
Paris Theodore, weapons designer for the CIA - smacktoward
http://warisboring.com/articles/this-weapons-designer-was-a-real-life-man-of-mystery/
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dogma1138
Any one who wants a closer look at the ASP pistol FW did a video about it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4trmOFxuJw0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4trmOFxuJw0)

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OopsCriticality
It's interesting to me that the Guttersnipe sighting system never really took
off, especially with the increase in civilian concealed carry in the US.

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Someone1234
Is there an advantage to Guttersnipe at that range? The article doesn't go
into much detail about it beyond saying it is on the ASP pistol.

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OopsCriticality
Other than a nebulous "it works at short ranges and is snag-free", I can't
point to point to anything quantitative. I think that's in part because the
design is uncommon.

Trench sights show up every now and then (e.g., Colt New Agent), but the
Guttersnipe is (and I think remains) unique in that the sight channel was
tapered. For the sight picture, imagine a square divided into 4 triangles:
left, right, and bottom would be from the sight, and the 4th would be an open
triangle on the target. When sighting, one would balance the three sight
triangles, and put the v notch that is formed on the target.

There are some that claim that simple geometrical shapes, like triangles, have
a speed advantage in optimizing the sight alignment (e.g., Advantage Tactical
with their "pyramid" shape, or Steyr's trapezoid sights) over the more familar
notch and post. That sounds like something that should be easy to test, but
I'm not aware of a well-conducted study (amateur or otherwise) that sheds
useful light on the question.

Edit: Just occurred to me, the Guttersnipe does have a far shorter track
length than conventional sights. Not sure how that is meaningful in practice
though.

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ianamartin
I'm immediately skeptical of any article that calls a "magazine" a "clip."

As my CHL instructor said many times, "A clip is something you put in your
hair."

Do some research on the terminology of the thing you are writing about,
please.

Steyr arms has a line of handguns with a similar sighting system that, from my
experience, is superior to blade sights. In my tests giving an inexperienced
shooter some verbal safety training and handing them a Steyr gets better
accuracy than taking the same random person with the same information and
handing them, say, a Glock or a Smith, or some variant of a 1911.

Yes, yes, I know, caveats about with anecdata like that: I get it. Not at all
conclusive.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the Steyr sights are conceptually modeled
after the Theodore sights. But I could be wrong.

Sorry if I sound like a Steyr shill. I'm not. Just a big fan. I just think
they are really great guns.

Handguns really need to be point-and-shoot. The reality of uses for these
outside a shooting range isn't pinpoint accuracy like you sometimes see on TV.

The use of sights needs to be quickly and immediately obvious. People don't
shoot at targets greater than 3-7 yards with any regularity when using
handgun. I used to shoot coyotes and bobcats that were attacking my parent's
sheep when I was a kid at 20-50 yards with a colt 1911.

I feel bad about that now because I could have done a much more humane job
with a rifle and a scope. Yes, I hit the predators and saved our sheep. But
probably not in the most humane way.

I've changed that now. When I go home to my family farm and I shoot predators,
I use the most sophisticated technology I can to make sure that the kills are
as quick and painless as possible for the animals that I'm killing.

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rdancer
> The FBI reportedly ordered up a 12-shot clip board that undercover cops
> could use to take out hostage takers.

The only mention of a "clip" in the fine article as of now is: "The FBI
reportedly ordered up a 12-shot clip board that undercover cops could use to
take out hostage takers." I imagine Trevithick id not talking about a board of
magazines, but an weapon in the guise of an old-fashioned clipboard (not the
computer kind).

~~~
ianamartin
The original version used the word clip instead of magazine in several cases.

It has clearly been changed.

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nsajko
You can patent a _shooting technique_?!?

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a3n
You can patent a technique for filming yoga.
[https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yogaglo-patent-
dr...](https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yogaglo-patent-dropped)

[https://www.google.com/patents/US8605152](https://www.google.com/patents/US8605152)

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bshimmin
With a name like Paris Theodore, you really can be anything you want to be.

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smacktoward
And HN's War On Headlines continues, changing the headline from the one used
in the article ("This Weapons Designer Was a Real Life Man of Mystery") to
something that completely obscures one big reason why this story is
interesting, namely how much secrecy still surrounds the man and his work ten
years after his death.

I know HN regards "clickbait" the way ISIS regards shaving, but replacing
headlines with alternatives that make the story sound so boring nobody would
ever in a million years click on it is not an improvement.

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EC1
This title is way better. Designer + Man of Mystery are completely vague. His
name, + his role, + his organization drew me to the headline.

I like guns. I like mystery. The CIA is inherently mysterious.

It has the opposite effect for me, the more ambiguous, the less likely I am to
click it for fear of time wasted.

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alricb
Also, I was thinking that the article would be about Gerald Bull [1], of
Project Babylon [2] (Saddam's supergun) fame.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Babylon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Babylon)

~~~
EC1
Exactly. There should be no foul play in the headline. Purely descriptive. The
writing itself is what is supposed to draw you in or repel you.

