The Highwaymen (see below)
When filming a machine gun shooting at the water perhaps a few ripples would add realism?
Unrelated to the film, there was an article in the paper recently about a fellow who had proudly set up a floating target on the pond behind his house. Can you imagine the ricochets from that whizzing around the county?
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April 2019 Newsletter
For 14 years our newsletter has gone to more than 20,000 Firearms Collectors, Enthusiasts, Historians and Professionals Worldwide. We now reprint over 6000 Vintage Gun Catalogs, Books and Manuals from the 1840s to the 2000s
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Back issues: you can view the newsletter on our website. For a downloadable copy of our catalog of reprints or manuals this will take you there. Also, we have Interesting downloads at our website. Please forward this letter to your friends.
Most Internet Browsers – Firefox, Edge, Opera etc – have decided to truncate, or cut off, the bottoms of long emails. There is a tiny note at the bottom allowing you to retrieve the rest of the email. Rob and Abby
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Those of us old enough to remember the '67 version recall that the show romanticized the pair while inserting some of their more lurid exploits "in living color”, to quote a phrase from the 1960s. This film, however, shows little of the character of what the Washington Post called the "Kardashians of the era" and instead portrays a dusty, relentless pursuit by two aging lawmen.
Costner and Harrelson are ideal in the roles of real life, retired Texas Rangers, Hamer and Guinn. Acting in a mostly humorless grind across depression era Texas and adjoining states they deliver a completely believable performance uninterrupted by the almost ubiquitous stupid arguments and sex scenes most shows have today. The photography is magnificent with scenery that leaves you hot and thirsty and wanting a bath. Neither overacts their role and the dialog is delivered with few cliches. Good entertainment, although, as one might expect, the film does take some liberties with fact.
Let me see that older Winchester you got there, that .30-30 and I need one gun that won't jam
You want the stick or the drum for that Tommy?
How many in a stick?
Twenty rounds
I'll take a dozen and two of them drums
and a handful of half-moon clips for this Smith if you've got them.
All right then, that'll do it.
Which will do it?
All of 'em
All of 'em?
Yes, sir."
"Along with four cases of .45 lead
Same for the .30-06 and say...
an even 100, each of the others.
What all you goin after, you need all this firepower? If you don't mind me asking?
No, sir. I don't mind at all...”
As a postscript, in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, Agent Hamer appears under his own name, and is portrayed by Denver Pyle. He is depicted as incompetent, and the Barrow gang in the movie easily captures, teases, and humiliates him, after he foolishly creeps up on them. In consequence, their ambush at the end of the film appears to be his personal, petty revenge. After the film's release, Mrs. Frank Hamer, formerly Gladys Johnson Sims, originally from Snyder, Texas, and Frank Hamer, Jr., sued Warner Bros.-Seven Arts for defamation of character and in 1971 received an undisclosed out-of-court settlement.
Old West Photos... not the usual crop!
Belle associated with the James–Younger Gang and other outlaws. She was convicted of horse theft in 1883. She was fatally shot in 1889 in a case that is still officially unsolved. Her story was popularized by Richard K. Fox—editor and publisher of the National Police Gazette—and she later became a popular character in television and movies.
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his work across the frontier as a drover, wagon master, soldier, spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor. He earned a great deal of notoriety in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales that he told about his life. Some contemporaneous reports of his exploits are known to be fictitious, but they remain the basis of much of his fame and reputation, along with his own stories.
Charles Siringo and his partner, W.B. Sayers, are seen on the trail of the Wild Bunch in 1899-1900. The two joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency and infiltrated gangs of robbers and rustlers, often while working undercover.
Cowboys, uh, bathing after a long day (month?) on the trail. "Momma said to park the herd downriver, ...what? Ole Rusty's skinny, dang horse? Well, shoot he don't count!"
perhaps explaining how some of those cars you see toppled on their roof by the side of the freeway got that way.
...and this image has been around for a few years- we like to think of it as...
The Ikea Car
Debunking the Bilge
You know those emails we all get? The ones with lots of "facts", that we all mindlessly forward to others who do the same? No, I'm not talking about the incendiary political ones that castigate the opposition (both parties, I'm not taking sides here) in the most irresponsible manner, I'm just talking about the garden variety ones. Well, here is one such email partially debunked:
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours. A mayfly has a life span of 24 hours not a dragonfly which lives six months or more.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. Your goldfish can actually remember things for five months!
