers will find it useful. The above pictured M1A1, along with a signed Remington 22 that CW had patents on, was purchased by my friend from an acquaintance in the Winston-Salem, NC, area about a year ago. The guns and a couple shoeboxes of letters from CW to his friend in the W-Salem area came with it. The guns and letters later went to a friend of CW's friend and this is where the guns/stuff came from. I read some of the letters, most of which are personal, but one or two pretty much document the guns. The current owner said that his intent is to organize the letters, make copies, and provide some of the more interesting to the CW museum in Raleigh NC.
I've sort of lost track of him so I don't know whats going on with the stuff. As a side note, a year or so ago I met an older gent at a gun show who used to be a gun salesman back in the earlier days and traveled around. He had met CW at a Fayetteville NC gun shop where he would sign a carbine for $50 or 100, he didn't remember which. CW had incredibly strong hands and used an awl for that purpose. He added that "he didn't like him worth a damn as he would cuss up a storm". Unfortunately, CW blew all his money, and in his later years was in poor financial shape. The above is the second carbine I've seen signed by CW, the other being owned by a guy in Salisbury, NC, who wrote a book, with some nice pics, about CW, but was unable to get it published. He kindly gave me a copy which made for good reading.

I read in a lot of magazines and flyers that Carbine Williams developed the M1 carbine. My understanding is that his contribution was the gas piston.

The reason he was in prison was that he admitted to shooting and killing a deputy sheriff when they made a raid on his illegal still in 1921. He later worked for Winchester but had disagreements with them and either quit or was asked to leave. Not exactly the hero type people make him out to be.

'He later worked for Winchester but had disagreements with them and either quit or was asked to leave.'

A plus in my book that he wouldn't lay down for corporate Winchester. He really was responsible for a lot more than just the gas system:
"General Julian Hatcher was impressed by Williams' work and recommended Williams to Winchester Repeating Arms in 1938 as showing the greatest native ability of anyone he knew of. Williams was employed by Winchester on 1 July 1939, where he applied his design of a short-stroke tappet gas piston system to resolve loading problems of a Browning prototype .30-06 M2 rifle.[5] At the urging of Col. Rene Studler, a team at Winchester scaled down Williams' M2 rifle design to produce the Winchester prototype for the M1 carbine." (From Wikipedia)
And plenty of American icons come with baggage. I place Williams in that number with no apologies. Without him our Carbine would be very different (if it even existed) and may or may not have ever attained the popularity it has always enjoyed.

He later worked with Remington, developed and patented, a 22cal system that shot shorts/longs/long rifle. The rifle was a 550, or something similar. His patents are on the barrel.

Last year I read a biography of him. Written by a guy who interviewed him over a period of time. Not an easy book to find. I had to get the copy by an inter-library loan from half way across the country.

Without quoting chapter and verse (because I do not have the book) my impression was that Williams was a dangerous (he played practical jokes on the writer with firearms), paranoid, antisocial person.

He was a self taught mechanical genius who could have gone far (either independently, or as an employee) if he had been sane.

(From Wikipedia) He dropped out of school after eighth grade and began work in a blacksmith shop.

pretty good conversation going on this thread,,,,,did anyone notice the suit? lmao