The Firearm Blog

Dennis @ Mister Mills is without doubt a man who loves his revolvers:

This is a tip of the hat to a couple of the best guns you can find.One is a work of art and the other is a working horse of a gun.

He has info and lots of photos of the S&W “Combat Masterpiece” and the Ruger GP-100 here.

S&W Model 15. Beautiful grips

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Murdoc @ GunPundit reports:

Since there has been a rash of weapons related incidents recently, the Provost Marshals Office has made it a priortity to emphasize safety among the Marines, Sailors and civilians aboard the Tri-Command area.

According to Randy Walz, the services officer with PMO, numerous weapons to include a Russian AK-47, rifles, shotguns, assorted ammunition and large knives were confiscated during the past weekend.

Photos of the confiscated guns at GunPundit.

Gordon @ The Shootist has reviewed the Crimson Trace Ruger LCP trigger guard laser sight.

And now, Crimson Trace has assured the LCP of iconic status by designing an innovative laser sight that clips on the front of the trigger guard, altering the outline of the gun only slightly, and adding practically nothing to its weight.

Using the laser sight and a slow measured fire, I was able to drop three 8-inch plates in six shots with the LCP at 20 feet. With an 8-pound, safety-conscious trigger pull, I was plenty proud of the accomplishment.

Read the full review at The Shootist

The FN IAR is based on the SCAR. It has a rate of fire of 650 RPM and weights in at 10.4 lbs.

FN IAR. Click to expand.

One very interesting features is that it switches automatically from closed bolt to open bolt depending on the chamber temperature. From FNH-USA:

Today FN offers the new Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR), a unique, highly-adaptable, modular selective fire weapon system that fills the roles of both individual battle rifle and squad automatic weapon in one light, compact package. The magazine-fed FN IAR is capable of firing from a closed bolt in both semi-automatic and fully-automatic modes, yet automatically transitions into open-bolt operation in semi-automatic or fully-automatic before reaching cook-off temperature for a chambered cartridge.

I do not think the temperature switch would be electronic. Most likely there is a piece of metal that expands when heated and causes a switch from closed to open bolt.

Again, a bit thanks to Daniel Watters for pointing this out to me.

It looks like the Marines have narrowed down the search for the Infantry Automatic Rifle to four designs from three manufactures:

Colt was awarded two contracts worth up to $14 million apiece: M67854-09-D-1035 and M67854-09-D-1036.
FN was awarded one contract worth up to $27.9 million: M67854-09-D-1037.
HK was awarded one contract worth up to $23.6 million: M67854-09-D-1038.

I have covered on of the Colt IARs and the FN IAR. The HK IAR is apparently a heavy barreled HK416 with bipod and standard closed bolt operation.

The contracts represent the maximum potential amount the manufacture will receive if all 6500 IAR rifles are ordered from them.

According to HK_PDX each company will now supply 10 sample rifles for the final trial.

Once again it looks like the small guys have missed out.

A big thanks to Daniel E. Watters for the research he did for this post. He knows all the ins and outs of military contracts, something I am ignorant of.
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You were warned … This is the Frankenstein’s monster of early 20th Century American arms:

An M103 Springfield in an SBR (Short Barrel Rifle) configuration presumably converted to .45 ACP with a 1911 pistol grip being used as the magazine well.

It is hideous. Something only its mother could love!

Hat Tip: Хроники безумного Макса

Chen “SMGLee” Lee (the legendary gun photographer and insider) has written a review of James Yeager’s Fighting Rifle Tactical Shooting Course at DefenseReview. I would love to go on this course.

All joking aside, though, my new found appreciation for James, his course material, and his instructional skills has profoundly changed my fighting rifle mindset. It’s rare that I walk away from a two day class shaking my head in amazement at the new skills I’ve learned. This 2-day class is definitely one of the best tactical rifle/carbine courses available for anyone who’s serious about learning to fight with a rifle. If you have the opportunity to take a class with Tactical Response, do it.

More here.

Just in case you had any doubts, the elite JASON scientists have reported that gravity weapons are impossible.

A “gravity gun” from a computer game.

New Scientist reports:

When the JASON team did the maths, however, results were not good for the plan’s supporters.

The technique is so inefficient that it would take longer than the lifetime of the universe for every power station on Earth to produce a gravitational wave with the energy of one ten millionth of a Joule. Accelerating a spacecraft at 10 metres per second squared, a rate that just exceeds the pull of Earth’s gravity, would require 10^25 times (a 1 followed by 25 zeroes) the electricity output of the world.

