Wartime, home made silencer

[Paul S.]

The second picture is especially interesting in that it is two US Marine corporals with a Colt machine gun on the elephant. The picture may pre-date WWI.

[browningautorifle]

a Colt machine gun on the elephant.

Hard to say where they were for sure, I've never seen elephant around 29 Palms...

[Paul S.]

Which begets the question: where was that?

[Merle]

Somewhere I do have a picture of the punt with the enormous gun mounted on it and by today's standards the gun looks so large as to be almost comical. I would think that there would have been very little left of any bird if it had been unfortunate enough to be hit by it.

Punt guns were used to shoot at a flock of birds, not one individual. I would expect that the shooter would know the MINIMUM range to avoid shredding the birds.

[browningautorifle]

where was that?

The picture of the Elephant? I have no idea where they took that picture, or stole the elephant. They're Marines, it could have been anywhere.

[Flying10uk]

Although mounting a machine gun on an elephant may seem like a bit of a joke today, I'm guessing that when the photograph was taken it probably seemed like a perfectly sensible thing to do. I suppose today that the military may wish to mount a MG on it's transport which could be a truck or armoured vehicle but back in the day, in certain parts of the world, the military's main modes of transport would have probably have been horses and perhaps elephants?

[Merle]

Although mounting a machine gun on an elephant may seem like a bit of a joke today, I'm guessing that when the photograph was taken it probably seemed like a perfectly sensible thing to do. I suppose today that the military may wish to mount a MG on it's transport which could be a truck or armoured vehicle but back in the day, in certain parts of the world, the military's main modes of transport would have probably have been horses and perhaps elephants?

I have seen pics of MGs mounted on camels too - who knows what all animals have been drafted as carriers.....

[Flying10uk]

You can imagine the outcry that there would be in the media if the British or American armies decided that there was a need to mount a heavy MG on an animal such as a camel or elephant today.

[browningautorifle]

who knows what all animals

Yes, there's a mount similar for a Maxim for Elephant but this just ain't the way it's done...one jiggly-jog and that whole mess will come sliding off the beast. That would hurt...

[Vincent]

Possible... Here's more reference what I was saying. Israeli Ruger 10/22 Suppressed Sniper Rifle

The plinker went to war: The IDF's Ruger 10/22

Interesting articles.

Here’s a look inside a modern suppressed 10/22.



It’s a second version Gemtech Mist (no vent port in the barrel). It’s unbelievably quiet. I can sit on the couch in my living room and shoot through the open backdoor at a target in the garden. The only sound is bullet hitting the target. My wife sitting at her desk directly above me in the same room doesn’t hear a thing as long as I use a brass catcher or hold the bolt closed. She can hear a spent case if it hits the wood floor, but not the shots.