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The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

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Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#41

Post by erklik »

phobosanomaly wrote: post #33
arbhassan wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been to Afghanistan. Yes! There's a big local software dev industry in Pakistan but i work remotely for foreign companies.

Are there any interesting software projects coming out of Pakistan that you are excited about, but maybe outsiders may not be so familiar with?

I am not OP but similar area. There's quite a few startups. These days is good as there is a fair bit of interest in funding projects.

A few that come to mind that have recently raised funding are Airlift (Ride sharing but more mass transit based), Tello Talk(localized mobile messaging), Eat Mubarak(Food Delivery), PriceOye(online ecommerce), Marham(telehealth), Bykea(main is Rideshare but bikes since traffic cannot stop bikes).

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#42

Post by 082349872349872 »

arbhassan wrote: post #37
jrumbut wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read about the Khyber Pass area growing up and it sounds like such a beautiful place with a long and interesting (and unfortunately violent) history. Do you think there will be a time in our lives that outside visitors will be able to see it? Do you think that would be good or is there more value in the almost globally unique degree of independence the area has maintained going all the way back before Alexander the…

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...

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#43

Post by donw »

arbhassan wrote: post #37
jrumbut wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read about the Khyber Pass area growing up and it sounds like such a beautiful place with a long and interesting (and unfortunately violent) history. Do you think there will be a time in our lives that outside visitors will be able to see it? Do you think that would be good or is there more value in the almost globally unique degree of independence the area has maintained going all the way back before Alexander the…

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.

> It's not as dangerous as the media portrays.

I strongly suspect that is a universal truth.

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#44

Post by arbhassan »

082349872349872 wrote: post #28
sparrish wrote: post #2

That's some incredible skill, especially with such limited tech.

Limited? When they say CNC, I'm imagining something like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfFtPFJWufs&t=170 but maybe I should scale down my expectations? Edit: OK, not quite as fancy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj1qpAZf3yE PS. arbhassan, any local music videos you'd recommend? is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73kBQHabhoY&t=840 a good introduction? (knowing neither pashto nor arabic script, my search-fu is ver…

Regarding the music recommendation this[1] is one my favorite song. Enjoy!

[1]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJnzQKprzc

[2]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywPW8t_kUA

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#45

Post by arbhassan »

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...

Yes polo is also played but mostly in the chitral and gilgit areas.

Knife/Sword dancing is also a part of pukhtoon culture.

Regarding the music recommendation this[1] is one my favorite song. Also other songs from this band are awesome. Enjoy!

[1]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJnzQKprzc

[2]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywPW8t_kUA

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#46

Post by donw »

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

Both "Forgotten Weapons" and "In Range" are fantastic.

Forgotten Weapons introduced me to a lot of firearms history of which I was totally unaware.

Things like the Liberator[1] and 2-Bore rifles[2], although with the latter, I'm going to assume that you're hunting smaller naval vessels and/or low-rise buildings. Or you're looking for the fastest possible way to bruise the hell out of your shoulder, and want to set fire to a small pile of money at the same time.

In-Range -- which features both Ian from Forgotten Weapons, along with his co-host Karl -- does a lot of other interesting stuff. Tons of different shooting competitions, plus some informative Mythbusters-style segments.

My two favorites are the Shockwave vs Double-Barrel[3] and the mud tests of the AR[4] vs the AK[5] platform.

Both of those are worth watching, but if you want the tl;dr: (1) A double-barrel shotgun is a poor home-defense weapon, but the Shockwave is even worse in pretty much all cases; and, (2) the AR is a more reliable platform than the AK in real-world conditions.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CjndIiZyJo

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYlDgwo52tI

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYjThckYqBQ

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAneTFiz5WU

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX73uXs3xGU

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#47

Post by 082349872349872 »

arbhassan wrote: post #45
082349872349872 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Yes polo is also played but mostly in the chitral and gilgit areas. Knife/Sword dancing is also a part of pukhtoon culture. Regarding the music recommendation this[1] is one my favorite song. Also other songs from this band are awesome. Enjoy! [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJnzQKprzc [2] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywPW8t_kUA

Manana! Now I'll also have to look up Hamza Baba...

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#48

Post by nucleardog »

astatine wrote: post #12
arbhassan wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People here LOVE guns. Everyone owns multiple guns in their house. I think it's our pukhtoon culture and a sense of pride and security that comes with owning a gun. When i was a kid my father used to clean his AK every other week and i would sit by him silently and enjoying as he broke it down into multiple pieces and then make it into one piece after cleaning it. For me i wanted to have my own original Russian AK be…

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 obviously the ownership rates among Americans are, uh, quite high as well. Given the heavy North American audience here you’ve almost certainly gotten into a conversation with at least a few gun owners.

Firearms ownership is a way of life or a core part of the identity of some people, but for the vast majority of owners it is not. For those people, it’s rarely something you’d find out about unless there was a reason to. I do tend to bring it up when the conversation steers anywhere towards that direction because I like to try and be an ambassador for the normal, responsible people that own firearms as a contrast to certain vocal minorities, but most people seem to prefer to just fly under the radar.

I’ve got an old (1955) Russian military surplus SKS, a Czech bolt action .22 (CZ455) and a Turkish (ATA Arms) Remington 870 12 gauge pump shotgun clone with a tube magazine and a 14 inch barrel sitting around the house. If it interests you at all, feel free to ask anything you want to know.

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#49

Post by 082349872349872 »

arbhassan wrote: post #44
082349872349872 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Limited? When they say CNC, I'm imagining something like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfFtPFJWufs&t=170 but maybe I should scale down my expectations? Edit: OK, not quite as fancy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj1qpAZf3yE PS. arbhassan, any local music videos you'd recommend? is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73kBQHabhoY&t=840 a good introduction? (knowing neither pashto nor arabic script, my search-fu is ver…

Regarding the music recommendation this[1] is one my favorite song. Enjoy! [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJnzQKprzc [2] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywPW8t_kUA

Manana! Now I'll have to also look up Hamza Baba...

Re: The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass

#50

Post by baybal2 »

phobosanomaly wrote: post #33
arbhassan wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been to Afghanistan. Yes! There's a big local software dev industry in Pakistan but i work remotely for foreign companies.

Are there any interesting software projects coming out of Pakistan that you are excited about, but maybe outsiders may not be so familiar with?

Mostly manufacturing. Pakistan, despite its poverty, is a gigantic market.

And endless human resources to man assembly lines.

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