If you had a time machine…?

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I don't think you would have learned very much from John Browning, him and Ed did everything themselves and kept it to themselves. Jo0hn was the thinker, Ed was the do-err

One didn't work much without the other, so you would have ended up with some mundane job.

DM
Maybe…Probably… but I still would’ve met them. :thumbup: ;).

Stay safe.
 
If I had a time machine and was willing to risk paradox, I would think hard about just which dumb act to go back and warn myself against.

If I had a time machine, I would find a genie and use my wish for “infinite wishes”.

A genie will not usually grant a wish for more wishes.
I recall the story of the guy who rubbed the lamp and thought hard about what to wish for. Any amount of money would eventually be spent, so he wished that he would always have correct change for anything he bought. He could reach in his pocket and pull out the price of a candy bar... or a new car.
 
I would return to Montana on June 24,1876 and tell the Lt. Colonel that there are thousands of warriors from several tribes down by that river; do not split your forces, do not get spotted, do not approach and send for reinforcement - lots of reinforcement.
Then back into the machine and onto Pennsylvania on June 30, 1863 and tell the General that he needs to take the surrounding high ground and that a frontal attack across a fenced, open field against the center line will not have the outcome he intends.
Then “Back to the Future” to see if they listened.
Jack Crabb tried that. LOL
 
I would return to Montana on June 24,1876 and tell the Lt. Colonel that there are thousands of warriors from several tribes down by that river; do not split your forces, do not get spotted, do not approach and send for reinforcement - lots of reinforcement.
Then back into the machine and onto Pennsylvania on June 30, 1863 and tell the General that he needs to take the surrounding high ground and that a frontal attack across a fenced, open field against the center line will not have the outcome he intends.
Then “Back to the Future” to see if they listened.

I bet the Lt. Colonel wouldn't have listened.


He didn't. He was told by scouts what the situation was, and it only encouraged him, the danged fool.
The fault was in Terry's, in giving Custer leave to improvise from his recon mission as he saw fit. He knew Custer's impetuousness, he should have known better. Terry would be the man who's ear to whisper into.
 
He didn't. He was told by scouts what the situation was, and it only encouraged him, the danged fool.
The fault was in Terry's, in giving Custer leave to improvise from his recon mission as he saw fit. He knew Custer's impetuousness, he should have known better. Terry would be the man who's ear to whisper into.

Gen. Terry made his own incredibly foolish mistakes as the Terry/Gibbon column headed for the Little Bighorn. There is little evidence (IMHO) that Custer ignored his scouts; what Custer was absolutly ignorant of was that the Indian encampment was poised and ready for an attack and very prepared to respond quickly and aggressively, a very different reaction than Custer had faced at Washita ..... or different than any cavalry officer, including General Terry, would have expected.

Because of Terry's blunders, his column arrived Tuesday morning, June 27. They should have arrived 24 hours earlier, atleast.

Nothing excuses Custer's actions. Had he paid more attention to Indian culture as he fought the Plains Indian Wars he would have recognized the signs the Indians were more prepared. Sun Tzu wrote plenty of theory on knowing the enemy and your own in order to win. Custer ought to have read more, attacked less ....
 
If this is just related to my own lifetime I'd go back to my college days when I knew a few people selling AK's for $200 (though I knew nothing about their quality).

More recently, I'd go back to Feb 2020 and stock up on rifle powder, bullets, and small rifle primers when they were still available, knowing that that by the time my bonus check hit in March I'd be able to pay off the credit card. As it happened, I was planning on buying that stuff in March when I had the cash in hand but the components had all disappeared by then. There was also a Ruger Blackhawk and a 92fs at my local pawn shop that had been sitting there for almost a year listed for good prices (and I knew they'd negotiate a little more) I was going to pick up, and both were sold by the 3rd week of March when I got that check.
 
Ladies and Gents - there is something of greater interest to me than changing "gun history" or anything in the last 200-300 years.
Given the use of a time machine, the most compelling question I would want answered would require my going back to the Middle East of about 2,000 years ago - to see for myself.
Good luck nailing down the exact year!