Travis of Magpul put together a very cool AK/Saiga. Click to expand the photos:

Two charging handles. Handles from Bushmaster ACR/Masada

-It is a Saiga cut to 12″ and threaded 1/2 28 right in front of the Russian threads and SBRed with a AAC M42000

-The charging system is something I came up with about 2 years ago before all the other ones you see out there. As you can see from the left side the dust cover is not as open. Yes those are ACR charging handles that I cut and welded on to the carrier.
They do reciprocate which it seems some people have a problem with… why I haven’t a clue… its an AK?!

-Extended custom trigger finger Mag release and Safety

-Ace MIAD grip adapter

-CTR with cheek riser.

-Ultimak scout and lower rail (I welded the locking tabs in for a tighter fit.)

-Aimpoint T-1

-I drilled and tapped the Pig nose adaptor for a sling stud for the MS2 Sling.

-As for the Ranger plates I just took PMAG plates and mashed them on and modified the tab to fit. they will stay on even you don’t mod the tab.

Since this is a one of a kind AK we have deemed it the MAG-K

Very nice. Travis made this clear it is a once off project not a production rifle.

From AR15.com via. Kaiservontexas’ Musings

There photos are of a Sig Sauer Pro that was left in an electric oven at 210°c / 400°f for 20 minutes by a French police officer. After cleaning it he put it in to dry but was distracted by a phone call.

I propose this as a candidate Xavier’s Ugly Gun Sunday.

Hat Tip: Galileo @ MP.net

JR @ A Keyboard and a .45 pointed this out and I got quite a surprise.

Last year American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management bought a 80.1% stake in Chrysler who, although I am sure you already know this, effectively blackmailed the US government by threatening to close their plants 6 days before Christmas and have now gotten their share of a $13.4 billion bailout.

Cerberus is also the firm that has been playing collect-the-whole-set with American firearm manufacturers. They own either directly or indirectly Remington, Marlin, DPMS, Bushmaster and H&R.

Wikipedia has a list of Cerberus owned companies.

Gunner’s Journal has compared various .380 ACP rounds:

Sounds like the “magic bullet” thing doesn’t it? Nope! I don’t think the .380 can be made into a “stomper” caliber that can compete toe-to-toe with considerably more potent rounds, but I absolutely do believe that this load enhances its ballistic capability. To my layman mind, it appears that trying to use the “best” ammunition one can in a given caliber is a good thing, but rather than trying to make that caliber something it is not, accept its limitations, but learn to use it quickly and accurately.

More here.

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There is a long, and passionate, discussion going on in the comments of the MP5 is more deadly than AK says Indian Commando blog post I wrote a couple of weeks ago in the wake of the attacks.

The follow up article I wrote is Mumbai police now complaining about WWI rifles and WWII helmets.

Next year (2009) Weatherby will be selling two new additions to the Vanguard line.

Vanguard Predator (Click to expand)

The Vanguard Predator features a hydrographic dip of Natural Gear’s Natural pattern over the entire rifle. Other than that it is a standard Vanguard with 22″ barrel and a 1.5 MOA accuracy guarantee. It will be available in .223 Rem, .22-250 Rem. and .308 Win. The MSRP is $789.

Vanguard Carbine (Click to expand)

I am a bit disappointed by the Vanguard Carbine. When I first saw the press release I expected to see a rifle with an 18″ or even 16″ barrel to compete with the Ruger M77 Frontier. Instead the Carbine features a 20″ barrel and weights 0.75 lbs less than a standard Vanguard (6.75 vs. 7.6 lbs).

The length of a firearm designated a carbine has differed over the past 200 years but these days I think 18″ is the maximum “carbine” barrel length in a non-bullpup firearm.

The Carbine will be available chambered in .223 Rem, .22-250 Rem., .243 Win., 7mm-08 Rem. and .308 Win. I am not sure about the .22-250 (I don’t know enough about the cartridge) but with other cartridges the shorter barrel should have very little impact on performance. MSRP is $499 and it also has the Weatherby 1.5 MOA guarantee.

For comparison the regular Vanguard has an MSRP of $399.

Weatherby have said these rifles were the result of input from members of the official Weatherby forum

“Thanks to all the Weatherby Nation members who expressed their opinions,” said Brad Ruddell, Weatherby’s vice president of sales and marketing. “These new rifles are a direct result of their input.”

It is always good to see a gun manufactures listening to their customers.