5 interesting facts

There is an opinion that the firearm made a man out of a monkey .. we don’t know how true this is, but the fact that the firearm has become an integral part of his life is a fact. We strongly recommend that you use the firearm only for self-defense and hunting purposes, or just shoot cans and want to tell you about some interesting facts related to it.

    Fact one: Charles Guiteau, who assassinated the 20th President of the United States, James Garfield, chose a gun to kill, which he thought would look good in a museum.

    This story happened on July 2, 1881 at 9:30 am at the Baltimore and Potomac RailroadStation. Guiteau campaigned for Garfield before the presidential election and after his election he hoped to be appointed to some responsible position (he wanted to become an ambassador). When Guiteau's expectations were not met, he was enraged and decided to kill Garfield by shooting him twice in the back. The president's wound was not deep, and the bullet did not damage any vital organs. But the doctors showed unprofessionalism during the operation and caused severe purulent inflammation - they could not remove the bullet and introduced an infection into the body, from which Garfield died on September 19, 1881. Whether this was done intentionally or not is unknown. The bullet was found only at autopsy. Among the four assassinated US presidents, Garfield lived the longest time between assassination attempt and death. Lawyers demanded that Guiteau be recognized as insane, nevertheless, the court sentenced him to death by hanging, executed on June 30, 1882. The killer bought a Webley British Bulldog revolver for $15 in an expensive design, with an ivory handle, rather than the usual wooden one, so that the firearm would look good as a museum piece after the murder. This revolver was seized and indeed was in the Smithsonian Institution, but was lost at the beginning of the 20th century.

Fact two: Russian astronauts take firearms into space to protect themselves from bears.

It sounds fantastic, of course, but in fact everything is much more prosaic than one might imagine. Astronauts take firearms with them not to shoot back at bears in space, but in case they land somewhere not where planned, for example, in the taiga forest. The idea to develop this pistol appeared in 1965, when the cosmonauts, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev, having completed their mission, landed not at all where the rescue group was waiting for them. The ship ended up hundreds of kilometers from its original destination - in the north of the Urals. Thus, the Soviet cosmonauts were forced to survive in the wild taiga for two days. Due to the difficult terrain, it was impossible to save them even with the help of a helicopter. The snow-covered taiga, where there is not a single settlement within a radius of tens of kilometers, is not the most hospitable place in the world. There are many wild animals, such as wolves, bears and lynxes, so it was obvious that an astronaut needed a firearm to survive in extreme conditions. In fact, they already had pistols at the time. Soviet cosmonauts were given a Makarov pistol, but it was weak for protection against large wild animals. Then a three-barreled pistol with a butt in the form of a machete was developed.

The third fact: the Austrian Gaston Glock probably could not have imagined that one day he would become the creator of the world-famous pistol, but in 1980 this happened. It is noteworthy that Glock himself tested his offspring in his own garage. In this case, the engineer did not use the leading right hand, but the left. And Glock had reasons for that. In 1963, the 34-year-old engineer organized his own firm. The company, located near Vienna, was engaged in a completely peaceful business - the development and production of conventional curtain rods. However, soon the young company was fabulously lucky: Glock managed to conclude contracts with the Austrian army for the production and supply of various ammunition (sapper shovels, knives, belts, pouches, etc.). This circumstance, apparently, was the reason that Gaston Glock, who had not even held a firearm in his hands before, became interested in designing a new pistol. Glock started doing this back in the mid-1970s. Gaston Glock, together with his employees, is now seriously set to develop new firearms for the army. A few months later, Glock introduced a modernized pistol, designated the Glock 17. This name was due to the fact that the magazine capacity of the Glock pistol was a record 17 rounds for that time. Another distinguishing feature of the Glock 17 was that composite materials were widely used in the production of the pistol. For example, the receiver and frame of the firearm were made of high-strength polymer material that could withstand temperatures from -40 to +200 degrees. Nevertheless, according to experts, the Glock 17 proved to be a reliable and safe firearm. However, Gaston Glock himself, being not a very experienced gunsmith, was in no hurry to trust his offspring, especially at the development stage. By the way, Glock designed his gun in the garage, as well as knives and other "accessories". There, in the garage, the engineer also tested the Glock 17. Despite the fact that Glock was right-handed, he fired from an experimental pistol using his left hand. Gaston feared that the gun would simply explode and injure his dominant hand. And with an injury to his left hand, Glock could continue to work.

Another fact is connected with the great artist Pablo Picasso. The fact is that the artist had a revolver loaded with blank cartridges, from which he fired at random passers-by. Few people know, but Picasso apparently had a very subtle and vulnerable nature and was very indifferent to criticism. That is why for some time he carried a revolver with him. Of course, it was not loaded with live ammunition and there were only blanks in the drum. But as, eyewitnesses said, he repeatedly shot people with it. So what was the good reason to do it. No, he did not drive away fans or hooligans in this way. He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger in those cases when people, not understanding his work, tried to find out from him what he meant by drawing this or that picture or simply seemed boring to him.

    Another fact connected, maybe not so much with firearms, but with the war, is the emergence of a cargo cult. During the war against Japan, the Americans began military expansion and the construction of a network of military bases in the Pacific region. Equipment, ammunition, clothing, provisions and firearms were delivered by hundreds of cargo planes. The natives were shocked by the huge number of "gifts" falling from the sky. Coca-Cola, canned food, cigarettes, military uniforms, folding knives, watches, lighters, flashlights, never-before-seen medicines, not to mention household appliances and Jeeps. Treasures falling from the sky were unambiguously perceived as divine gifts sent down by the spirits of ancestors. For the islanders, the actions of the military were filled with magical meaning. The islanders watched the white people with interest, wondering how they manage to receive so many different gifts without doing anything special for this. And then the inhabitants of the islands realized: White people have secret knowledge and sacred rites that call on the spirits of their ancestors, and they, in turn, send magic loads to the earth. So, you need to steal the secrets of the rituals and do the same! In an effort to receive gifts, the indigenous islanders began to copy the "rites" of soldiers, sailors and pilots. From wood and straw, they built life-size replicas of cargo planes, from improvised materials, they built control towers and beacons, stretching vine wires between them. They cut down the forest and cleared the runways, lighting torches or fires along them, thereby simulating landing lights. From coconut halves they made headphones, and from bamboo - microphones and walkie-talkies. All these amusing activities were carried out with one sole purpose - to lure the divine planes and ships full of treasures. The war is over... The air bases have been abandoned, but the cargo cult is still found among the tribes of the Pacific Islands.