DM
 
Well, now...let's see. There's a fantasy that every "pistol man" has probably had at some point...Pistol, Caliber .45, Model of 1911, serial number 1. I seem to remember that said pistol was delivered to U.S.S. Texas (BB-35). It isn't still on the ship in 2021, but a couple of minutes of research tells me that on January 1st, 1949, Texas was moored in Baltimore, and her caretaker crew had left. So with a target date for my time machine, I'm going spelunking on this big gray beast!
 
Very very simple. Go back to when Polleppel island got cleaned up and buy the whole place lock stock and barrel at scrap metal prices. Check made payable to the estate of Francis Bannerman. Even with the crazy artificial inflation of full auto toys, cannon at scrap prices is a better buy.
 
Add a Rhodesian FAL onto my previous wish list.

And ten GI M-1 Carbines.
 

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I’d go back to the 1840s and visit the Sam and Jake Hawken shop, then teleport back with a new Hawken... a REAL Hawken.

But honestly at this point, I’d go back to 2019 and buy as much ammo at those prices as I could afford.
 
Another thread got me to thinking about what I would do (at least in terms of firearms) if I had access to a time machine. Assuming I only got one trip I would round up as much cash as I could then go back to 1985, where I would buy as many ARs and AKs as I could afford, then fill out Form 1s to register them as transferable machine guns. If the time machine wouldn’t allow me to wait around for ATF to send me my stamps then I would go back further and buy up crates of new Colt SAA revolvers.

If you had one trip in a time machine what firearm related thing would you do?

<<Emphasis added by staff.>>
If I had one trip back in time, I'd be twenty two and too busy chasing skirts to do anything firearm related.
 
If you had one trip in a time machine what firearm related thing would you do?

<<Emphasis added by staff.>>
If I had only one trip (I am interpreting as one way trip?), I would do the following:
  • Download all the major stock market winners and losers (for shorting), lottery winning numbers for different states and mass shooting persons/dates/locations that were used to "shift" the narrative on gun control to enact more strict gun control laws.
  • Locate historically pro-gun persons and individually and as a group with you in the background, start funding (with stock market gains and lottery winnings) pro-gun movements with the same "narrative process" that anti-gun crowd used but the opposite at every level of society and government.
  • Buy up major start ups like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, etc. to better fund and control the "narrative" on firearm ownership.
  • Buy up all the media outlets and start the "educational" process of why firearms are beneficial to our society (Personal protection against rape/robbery/murder, prevention of crime with open/concealed carry everywhere, etc.)
  • Preempt social media companies by starting your own versions of FaceBook, Twitter, etc. or just buy these companies.
  • Once sufficient base of pro-gun manufacturers, activists, victims groups, politicians, media companies, etc. was formed, relentlessly work to incorporate "positive gun culture" and "safe gun sports" as part of everyday life:
    • Fund to incorporate "positive gun culture" at every level of education (Our future) both at local/state and federal level (Yes, major lobby group work with all party groups and fund every major politicians' election and reelection).
    • Work with women's rights, victims rights, LGBTQ rights, minority rights, small business groups and highlight cases where gun ownership prevented rape/crime/murder and highlight these on a continuing basis with positive emphasis on multimedia (Youtube, Hulu, etc.) and social media (FB, Twitter, etc.).
    • Work with disabled/elderly/post injured military groups to enact "enhanced" ADA like laws to ensure ergo/enabling firearms and accessories and have BATF transform into ADA-like compliance agency.
    • Work with medical professionals and researchers to verify hearing damage from muzzle blast and enact hearing protection act with BATF being resource agency.
    • Fund local/state/federal level marches for individual rights to gun ownership to prevent victims/crime and support disabled/elderly/military personnel.
    • Work with upcoming movie production companies and independent film makers to produce content that incorporates positive gun culture.
    • Seek out pro-gun judges and help their education early with connections to pro-gun politicians/presidents to get them on state/federal/supreme courts.
    • Have local/state/federal politicians write pro-2A ordinances, regulations and laws on a monthly/annual basis (Remember the "core" group set up earlier and working 24/7 basis with large well funded and trained "agents" and lobbyists?)
    • With better focused funding of PTSD/mental illness studies/research, identify mass shooting persons (with the aid of list from the future) and provide clinical help to prevent them from carrying out mass shooting.
    • Fund research and studies for post-military/PTSD depression that leads to suicide and work with politicians to create new government departments with case workers who work/follow closely with at risk/high risk discharged military/police personnel and private citizens (Kinda like minority report type of agencies for suicide)
    • Establish large stadium-like range facilities with lodging, restaurants, stores and children's programs as "resort destinations" with weekly "gun sporting" programs, regional/national sanctioned professional teams, game shows, reality TV shows.
    • Fund research/development and production of consumer level "personal" CNC/3D printers that allow people to make their own tools for hobbies, gardening, DIY including firearms.
    • Work to create public domain library of CNC/3D printable files
    • Fund research/study of advanced both non-lethal and lethal personal protection devices
    • Etc. etc.
You know, just the opposite of what happened in the past century.
 
