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The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

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Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#51

Post by Intermernet »

vosper wrote: post #34
thatguy0900 wrote: post #27

Forgotten weapons, a YouTube channel that documents lesser known guns, has quite a few videos on khyber pass guns https://youtu.be/rZZTD3w_a5Q https://youtu.be/n5S_qmBL_KM https://youtu.be/zTvxFNRLbiw His videos on "Chinese mystery pistols" are also quite good

I really like how Ian McCollum (host of Forgotten Weapons) discusses guns without glorifying them. He doesn’t seem to be a war or gun nut, and he doesn’t seem interested (or at least he presents no obvious interest) in violence, death, or destruction. It makes the videos enjoyable for me, as someone who finds the engineering, ingenuity, and historical context interesting.

He treats historical weapons like others treat historical watches. They're amazing feats of precision engineering with a bunch of interesting history attached to them. I was raised with an awareness of fire-arms, and although I'm definitely on the side of gun control and education, I really appreciate the engineering that goes into firearm design. Ian does a fantastic job of showing the design and engineering side, while explaining the history, and avoiding the glorification. Somewhat aptly, his nickname around the various fora is "Gun Jesus".

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#52

Post by baybal2 »

smabie wrote: post #10

Is it legal to make your own gun in most places? It's always been a fantasy of mine since I was a little kid, and I finally have the capital and attention span to do it. Do people ever make non replicas? It would be unbelievably cool to design and Smith an a original weapon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law_in_Pakistan

> Gun laws in Pakistan allow for the wide ownership of firearms there. Only tribal areas of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa permits the ownership of heavy weaponry including the use of rocket-propelled grenades, short, medium, and long-range rockets, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, etc

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#54

Post by 082349872349872 »

082349872349872 wrote: post #42
arbhassan wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can visit anytime you want. Outside visitors do come all the time. It's not as dangerous as the media portrays. Tourists used to visit these places all the time. But they stopped coming as much after 9/11. Nowadays it's pretty much normal and peaceful. There are alot of foreign YouTubers who have made vlogs. You should check em out.

Is there any buzkashi in your area? Polo? Other equestrian sports? (for instance, similar or different to those in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24304267 ) Any knife/sword dances similar to the circassian https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24108561 ? Also, I have a question downthread looking for music recommendations...

On the dance front, encouraged by arbhassan (and sidetracked by Nazia Hassan), so far I've found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2zKi04Jek

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#55

Post by kingofpandora »

erklik wrote: post #39
vishnugupta wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am from India, and I’d love to explore that beautiful area one day. For several reasons, the historical importance of the region is one. So I had a couple of questions. How safe is it for Indians to visit the Khyber region? I speak Hindi/Urdu with conversational fluency. Can I get by? What’s the best and shortest route to take to get there? Thanks to HN, I am conversing with someone from a region which seems so rem…

> How safe is it for Indians to visit the Khyber region? I speak Hindi/Urdu with conversational fluency. Can I get by? What’s the best and shortest route to take to get there? As an Indian citizen, it will be basically impossible for you to get a visa to Pakistan, especially to visit Khyber Pass. Indians are only eligible for business, pilgrim or visitor visas to Pakistan. The pilgrim visa allows Indians to visit 15…

When I went, there was special permitting required to go up the Khyber Pass but nothing for DAK. So assuming you can get a visa for the country, you should be able to reach DAK easily from Peshawar.

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#57

Post by mmm_grayons »

nucleardog wrote: post #48
astatine wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you get original ammunition or are they made locally as well? How often do you use it? Or is it a status symbol, primarily? Is it carried along when you generally go out or only on special occasions. I haven't ever exchanged messages with anyone who owned a gun, let alone an AK47 and the novelty raises a lot of questions!

Are you sure you haven’t? I’m in Canada which has about 35 civilian guns per hundred people and thanks to the licensing system we know it works out to about 7.5% of the country having licenses here. A lot of the people that own guns would probably surprise you too—for instance, my 65 year old gray haired aunt that works as a nurse in a care home for old people has a cabinet at home with 6 or 8 guns in it. And obvious…

Ever had a slamfire on that SKS? I've seen a few videos showing it but am wondering if it's widespread or just an urban legend.

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#58

Post by mmm_grayons »

arbhassan wrote: post #25
chmod600 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, AK47s are almost all semi-automatic. When you say AK47 are you talking about the original automatic kind?

Yup! Original fully automatic.

Wow, pretty cool that y'all can get such things. I just looked and it appears y'alls laws allow purchase of automatic weapons with a special license? That's a lot better than here where it could cost $20k+ due to supply being cut off in 1986.

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#59

Post by big_chungus »

smabie wrote: post #10

Is it legal to make your own gun in most places? It's always been a fantasy of mine since I was a little kid, and I finally have the capital and attention span to do it. Do people ever make non replicas? It would be unbelievably cool to design and Smith an a original weapon.

The obvious warning - be very careful if you intend to fire it, do your reading first, yadda yadda. It's legal in America, though some states restrict production of certain things. Yes, you can absolutely make a non-replica, but if you want to actually design your own weapon, I recommend reading Chinn's The Machine Gun which has most of the requisite mathematical details.

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#60

Post by big_chungus »

baybal2 wrote: post #52
smabie wrote: post #10

Is it legal to make your own gun in most places? It's always been a fantasy of mine since I was a little kid, and I finally have the capital and attention span to do it. Do people ever make non replicas? It would be unbelievably cool to design and Smith an a original weapon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law_in_Pakistan > Gun laws in Pakistan allow for the wide ownership of firearms there. Only tribal areas of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa permits the ownership of heavy weaponry including the use of rocket-propelled grenades, short, medium, and long-range rockets, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, etc

I am suddenly very envious of Pakistan.
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