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Product Analysis: The HP-35 – The “Other” Browning Pistol

Michael Cessna September 16, 2022

It has long been acknowledged that John Browning is one of – if not the – greatest American firearms designer of all time. Indeed, his Winchester 1894 – the venerable “.30-30” – with over six million units produced, is the most numerous sporting rifle ever made. Browning’s designs have lasted well over one hundred years; in fact, variations of his M1911A1 pistol and M2HB heavy machine gun are still in service in the United States Armed Forces, at least in some capacity, despite both being over a century old.

At the end of World War One, however, Browning did not rest on his laurels after a sixty-year career of designing weapons for both civilians and military forces. As he was no longer offering his designs exclusively to Winchester, after the war was over, Browning began working with the Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale (FN). One of the final designs Browning was working on, a French military requirement for a new service pistol, the “Grand Rendement” (French for “high efficiency“), would never be completed, as Browning would die suddenly of heart failure, on the floor of his son and co-designer’s shop November 26, 1926, at the age of 71.

The service pistol design, while not complete, had advanced far enough that it could be completed by Browning’s assistant, designer Dieudonné Saive, a tremendously talented designer in his own right, who would go on to design many legendary firearms, including the FAL (Fusil Automatique Leger or Light Automatic Rifle), which would become known as the “Right Arm of the Free World.”

*An FN Browning High Power, belonging to **Indonesia’s Marinir (Marine Corps)**.*

The pistol for the French contract was a “game-changer” design. Browning had been one of the first designers of practical and reliable semi-automatic pistols, as far back as 1899, and the French pistol built on from everything he had learned to that point. The task, however, was not simple, as Browning had to compete with himself — he had previously sold his patent on the M1911 to Colt Manufacturing; as a result, Browning was unable to directly copy that design. The new pistol used a 13-round, detachable box magazine (designed by Saive), the first true ‘staggered-stack’ design that allowed a near-doubling of ammunition capacity, without overly-enlarging the grip.

Due to the French commission’s wandering requirements (something all to common in the weapons design world, being one of the chief reasons for mindless cost overruns in defense products), the design was unable to mature until 1931, when the Belgian Army ordered 1,000 units of the early design, and was finally completed in 1934…Which was, of course, when the French chose another pistol, that went on to become barely a footnote in history.

*Weapons used by Swedish Volunteer Corps. Inglis of Canada HP-35 in upper-right corner (#4).*

The Belgian Army, however, had been following the pistol’s development, and were highly impressed with the small sample that they had purchased three years earlier. The French competition was barely over, when the Belgians formally adopted the pistol, as the “HP-35“, as their national sidearm, which would become known as the “High Power“.

World War 2 saw Nazi Germany swallow Belgium whole, and with it, the FN factories. When it became clear that Belgium would fall, Saive and other FN engineers fled to England, and carried the designs of many weapons, including the High Power, with them. The High Power’s plans were handed over to John Inglis and Company, of Toronto, Canada, who rapidly tooled up lines to produce two versions of the design: the standard model with fixed sights, and a version with an adjustable rear sight and a detachable shoulder stock (primarily for a Nationalist Chinese contract). From there, the High Power took off to became the primary sidearm of the armies of 93 nations, as well as many special operations forces, most famously, Great Britain’s SAS, and remains in service with many of those militaries to this day.

*Canadian soldiers inspect their weapons, Camp Blanding, Fla., April 18, 2009, in support of Partnership of the Americas 2009. USMC photo.*

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end – or seem to. After 82 years of continuous production, FN Herstal announced that the production of the Hi-Power would end, and it was discontinued in early 2018 by Browning Arms. From 2019 to 2022, with no new Belgian Hi-Powers being built, clones were designed by various firearm companies around the world, including Springfield Armory, as the “SA-35.” These new Hi-Power clones began competing with each other by offering new finishes, enhanced sights, redesigned hammers, beveled magazine wells, improved trigger, and increased magazine capacity.

