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OMG Could We Have Been So Young?


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As for the strap - near the end of 1973 SCV show, during the melo solo, you can hear their rifles spinning because they left the straps on their rifles. It does sound kewl.

I used to sit and listen to SCV's rifles on the recordings over and over... Spinning click, click, click, click, catch, toss 2, 3, catch. It was all so clear in my head...

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....The rifle in the picture, my drill team rifle, is 41.5" long, including the barrel, and weighs a whopping 4 lbs. 3 oz. ...My Blue Devil rifle from 1976, .... measures 37.5" long. 5.5" of that is barrel....My Blue Devil rifle from 1981, .... is 37" long.....I have a completely wooden rifle I used in a play I did in 1982 .....It's only 34" long and weighs a mere 2 lbs. 4 oz!

Good lord, PLEASE don't tell me wifey is right...AGAIN....

Her 79 St Pat's guard rifle, and her 81 Lancer rifle are both 39" long. The 94 alumni corps rifle is a mere 37 inches - probably shorter for the men that marched in the line :tongue:

I am old enough to remember, as guards got better with handling equipment, more and more things were removed from the rifle for personal safety - the strap, then then trigger. Flags used to have these long "pikes" on the ends - and those were replaced as well. Finally to save gym floors, the rifle barrel was pulled out. For some reason, I also am thinking that if the barrel hit pavement (OMG - a drop !!!!!) it would break the rifle stock.

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:tongue:

Nope, John "Tiny" Mauro knows to whom I am refering...don't you :w00t:

OK it took me along time to hunt this photo down and many Thanks to Steve Solombrino from whose site I found it.

70const17.jpg

Here is the 1970 IC reveries at the USS Constitution. I am the young buck staring so intently at the

comments from the Sailor. The guy with the white collar blowing on his hands is none other than "A27Lancer" James Hcikey. and behind the kid with the hat (David Riley) you can barely see the

face of Arthur Shannon, a legendary snare drummer with North Star and all around great guy !!!!

Edited by john2780
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OK it took me along time to hunt this photo down and many Thanks to Steve Solombrino from whose site I found it.

70const17.jpg

.....I am the young buck staring so intently at the comments from the Sailor. The guy with the white collar blowing on his hands is none other than "A27Lancer" James Hickey......

You lool like Alfalfa :tongue: LOL....and, do you really have a tie on? WTF? That is twice I've seen you with a tie, your wedding and there. But at your wedding, your fly was.........

Man - you know I love you. I hope everything is well down there.

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Hello Lee.......my wifey - 27th Lancer rifle - would tend to disagree. You see, they ALWAYS use the HUGE rifles, while BD did go to the shorter style. When BD was making its move up the ladder in 74 and 75- there certainly was a bit of jealously - perhaps envy. The rest of the Lancer corps was always reminded how BD used those "short" rifles.

My wife still has 3 of her rifles. One from winter guard (late 1970's), one from 81, and one from 1994. My sons were always warned - DO NOT TOUCH THEM.

As for the strap - near the end of 1973 SCV show, during the melo solo, you can hear their rifles spinning because they left the straps on their rifles. It does sound kewl.

Wish I had all the old bugles I used to play - it would be a pretty complete set. However, they made us give them back when we got new horns and/or left the corps.

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OK it took me along time to hunt this photo down and many Thanks to Steve Solombrino from whose site I found it.

70const17.jpg

Here is the 1970 IC reveries at the USS Constitution. I am the young buck staring so intently at the

comments from the Sailor. The guy with the white collar blowing on his hands is none other than "A27Lancer" James Hcikey. and behind the kid with the hat (David Riley) you can barely see the

face of Arthur Shannon, a legendary snare drummer with North Star and all around great guy !!!!

That doesn't look like me, but I'll take your word for it. You look like Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter! I went to Mot and Bobby Cotter's annual Toys for Tots party the other night. Great time, and lots of great people there! (Jack Cash, Sharkey, Kevin Kernan, etc.). Missed you!

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Your comments made me curious so I dug my old rifles out of the back of the coat closet and weighed and measured them. (Hold your letch-y comments please ;-) ! )

The rifle in the picture, my drill team rifle, is 41.5" long, including the barrel, and weighs a whopping 4 lbs. 3 oz. It's got a strap, trigger guard (though no trigger) and a bolt assembly.

My Blue Devil rifle from 1976, which includes the bolt assembly and a strap, weighs 3 lbs. 10 oz. and measures 37.5" long. 5.5" of that is barrel.

My Blue Devil rifle from 1981, no strap, weighs 3 lbs. even and is 37" long.

(All these rifles were handmade and could vary in weight; made exchanges a b*tch!)

By comparison, I have a completely wooden rifle I used in a play I did in 1982 ("The Lorin Solo") that I think is closer to the rifles they use today. It's only 34" long and weighs a mere 2 lbs. 4 oz!

I just gotta say that our rifle section always had the big guns.

Rifleman.jpg

No. Really.

Puppet

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I just gotta say that our rifle section always had the big guns.

Rifleman.jpg

No. Really.

Puppet

Another gem. Thanks! :laughing:

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In the mid to late sixties there were a couple of corps who had a rifle specialists so to speak who were featured parts of the show using military issue rifles. Two names that I remember was a guy named Duke from the L.I Sunrisers in 1967-68 and Skip Olah who was from one of the Conneticut drum corps if I remember correctly. The big effect was that they threw the rifles very high in the air as well as the traditional spins and tosses, these rifles weigh somewhere in the 16 pound range. There were also a couple of indoor guards that also used the effect, one that I know of was the Wynn Center Toppers indoor guard from Brooklyn N.Y.

Edited by Fastone
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