View allAll Photos Tagged M2
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Sept. 19 on Rosebud Sioux tribal lands for the first-ever tribal Veterans cemetery to be established with funding from VA’s Veterans Cemetery Grants Program. Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Steve L. Muro participated in the history-making event near Mission, S.D.
My friend had acquired a 1959 Leica M2 and some accessories she wanted me to check out. I cheerfully obliged.
The Mauser M2 was actually manufactured by SIGArms between 2000 and 2004. Early production guns were made in Germany, while later examples were assembled in SIG's Exeter, New Hampshire facility from imported parts. The M2 was available in .40 S&W and .45 ACP calibers; a .357 SIG version was made for less than a year and is seldom seen. The pistol in these photos is a .40 caliber model, the type most commonly encountered.
The M2 was advertised as being "The safest handgun on the market today" as it had several types of internal safeties: a firing pin block prevents the striker from releasing unless the trigger is pulled all the way; a magazine disconnect prevents the pistol from firing with the magazine removed; a disconnector prevents firing out of battery (slide is not fully closed); a spring holds the striker at the half-cock position, which prevents firing if it is accidentally released. A loaded chamber indicator on top of the slide can be seen or felt. Finally, a manual safety is located on the rearmost part of the frame and moves side to side, a rather unusual configuration!
The operating system is striker fired, short recoil, locked breech with a rotating barrel. The trigger is double action only. The barrel has traditional lands - and - grooves rifling. The frame is made from aluminum alloy. Since all production of the M2 took place during the U. S. "assault weapons" ban years, magazine capacity was limited to 10 rounds for the .40 and .357 and 8 rounds for the .45. I have seen and handled a .45 or two but have yet to run across a .357 SIG version.
A small number of early production guns were plagued by malfunctions, mostly striker lockups after a few hundred rounds and the rotating barrels sometimes jammed with small amounts of dirt or fouling and/or too much / too little lubrication. Although these issues were mostly resolved early on, the reputation remained and the M2 was never a big seller.
My fantasy render of a BMW M2.
Based on the new MINI chassis with front wheel/ four wheel drive, the same size as the old E30