Southport, CT- November 26, 2008 – Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) is pleased to announce that the Ruger® SR9® pistol has been placed on the Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale within the State of California, as well as the Massachusetts Approved Firearms Roster. The SR9 pistol, chambered for 9mm Luger, was introduced last October and is the first striker-fired pistol from Ruger.
If you are thinking about getting an SR9 read the comments on the SR9 post. It is a wealth of information.
Major Robert Henry Cain VC did this at Arnhem. From Dickiebo:
When Cain joined the battle the Staffords were under heavy attack by tank and heavy guns. By firing mortars at almost point blank range towards the Germans, the British were able to hold their ground. Cain and Major Jock Buchanan assisted Lieutenant Georges Dupenois in repelling the tanks by drawing fire and providing him with ammunition for his PIAT gun (low-tech anti-tank gun). Although no tanks were destroyed they were held back until Cain’s forces were ordered to retreat.
Defense update has an interesting article about the wearable Boomerang Warrior acoustic shooter detection system.
Part of the wearable system. Photo from Defense Update.
If the entire system was ever made small enough to fit into a wristwatch I think it would become an essential hunting tool and could prevent accidental shootings.
Defense Industry daily reports that the Marines have procured 7750 LAWs (M72A7) from Nammo Talley Defense for a total of $15.5 million (which works out to be $2000/unit).
Nammo Talley Defense, Inc. in Mesa, AZ received a $15.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 7,750 LAW M72A7 portable rockets from Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA, in order to replenish stockpiles.
The short (unextended length of 0.67 m) low cost and low weight (5.5 lbs) 66mm one-shot rocket system is useful in urban environments against buildings and lightly armored vehicles, such as those found in Iraq/Afghanistan.
It was build by J. Barbarić in 1944, in the small village of Čelebić, Livno. Some 100km east of Split Croatia. One piece is displayed in Belgrade Army Museum
The Kurdistan Regional Government has been stealthily arming their militia. Recently three planeloads of small arms and ammunition from Bulgaria were delivered to Kurdish officials. The Washington Post reports:
The weapons arrived in the northern city of Sulaymaniyah in September on three C-130 cargo planes, according to the three officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
…
Experts on Iraq’s constitution said the document does not clearly say whether provincial officials have the authority to import weapons. However, Iraqi and U.S. officials said the Ministries of Interior and Defense are the only entities authorized to import weapons. The Defense Ministry provides weapons to the Iraqi army, and the Interior Ministry procures arms for the country’s police forces.
Don’t expect to get your hands on the Bushmaster ACR anytime soon. Bushmaster and Magpul issued this joint statement a few days ago:
“The ACR is being redesigned to be a superior offering to compete for the next generation US Army infantry carbine and subcompact weapon requirement and will be available to select customers in 2009.”
This is the third delay. The ACR was originally promised to be on sale late 2008, it was then delayed again until Q1 2009. It now looks like that unless you know someone at Bushmaster or Magpul you will not get your hands on one for quite a while.
As “hga” said, with the possibly of the AWB 2.0 I imagine both Bushmaster and Magpul are trying to maximize short term production for existing products until demand slows down. This does make financial sense. The cost of improving the ACR with the aim of winning a US Army contract will be minimal compared to the cost of decreasing production on AR-15s and tooling up to produce the ACR, not to mention the opportunity cost of not producing AR-15s which are currently selling like, well, they are about to get banned. I also expect Bushmaster and other AR-15 producers are stockpiling AR-15 lower receivers so that in the event of a ban they will be able to sell high priced pre-ban rifles.
Thanks to “hga” for alerting me to the statement.
The Magpul Masada before it became the Bushmaster ACR .
Scientist say that may realistically be able to regenerate the Mammoth. The NY Times reports:
Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of science fiction is a realistic possibility, saying that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million.
I think this would be the hunting equivalent of space tourism. The richest hunters from all over the world would be competing for the title of “First Mammoth Hunter in 10,000 years”. Ancient animal hunting would become an industry in of itself and firearm manufactures would no doubt jump on the opportunity to manufacture the .900 Mammoth Express.
Unfortunately a T-Rex will not be able to be bred:
The same technology could be applied to any other extinct species from which one can obtain hair, horn, hooves, fur or feathers, and which went extinct within the last 60,000 years, the effective age limit for DNA.
Scientist seem to be eternal optimists. I don’t expect to see one in my lifetime.