However, in 2022, presumably to compete with the sudden surge in Hi-Power popularity, FN announced they would resume production of the Browning Hi-Power. The 2022 “FN High Power” incorporated a number of entirely new features such as a fully ambidextrous slide lock, simplified takedown method, enlarged ejection port, reversible magazine release, wider slide serrations, different colored finish offerings, and 17-round magazines.

As of the end of 2022, the eighty-seven year old design has suddenly found new life, and will likely continue in service well past its 100-year design mark…

…Like many other models of its designer.

DNC INC Sponsors Drag Queen Shows for Kids

Freedomist Editor September 16, 2022

The DNC’s Woketarian Corporations are proudly sponsoring LGBTQPQRSTYVWXYZ festivals that include Drag Shows targeted for children. These are the people willing to use their market power to force their “morality” on the rest of America, the same Americans that gave them that market power in the first place. Companies include Target and Walmart, two virtue-signalling firms fully embracing the woketarianism of the DNC.

GO DEEPER

Credit Card Companies to Assist Government Tracking Gun Purchases

Paul Collier September 16, 2022

Credit card companies are now openly working with the government to circumnavigate the Constitution by implementing a sales code for gun retailers to assure gun purchases can be tracked. All this is done in the name of preventing mass shootings.

The credit card companies allege they are just doing normal business, even as they also acknowledge their doing it to stop mass shootings.

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Credit card companies will adopt new sales code for gun transactions – www.wmur.com
Excerpt:

‘U.S. credit card giants said they will implement a new merchant category code for the nation’s gun retailers, which gun control activists say will help flag potential mass shooters and gun traffickers.The International Organization for Standardization, based in Geneva, approved the code on Friday. The system will separately categorize sales at gun and ammunition stores, which advocates say can help track suspicious transactions of firearms and ammunition.Visa, the world’s largest payment network, will “proceed with next steps” the company said in a statement Sunday, “while ensuring we protect all legal commerce on the Visa network in accordance with our long-standing rules.” American Express said it will follow its usual business practices and work with third-party processors and partners to implement the code.”We are focused on ensuring that we have the right controls in place to meet our regulatory and fiduciary responsibilities, as well as prevent illegal activity on our network,” the company said in a statement Sunday.

A statement Saturday from Mastercard noted that recent bipartisan action in Congress is a positive step in “meaningfully” addressing gun violence. Now that the ISO approved the new merchant category code, Mastercard said it is turning its focus to how the system will be implemented by merchants and their banks.”We continue to support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy and decisions of individual cardholders,” Mastercard said in a statement. “This is exactly how we would manage the process for any other appropriate MCC, like a bicycle shop or sporting goods store.”Nearly every retail item has a merchant category code — prior to Friday’s decision by the ISO, gun store sales were classified under a general merchandise or sporting goods category.Merchant codes track where a consumer used a credit card, but won’t flag what…

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The AML-90: The Little Truck That Could, Soldiers On

Michael Cessna September 11, 2022

Since the earliest days of people hanging armor plates and machine guns onto motor vehicles, “armored cars” have formed an essential component of military’s around the world. The better versions are small(-ish), cheap, fast, reasonably dependable and armed enough to defend themselves, as their crews sent recon reports via their radios.

But sometimes, something special appears.

Introduced in 1959, the AML- series (Auto Mitrailleuse Légère, or “Light Machine Gun Car”), manufactured until 1987 by the French company Panhard (who have been making automobiles since 1890), is small, even by armored car standards, at 16’9″x12’5″x6’6″, and weights in right at six tons.

*AML-60, armed with the 60mm Brandt gun-mortar.*

Initially, it was armed as a light, fast, highly-mobile mortar carrier, carrying a 60mm Brandt gun-mortar and a pair of the uniquely French MAS AA-52 NF-1 machine guns. However, although the little armored car was an immediate hit with French troops in Algeria, as that conflict wound down, there was less of a need for a mobile mortar carrier. As foreign buyers began looking at the design, it was the Apartheid-era South African Army who asked if Panhard could give the little truck a heavier punch.

