The Guns of MHI

MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL

Normally when I do a Guns Of article, it's about a movie. This time around, it's a book. A good book. If you've not read it yet, your wrong. For a Gun Nut like me, MHI is a real treat. It's full of guns, more so than Hollywood action double feature.

The main character is Owen Pitt, a simple accountant that happens to shoot IDPA and just so happened to be carrying a small S&W snub nosed J framed .357 Magnum which is loaded with Federal 125 grain hollow points. This weapon is carried concealed in an ankle holster. He also carries a folding knife, a Spyderco. This is a pretty good concealment package for an office worker for most any situation. That's a lot of power, in a small concealable package, and one that I recommend for most any situation.
I say “most situation” because when Owen has to draw his little snubby, he's fighting a big werewolf. This is not enough gun. Luckily Owen is a big guy and ends up shoving the werewolf, who used to be his boss, out of the window, along with a desk. This finishes the werewolf, and ends up getting Owen into a lot more trouble. Not because he threw his boss out the window, but because he was recruited by Monster Hunter International, sort of a private monster bounty hunter group. MHI was impressed. Not everyone can toss a werewolf out a window.

Unfortunately the tussle with the werewolf injured poor Owen and he ended up in the hospital. This is where Owen meets a couple agents from the MCB. The Federal's Bureau for Monster Control. The MCB Agents are not all that impressed with Owen's Lycan Tossing Skills, and hold a gun to his head. The one with the gun is Agent Franks. His weapon of choice for pointing at Owen is a Glock Model 20, in 10mm. MCB uses 10mm for their handguns. Agent Myers is also armed, but doesn't point his weapon at Pitt. Myers is of course also packing a 10mm, but he's old school and favors the S&W 610.

Out of the hospital, and not shot in the head by MCB, Owen gets recruited and is introduced to the future love o his life, Julie. Julie being an MHI Hunter, is of course, a serious shooter and serious shooters like 1911's. Julies 1911 isn't specified, but it's highly customized, slicked up, trigger job, with night sights and whole mess of spare mags.

One thing interesting about Julie's gun and what MHI uses, is the ammunition. Most MHI Hunters favor .45ACP. But what makes it interesting is the bullets. They use a bullet constructed similar to the Cor-Bon Pow'rBall, but instead of a polymer ball in the tip, they use a ball of pure Silver. Silver is like poison to monsters... in Werewolves and other such creatures it prevents them from healing and regenerating. Shoot just about any monster with these... and they die. The MCB uses silver too, but their loads are frangible lead and silver. Pure silver makes for poor bullets, but mix silver into the rest of the bullets the results are just as good.

With such cool weapons and ammo, Owen is in. He goes to MHI.

When he pulls up to the MHI HQ, he's greeted by Milo, a causal kind of guy who has an old worn out M4 slung across his back. It might look beat up, but knowing MHI and Milo, it's probably insidiously accurate and reliable.

Thus begins his MHI Career. But first he has to get past Dorcas. Dorcas is used to be a Hunter when younger and when she had both legs. Now, she is the MHI administration... she doesn't pack light just because she's in an office like how Owen did. Dorcas rolls with a Ruger Redhawk in .45 Colt. This might be a wheel gun, but that's a might powerful handcannon. Unlike other .45 Colt revolvers, the Redhawk can take loads that would break lesser revolvers.

During his training, he meets MHI veteran hunters, such as Sam Haven. Sam is a tall guy with a slow, easy country drawl, he takes his time, but you pay attention to him. Especially since Sam's favorite weapon is Marlin 1895 lever gun in .45-70. This gun might seem to be a throw back, but it isn't. That's dishing out a ferocious amount of horsepower that allows Sam both fast and accurate followup shots. If he needed them. .45-70 is used today for things like Kodiak Bear Defense. Maybe Sam knows something the other Hunters don't. He loads it with rounds using a 450 grain bullet. That's huge. That can take down an African Elephant.

The President of MHI is Grandpa Shackleford, and since we are talking Old School, he's packing his old S&W M1917. These were produced for WWI when Colt was unable to meet the demand for the 1911. Both fire the same round, the 1917 is of course, a revolver. He is of course, Julie's Grandfather, and give who he is, he probably knows how to use that old wheel gun very well.

The guy in charge of all MHI's Hunting is Earl Harbinger. MHI's defacto Leader. Earl is also from the Old School of firearms... He packs a S&W 625 with a short barrel, yes, another .45ACP chambered revolver. Unlike the others, this one is a newer build than the other revolvers. It's accurate and potent and thanks to the use of Moon Clips, it's easy to reload. Great gun, but when Earl gets pissed off, he breaks out his Thompson. In MHI, it's not specified which version of the Thompson he uses, but consider Earl's past, I'm betting it's the same one used in WWII.

After some training and when everyone gets familiar with the job, problems arise. That problem being a French flagged Freighter named the Antoine-Henri. There are unhappy goings on aboard the Antoine-Henry and MHI gets to deal with it.
Owen and his team of Hunters gear up and they fly out. Own is armed with his good old trusty guns he used for IDPA and 3Gun competition. A Kimber/Bull high capacity 1911 .45 topped with Ashley Express 24/7 sights and his trusty Remington 870 topped with XS sights, a 2 shot extension tube, and a Side Saddle to hold 6 more rounds of 12 gauge.

