Vintage shots from days gone by!

1964

 

What a Betty!!

Doc.

 

Lock ,Stock and barrel meant someone that could do the whole job. An expert gunsmith could make everything for a gun from forging the iron to carving the stock. There were gun lock makers and barrel makers that gun builders could buy ready made parts from and simply mount them to a stock he carved.The best gunsmiths could forge weld their own barrel and bore and rifle it them self, They could also forge out or cast the "furniture" like butt plates ,trigger guards etc. They could do everything to produce a gun these gun smiths were the most sought out on the frontier where a broken gun could mean living or dieing if not fixed.

on old guns you would cock the hammer back manually to fire the gun. drawing the hammer back 1 click to "half cock" would allow you to prime the guns powder pan and close the cover or Frizzen over the powder to keep it in the priming pan and dry this notch also acted as a lock to keep the hammer from allowing the flint in a flint lock from striking the frizzen and igniting the primer and main charge in the gun it was some what of a "safety notch " To fire a properly working gun lock you would need to cock the hammer back one more click to "Full Cock" then pull the trigger releasing the hammer to fire the gun.
If the "half cock" Detente was made poorly or just plain worn a strong bump might cause the hammer to release and fire the gun unexpectedly a very bad situation at best!
So "Going off half cocked" equates to doing a bad or foolish thing and getting the job done "lock ,stock and barrel meant getting or doing something the best it could be done.

 

OK, time to "Lock & Load"

 

Anyone remember a feature that appeared in Pop Science decades ago called Shop Talk ? The premise was simply a conversation between craftsmen during a break, using the jargon specific to their trade. I learned a lot of terms from that page. How about a dictionary devoted to those slang phrases ?

 

I know a guy that has Gordon Cooper's 67 Corvette. Last I heard it was nearly to far gone to be restored. I was told chickens had been living in it at one time. I have ask about buying it several times but we all have heard the story, "I am going to do it some day"








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Hi Beach Bum.That is not Jimmy Stewart.He flew B17`s.
REost 72246.The guy driving the"fall apart"car is Ben Blue.A well known silent film actor.He served as an ambulance driver in France in WW1.Just a little trivia.
This thread is getting better all the time.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Keep your powder dry.

 

swi66 posted this pic.
Looks like a early 289 Cobra.

 

Easy!
Bring your hammer back to the half cock or "lock" position then place a "load" in the weapon this from the days the "lock" was the entire action of a weapon
.When firing "On Command" the order was "LOCK" bring your action to the half cock which would lock the hammer in a safe position."LOAD" charge barrel with powder and shot "PRESENT" which meant point your weapon at the target at hand you couldn't really aim since military weapons had only a front sight if any at all and finally "FIRE" now you can see why "going off from the half cock " was a bad thing that hammer dropping while you were trying to ram home load sure wasn't what you wanted!
during more modern times with cartridge weapons the term "lock n load" changed slightly to lock a magazine or clip of ammo into the weapon then put a round into the breach by what ever means the weapon used like cycling the bolt or charging mechanism."LOCK N LOAD" was most often the command given just before getting into the thick of it a point where there was no turning back so "LOCK N LOAD" was also used to indicate you were fully committed to an action.

 

What happened when they went down a mountain? Real question.