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Nope, a jiffy is 33.3564 picoseconds, the time it takes light to travel one centimeter.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes. No, fish, including sharks, can blink, although sharks do have eyelids.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill. Nope, when the Lincoln Memorial was constructed the names of the then 48 states were engraved on it. The picture of the Lincoln Memorial on the $5 bill contains the names of the 26 states that can be seen on the front side of the Lincoln memorial.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age! However, babies do have a cartilaginous structure in their knees. This cartilage turns into bone by the age of four.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon. About once every 19 years, February has a full moon. The next Black Moon by this definition will occur in 2037, while the last one was in 2018.
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated. Not true. There are plenty of animals that were domesticated in the last 4000 years alone. These include ferrets (2500 years ago), turkeys (1800 years ago), pigeons (1500 years ago), rabbits (1400 years ago), and rats (less than 200 years ago).
If you are an average American, in your whole life you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights. More like 4 months, but wow!
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. The nose and eyes are linked by cranial nerves, so the stimulation from the sneeze travels up one nerve to the brain, then down another nerve to the eyelids, triggering a blink for most people. However, it's possible for some people to sneeze with their eyes open.
Leonardo DaVinci invented scissors. Spring scissor are thought to have been invented around 1500 BC in ancient Egypt. Cross-bladed scissors were invented by the Romans around AD 100.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. Eyeballs are not fully grown at birth. But the truth is that “yes”, as we age, our nose and our ears do get bigger, but not because they are growing. The real reason is... gravity.
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“Within two minutes of slamming into Earth, the asteroid, which was at least six miles wide, had gouged a crater about eighteen miles deep and lofted twenty-five trillion metric tons of debris into the atmosphere. When Earth’s crust rebounded, a peak higher than Mt. Everest briefly rose up. The energy released was more than that of a billion Hiroshima bombs, but the blast looked nothing like a nuclear explosion, with its signature mushroom cloud. Instead, the initial blowout formed a “rooster tail,” a gigantic jet of molten material, which exited the atmosphere, some of it fanning out over North America. Much of the material was several times hotter than the surface of the sun, and it set fire to everything within a thousand miles. In addition, an inverted cone of liquefied, superheated rock rose, spread outward as countless red-hot blobs of glass, called tektites, and blanketed the Western Hemisphere...
The asteroid was vaporized on impact. Its substance, mingling with vaporized Earth rock, formed a fiery plume, which reached halfway to the moon before collapsing in a pillar of incandescent dust. Computer models suggest that the atmosphere within fifteen hundred miles of ground zero became red hot from the debris storm, triggering gigantic forest fires. As the Earth rotated, the airborne material converged at the opposite side of the planet, where it fell and set fire to the entire Indian subcontinent. Measurements of  the layer of ash and soot that eventually coated the Earth indicate that fires consumed about seventy per cent of the world’s forests. Meanwhile, giant tsunamis resulting from the impact churned across the Gulf of Mexico, tearing up coastlines, sometimes peeling up hundreds of feet of rock, pushing debris inland and then sucking it back out into deep water, leaving jumbled deposits that oilmen sometimes encounter in the course of deep-sea drilling.
The damage had only begun. Scientists still debate many of the details, which are derived from the computer models, and from field studies of the debris layer, knowledge of extinction rates, fossils and microfossils, and many other clues. But the over-all view is consistently grim. The dust and soot from the impact and the conflagrations prevented all sunlight from reaching the planet’s surface for months. Photosynthesis all but stopped, killing most of the plant life, extinguishing the phytoplankton in the oceans, and causing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere to plummet. After the fires died down, Earth plunged into a period of cold, perhaps even a deep freeze. Earth’s two essential food chains, in the sea and on land, collapsed. About seventy-five per cent of all species went extinct. More than 99.9999 per cent of all living organisms on Earth died, and the carbon cycle came to a halt.
Earth itself became toxic. When the asteroid struck, it vaporized layers of limestone, releasing into the atmosphere a trillion tons of carbon dioxide, ten billion tons of methane, and a billion tons of carbon monoxide; all three are powerful greenhouse gases. The impact also vaporized anhydrite rock, which blasted ten trillion tons of sulfur compounds aloft. The sulfur combined with water to form sulfuric acid, which then fell as an acid rain that may have been potent enough to strip the leaves from any surviving plants and to leach the nutrients from the soil…”
The image above apparently shows dinosaur feathers found in the Dakotas. Read the article for some of the fascinating details about the last hour of the dinos...
