By Iain Harrison
I mentioned some of the ways in which the mid season blahs might be countered in previous posts and this time around, the producers of Top Shot rolled out a gorgeous (and huge) example of a Victorian machinists' art. Bear in mind that that the 3.2-inch bag gun was made one at a time, and that each individual part was hand fitted to its neighbor over the course of assembly, making the guns incredibly expensive. Also, because of the charging system, there was no effective means of containing propellant gasses inside the breach. If you watched closely, you could see a puff of smoke escaping toward the teams during the challenge.
March 23, 2012
