1963 Plymouth Valiant was considered a compact in its time, despite the 3.7L 6-cylinder engine.
Similarly, BAZ45 is a compact gas-operated pistol-caliber carbine despite the nice, fat 45ACP caliber. Feeding off slightly modified M3 Grease Gun magazines, it has the distinction of roughly .22LR level of recoil despite launching more than five times as much metal at similar velocity though the 10-inch barrel. 5.5″ flash hider ensures no visible muzzle flash.
The Valiant had a I-6 (inline) not a V-6. The Chrysler I-6 was called a slant six because the cylinders were laid over at about a 30 degree angle rather than sitting vertical.
As I was driving the Valiant home, a homeless guy came over to look at it and reminisce about the engine. His first car was a ’61 Dodge Dart that apparently had the same (or very similar) slant six engine.
Also, curb weight on the Valiant was about 2700 lbs/1200kg.
50 years later, the compact 2013 Dodge Dart has a curb weight of 3100 lbs/1400kg.
The engine displacement disparity has more to do with power output. The 1963 Mopar has 100 gross hp (measured at the flywheel) The 2014 has 160 net horsepower (measured at the rear wheels).
Simply put, the car would have been undriveable with a smaller engine, and by modern standards is still pretty poky.
“In it’s time” driving with a 6-cylinter engine was like defending yourself with a .32. It got you there, but “real cars” had eight and “real guns” .38.
OTOH I did like my father’s Corvair, despite Ralph.
That “slant six” was the strongest/ best power plant ever made in the US. I know of four of them that still run with more than 400000 miles on them. I can show you MANY with more than 200000 miles that have never had the head off them. They didn’t go fast, but they went FOREVER! (Dodge was still building that power plant as late as ’79) I hope that .45 AR is more reliable than the pistol Cal. Colts were in the 80’s and 90’s. I knew six guys that had them and ALL of them went BANG-bang-jam ; bang -bang -jam. They were like the “slab side” CAR-15’s just useless “jam o’ matic’s”.
Why have a 15.5″ short-barreled rifle? Another half-inch drops the price $200 and the paperwork by infinity. (Nothing against SBRs that are really shorter.)
The full length on this is actually 16’1″, I rounded off the barrel length.
16’1″? 16 feet, 1 inch? Wow.
Could have been 16.1″, but who knows for sure…it’s not like I provided the context.
The real question is, why have a rifle-sized pistol caliber carbine?
Unless one is involved in some sort of low-noise funny business.
But even then there are rifle-sized subsonic cartridges.
Cost? New .45 ammo costs about the same as new assault rifle ammo hereabouts…
So, why .45 acp? Isn’t 9mm +P JHP just better – twice the ammo capacity, twice the kinetic energy per magazine.
9mm +P compared to what .45 ACP load? It seems hard to imagine that you couldn’t find .45 loads substantially higher energy than what 9mm can do.
“5.5″ flash hider ensures no visible muzzle flash”
Really? Fire it at night. I guarantee you WILL see muzzle flash.
I just want to know if anyone has used the bazooka brothers in 10mm. I’ve wanted one for a long time now, just wondering if anyone here has any experience with them.