The Firearm Blog

From the theonion.com (a satire site):

After a shocking new study finds U.S. children lag far behind their international peers in subjects like rifle assembly and mine defusing.

“An average Sudanese child can field strip a Type-81 assault rifle by the time he is in seventh grade. An American child could not until he enlisted in the military”

Former World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz has been appointed head of an influential panel advising the US government on arms control.

Mr Wolfowitz was ousted from the Bank last year over a scandal involving payments to his girlfriend, who was also a bank employee at the time.

More here

This site showcases some very small firearms.

.38 caliber, the brass padlock alarm gun


.22 rimfire pipe gun

This one is truly bizarre! I guess it is some sort of ’self defense hook’! I don’t know the caliber or how it was supposed to work. LibertyNews and bigfoot explain how it works in the comments below.

More here.

Hat Tip: Xavier Thoughts

I was under the impression that the military had given up the idea of replacing the M9. Apparently not, according to Military.com:

The Air Force had asked for $90 million in the 2007 supplemental to buy new, more powerful pistols. Instead, congressional negotiators appropriated $5 million for a joint study on a new combat pistol, with the Army as the lead agent.

The US Army and Navy have recently purchased more M9 pistols.

More here.

This essay takes a look at early firearm development up till the 1500’s. It is a fascinating read.

Certainly, the first uses of gunpowder are psychological – loud bangs and sausage-shaped rockets snaking across the battlefield to terrify men and horses. This is the role we can see for the fire lances of 1132. It is a short step from here to the early handgonne. I believe that while the bamboo pellet throwers of 1259 did not use true gunpowder, they certainly were a first application of the principle of using burning gases to throw a projectile…

Serpentine lock firearm, 1411

More here.

Sean @ Everything Hunting has written a review on the Mossberg 100 ATR:

The Mossberg 100 ATR is one of the least expensive guns on the market. Coming with a price tag of about $298. What can you expect from the gun? I found the gun pretty accurate and light to carry at only 7 lbs. I bought the Realtree camo pattern with matte black barrel. I used the gun exclusively during the 2006 hunting season.

I have shot 3 deer (all head shots) with instant results at ranges of 15-85 yards. At the firing range I maintained accuracy consistent with a 3 1/2 inch bullseye at 100 yards. These results were sandbag gun rest only without a vise. I find the results to be consistent with my abilities. I feel that I may be able to bring the group closer with a better scope.

More here.

From vnunet:

Facebook has refused to host ads from a US millionaire promoting gun training and offering $3m worth of free handguns.

Dr Ignatius Piazza, founder and director of Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, had submitted pay-per-click ads on Facebook offering a four-day handgun training course and a one-day concealed weapon permit course.

…

Piazza said that he was left “stunned” when Facebook rejected his ad on the ground that it violated Point 6 of the social networking site’s advertising guidelines.

“Provocative images will not be accepted. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual,” Facebook’s Point 6 states.

More here.

Following the recent purchase of 10,000 M9 pistols by the US Army and Navy, Beretta has announced a new multi-year contact to supply the Army with another 25,403 M9 pistols.

From the press release

Beretta has just announced that it has been awarded a multi-year contract by the U.S. Army to deliver M9 pistols to servicemen and women as part of the U.S. Government commitment to ensure the operational safety and readiness of U.S. Armed Services worldwide.

The contract is for 25,403 M9 pistols with deliveries starting in June 2008 and continuing until February 2010. The U.S. Army also reserves the right to purchase additional M9 pistols as needed to meet their needs. All of these M9 pistols will continue to be manufactured at the Beretta U.S.A. facility located in Accokeek, Maryland.

Shooting times (UK) has a comparison of three range finding scopes: the Bushnell Yardage Pro, Burris Laser Scope and Zeiss Diarange.

Whether the Zeiss is worth twice as much as the other two models is a matter of how much extra you are willing to pay for optical perfection and an illuminated reticule.

Both the Burris and the Bushnell offer good value considering their versatility, but my choice would be the Burris due to the sunshade and understated Ballistic Plex reticule system.

However, I did discover that when the temperature dropped to -6ºC both the Burris and Bushnell lasers stopped working, while the Zeiss worked perfectly.

This may be your deciding factor – quality will out.

More here.

From MyFOX

A gun found almost 3,000 miles away was returned to its owner Monday, over 33 years after it was stolen from a Jamestown home.

Police found the Ruger Blackhawk .44 magnum pistol in tiny Clatskanie, Ore., after someone tried to sell it to a gun store in late 2007. A check on the serial number revealed the gun’s rightful owner was Fred Brown of Jamestown.

The .44 magnum Ruger Blackhawk

I saw this video on kaiservontexas’s blog. The guy who gives this speech is awesome. It is a very moving speech and definitely worth watching.

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch exposes the hypocrisy of the UN Human Rights Council (March 23, 2007). For the first time ever, the Council president, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, rejects the speech as “inadmissible” and bans it from ever being delivered again.

When the UN are not blaming Israel and the US, ignoring crimes against humanity and trying to take control of the internet from the US, they are trying to ban small arms. They make me sick.

In 2009 the UN Human Rights council will include China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Cuba, all of which have absolutely shocking human rights records.

It looks like Kalashnikov is finally making some money from the firearms industry!

GSG, makers of the GSG-5 .22 MP5 clone, are naming a sporting rifle after General Kalashnikov.

From GSG (translated using google translator from German)

The sports and leisure with the calibre weapon “(Point) 22 LR” is currently in an advanced stage of development and will soon market gain.

The design and the technical features of the new weapon was the engineer from Russia after thorough inspection its approval.

From Die Zeit (again translated from google):

The inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov weapons with his new business partners from the firm GSG Sauerländer

I will never again cooperate with a company that also manufactures weapons of war,” proclaims chosen the man who practically a synonym for mass shooting and killing has developed.

Apparently he also lends his name to knives and umbrellas!

Hat Tip: treelogger

These Varmint Grenade, made by Barnes are amazing. I am going to have to try them out in the near future

In the below video they fire one of them into a grape and the bullet completely disintegrates.

Barnes makes these in .243/6mm (62 gr), .22 (36 – 50 gr) and .204 (26 gr) caliber.

More on the bullet here.

Ride Fast & Shoot Straight snapped a shot of an Irvine PD scooter mounted shogun.

More here.