did I miss the discussion on this rig?

[Ron Wood]

Albert,
Your analysis is probably correct for the most part, but I think there is room for additional interpretation. If a suppressor was not practical for DWM to make, why would Pacific Arms make them (other than a marketing gimmick).

Ever hear of â??Zimmerschie�?enâ?�? It was a relatively common practice to use a suppressor for â??parlor shootingâ?� or indoor target practice. Naturally, as you have pointed out, this was only practical with subsonic ammunition, which would not operate a semi-automatic action. However, for target practice either a single shot firearm was used or the action was cycled by hand. For precision target practice, particularly indoors, rate of fire is not a prime objective. On the other hand, when using a suppressor, the diameter of the attachment usually required some kind of supplemental sights for target shooting.

The â??canâ?� supplied with the carbine sold by Randy is at best a showpiece. If it was intended to represent a functional suppressor, it would have to be nearly 3 times as long as the short dummy suppressor shown. Also there is no provision for supplemental sights to compensate for the interrupted sight path. It would seem to reduce the weapon to a "point and shoot" plinker.

One other possibility comes to mind...poaching. Dispatching an animal in a trap or at close range without alerting the game warden seems like a handy feature.

As to whether this carbine barrel was made by DWM or Pacific Arms, I have no idea. It would seem that Randyâ??s description of the markings and indexing would indicate a factory installation and would rule out Pacific Arms manufacture. That doesnâ??t rule out some other â??WaffenfabrikUSAâ?� but that is another topic. Bear in mind that some 1902 carbines were special order items from the factory (note the odd-ball occurrence of a few in the 50,000 serial number range).

If I sounds like I am defending this carbine, that is not the case. I just have fun presenting both sides of the argument.

Cheers,
Ron