To paraphrase the Irish Spring ad, deadly yes, but I like it too! So why not own one? Well, there’s money. I can’t imagine that a grand day out with the MK-38 Bushmaster (a version of the venerable M242) would cost anything less than $10k in ammo – if I could find someone to sell me some. Then there’s practicality. I don’t own a boat. Given the size and weight of this beast, I reckon a bass boat won’t cut it. And where would I take this boat? Lake Travis? How long do you think it would take the Travis County Sheriff, the DHS, DPS, ATF and all their buddies to . . .
swoop down, confiscate my beloved Bushie and imprison my ass at the mere sight of this thing? A lot less time than it would take to get the government’s blessing for private ownership, cold day in Hell and all. Why is that? Does not the MK-38 Bushmaster – an aimed weapon – fall under the “arms” part of my Second Amendment right to keep and bear protections? I can understand shooting limitations, but shouldn’t I be able to amass whatever arsenal I want in whatever caliber I choose?
I’d love to have an MK-38, but I lost all my boats in a terrible gun accident.
I was thinking the same thing. The weight of that gun would sink my little 20 footer!
The weight of the ammo would sink your 20 footer and sproing the springs on my 4runner.
Theoretically, you DO own it. Along with us other 10,000 taxpayers in the US. Ten thousand too high?
How many here, as a kid, whittled a bar of Irish Spring soap down to a pile of chips looking for those two deodorants?
Oh man, mount that on the roof of my Saturn, open the sun roof, and tailgaters beware!
More like AAA beware when that Saturn breaks down on the side of the freeway.
Got a chance to play with one of these while riding to Iraq on the U.S.S Dubuque back in 2006. Cool experience. Fun day overall, my 0331 section got to comingle with some Gunners Mates. They were bumbed that they couldn’t come play with us in the sand box. We were bumbed that we couldn’t bring that monster with us.
“They were bumbed that they couldn’t come play with us in the sand box. We were bumbed that we couldn’t bring that monster with us.”
What a bumber…
🙂
I have a long standing plan with a friend to buy a Destroyer and put it in Lake Austin. There would be no room to turn around, it would only go forward and reverse, but we would OWN that Lake. 🙂
For 30+ years I saw a houseboat in a pond in KY. You could step onto the stern of that boat from one side of the pond and step off the bow to the other side.
Couple of weeks ago I was in KY and the houseboat was sitting on dry land and looking worse for the wear.
I always wondered what the story was with that boat.
Reminds me of the ending to the movie “Second Hand Lions”
Same here!
I like the way they dealt with traveling salesmen. And really, a circus lion for a kids pet? I wish they had raised me. All I had was dogs.
“I always wondered what the story was with that boat.”
May have been a property tax dodge of some sort.
I.E., a houseboat you live in taxed less (or not at all) compared to a residence on land.
Nice of the OOD to have them firing into the sun. It looks like they are drifting, second group, looks as if they just enough to maintain steerage. Hardly the speed they would be doing if fast small boats were after them. The days of expending tax dollars at sea 😀 CIWS very high tax dollar cyclic rate.
http://www.anzioironworks.com/MAG-FED-20MM-RIFLE.htm
Just get a Solothurn. Semi-auto with a ten round mag.
What a waste of brass
I had the same thoughts..
Then I remembered, it’s not their money, it’s ours..
Yes, but they couldn’t care less. They can always just reach into our pockets or borrow from our kids for the cash to buy more.
Only thinkng can think of when looks g at that bad boy is ” I’ll be taking these huggies…”
Worked on one and fired the same in the coast guard. It’s more machine then gun.. And it comes on and off with a crane..
For some reason the ammo cans were marked ‘light’ I still have a couple… That’s funny now, but it took a few years
The ammo cans are marked as light when they are stored partially full.
No new can will be marked that way.
They were marked light because they were probably partial cans. Anything less than the full amount has to be marked as light. Work on one of these on my patrol boat, very fun and not as much maintenance as people complain about.
Ours had issues. They had to send it back to alameda once. My rack was right underneath it, everytime we fired it I would have to sweep what I’m sure was perfectly harmless 20 year old insulation out of pillow and blankets.
The BM1 would stand out on the bow with us and we would point at boats or whatever and ask him ‘could we sink that?’ And he would consider and say yes or no. Those were good times
Having worked with the Mk38 Mod0/1 systems for a long time and it’s replacement, I can tell you that this is a giant POS. It’s not terribly accurate and the battery charger had lots of issues. We have replaced this with the Mod2 which is a stabilized system with EO/IR and fire control. Testing and M&S has shown you are better off with a twin 0.50 cal in a Mk95 mount than the older Mk38s.
To answer the question he asked, YES is does come under the arms portion of the Second Amendment. As stated though the cost for shooting this beast would be way out their. However if you were able to “get permission” than the alphabet soup would not be able to touch you.
Not to cause a hoo-ha, but as people of the gun, we, or at least I, have been asked by the more liberal types, “Where is the line for what kinds of firearms that can, or can’t be owned by we the people?”
Should we the people have the right to own any firearms, or ballistic weapons that our military currently uses? Is there a bright line, or some defined point where it doesn’t serve any useful purpose? Other than to show you have the money to buy one? If we have the money, should we be allowed to buy this 25mm deck gun? Where is that line, and what determines it? Caliber, effective range, level of destruction? Are there any such guidelines?
I always considered the militia portion and assumed arms as in what a citizen would muster with. So a modern rifle, well regulated, with sling, ammo etc.. A modern pistol same condition.
So in my head, anything that is man portable and common is fair game.
Lots of people own exotic weapons. Mike Dillon of Dillon Precision owns a pair of rotary chain guns mounted in an AA mount. People own WWII howitzers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see people with tanks.
It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it. If I could afford it I might be able to buy an M1 Abrahms tank. That doesn’t mean I can fire a HEAT round at my neighbor’s garage.
Sweet, those look like the 25mm Hotchkiss rounds that Japan used during WWII.
I used to be a LAV-25 gunner when I was in the Marine Corps. Awesome firepower, but the implementation of the weapon system in the LAV was awful. The feed chutes being the biggest culprit, since the gun was basically sitting sideways in the turret, it made the feed chutes have a odd angle to them which caused the gun to jam often. It usually depended on the vehicle you got though because some worked flawlessly and others were an absolute PITA to keep running.
See I’d be happy with anything belt fed. Or even automagic. The Ma Deuce probably being the holy grail, haha.
For some reason I have it in my head I really want a Browning 1919. May have to pick one up that’s single shot just for funsies. Y’know. If I’m ever just rolling in money anyway. :p
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