
The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass - mmm_grayons
https://silahreport.com/2019/08/23/the-last-gunsmiths-of-the-khyber-pass/
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arbhassan
Oh hey! I'm from that area. If you guys have any queries. :). Also the quality
isn't top notch, but for the price you are paying it's ok. You are much better
off buying a Russian AK-47 for $1100 like i did than buying it from Khyber for
$120.

~~~
vishnugupta
I am from India, and I’d love to explore that beautiful area one day. For
several reasons, the historical importance of the region is one. So I had a
couple of questions.

How safe is it for Indians to visit the Khyber region? I speak Hindi/Urdu with
conversational fluency. Can I get by? What’s the best and shortest route to
take to get there?

Thanks to HN, I am conversing with someone from a region which seems so remote
its almost been mythologized here in India

~~~
erklik
> How safe is it for Indians to visit the Khyber region? I speak Hindi/Urdu
> with conversational fluency. Can I get by? What’s the best and shortest
> route to take to get there?

As an Indian citizen, it will be basically impossible for you to get a visa to
Pakistan, especially to visit Khyber Pass.

Indians are only eligible for business, pilgrim or visitor visas to Pakistan.
The pilgrim visa allows Indians to visit 15 sites in Pakistan for religious
tourism.

The visitor visa is granted if you have close family members or friends in
Pakistan and you can only visit a maximum of 5 cities for 3 months. More so,
you will have to register and present yourself to the police every week I
think.

If you have a citizenship of some other country, it does become easier but
there will be an "eye" kept on you since both Pakistani and Indian governments
are quite paranoid about each other's citizens being spies and visiting an
area like Khyber Pass invites more suspiciousness.

~~~
kingofpandora
When I went, there was special permitting required to go up the Khyber Pass
but nothing for DAK. So assuming you can get a visa for the country, you
should be able to reach DAK easily from Peshawar.

~~~
selimthegrim
I think foreigners are banned from Kohat Tunnel

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thatguy0900
Forgotten weapons, a YouTube channel that documents lesser known guns, has
quite a few videos on khyber pass guns
[https://youtu.be/rZZTD3w_a5Q](https://youtu.be/rZZTD3w_a5Q)
[https://youtu.be/n5S_qmBL_KM](https://youtu.be/n5S_qmBL_KM)
[https://youtu.be/zTvxFNRLbiw](https://youtu.be/zTvxFNRLbiw)

His videos on "Chinese mystery pistols" are also quite good

~~~
vosper
I really like how Ian McCollum (host of Forgotten Weapons) discusses guns
without glorifying them. He doesn’t seem to be a war or gun nut, and he
doesn’t seem interested (or at least he presents no obvious interest) in
violence, death, or destruction. It makes the videos enjoyable for me, as
someone who finds the engineering, ingenuity, and historical context
interesting.

~~~
Intermernet
He treats historical weapons like others treat historical watches. They're
amazing feats of precision engineering with a bunch of interesting history
attached to them. I was raised with an awareness of fire-arms, and although
I'm definitely on the side of gun control and education, I really appreciate
the engineering that goes into firearm design. Ian does a fantastic job of
showing the design and engineering side, while explaining the history, and
avoiding the glorification. Somewhat aptly, his nickname around the various
fora is "Gun Jesus".

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sumedh
VICE video from 2011 on the same gun markets of Pakistan, I started following
VICE after I saw that video.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinRqCocwGE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinRqCocwGE)

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smabie
Is it legal to make your own gun in most places? It's always been a fantasy of
mine since I was a little kid, and I finally have the capital and attention
span to do it.

Do people ever make non replicas? It would be unbelievably cool to design and
Smith an a original weapon.

~~~
sio8ohPi
Where are you located? It's legal in much of the US, including California
(although there are some legal hoops to jump through).

Take a look at the "Gunnit Rust" posts (particularly Tier I) on /r/guns for
inspiration.

~~~
smabie
Thanks, I'm in the US. Will take a look.

~~~
sio8ohPi
I wouldn't suggest starting totally from scratch as a first project, so if you
want something more challenging than an AR you might look into surplus parts
kits. InrangeTV had a good series covering their CETME-L kits a couple years
back.

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nl
See also his post about the AK M4geries (a M4 lookalike with an AK action).

[https://silahreport.com/2019/05/28/2663/](https://silahreport.com/2019/05/28/2663/)

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sparrish
That's some incredible skill, especially with such limited tech.

~~~
082349872349872
Limited? When they say CNC, I'm imagining something like:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfFtPFJWufs&t=170](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfFtPFJWufs&t=170)
but maybe I should scale down my expectations?

Edit: OK, not quite as fancy:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj1qpAZf3yE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj1qpAZf3yE)

PS. arbhassan, any local music videos you'd recommend?

is
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73kBQHabhoY&t=840](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73kBQHabhoY&t=840)
a good introduction? (knowing neither pashto nor arabic script, my search-fu
is very weak)

~~~
arbhassan
Regarding the music recommendation this[1] is one my favorite song. Enjoy!

[1][https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJnzQKprzc](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJnzQKprzc)

[2][https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywPW8t_kUA](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywPW8t_kUA)

~~~
082349872349872
Manana! Now I'll have to also look up Hamza Baba...

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f00zz
Wow. I'm reminded of De Soto's "The Mystery of Capital" when I see examples of
incredible skill and resourcefulness in regions that somehow remain
underdeveloped.

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55555
The kid running in front of the guy shooting at 10:10 in the video gave me a
little scare.

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082349872349872
Similar:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borz)

Related: (¶31-32 p.17) [https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-
release/file/1313661/downl...](https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-
release/file/1313661/download)

(My wild ass guess is that in the twenty-first century, as in the eighteenth,
it takes far more[1] than SALW to mount an insurgency against regulars:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZcz589tJ5Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZcz589tJ5Q)

To me, the fetish for twentieth-century small arms among the various poorly-
regulated US militia implies they're more likely to menace a poorly armed
populace, or a BATF unit, than any of the well-regulated State units. Then
again, as the affadavit above shows, using logic is not exactly the best way
to predict these people.)

Any bets as to whether pakistan will join Oceania (as a commonwealth country)
or Eastasia (in opposition to india)?

[1] US twentieth-century own goal: providing man-portable seeker missiles to a
bunch of guys who had crazy ideas about visibility of women's bodies, alcohol
consumption, and the relation between religion and state.

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