The Firearm Blog

BEIJING (Reuters) – A court in southern China has jailed a 21-year-old man who used a toy gun to steal a backpack containing HK$1.7 million ($218,000) for 19 years, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

Xie Wei held the toy gun to a man’s head in a bank carpark in Guangzhou, capital of coastal Guangdong province, and fled with the victim’s backpack, the agency said.

More here.

Famous Guns has nice write up a about the french assault rifle, the FAMAS (Fusil Automatique, Manufacture d’Armes de St. Etienne), and it’s
history.

Development of this rifle began in 1967, under the leadership of the Paul Tellie, a French arms designer. This new rifle was intended to replace in service the MAS Mle.49/56 semi-automatic rifles, MAT-49 submachine guns and some MAC Mle.1929 light machine guns. First FAMAS prototype had been built in 1971. French military began to test this rifle in 1972-73, but, in the meantime, France adopted a Swiss-designed SIG SG-540 5.56mm assault rifle as an intermediate solution. FAMAS rifle was adopted by the French in 1978 and since then became a standard French Army shoulder fired small arm.

More here.

(Photo from wikipedia.org)

Here is the opening sequence from the movie Lord of War showing the life of a cartridge from a Soviet factory to use in an African conflict.

The movie tells the story of the fictional character Yuri Orlov who loosly is based on real life arms dealer Viktor Bout. I highly recommend it.

Hat Tip: Milk and Cookies

Freakanomics author Stephen J. Dubner interviews the photographer of Armed America about his encounters with gun owners and their attitudes.

Read it here.

Ha! I would love to have one of these!

Musical craftsman Luis Alberto Paredes and his family have branched out from their fine classic string instruments to fashion electric guitars from shotguns and AK47s once used by fighters caught up in the country’s lingering conflict.

I wonder what a shotgun guitar looks like?

More here.

This animation shows how both the 416 and M4 operate and explains the differences between the M4/M16/AR15 direct-gas impingement system and the H&K 416 piston system.

View the animation here. Below is a screenshot.

The Associated Press is reporting that an injured whale was recovered yesterday after being shot with a .50 caliber firearm. It is important to remember that the Associated Press have demonstrated little understanding of firearms in the past.

They have claimed that the whale was shot with a “.50-caliber machine gun”. I would be impressed if they can tell the difference between a .50BMG rifle (if it was in fact .50BMG and not another .50 caliber cartridge) and a .50BMG machine gun. Or if they even know the difference between a machine gun and a rifle.

However, I do find it interesting that the Makah Tribe, who are legally allowed to hunt whales, use .50 caliber rifles. I guess they may be used when a harpoon has not killed a whale and they are not able to take another shot with the it.

More here.

UPDATE: Some tribesman are being held by the Coast Guard, but not charged, over the incident. More here.

The ArmyTimes has written about how the army is stuck with the M16/M4 while spec ops are moving to the H&K 416:

Delta Force worked with a gun maker to come up with a better weapon. The 416 is now considered in many circles to be the best carbine in the world, but the regular Army is sticking with the M4 and M16.

Members of the elite unit linked up with German arms maker Heckler & Koch, which replaced the M4’s gas system with one that experts say significantly reduces malfunctions while increasing parts life. After exhaustive tests with the help of Delta, the H&K 416 was ready in 2004.

Members of the elite commando unit – formally known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta – have been carrying it in combat ever since.

The 416 is now considered in many circles to be the best carbine in the world – a weapon that combines the solid handling, accuracy and familiarity of the M4 with the famed dependability of the rugged AK47.

For the foreseeable future, however, the Army is sticking with the M4 and M16 for regular forces.

More here.

A very detailed review of the Walther P99 pistol has been post on the PAFOA forum here. It also includes some beautiful photos of the P99.

