Double Bubble

The 59 obsession has dual roots.

The playtest of GURPS: SEALs in Vietnam got me looking into lots of guns from that period.

It's lead to a couple purchases to Grok in their fullness.  Even a generous donation or two.

The history of the 59's development came from the stuff that was being used by the SEALs in the time period the game supplement covers.

I've got a model 39 here, now I wanna see how it compares to a genuine 59.

I'm probably already more familiar with the way it feels than I remember.

I had a Daisy Softair airsoft gun until very recently that was patterned off the 59.

You put a plastic softair bb into the nose of a plastic cartridge, loaded those into a very authentic magazine, then loaded the gun like normal.  Well... not quite normal.  Pulling the trigger tripped a piston which sent the bb downrange and sent the slide to the rear, ejecting the plastic cartridge.  Then you shoved the slide back forward against the piston spring to chamber a new round and ready to fire again.

Mine died when the sintered metal sear reverted to its powder state sitting on a shelf in the clutches of a teddy bear.

That Softair 59 was the source of a lot of REALLY stupid fun.

Like violate almost all the 4-rules fun.

Because of the way the rounds were loaded, you could play Russian Roulette with a semi-auto.

Because it looked real you could walk a friend from The Memorial Union to the library at gun point, just to see if anyone said anything.  Nobody did and few seemed to notice.