The Firearm Blog

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Blackwater employees have been supplying the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with weapons. The PKK are labeled a terrorist group by the US government.

In July Turkey complained to the US that they had seized American made weapons from the PPK.

Two former Blackwater staff have already pleaded guilty to another incident of weapon smuggling.

Blackwater had this to say:

Allegations that Blackwater was in any way associated or complicit in unlawful arms activities are baseless. The company has no knowledge of any employee improperly exporting weapons… There is no indication that the weapons stolen… ever ended up in Iraq.

My Opinion: Thousands of US weapons have ended up on the Turkish blackmarket. It is not unfeasible that some of these were bought by the PPK. It would not surprise me if these accusations are yet another attempt by the Iraqi government to increase pressure on Washington in order to force Blackwater out of Iraq.

Sources:

BBC
CNN
Blackwater
International Herald Tribune

The M16 has been in service for over 40 years and I did some research to see which governments now use it. I decided to create a map showing who uses the M16/M4, AR-15 (civilian version)and the C7/ C8 (Canadian version).

This is what I came up with (click the image to increase the size)

Some of the countries, such as the UK, only use M16/M4/AR-15/C7/C8 rifles for their special forces. Presumably because the AR-15 platform has no end of customizations available.

Here is a complete list of countries (from the Colt website. The above map is more detailed than the Colt map):

Argentina, Australia, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, East Timor, Estonia, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq ,Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Maldives, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Laos, Nigeria, Netherlands, Oman,Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vietnam and Venezuela.

UPDATE

Added Georgia, who are adopting the M4, and Afghanistan, who have been given C7 rifles.

An interesting article from B.B.

The kind of glasses I’m talking about today are not for eye protection, though they do that as well. Their primary purpose is to help you see the front sight and target when shooting a target gun. Glasses are used by both rifle and pistol competitors, and even by archers, but since I know pistol glasses much better, they are what I will describe today.

More here.

Glock pistols do not have an external safety that be can engaged and disengaged at will. Instead Glocks have various internal safety

mechanisms to ensure the pistol does not fire a round unless the trigger is pulled, ie. not when dropped, knocked etc.
Rob has written a interesting blog entry explaining how the internal Glock safeties works.

Understanding how your weapons safeties work is also of critical importance. Glock, even though it has no external safeties is no exception.

So that out of the way we can begin discussing how Glock is looking out for you. As you may know the firing pin is under 2/3rds pressure when the slide is charged. As soon as you place a round in the chamber there is pressure, and therby a possibility, however remote, that the round may go off.

More here.

UPDATE: Famous Guns has more information here.

I really do like beautiful photos of rifle racks This one comes from AltheInfidel.

Click to enlarge.

Here is a very good animation showing the AK-47 internals and how it operates. To view the animation thumbnail below to watch it:

Warning, it is quite large (2.3mb)

Unfortunately I do not know who the author of this animation is.

“Don’t taze me bro!” is all over the internet! Say Uncle claims you can get 1000 extra visitors to your blog if you use the phrase … well, I am trying it out!

A university student with a history of taping his own practical jokes was Tasered by campus police and arrested after loudly and repeatedly trying to ask U.S. Senator John Kerry questions during a campus forum.

More here.

From Ace of Spades:

Hat tip: Say Uncle

Kahr Arms is more than just the manufacturer of some of the smallest and most lethal weapons on earth (including the tommy gun, made

famous by Al Capone). It is run and mostly owned by a son of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the billionaire and self-proclaimed messiah who founded the Unification Church and controls a sprawl of businesses presumably intended to sustain and defend his followers when the world as we know it ends. The gun business, along with food companies, real estate, and other holdings, will serve to protect the fortress and keep sinners at bay, according to former members, as well as supply necessary provisions after the arrival of the new world order.

Not much is known about Moon’s 37-year-old son, Justin, or how Kahr Arms fits into the church’s teachings and the reverend’s plans for world domination. People who know Justin say he travels a lot, has a penchant for fast cars and big-caliber pistols, and spends stretches of time at various family and church mansions around the globe. He is also vigorously business-minded and has personally designed most of his company’s guns. He has grown Kahr Arms into one of America’s top privately owned handgun manufacturers, with sales of around $20 million a year and climbing at an annual rate of 30 percent. More here.

This comic strip by Reason Magazine is brilliant. Well worth a read.

Read the whole strip here.

Who doesn’t like looking at guns While I would not call this beautiful I would call it sexy!

Click the images to increase their size.

Hat Tip: kcub @ The Gun Network Forum

(This gun is for sale. I have absolutely no connection to the seller)

New Jovian Thunderbolt has written about his experiences at a Maryland Hunter Education course.

The course is held at an Isaak Walton League chapter and conducted by members of the local club. The instructors were stereotypical hunting types. Clearly not city bred, middle-aged men that look like they’ve been hunting since they were 8 years old, and probably were. They had an obvious happy enthusiasm for hunting and the outdoors and appeared genuinely pleased to impart their knowledge and positive experience on to others.

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

UPDATE: Part three is here.

David has written a post about Safari Outfitters Ltd. who produce left hand custom big bore rifles.

Safari Outfitters Ltd. Is a high-end gun store in Salt Point, NY, that is owned by Niles Wheeler. Niles is one of the finest human beings in the world, shoots left-handed, and has a soft spot for the directionally challenged. There are almost always a couple of nifty left-handed rifles (and sometimes even shotguns) in the racks, and since he knows a lot of sinistral shooters, he can often get hold of something left-handed when others can’t.

Below is a photo of the custom .416 Taylor rifle he is referring to in his post.

Read more here.

A member of The Guns Network forum received these strange emails. Why would CZ want to buy AK’s from a Texan:

From: Ciencialova Lucyna Ing.
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:14 PM

Subject: Demand – machine rifle AK 47

Dear Madam / Sir,

I am writing to you from the Ceska zbrojovka company.

I´m interested in new produced MACHINE RIFLE AK 47.

I would like to ask if you can send me some information how many pcs you can sell us, price list, delivery terms, year of produce etc.

I hope to hear from you soon.

With best regards

Ing. Lucyna Ciencialova

Product Manager

Ceska zbrojovka a.s.

Svat. Cecha 1283

688 27 Uhersky Brod

Czech Republic

tel. +420 737 226 082

e-mail: ciencialova@czub.cz

www.czub.cz

Very werid!

Read the whole thread here.

haha

This fake photoshoped image comes from worth1000.com but I am not sure who the author is.