And thus, the AML-90 was born.

Mounting a DEFA D921 90mm/3.54in rifled cannon, this new vehicle was fully capable of engaging and destroying the main battle tanks of the 1960’s. As the years wore on, even though its 90mm cannon could not keep pace with developments in tank armor, its high-explosive (HE) projectiles remain fully capable to destroying most vehicles smaller than a tank or modern IFV. Even the US Army’s the United States Army Research Laboratory acknowledged in 1979 (PDF link) that the AML “operated effectively in Beirut” and noted that “the ease with which the Panhard is driven and repaired, and the absence of tracks, provide the mobility desirable in an urban environment.”

*An AML-90 (R) of the Lebanese Army, Beirut, Lebanon, 1982*

And it was simple, in the extreme – AML hulls were assembled from only 13 welded pieces. Thirteen. In the early 1980’s, an upgrade to the AML-90 Lynx became available, offering a new turret loaded with a modified D921 main gun and up-rated range-finding equipment and night-vision gear.

*Bottom: Original H-90 turret.*
*Top: Lynx 90 turret incorporating a new commander’s cupola, sights, searchlight, and a laser rangefinder.*

The AML-90 and its somewhat lesser known variants were sold all over the world, albeit mostly in Africa, where they proved very effective when used for their intended roles. As just one example, when France conducted a series of operations during the Chadian-Libyan Conflict, only three vehicles were reportedly lost in action, apparently to RPG fire, despite several engagements versus Libyan tanks. While not completely immune to land mines, the AML’s were not known to fall prey to them very often.

Although withdrawn from French service in 1991 (replaced by the Panhard ERC and AMX-10RC vehicles), the AML – in most of its forms – continues to soldier on, around the world, with the last foreign sales being completed in 1999.

*An Iraqi AML-90 light armored car, captured during Operation Desert Storm. USMC photo.*

Are there better vehicles, today? Absolutely. The AML, by modern standards, is cramped, has neither NBC protection, nor any real “comfort” items modern forces take for granted, and has poor armor. But still…until it comes against those better vehicles, the AML remains cheap and effective — even sixty-odd years later.

“Old” does not necessarily mean “useless”…A thing that more military’s in the world would do well to learn.

Our Core Niche Audience Are Social Conservative Freedom Builders

Bill Collier September 11, 2022

Social conservatives who love freedom and pluralism, because good ideas don’t require coercion, are the best Americans and should therefore have the most powerful voice in this land. But, sadly, they are the least favored and also they are the least served niche within the body politic.

In this vain, consider the notion that those who serve a niche must seek to become among the top providers. It is argued one must pick a niche and dominate the marketplace of its demands. If you are not willing to even try to dominate a niche, such that you are at or near the top within a few years, then you should understand that the long-term only holds failure for your efforts.

We believe the social conservative base who are either Christian in devotion or who are at least culturally of a Judeo-Christian tradition are grossly under-served and this niche represents as many as 30-40 million Americans who have no political home and no online home.

For too long social conservatives, who believe without faith and moral/civic virtue freedom is impossible, have been part of a grand coalition whose topmost leaders are not social conservatives. Also, for too long we have been told our faith and philosophy should not inform public policy, but libertine and agnostic ideas are fine.

Through Freedomist we aim to gather, inform, and rally a social conservative base of freedom builders and through Upadaria we aim to provide such people with a new nationality and virtual homeland they can truly feel accepts and embraces them and seeks their good above all else.

Social conservatives who are also committed to a free and pluralistic society are the true salt of the earth and the most noble kinds of souls which any country, society, or civilization can be blessed both to count among its number and to lead them into a glorious future of wholeness and happiness.

We (social conservatives) alone understand the way society must be governed, from the standpoint of God’s laws and ways, albeit not through coercion and violence as is the wont of our opponents on the left: these alt-gendered immoral and mentally backwards totalitarian loons whose craven lusts for power are almost like a sexual deviancy.