So, the real verdict, how does it shoot? Well, for me, it shoots better than any gun I have ever fired, which includes an impressive list of what’s what in the realm of combat handguns (custom or otherwise). I shot 365 rounds (300 of various FMJ rounds and 65 HP’s) today, and I find that I can rapid fire the center out of a 8×10 piece of paper at 10 yards seemingly all day long regardless of what stance or grip I use. Hell, it didn’t matter whether I used the sights, used a threat-focused approach at near eye level or shot from the hip at 4 yards, I was still on paper and in the scoring ring for all but 10 errant shots. I also got to shoot 150 rounds with my Streamlight TLR-1 attached (20 of them in complete darkness aside from the light) and as a bonus, not only is the light useful, but the extra weight up front allowed for faster follow-up shots; never a bad thing. My concentrated accuracy test involved shooting the staple at each corner of my last target to see if I could hit them and thus drop the paper from the target stand. At 10 yards, it took me a mere 6 shots, with both of my misses being less than a few centimeters too low. That’s good enough for a combat or carry gun, it’s certainly good enough for my standards and I doubt I could have done that with any other handgun I own. It’s inexplicable to me why this gun just shoots so much better in my hands than anything else, though everyone that ever shot with me when I had my previous P99 laughs and tells me I should have never sold it, that was the one gun I shot like a pro. Well, here’s to renewing relationships with old friends, this P99, like her predecessor, has earned her rightful place in a holder tucked inside my waistband.

More here.

We have all seen the photo, I can’t remember where it was taken, of guns lined up on a road ready to be crushed by a steam roller. I always feel sad looking at the destruction of firearms. It is usually the old guns that would be valued by collectors around the world that are surrendered, not the military style semi/automatic used by the militants and war lords. I have been reading the long 196 page South Pacific Small Arms Survey, which I am going to write a blog post about. Here are some photos of firearms being destroyed in the Solomon Islands.

This photo shows the dumping of 2000 firearms into the sea off the capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, in June 2002:

This photo appears to show the stocks being burnt in the Solomon Islands in June 2002:

I support the disarming of the militants in the Solomon Islands who are destroying the country, just as I support the disarming and elimination of the militants and war lords in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the disarming of civilians that I find worrying. The below photo is a Solomon Island militant:

I find gun culture in other countries fascinating. This article on the BBC talks about gun culture in Switzerland.

Guns are deeply rooted within Swiss culture – but the gun crime rate is so low that statistics are not even kept.

The country has a population of six million, but there are estimated to be at least two million publicly-owned firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols.

Mark Eisenecker, a sociologist from the University of Zurich told BBC News Online that guns are “anchored” in Swiss society and that gun control is simply not an issue.

Very interesting. Read the whole article here.

I came across a great review of the Taurus 44-Ten Tracker .410 caliber revolver/shotgun.

How about penetration? Well, at all distances the shot pellets went through the board. However, logic tells us that they used up a lot of their force getting through the dense material. And, in home construction, there would be another piece of the same wall-board beyond. With the possible exception of the 1-yard shot, the pellets would likely not exit that one.

Getting back to serious business, would the Taurus 44-Ten Tracker be a good “house-gun?” Absolutely! It could be handled well by anyone, and shotshell loads would afford a little “margin of error” in aiming. For the more proficient, you could load it so the first three rounds were shot, then have two .45LC rounds, if necessary. And, we haven’t even considered the camping and hunting applications. The last word: High quality, reasonable price.

Read more here.

An interesting usenet post from rec.guns: Bill Jungbauer wants to know some light .30-06 loads for him 13 year old son:

My 13 year old son said he did not like his .243 anymore and talked me into
getting him a 30-06. I plan on loading him some light loads to begin with.
After looking at my load books, I see that the only noted light loads are in
the Speer book. 150 grain bullet with either 42 grains of H4895 or 26-28
grains of 5744. If I buy some 4895, what else is this powder good for? If I
increase the dosage later, is it a reliably accurate load?

Read the full thread here.

This beautiful flash animation shows how a Glock works. Like the AR-15 anatomy it allows you to hide or make transparent various parts allowing you to see inside.

Below is just a screenshot. Click here to view the animation.