Holly, Lee, and Trip back him up, with Lee and Trip armed with HK UMP .45 caliber SMG's and Holly Newcastle with her VEPR K chambered in good old .308 and gets jiggy with some RPG's. I don't know about you guys, but a rocket propelled grenade launcher doesn't seem like a good idea to me... but Holly makes it work to good effect. Oh, and Trip also brings a Tomahawk.
Flying around overhead is Julie, riding in the Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter and she's armed with an accurized M-14 rifle topped with a Trijicon ACOG.

The Battle of Antoine-Henry is fierce. Things happen that will make you read it twice. In the fighting, Owen's guns are destroyed by Jean Darne, a French Hunter who got turned into a Vampire. Harbinger kicks Darne's trash.

After the ship, Milo gives Pitt a new shotgun. A modified Saiga 12, which is an AK-47 chambered for 12 gauge, has a folding stock, switch blade bayonet, full auto, grenade launcher... well... if Larry will allow me, he introduced Abomination better than I can:

“Ok, check this thing out. We can still hit the range while there is a little bit of light left.” He led me to a workbench where a strange looking gun was mounted in a vise. At first I thought it was some sort of large spray painted assault rifle, except it was too bulky, and lacked the utilitarian elegance common of a fighting rifle.

“Saiga?” I asked. That was a Russian shotgun that was based upon the action of an AK.

“At first. On this one I mounted an adjustable M4 carbine Vltor stock, with recoil pad of course, FAL pistol grip, hologramatic sight system, EoTech in particular, night vision compatible. Full rail system, so you can mount lights or IR illuminators, or as you can see here, a Tula 6G15 40mm grenade launcher, front loading, single shot. The barrel has been cut down to fourteen inches, modified choke, gave it the Vang comp treatment also so the patterns are good and tight and recoil is softer. I modified the trigger group, so top position is safe, middle is full, bottom is semi. I’ve got the gas adjusted so you are looking at about 650 RPM on full.”

“Don’t these only come with five shot magazines?”

“I’ve got a bunch of nine round box mags, and two twenty round drums. I’ve tested them all, all are reliable, but on full you can run through the nine rounder in a second, so use it sparingly. I welded a chute onto the receiver, so you just shove the mags straight in like on an AR. You can insert the big mags that way even if the bolt is forward. Handy for topping off. Go ahead, check it out.”

I gently picked up the massive weapon. It was short, but it was thick, and it had to weigh close to twelve pounds, and that was while it was empty. Add almost a box of shells and a grenade and it would be even more so. I worked the action. The bolt was slick and the spring was powerful. Milo had thoughtfully added a shelf to the safety so that it could be operated with the trigger finger. It pointed better than it looked when I snapped it into position.

“What about specialty munitions?”

“There is a gas regulator at the end of the hand guard. I machined a new one so that this one now has three positions. One is regular, works for all of the full power stuff. Two opens the port, and I’ve got it calibrated to work with the gas rounds and the mini grenades. Three is closed, turns it into a manually operated bolt action, for the low powered stuff like the bean-bags and the integrally suppressed shells. I’ve tried it with all of them. If you have the regulator in the right spot for the right ammo, it isn’t going to malfunction.” I ran my finger along the regulator, and found detents for the different power levels. There was also a mystery button. When I pushed it a hinge unlocked, and an eight-inch, heavy-duty bayonet was released. The blade was absurdly long and thick. With a flick of the muzzle it locked into place with a snap. It was not the world’s best-balanced spear, but I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of it.

“No freaking way. That is awesome.”

“I got the idea off of Czech CZ52, but I improved it. It folds to the side, out of the way of the grenade launcher. You don’t hardly even know it’s there until you need it. Bottom edge is good cutting steel, on the top edge is a silver inlay. You stick this in a lycanthrope and it is going to know it. I had a friend of mine who makes custom knives do it for me.”

“Why did you paint it brown?” I asked as I slowly turned the monstrous weapon over in my hands. It felt good. I realized I was grinning like an idiot.

He shrugged. “I’m tired of black guns. Everybody has black guns, I wanted this to be a little different. Plus black gets hot in the sun. I tried to give it kind of a desert tiger stripe thing. So do you like it?”

“Milo... This is the coolest gun I have ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen a lot of guns. How does it shoot?”

“Lets go find out. From what I’ve seen from you in practice, and from what Julie told me about your shooting on the freighter, I have been waiting for somebody worthy of Abomination.”

Abomination? That was just too cool. Milo handed me a sack of loaded magazines. “Ok, just one more question. Exactly how many gun laws does this break?”

Milo’s red eyebrows scrunched together in thought. He started to count on his fingers, and then thought better of it.

“All of them.”

Tell me you don't want to read the whole book now! Tell me. Come on...

After Owen was blessed with Abomination – a gun certain to go down in the annals of BadAss SciFi Weapons as the baddest of all shotguns – Owen picks up a new .45 pistol. A simple CZ 97B. The 97 is pretty much a CZ 75 that had been beefed up to handle .45ACP. This is one gun I really wish they would chamber in 10mm.

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