"Fat Mac" - SSK Industries' .950 JDJ Rifle
Forgotten Weapons
•
8m 3s
JD Jones’ .950 JDJ cartridge is a generally described as the largest sporting rifle cartridge ever produced, producing more energy than even the 4-bore cartridges that match it in bore diameter. Only three of these rifles were made, and the original loading was a 2600 grain (168g) cast bullet moving at 2200 fps (670m/s), for a whopping 28,000 foot-pounds of muzzle energy (38kJ). There are some antitank rifles that produce more, but nothing comparable in both energy and bore diameter in the sporting realm.
The rifle is built on a McMillan stock and action, and was originally produced on special order for a customer who wanted a really (really) big rifle that could use cast bullets. The cartridge cases were originally made from 20mm Vulcan cases trimmer down to a (mere) 70mm case length, with custom made lathe-turned cases replacing them when brass Vulcan cases became too difficult to source. The gun itself weighs a bit over 60 pounds, with nearly a third of that in the muzzle brake alone. This example is being sold with a whole bunch of ammunition components, which is a good thing since Jones/SSK stopped making the ammunition several years ago…
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
Final Prices: RIA September 2017 Prem...
As usual, I have a recap today of the final prices of the guns I filmed form the most recent RIA auction (#71; September 2017). There were a bunch of machine guns in this one, although a variety of other things as well. I had gotten a lot of comments about the potential of my bidding on the Chate...
-
The Volcanic: Smith & Wesson's First ...
The deep beginnings of the Volcanic go back to Walter Hunt's Volitional Repeater, which became the Jennings repeating rifle, which then became the Smith-Jennings repeating rifle when Horace Smith was brought in to improve it. Smith was able to make it more commercially viable than the Jennings ha...
-
The Italian Last-Ditch TZ-45 Submachi...
The TZ-45 is a late-war (some might say last ditch) Italian submachine gun made in small numbers and notable primarily for being the first SMG to use a grip safety on the magazine well. The grip safety on the TZ-45 is actually quite significant, as it locks the bolt in place when either cocked or...