Blast from the Past

[Lowlight]

This is crazy, so I open up my email this fine wintery morning and I see this,

Totally from Norm Chandler, his email his name, I was like okay...

it was just submitted to the site contact form

 

[Emerson0311]

This is crazy, so I open up my email this fine wintery morning and I see this,

View attachment 8032993

Totally from Norm Chandler, his email his name, I was like okay...

it was just submitted to the site contact form

My Iron Brigade Armoury T-shirt lasted a long time but it’s gone now. Could use a replacement.

 

[Redmanss]

Impressed the old man is still kicking.

 

[6.5SH]

This is crazy, so I open up my email this fine wintery morning and I see this,

View attachment 8032993

Totally from Norm Chandler, his email his name, I was like okay...

it was just submitted to the site contact form

There were a few "Norm Chandler is dead" posts in a few threads this year for someone with the same name.

 

[Pinmaster]

Interesting
M40

• Built by D. Briggs USMC RTE Armorer Retired/ IBA head gunsmith.

$8,500

 

[fdkay]

Glad to hear it.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Wasn't IBA featured in one of the Stephen Hunter novels... Under another name. As it was fiction? But we all knew who they were talking about.

They are pretty legendary IIRC... early promotors of the Semi-Auto platform for sniper rifles. A lot of experience and cred. Esp. with USMC.

Also the XM-3? Going back more than a decade here. But I seem to remember that these folks were some serious tier-one makers and innovators. DARPA stuff and more.

I may be wrong... but this is pretty cool! Just based on long memory.

Sirhr

 

[Thumper580]

They were the ones that used to bring Carlos Hathcock to the gun shows. That's where I met Carlos......

 

[Emerson0311]

Wasn't IBA featured in one of the Stephen Hunter novels... Under another name. As it was fiction? But we all knew who they were talking about.

They are pretty legendary IIRC... early promotors of the Semi-Auto platform for sniper rifles. A lot of experience and cred. Esp. with USMC.

Also the XM-3? Going back more than a decade here. But I seem to remember that these folks were some serious tier-one makers and innovators. DARPA stuff and more.

I may be wrong... but this is pretty cool! Just based on long memory.

Sirhr

Yes, the fictional reference was a brain teaser having had personal interaction with a few of the crew.

 

[Redmanss]

When you could count the number of good custom precision rifle shops in the country on your hands and had to find out about builders from Shotgun News or word of mouth, they actually weren't a terrible option. Overpriced (especially then as a young Corporal in '95), you bet, but they had a good product in a limited market with few alternatives. Had an instructor at a course bring his out, tricked out 30-06 with gold inlay in the engraving, and watched him outshoot our M40A1s like it was nothing. I was impressed with that rifle, really wanted one right up until I heard the price tag and it was over half a year's take home pay.

A few years later we put together a couple teams from our platoon to shoot a match down in Mississippi, one of the guys (@NOMAD) knew Col Chandler who graciously outfitted three of the guys with rifles, Rocky mounted brand new scopes and bore sighted them in the driveway while we waited and they threw in a couple cases of FGMM to more than cover the COF. I was stubborn and shot my M40A1 at the match, still placed pretty well despite the 5-round internal magazine being a serious handicap on speed stages, but those Chandler rifles held their own.

I've heard many of the stories over the years from when the Colonel ran Stone Bay to running IBA, lots of angst and animosity in those tales, but my small interaction certainly didn't reflect that.

 

[Stevo86]

I had a super match m1a that was built by IBA…. Damn fine rifle… bedding job was perfect.

 

[candyx]

Any photos I thought this was a picture thread .....