Rob
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I received my Sharps 1879 catalog today and I to tell you how a'm disapointed with the papper. When I opened the book in the middle pages are not the same on the edges. How do I send it back for a full refund with no postage paid. Ivan Kiroska
We wanted to see what happened. When we got the piece back in the mail we could see that Mr. Kiroska was confused by the page trimming done to make the right hand edge of the booklet square. Each folded and stapled publication is trimmed on a guillotine paper cutter. This makes each center page slightly narrower than the one before thus allowing the booklet to have a nicely trimmed edge when closed. Printers have done this for 150 years for a tidier presentation.
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Read this and dozens of other terrific articles in Arms Heritage Magazine. A year subscription costs a mere $19 and you can have access to this year plus the last eight years!
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Abby: I am emailing about the following item you have for sale on your website: Browning .22 Semi-Auto Rifle Operations manual. I own a Browning Semi-Auto Take Down 22 caliber rifle, Browning SA-22. Is there any additional information you can provide to help me determine if the manual you have (item 1652) fits that firearm? Can you send a picture or two? Also the date it was published? If it matches my firearm I will buy it. Many thanks, Dave Buczek
Dave, That one is a post '74 (Japanese made) manual of the same rifle made since 1914, the so-called .22SA. We do have earlier ones as well for the Belgian guns: Browning 1936 FN Automatic .22 Caliber Rifles Manual (we also have manuals for it in German or Spanish). Cheers, Rob
Rob - My rifle is a Japanese made version from 1975. So do you think that the manual you have would be the correct manual for that firearm? Does the manual have a publication date on it? I don't want a manual dated after 1975.
Dave, No, I have no post '74s that are dated, Sorry. Although I can tell you our Browning .22 Semi-Auto Rifle Operations manual is an earlier one than the one at the Browning website. Try downloading the version they have at the Browning site and compare it to your gun? Good luck, Cheers, Rob
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(Dear Abby) Was needed this by Tuesday just seeing when it will be shipped? Therecycledtree (eBay)
Dear Mr. Marin, I'm afraid we received your order after we printed on Friday so it wasn't processed until this morning (Monday). It will ship today but I doubt it will get to you tomorrow. I'm sorry we didn't know this was urgent or we could have done a special printing on Friday. Please don't give us bad feedback for something beyond our control. Best wishes, Abby
(Dear Abby) It’s all good it’s just I ordered two other things on the same day and I’m receiving them today but is all good. Therecycledtree (eBay)
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(Dear Abby) I received the Winchester Model 12 manual today. Excellent job and great shipping and packing. I own a model 1912 that had a slight problem. with your manual, I was able to fix it in about 20 minutes. Thanks again and keep up the good work. Dave
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(Dear Abby) Do you have anything for the Japanese Type 11 Nambu Machine Gun? Whi-f6ma9 (ebay)
Dear whi... This might be it: Nambu 6.5 1922 Japanese Light Machine Gun? It is included in A Basic Manual of Military Small Arms 1943 (WWII All Country Manuals) Best, Abby
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(Dear Abby0 REF: Springfield Armory Jan 1986 Gun Catalog. hello , does this catalog show anything about the omega 10mm pistol ? Thewauregankids (ebay)
Dear thewau... I don't see the Omega mentioned anywhere in the contents at the bottom of the ad, sorry, Abby
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(Dear Rob) I received the attached Sig information on the P 210 Sig. I had called you and someone was kind enough to include the 4 page information pamphlet on the .22 long rifle conversion unit for the additional funds However, there were only 2 printed pages and 2 blank pages. Please give this your attention. Thank you so much. Regards, Eric K. Stoutenburgh
Dear Eric, The conversion sheet is two sheets of paper printed both sides. If I remember correctly I put a couple of blank divider pages in the package. I'll attach a pdf for you to compare the two. Hope this helps. Cheers, Rob (convention says that one sheet of paper is comprised of two pages- front and back) Cheers, Rob
Rob, Yes, you are correct. I thought something was missing because of the 2 blank sheets. Thank you for your attention. Regards, Eric
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(Dear Abby) I received a message from Cornell today saying that my shipment might be delayed. What gives? William Warren
Dear William, What message? I don't see a delay in the tracking information, but I can't control the PO so give it a day or two. The confirmation email you got was the notification from our shipping program that gave you tracking information. It wasn't supposed to make you think there was a delay. Best, Abby
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(Dear Abby) Hello-ordered thru Gunbroker.com item 802755069 for $16.45 thru Paypal. Walther Model #4, #5 -- manual. Not as easy as dealing with you thru Ebay. Did you receive ?? Thanks for all your time & efforts. Mike McCoy
