The Firearm Blog

HEYM USA, purveyor of fine rifles [I am unlikely to ever afford], offer a front sight for their double rifles that uses a diamond as the bead. Apparently it is a night sight. I have never seen this before.

Anyone know how effective these are?

When the boyz in the hoodz hear about these, the first to offer them as Glock sights will make a fortune

A while back I posted some photos of a 2 bore cartridge. While browsing the Nitro Express forum I came across this amazing photo of a 2 bore muzzleloader. All I can say is “Wow”.

I wonder which end hits harder

I read in another thread that this rifle was going to weight 32 lbs and has a 36″ barrel. To put this in perspective: the caliber, barrel length and weight are very similar to smaller swivel cannons!

I am not sure if this is a true rifle or a paradox gun (mostly smoothbore but rifling near the muzzle).

A few more photos of the rifle (click to expand):

The owner was considering a load of 275 - 325 grains of blackpowder firing 3500 grains of lead.

I got pretty excited when I read the title of the Ars Technica review entitled “Hands on with some surprising $80 night vision goggles”. I immediately started day dreaming about stalking varmints on a starless, moonless night.

Unfortunately the “Eye Clops Night Vision” is nothing more than an array of infrared LEDs, a webcam-like camera and a small LCD screen

Russia Today reports:

Russia will give Venezuela a credit for $US 1 billion, a Kremlin source said to RIA Novosti news agency. The money will give a boost to the military co-operation between the two countries.

…

Venezuela has become a major buyer of Russian military hardware recently. Caracas has purchased 100,000 AK-103 assault rifles along with 40 Su-30MK2 jet fighters and about 50 combat helicopters, says Interfax-military news agency. On the future shopping list are 20 Tor-M1 air defence systems and three or more submarines.

The Russian defense budget for 2009 is $46 billion. So this loan is worth 2.17% of annual Russian defense spending. No small amount!

Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) and André Baptiste Jr. (Sammi Rotibi)

Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr, son of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, on whom the character André Baptiste Jr. in the movie “Lord of War” is based is now on trial in the US on eight offenses, five or which are for torture.

He is depicted in the film testing his newly acquired arms, sold to him by Yuri Orlov (aka. Viktor Bout), on civilians at a nearby camp.

Andre Baptiste Jr.: Can you bring me the gun of Rambo?
Yuri Orlov: Part One, Two, or Three?
Andre Baptiste Jr.: I’ve only seen Part One.

His father, also depicted in the movie is on trial for war crimes at the Hague and Bout is facing an extradition hearing in Thailand.

If you have not seen Lord of Ware I highly recommend it. It is one of my favorite movies.
BBC reports.

The ACU’RZR is an interesting tool. You put a .22 Long Rifle cartridge into the ACU’RZR and give the “forming rod” a whack with a hammer and then take out your .22 cartridge with a newly shaped bullet.

The idea behind the tool is threefold. It ensures consistency in bullet shape which will increase accuracy, allows you to select a bullet shape and allows you to choose a bullet diameter that suits your handgun or rifle.

I must admit I would be too scared to hit a a rimfire cartridge with a hammer. I would rather purchase match ammo.

Different models are available and range from $38 - $53 (+ $5 shipping).

This is a very clever idea. The rifle is a Mossberg 144LSB Target rifle that is currently listed on gunbroker.

The advantage of having the sight raised is that when shooting from a offhand/verticle position you can keep you head as close to upright as possible to achieve better balance.

Hat Tip: RFC

Click to expand the photos

The weapons being anything they can find and tactics being kidnapping civilians and attacking oil infrastructure. I have not read of any credible military victories. The “Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta’s” only claim to fame is managing to damage an oil platform 120km offshore.

Click to expand.

This photo is of members of the Mexican army on parade during the Independence Day celebrations on 16 September 2008.

Hat Tip: MP.net

The BBC reports that the “Lord of War’s” extradition hearing in Bangkok’s Criminal Court has begun.

Some interesting details have surfaced. Apparently he was attempting to sell US agents, posing as members of FARC, 700 surface to air missiles and aircraft outfitted with missiles! That is some pretty heavy stuff. Selling AKs by the ton is one thing, surface to air missiles is another story!

The Russian parliament supports Bout and has inferred that there exists a US led conspiracy to damage Russia’s reputation.

The State Duma - the lower house of Russia’s parliament - on Friday adopted a statement in support of Mr Bout, Itar-Tass reports.

“Political motives, attempts to link this issue with the fight against international terrorism and thus damage the interests and reputation of Russia, are present in Bout’s case”, claimed the parliamentarians in the statement.

“It is necessary to intensity efforts aimed at securing the rights of Russian citizen Viktor Bout, prevention of his illegal prosecution and return to his home country, as well as at curbing attempts to use this case against Russia,” the lawmakers said, according to Itar-Tass.