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I'd buy a boatload of shares of Microsoft and Apple when they IPO'd.

...and Intel. Then I could buy whatever I wanted these days.

Tongue in cheek... I'd run back to 2004 and tell my dumb self not to sell my 1st run S&W 657 Classic Hunter, my 4" 686, or my Browning 1886 SRC.... but I probably wouldn't believe myself.
 
You know, just the opposite of what happened in the past century.
LoL. That would nearly certainly make it a "one-way" trip, as the future you were "from" would likely not resemble your memory of it. Curse you Causality! [:)]

I would fill my pockets with silver dollars
This is probably the other hurdle a time traveler would face. Imagine the expense of having to purchase Eagles & Double-Eagles and/or Silver Certificates of the appropriate era, and at current prices, too.
Then a person would probably need to get period-appropriate attire as well.
Otherwise, it might be difficult to get the nice man to sell you the goodies you desire so much.

And some careful beforehand research on storage facilities that lasted until one's present day would likely be mete, especially for taking delivery of wagonloads of things from Bannerman, Maxim, Colt, et al.

Even a quick trip back to 1995 could have some payment issues. If only in having to collect enough cash dated not later than 1995 (and paper currency tends to circulate for 8 years at most). Mind, 1995 would be a sore temptation--milsurp Mausers for a c-note or less; 55gr 5.56 ammo for less than $5/box, all sorts of cool stuff.
 
LoL. That would nearly certainly make it a "one-way" trip, as the future you were "from" would likely not resemble your memory of it. Curse you Causality! [:)]


This is probably the other hurdle a time traveler would face. Imagine the expense of having to purchase Eagles & Double-Eagles and/or Silver Certificates of the appropriate era, and at current prices, too.
Then a person would probably need to get period-appropriate attire as well.
Otherwise, it might be difficult to get the nice man to sell you the goodies you desire so much.

And some careful beforehand research on storage facilities that lasted until one's present day would likely be mete, especially for taking delivery of wagonloads of things from Bannerman, Maxim, Colt, et al.

Even a quick trip back to 1995 could have some payment issues. If only in having to collect enough cash dated not later than 1995 (and paper currency tends to circulate for 8 years at most). Mind, 1995 would be a sore temptation--milsurp Mausers for a c-note or less; 55gr 5.56 ammo for less than $5/box, all sorts of cool stuff.
Take gold and silver, exchange it for paper once you get there.
 
ake gold and silver, exchange it for paper once you get there.
It's a notion. But, you'd be buying metal at today's rates to trade for paper at yesterday's. And you still have the onus to get minted specie with appropriate dates.
Which also gets you into various era where trade in metal might be legally complex.
Now, thinking about that, perhaps the dodge there would be to get foreign currency--Mexican pesos used to be in silver and gold, which might be the way to get "credit" in the past.
 
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