Social conservatives need a voice and the Freedomist is that voice, the only forthright and intelligent news and information resource that deeply caters to this base of freedom builders whose love for God and Country is praiseworthy.

How To Nip A Totalitarian Agenda In The Bud Before It Is Too Late

Bill Collier September 11, 2022

If your political foe calls you a great Satan, understand that unless you match or exceed their rhetoric, the public will tend to think the more sensationalist claims are true. Moreover, if your foe calls you a great Satan and this is patently false, then take this both as projection and equate this to murderous intent.

(Note: some measure of this is always evident at almost all times, but what is at issue here is the pervasiveness, loudness, and sensationalism of such claims and rheorical assaults aimed at delegitimization and even criminalization of any substantial part of your movement.)

The public gravitate toward epic batttles between implacable foes, not tame debates in response to vicious attacks by the other side.

Lopsided battles in which one side tries to be polite to one who is being violent and beyond the pale hold little interest. The assumption is that the louder and more violent must necessarily be right because average people would never make such outlandish claims and act so reprehensible without cause.

Hence to perhaps over-quoted bit about “the big lie”, telling it loudly and repeatedly until it is believed.

If the Ukes had not been so vicious and violent in their response to the Orc invasion out of Russia and Byelorus, for instance, the general public would have lost interest. Nobody adores a weakling. But notice, the Ukes have only done limited attacks on the Russian homeland itself for fears of escalating this into a nuclear war.

In politics, of course, the term “violent” is not literal. It is a spirit and energy. Like where it says it the Sacred text: the Kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. When one side demonizes over the top, the only response is to return the favor in spades, assuming all their demonizations are projection and represent intent.

To drive this point home: it is ALWAYS reasonable to assume that whatever lies are used to defame your side are a projection of the true character and intent of the other side. When the other party openly deems any part of your movement traitors or something like that, then dialog must end and peaceful street actions must begin in a visible way that forces the public to choose a side.

Abandon any notion that any attack on perhaps a less seemly element of your movement is not actually a precursor to a general attack on the totality of your movement.

Once matters go to a stage where “legal” devices, abuses of power, are targeting individuals and using sensationalist claims and hyperbolic exaggeration to actually raid homes and arrest people, the response must be to assume all of your side are in the crosshairs. This is the kind of dangerous measures that actually lead to real violence when the organs of power come with guns to harrass or even imprison their opponents.

The political party or movement that cannot mass people for protests and civil disobedience to protect its own members, even those it may not heartily embrace, will soon face extinction. Illegal abuses of power targeting a few people who may be skirting the edge of propriety but who have not substantively broken the law, must be deemed an illegal persecution of the whole movement.

The only response would include protests, mass demonstrations, and even crippling work stoppages aimed at causing as much of a OR nightmare and and as much economic pain as possible on the oppressive party. But a peaceful albeit overwhelming response is needed with the aim of deescalation: using violence can tip things over the edge and lead to a lose-lose scenario for your entire country.

Essentially, match and exceed their rhetoric, or accusations, understanding that it is reasonable to assume the worst lying smears are actual projection and represent serious mal intent. But do not escalate with physical violence when peaceful demonstrations and/or work stoppages can be availed.

For cheap titanium they prolong the war in Ukraine

Bill Collier September 10, 2022

Our Publisher, Bill Collier, was “printed” in The American Thinker, an interesting issue few are thinking of. As we consider the war in Ukraine, it is sad that some companies prefer to compromise with Moscow for profit.

American Thinker

Regardless of how one might feel, Moscow chose to wage war on its neighbor to satisfy the imperial ambitions of one man. The result is terrible but by skirting sanctions we prolong the war and add to everyone’s misery and to the loss of life.