I can’t wait to hear to details that come out of a US trial if he is extradited!

I read about Short Rifle Stock Systems (SRSS) new M14/M1A bullpup stock, the BullDog 762, at Defense Review. I suppose the designers said to themselves “just about about everything has a bullpup conversion, why not the M14?”

The stock comes in a synthetic model (SRSS-1421SM, $749) and an aluminum model (SRSS-1421BA, $999) and is available in Black, Olive Drab, Tan and Aluminum finish.

From the FAQ:

What does the SRSS kit consist of?

The SRSS stock system comes with main beam (stock) panels = Cheek rest and right panel, optics rail and all hardware, allen wrenches to mount scope rail which replaces the M14 /M1A hand guard. Simple tools like a screwdriver is all you need to install your M1A or the M-14 into the SRSS. OPTICS are not included. See our site for Optics available.

Do I need to machine any part of my rifle?

No. You will need to remove the hand guard and install the optics rail and you will need to remove the rear sight assembly, just hang on to it you may want to put it all back together or leave the SRSS together and build another M1A.

Can you describe the trigger action ? I understand that one of the weakness of bullpup stocks is their softness or lack of tactile feedback of the trigger when pulled.

Our trigger was designed to eliminate all the problems that bullpup’s have. The trigger/transfer rod is submerged in the stock and to some degree floats and is carried by the rear/original trigger. The safety is just above the pistol grip for your right hand and can be turned off and on by the right thumb. Our trigger rod adds 1/2 pound to whatever your trigger pressure is on your rifle. It feels like your original two stage trigger.

Later this year or next year SRSS will be offering this stock system for other rifles. My guess is that a Mini-14 model will be offered.

Fitted with the SRSS Mini Paladin Muzzle Brake ($200)

UPDATE: Daniel E. Watters, who is very knowledgeable, points out in the comments that there have been other bullpup stocks for the M14.
More photos after the jump. Continue Reading »

The Africa Aerospace and Defense 2008 held in Cape Town, South Africa has just finished. Denel Land Systems, a South African firm, launched the new SS77 Compact.

The only photo I could find.

UPDATE: prion @ MP.net posted this photo:

The compact version of the 7.62mm NATO machine gun features a telescopic stock, foregrip with bipod, picatinny rail and gas regulator. The gun is 150mm (6″) shorter and 2 kg (4.4 lbs) lighter than the full sized SS77.

The full size SS77 can be converted to the 5.56mm Mini SS and presumably the compact version can be as well.

Developed in the 1970s during the arms embargo which forced the South Africa to develop its own arms industry. The machine gun is used by South Africa, Philippines, Malaysia and Jordan. It was pulled from Service by the South African Defense Force during the 90s due to reliability problems. The problems were fixed in part by reducing the rate of fire from 900 rpm to 800 rpm and the gun reentered service in 2003.

Mini SS 5.56mm. Click to expand.

Hot blueing is the process used to “blue” firearms. This involves submerging the steel parts into either a boiling solution of potassium nitrate, sodium hydroxide or a mixture of nitrates and chromates. Alternatively cold blueing can be used but the finish is not nearly as robust and it is hard, or impossible, to get a good finish. It is only really meant to be used to touch up scratches.

There is a interesting discussion over at rec.guns about cold bluing an entire barrel and receiver.

Well, I just completed my first bluing project using Birchwood-Casey’s gell
and boy am I disappointed. I had a nice, shiny preped firearm and ended up
with a streaky one -barrel *and* receiver. Man, I can’t figure out what I
did wrong but it ain’t pretty. I slathered on a coat of gun oil to protect
it afterward and it looks like what you get when you lay on an uneven
coating of oil but it’s in the bluing. Any ideas on what went wrong will be
greatly appreciated. I’m glad that this isn’t a good shotgun so I guess
anything is better than the rusted hulk that I was given.

Personally if I wanted to re-blue a firearm I would get a gunsmith to hot blue it.

Read the thread here.

David via. SayUncle reported on a company called Constitution Arms who plan on producing palm pistols.

The Palm Pistol is an ergonomically innovative single shot double action only defensive firearm chambered in 9mm that may be fired using either hand without regard to orientation of the stock. Suited for home defense, concealed carry or as a backup gun. It is also ideal for seniors, disabled or others who may have limited strength or manual dexterity. Using the thumb instead of the index finger for firing, it significantly reduces muzzle drift, one of the principle causes of inaccurate targeting. Point and shoot couldn’t be easier.

I do wonder how useful a single shot 9mm is but they are pretty up front about the disadvantages of their product in the product specification PDF. It will be interesting to see if this goes into production.

This type of palm held squeeze to fire pistols have been around for quite some time. James has a write up about them here.

The “Protector”.