repoductions and replicas that work?

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Permalink Reply by Melvin "Chems" Nivlem on March 26, 2010 at 7:09am

Most were made for display and they where not made of folded metals and the handles poorly put together.
Maybe if you could reinforce it and sharpen it. Then again that would take tons of time,effort,and skill. Also you risk harm to yourself when using the replicated weapon. Why not just go out and buy a $25 machete?

As well as replicated firearms would be totally useless, they were not made to fire. And i am sure most cannot even function like a normal gun would.

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Permalink Reply by Laz on March 26, 2010 at 12:00pm

You would be best off going to your local hardware store and picking up some gardening tools, seriously, the things are made to put up with abuse and are cheap

etc etc..

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Permalink Reply by Melvin "Chems" Nivlem on March 27, 2010 at 9:39am

(AGREED)
Pick axe's and Sledgehammers are our modern age medieval weapons!

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Permalink Reply by kukri7980 on March 27, 2010 at 8:55pm

If you are planning on using a reproduction sword, I would strongly suggest taking the handle off and making sure that it is a full tang or at least half tang. When you get the pommel( cap at the ent of the handle) off you can tell if it has any tang. If it has a nut under the pommel, then no tang. I have a repro katana, that in the handle, insten of any tang it has a long, quarter-inch bolt welded to the blade.
It might take one or two zed heads off, if I'm lucky, after that it would more than likely snap. I have a couple of high quality blades to use, so I consider it just a nice decorative sword.
To make it functional, I would have to snap the bolt off at the weld, grind the weld smooth, and refit a handle over the lower part of the blade. I would also have to drill at least two holes through the handle and new tang for retaining pins. This would reduce the length of the katana to that of a wakisashi( short sword) but it would be better in close renge attacks.

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Permalink Reply by ubduomk on March 27, 2010 at 11:02pm

depends on the replica on question. there are display only ones, meant to only look good and not for any actual use, and there's the functional replicas. I'm not too familiar with replica edged weapons, besides ones that mount to a firearm. I've never heard of cosmetic only bayonets for firearms, replicas themselves or otherwise.
Replica firearms depends on country of origin and country of possession. For example, in the UK or other nation where guns are banned, a replica generally means a non functional display gun, and it cannot be made functional. In the US most replica guns unless specifically stated, are fully functional. but care should be used to use period-only ammunition- for example a replica colt revolver chambered for .45 colt should only be used with cowboy-action or black powder .45 colt ammunition. Modern ammunition even of the same caliber can generate dangerous pressures and destroy the replica and even part of the user.

Movie and game weapons are generally display only. the more fantasy it is the less likely its going to be functional. The only exception is Valve's crowbars. those are real crowbars with some cosmetic work done on it. If you're a Half Life fan and knows who Gordon Freeman is, all crowbars regarding Gordon Freeman or Valve are real and completely functional. Except the golden crowbar at Valve's office. I heard its pure 24k gold and gold is much too malleable for weapons use.

Whatever you plan, I gotta say unless this video game, movie or historical replica can out match Walmart's $7 machete or Home Depot's $19 crowbar, its probably cheaper to buy the real thing instead.

Most replica firearms you can determine if they can shoot live rounds or not with a short visit to the gunsmith or local gun store. Be sure to use period ammunition only (cowboy shooter ammo or black powder).

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Permalink Reply by Ron Salter on March 28, 2010 at 7:32pm

Ok, professional sword retailer and designer here.
If it's stainless steel it's a piece of crap, doesn't matter how long the tang is, if it's stainless, it's crap.It will break because stainless is brittle, it's fine in a knife but after about 15 inches it will break.
Carbon steel blades made for display usually don't receive proper heat treatment, they won't hold an edge and will either break or bend.
As Jordan said you are better off buying a decent machete than a poorly made SLO (sword like object). Cold Steel, Ontario, Gerber , Condor all make good cheap machetes. In blades you get what you pay for, there is a reason a good sword will cost over $500, its the time taken to make it tough and durable and the materials used in it.
Also, don't forget, if you do buy a decent sword, spend some more money and some time to learn how to use it, it's very easy to hurt yourself waving around a 4ft razor blade.

Replica firearms, I'm presuming you mean re-makes of now out of production items. I have a an Uberti replica of a 73 Winchester chambered in 357mag and it works just fine will full power loads, same for their replica Colt Single action revolvers. I have a Chipara replica of a 45/70 single shot Sharps rifle, these cannot be used with some high power loads designed for modern firearms and it says so quite clearly in the owners manual. In these days of lawsuits firearm manufacturers have to be very careful about what they sell, read the owners manual!

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