I enjoyed Gus Fishers posts, but figured out soon that he made up stuff to win arguments. I don’t respect that. Gus had his limitations, as long as he stayed within his training, his information was spot on. But, allow Gus to use ideas concocted from his native intelligence and things became magical. That is, magical thinking not based on what we would call, “the physical laws of the universe”. And I think all the flak Gus caught in this thread is what finally made him walk away from the web:
Too Short Headspace SHATTERED M1 Garand Stock
https://m14forum.com/gus-fisher/125091-too-short-headspace-shattered-m1-garand-stock.html
Gus starts off with an account of a M1 Garand that blew up and the chamber was 0.003” short. Gus is told by the owner that only GI surplus ammunition was used in the Garand. Gus and the members of the forum believe that Mil Spec is next to Godliness so, to them, the ammunition is golden. Gus then spends the next 11 pages defending the idea that a short chamber will cause catastrophic failures. Pressures will increase exponentially, etc, etc, etc. It becomes obvious at some point, that Gus is making things up. He creates fictions, disputed by some, but accepted by the majority because of Gus’s stature on the forum.
I think Gus himself was fooled. The owner of the gun probably was shooting some home brewed mini nukes and lied to Gus about what he was shooting in his rifle. (I have heard stories) Now it is possible the owner actually shot old GI surplus and had no idea, neither did Gus, that pressures in old ammunition climb, and will blow up your rifle. This happens all the time, and more so when again, batches of surplus ammunition make it on to the market. The civilian shooting community is quite unaware of this, Agnotology again. Anyone remember this picture? (it was posted earlier in this thread)
The simplest explanation is, the owner of the broken Garand shot over pressure handloads, blew up his Garand, lied to Gus, who was so gullible as to believe the guy, and Gus spent 11 pages defending a lie, by creating more lies. But the main thing is, Gus was really pushed in that thread. Of course decreasing headspace by 0.003” is not going to exponentially raise pressures, regardless of what Gus claims about the ideal gas law. (It is not a power law) Maybe Gus was also embarrassed after 11 pages of argument. But the thread clearly demonstrates the characteristics of a personality type who cannot admit fault or error, and thus, it is an excellent insight into the personality of the man. I don’t know if that was the reason, but Gus disappeared from the web soon after that.
