Retrieved: 12/06/2013
Verkan Vall is a policeman from an alternate universe that has developed inter-timeline transit. He is tracking a Venusian nighthound that someone dropped off in the back woods of Pennsylvania, circa 1948. He's kitted out as a 1940s American hunter, but the prop department flubbed his rifle, which causes him troubles throughout the story. Excerpts below: (the bounty Parker mentions is for cougars)
<snip>
"POLICE OPERATION" by H. Beam Piper
Astounding Science Fiction, July 1948.
"We paid bounties on two in this county, in the last year," Parker said. "Odd rifle you have, there; mind if I look at it?"
"Not at all." The man who had been introduced as Richard Lee unslung and handed it over. "The chamber's loaded," he cautioned.
"I never saw one like this," Parker said. "Foreign?"
"I think so. I don't know anything about it; it belongs to a friend of mine, who loaned it to me. I think the action's German, or Czech; the rest of it's a custom job, by some West Coast gunmaker. It's chambered for some ultra- velocity wildcat load."
The rifle passed from hand to hand; the three men examined it in turn, commenting admiringly.
--
"Intellectually, they're about there, now. I had to operate in that sector, once... Oh, yes, another thing, sir. This rifle." Verkan Vall picked it up, emptied the magazine, and handed it to his superior. "The supplies office slipped up on this; it's not appropriate to my line of operation. It's a lovely rifle, but it's about two hundred percent in advance of existing arms design on my line. It excited the curiosity of a couple of police officers and a game-protector, who should be familiar with the weapons of their own time- line. I evaded by disclaiming ownership or intimate knowledge, and they seemed satisfied, but it worried me."
--
"And did you find out about my rifle?"
"Oh, yes. It's reproduction of something that's called a Sharp's Model '37 .235 Ultraspeed-Express. Made on an adjoining paratime belt by a company that went out of business sixty-seven years ago, elapsed time, on your line of operation. What made the difference was the Second War Between The States. I don't know what that was, either... I'm not too well up on Fourth Level history - but whatever, your line of operation didn't have it. Probably just as well for them, though they very likely had something else, as bad or worse. I put in a complaint to Supplies about it, and got you some more ammunition and reloading tools. Now, tell me what you're going to do about this nighthound business."
</snip>
The complete story is here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19067
Piper was a pretty good author, and time has treated his stories kindly despite their age. He's best known for the first contact novel "Little Fuzzy", out of copyright and available here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137
Anyway, I first read "Police Operation" decades ago. The ".235 Ultraspeed-Express" has always fascinated me, even though I'm more into the big bore stuff. Since the Voices are always going on about something or other, I've spent some idle time wondering what a .235 Ultraspeed-Express might be like.
I've never owned anything in 6mm, so I had to do some reading about the .25s. There are two definite "Ultra" 6mms - the .240 Weatherby Magnum and the .244 H&H Magnum. The Weatherby is an oddball with a smaller case diameter than the other Weatherbys. The H&H, on the other hand... "parent case: .375 H&H Magnum." 74 grains, 3500fps, with a report even the big Magnum guys declared obnoxious.
That's up near .220 Swift territory. So I wondered about necking up a .220 Swift to 6mm. I'd looked up the case dimensions and was feeling pretty cocky when I found out that the .220 Swift was... a necked-down 6mm Lee Navy, which probably accounts for the odd case diameter and semi-rim. Some days you think you're making progress, and it turns out you're really sitting on one of those "Sit and Spin" toys...
Sharps went out of business in 1881. What would a 1937 Sharps bolt action rifle look like? Particularly one from an alternate timeline? That has prompted hours of entertainment...
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/8301
TRX
August 16, 2013
Quote from: shred on August 16, 2013, 10:09:05 AM
It's been a long time since I read the Paratime stories, but was it
actually described as bolt-action?
You know, you have a point there. When I went looking for the story, I found several versions that didn't mention the Ultraspeed-Express, though I remembered it specifically, and was using that as a search term. I didn't notice this version doesn't mention it was a bolt action, though I'm certain one of the versions did... I have the short story in at least one paperback anthology, though I'd have trouble laying my hands on it at the moment.
I know that sometimes even short stories got cut down to fit available space, but now you've put a burr under my saddle...
TRX
August 17, 2013
You know this is a pretty weird place when you have a bunch of gunheads who are also fans of an obscure science fiction writer who died half a century ago.
Next time I thin out the bookshelves I'll have to figure out how that karma thing works. It's too much trouble to sell them online, and none of the local used book stores will give me anything for them.