Calico Carbine

Length Overall	Barrel Length	Weight	Caliber	Action Type	Magazine Capacity
28" - 40 "	16.1"	3.7 Pounds	9mm	Roller Block Semi	100

    The most notable feature of this gun, and the one which seems to define it, is it's 100 round magazine. This is unfortunate in some ways because this is just the first of the many innovations making this gun so unique. The magazine is a helical wound drum, which sits atop the receiver, and must be cranked (10 turns for the fifty rounder, and 23 for the 100) after it is loaded, in the manner of the old Thompson drum magazines. The top of the magazine has a number of small, circular windows which act as round indicators. The 100 round magazine is considered to be for the carbine version of the gun, and the shorter, fifty rounders are designed for the pistol version, though either gun can use both magazines. The lower receiver is polymer, the upper is alloy. Internally the gun uses what I think is the most reliable and rugged of all automatic action types--the delayed action roller block. This is the same type of action which is used in the .308 caliber G-3 rifle, and it's semi auto derivative, the HK-91. The gun comes apart easily and is simple to clean.
    Sadly, this cutting edge weapon was practically stillborn, as new laws banning it went into effect shortly after it's production began. There is now only a military version. The Calico Company has had the misfortune to have started out in the oil rig business just before the end of the oil boom, and then to have expanded into the gun business just before a new round of legislative silliness made their pioneering new gun illegal to buy. My guns are grand fathered in, so that I may own them, and even sell them if I wish, but no new guns are permitted into civilian hands from the factory. The telescoping stock has a strange feel to it, but once gotten used to the gun will shoot remarkable 3 inch groups at 100 yards. This rivals some assault rifles and is certainly taking the 9mm cartridge to it's limit. The empties are ejected straight downward, and Calico even offers a bag to latch on to the bottom of the receiver so that the hand loader will not have to comb the ground for them. This is a neat gun and an exciting concept which deserves better than it got.
    I am presently searching for a scope  mount, for this fine gun, so that I can install a Bushnell Holosight on it. The Holosight would seem to be ideal for this type of weapon, and I am greatly looking forward to mating the two. The Holosight offers parallax free targeting no matter what the orientation is between head and sight. You simply put the sight on the target and shoot; just like a video game. Unlike a laser sight, the Holosight is usable at all ranges, and under all lighting conditions.