Need some advice on Calico firearms

K

Karanas

New member
All this recent gun control b.s. has worn me out.
I'm going to go relax at one of those infamous "illegal arms bazaars" this weekend and I'm in the mood to get something really politically incorrect.
The Calico line of firearms is intriguing. 50 or 100 round magazine sounds about right. I don't know much else about them.
Any advice?
.22 or 9mm?
Pistol or carbine?
Are they reliable? Any problems with any particular models?
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
I had one of these guns (9mm)pass through my hands a number of years ago back when they were still legal in my neck of the woods. I don't know what degree of use or abuse my gun saw prior to my possesion, but I will say that I have never had more problems with a gun in my life. I was lucky to ever get a box of ammo to go through the gun without jamming it up (to the point it had to be taken apart).

On the positive side the gun was lightweight, easy to shoot, and a lot of fun when it worked, but unfortunately my example didn't work too often. Between the gimmicky design and what was (In my opinion) the poor metalurgy of the metal parts, problems were inevitable. The only other person I ever met who owned one of these guns had much the same experience. (but then again two people are a small sample so I can't really tell you what to expect)

If you just want to have fun and you have money to throw away, the gun might be an OK choice, but if you plan on using it as your Y2K gun or some other serious purpose, I would definitely look elsewhere. By the way, at about the same time I owned that gun I read of Calico's efforts to market the gun to law enforcement agencies. Despite the fact that the gun would have been much cheaper than MP5's I have yet to ever hear about any serious department that ever used the guns. That should tell you all you need to know right there.

[This message has been edited by Hoplite (edited June 23, 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Hoplite (edited June 23, 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Hoplite (edited June 23, 1999).]
 
I have seen some Calicos for sale at the gun shows... basically if you have one, and want to sell it - you can virtualy name your own price!

They are worth it... especially in 9MM.



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RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
 
I've had two. The pistol and the carbine in 9mm. They both like round nose ammo. If you want to use hollowpoints you need to get the ones that Winchester makes. They don't like the truncated cone bullets. With the round nosed bullets I could go through a lot of ammo without a jam. You need to be careful how you load the magazines and you don't want too much spring pressure when you wind up the magazine. I used to always wind them up a couple of turns less than recommended. The only weak link in the design that I am aware of is the steel pin that holds the bolt to the internal slide. They must have hardened some too hard because they can break. If it happens and the pin gets lodged under the slide the thing can go full auto. I saw this happen to a guy at the range once. What a ride! I'm just glad he was experienced with guns or a lesser man might have turned around or something else stupid. Still, I'd rather have an MP5, preferably in 10MM.
 
I've owned both the 9mm's - pistol and carbine. I sold them as quickly as possible.

I had more trouble with those two guns than ALL of my guns COMBINED. You don't see too many around do you? Wonder why? Why are no LEA's considerng using these?

IMHO, save yourself some real headaches and get a proven weapon.

Join NRA, GOA and vote!
CMOS
 
Exactly CMOS

Unfortunately Calico sold these guns outside the TEC9 price range for prices that put them in the range of SERIOUS weapons. Something the Calico's certainly are NOT. Calico's were a bad choice then and are a worse choice now.
 
I have the 9mm collapsable stock carbine and I got my son the .22 pistol for his 16th birthday 5 years ago. They are not 100% reliable, the 9mm is better than the pistol, but they are fun to shoot. I use the 9mm as a car gun on trips because you can carry rifles, loaded, on or about the person, legally in Texas, without a permit.
 
Calico guns with their high capacity magazines are quite novel. They were easy to use (very few controls) but in no sense were soldier proof.

If you didn't wind the magazine up just right (too much or too little), it wouldn't feed reliably. It was something like 11 revolutions for a 50 round 9mm and 17 revolutions for a 100 rounder (I could be off). If you lost count, no big deal. Press the tension release button on the back of the magazine and start winding afresh. That tension button was a nice feature in that you could load up a magazine and release the tension, thereby preserve the spring until it came time to go to the range.

The plastics are a bit too brittle. Dropped a magazine once and the shell cracked. To their credit, Calico immediately replaced it for free - but I wish they made of a more sturdy plastic. The magazine loader worked and with practice, I got it down to about 12 seconds to load a 50 round magazine.

The guns are very light and since it featured bottom ejection (9mm only), ambidextrious. When I first saw the gun, I was impressed by its simplicity. Within a minute following cursory examination, I was able to field strip it without instructions.

Both 9mm (rifle and pistol) are based on the delayed blowback operation; just like the HK MP5. The trigger mechanism is much simpler as is the anodized aluminum receiver. Not much can be done to improve its trigger pull and it will always be a bit spongy.

There is a small difference between the carbine and the pistol. On both guns, the barrel is pressed into the frame. The frame itself is drilled and a pin is used to secure the barrel to the frame. Barrels are drilled slightly to allow for the barrel pin. Now, the location of the barrel pin will vary by a couple thousands of an inch between the pistol and carbine. Here's why it's important. On the carbine, the barrel pin will be set a bit further more towards the breech. This will allow for greater lockup and longer time to unlock when fired. Since the longer barrel generates higher pressure, the longer unlocking time is need so as to allow the pressure to drop prior to unlocking. Clever way to ensure the user's safety.

One thing I found funny about the Calico was the two steel inserts on the side of the frame. Early guns used a polymer and the later ones had steel. The inserts served as friction blocks to slow down the slide's movement. This is reminescent of the "Blish Principle" which was attempted in the early Thompson SMGs (certain materials have a different coefficient of friction between themselves). The 9mm carbine should have been a bull-pup design.

The .22s are a blast to shoot but they're not as easy to load or as quick to load as the 9mm. Too bad Calico never developed a speedloader like they did for the 9mm. My only real gripe against the 22 is that they should have used better pins to hold the gun together. Easy enough to machine and fabricate on your own though.

Hostile gun laws and restrictions finally drove the manufacturer out of Golden State of Kalifornia into the more pro-gun Silver State of Nevada.

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
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