Bannon Faces DNC DA Activist Charges in NY Court

Paul Collier September 9, 2022

The DNC Activist willing to use an American political office to lawfare opposition to the anti-American agenda of his party over country is now re-prosecuting Steve Bannon for alleged crimes he’s already been pardoned by Former President Trump for. Using sophistry instead of law, the DNC political hitman, Alvin Bragg, is hoping to use Bannon as a stepping stone to higher, more powerful levels of political office.

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Steve Bannon surrenders in NY court – www.ctvnews.ca
Excerpt:

Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon surrendered Thursday to face fresh charges that he duped donors who gave money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Bannon’s state-level charges in New York are expected to closely resemble an attempted federal prosecution that ended abruptly, before trial, when Trump pardoned Bannon on his last day in office. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes, not state offenses. In Bannon’s case, any double jeopardy argument would likely fall flat because his federal case didn’t involve an acquittal or conviction.

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Here’s more on the anti-American ideology of the Manhanttan DA prosecuting Steven Bannon:

Manhattan’s DA ‘reimagines’ crimes but even social justice warriors …

foxnews.com

Well, Alvin Bragg’s progressive prosecutor colleagues in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco feel they have the answers. And yet, “defund the police,” bail reform, and de …

Self-Defense Is Now Murder in Soros DA Bragg’s NYC – Update

independentsentinel.com

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DA whose election was funded by George Soros, and doesn’t charge actual criminals, charged a bodega owner with murder for a self-defense killing. Bodega owner Jose Alba was forced to kill a career criminal who was trying to kill him. Jose Alba, a 51-year-old clerk in a Bronx bodega, is incarcerated in the infamous …

The Curious Case of Alvin Bragg — Reconsidering the DA’s Trump …

justsecurity.org

This past week the only person charged to date in the DA’s Trump investigation pleaded guilty in advance of an October 24, 2022 trial date — a trial in which the two remaining defendants are Trump companies controlled by the former president. Allen Weisselberg, the longtime CFO of the Trump Organization, pleaded to all 15 charges against him.

Color Of Change pulled $500,000 in funding from DA Alvin Bragg’s …

dailymail.co.uk

A disturbing allegation against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg during the primary led a George Soros-backed political action committee, Color Of Change, to pull a half million dollars in …

Meet Alvin Bragg, Rogue Prosecutor Whose Policies Are Wreaking Havoc in …

heritage.org

Alvin Bragg has taken his policies directly from the rogue prosecutor movement’s required playbook.

Queen Elizabeth is Dead, Long Live King Charles

Freedomist Editor September 8, 2022

The end of the second Elizabethan age has come with the death of the 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II. Her son, Charles, will become the new monarch. He will be called Charles III, the first Charles since Charles II, who was the son of Charles I, the King executed by Oliver Cromwell’s Levelers. Charles II was the restored monarchy after the death of Cromwell. Will Charles be the symbolic rebirth of the first or the second eponym predecessor?

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Queen Elizabeth II Dead at 96 after 70 Years on the Throne – www.cbn.com
Excerpt:

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Thursday after 70 years on the throne. She was 96.

The palace announced she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Prince Charles Becomes King At Age 73 Following Queen Elizabeth’s Death – www.huffpost.com
Excerpt:

Prince Charles is king at last.

The British heir apparent, who is 73, ascended to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the palace said Thursday. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/VfxpXro22W

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 8, 2022

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The Borders Have Fallen

Freedomist Editor September 7, 2022

The Cloward-Piven’ing of America’s border and immigration institutions is complete, as Team Biden continues to treat America’s borders as if they were saboteurs sent by our enemies to destroy us.

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

The Border Crisis Is Overwhelming The US Asylum System – dailycaller.com
Excerpt:

The record number of illegal migrants that have entered the United States since President Joe Biden took office are burdening the country’s immigration system, The New York Times reported.

Since the start of the Biden administration, migrants have flowed into the U.S. in record numbers, with 3,463,430 migrants encountered at the southern border between January 2021 and August 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The high number of migrants entering the country are taxing the U.S. asylum system by increasing wait times and forcing cities and states to take on the burden of supporting them.

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