Hi Mike, We printed the item today. I agree with you about Gunbroker but we like them, they try hard. I think some of the confusion is that we, for some reason, can't use Paypal right at Gunbroker as some gun sellers do. We have to send a separate bill. I send an email explaining this as soon as the order gets to us. Ebay, on the other hand, is very difficult, demanding and greedy, they even charge commissions on postage! Our website is the easiest, most informative and cheapest for us- all we pay for is Paypal... please use that. Cheers, Abby
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(Dear Abby) REF: Arisaka c1943 Japanese Rifle Type 99 Manual (US Text). I have an Arisaka type 38, type 44 and type 99. What model Arisaka rifle does your manual pertain to specifically? Thank you for your time. theprestonscraig (Ebay)
Dear thepres... It is a Type 99. Sorry, when we made the listing everybody had desktop computers and could see the "type 99" on the cover. Now with handheld devices, it is way too small. I put the type in the heading. Thanks for telling me. Abby
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(Dear Rob) ref: Crosman Model 166 Manual – 1967. Want to return this item. Dissatisfied with it. Opened return initially via eBay but return shipping was almost as much as item. Closed return. Will you accept this return directly from me? Provide return address if so. Thank you. Minimax-aircraft-tugs
Dear minimax-aircraft-tugs, I asked Abby to refund your money, no need to return it. If I may, what is it that dissatisfied you, something we did? Cheers, Rob
 Hi Rob, Sure. Attached a photo comparing original to yours. Yours not cropped to size. The front and back of your manual was printed on semi gloss paper. Crosman printed their manuals on matte paper only.
I'm only picky about some things but this happens to be one of them. Sorry.
NOTE FROM ROB: Many years ago we agreed with certain manufacturers to not make “forgeries” of their originals. While our copies are made from direct scans we leave a border around most and put our logo on the back. Those distinguishing differences between what we offer and originals seem to keep the ephemera collectors at bay. As we often say, we don't make forgeries of originals, just nice copies.
In the early 2000s, when we started, the "originals only" crowd was very vocal about how we were destroying the worldwide trade in asset grade, old catalogs. Nervous investors speculated that our copies could be mistaken for originals. At the time we were actually quite impressed that our meager efforts could provoke such criticism- we employed an inkjet printer chunking out only 40 or so different publications. Today we run five printers with over 6000 titles and the value of what we do seems to have quieted the skeptics... which brings me to to Mr. minimax's mention of shiny paper. Actually, it isn't the paper that is shiny, it is the solid ink we use in the color printers that makes the shiny appearance, anyway we are sorry we disappointed him.
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(Dear Abby) Do you have a catalog or information on the Sig Arms P 210-1, P 210-6. These guns were made totally in Switzerland and later production moved to Germany Sauer. Now Sig-Sauer I am not interested in Sig-Sauer. Thank you, Eric Stoutenburgh
Hi Eric, I'm not sure I can steer you straight. We have loads of Sig manuals but I can't tell which might be for the 210 -1 models. For example we have this: SIG Pistols P210 Catalog and Manual and there are others. Please have a look at all of them- all Sigs are listed here under: SIG SAUER GmbH - ALL MANUALS AND CATALOGS (sorry of the title- Sauer- is a bit msleading) Best. Abby
Abby, Thank you very much. That is exactly what I wanted. I will order it today. Eric
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(Dear Abby) Thanks , anything on African hunting and cartridges I'm interested in.thanks Robert
Dear Robert, We have several on Indian and Burmese hunting and a couple from Africa plus lots of mentions. If you put the word "Africa" without the quotes in the search bar there are two types of results, those with the word in the title and those with Africa in the contents. If you scroll down to those you will see the words "check contents in red. That gives you the index to check to see if anything interests you. Best Abby
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Hi, Abby; Thanks for the great service and beautiful reproductions. Frank Roach
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Hello, my Name is Daniel from Germany. I would like to buy one of the Merkel Gun Catalog 32'. Can you ship one to Germany? Of course, i pay the deliviery. Best regards, Daniel (Ebay)
Hello Daniel, I am very sorry we no longer ship outside the US through ebay. We had too many people claiming the packages were "lost" to get their money returned. We do ship internationally through our website. Rob for cornellpubs
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(Dear Abby) You were offering a catalog of 1960's era police supplies a while back. Some how I didn't order a copy. Probably about the time I went in the Hospital. Do you still offer something like that? Doug La Rue
Hi Doug, It was probably this one: Charles Greenblatt 1965 Police Equipment Catalog. For other police mentions just put "police" in the search bar. Best, Abby
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