The Firearm Blog

Newton Arms have revived the Leverbolt rifle that was invented by the famous gun and cartridge designer Charles Newton in 1929. The design borrows element from the Springfield, Lee Navy and the Winchester lever-action. By utilizing a lever the bolt can be cycled faster than a traditional straight pull bolt action.

Click to expand.

According to my copy of Bolt Action Rifles (4th Edition), the story of the Leverbolt is a sad one. Charles designed the rifle after this business, Newton Buffolo Rifle Corporation, folded in early 1929. Unbeknown to him, and everyone else, the stock market would crash in October of that year heralding the beginning of the Great Depression.

Newton approached Marlin who agreed to limited production only if he could secure at least 500 orders. The cost was a $25 downpayment and an addional $35 on delivery. He failed to secure the neccessery orders and once the market crashed any chance of the rifle being manufactured was gone. Charles died a few years later aged 62.

Mehul, a moderator at nitroexpress.com and expert of the topic emailed me information about the Newton rifle:

For a straight pull action that is much sleeker than any of its competitors today (the Blaser R 93, Strasser RS 05 and the Heym SR 30 are three popular designs that come to mind) the Newton Leverbolt is especially interesting because it comes with a controlled feed and extraction system that would make it ideal for dangerous game. The speed of reloading and getting repeat shots off would also be ideal for an African rifle – with a 5 shot magazine in calibers from 375 H&H to 458 Lott this could be much better than anything else available today.

I am not sure of pricing or availability of the rifle at this time.

A big thanks to Mehul for the info.

Site has been down, web hosting issues. Back online now.

From Chris @ American Tactical Imports:

I can say that it feels just like holding an actual 1911, will come with a 10 round magazine and will be of fine German engineering. We have an expected MSRP of $369.00 on it but that is subject to change once we receive final importation clearance and see all the manufacturing costs. Check back with us later in the year on tat.

More about the pistol here.

According to MarineSniper8541 @ AR15.com (without any collaborating evidence) the limited edition run of FN SCAR 16S rifles with their gold colored upper receivers was in fact a botched run that came out the wrong color. The marketing department then decided to sell them as a limited edition.

Apparently, the initial factory run of SCAR upper receivers went to anodizing and came back way too “gold” for FN’s specs. (Look at all advertisments, videos and such for the actual FN spec color of the upper, the upper and lower should pretty much match). It has been described to me that the anodizing of parts in FDE is tricky and can come out very “gold” looking if the process isn’t done correctly.

So anyways, FN gets its first commercial run of uppers back from anodizing and they are very “gold”. FN decides to go ahead and sell this huge batch of “gold” uppers and to call it a limited edition so that they can sell them without having to have them blasted and re-anodized…HAHA!

The next production run will be in the correct color for the uppers. So in a nutshell, the people paying $4500 for a “limited edition” are getting rifles that were actually screwed up and made in the wrong color. Smart move on FN’s part. They took a botched run of uppers and turned them into a “gold” mine. No pun intended.

Limited Edition SCAR.


Standard color scheme

This is just a rumor, and is not confirmed. If it is true it was a stoke of genius by the marketing department. I actually like the gold look a lot.

Many thanks to Jay for the link.

Jennerson took this photo in response to my post about the Scottish police hunting down knife owners. Apart from the fact that it is a great photo, it seems to scream “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ”.

Black knife, black gun, black leather sofa. Click to expand. Used with permission.

For those of you not familiar to the phrase: “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ” (or in latin script “Molon labe”) means “Come and take them!”. It is what the Spartans reportedly said to the Persians when they were told to surrender their weapons. Yes … those Spartans …

The full sized version of Jennerson photo can be downloaded here. It is currently my desktop background.

PoliceOne.com did some online polling last year on their website. I have no doubt its results are about as accurate as any other web poll, but the results are nonetheless interesting.

Results of the third poll.

The rest of the poll results are here.

The Google Street View photo taking van ran over a deer in Rush, NY while capturing every moment of the encounter on their 360 degree camera system.

The images have since been removed by google.

Hat Tip: Reddit via. The Daily What via. Gizmodo.

The Danish Forsøgsrekylgevær (Self Loading rifle M.1888) is a fascinating early autoloading rifle. I learnt about the rifle when Ian @ TheHighRoad posted this photo and asked if anyone could identify the rifle:

Click to expand.

I could not figure out what was going on in that complex mechanism. The general consensus was that it must be some type of complex lever action until Wes Janson figured it out.

Click to expand. Photo from Statens Forsvarshistoriske Museum

The Forsøgsrekylgevær was designed by Rustmester Rasmussen (Bjarnov) and Captain VHO Madsen. What is unqiue about this rifle is that the magazine is gravity fed. You could simply pop in cartridges into the loading/magazine-like device and let gravity do the rest.

While gravity fed magazines were not uncommon and were used in Maxim, Gardener and other pre-machine-gun guns, unlike those which were very heavy and either crew served or mounted on the deck of a ship, this was designed as a infantry rifle!

Can you imagine running around in a gun fight knowing that your rifle could fail to feed, or worse, jam if you did not keep it upright? That would not have been much fun. I reckon this was why only 50 were ever made and they only saw limited service by the coast guard.
The The Danish Arms & Armor Society describe the action (translated using Google, emphasis mine):

The mechanism of rekylgeværet is a kind of automatic version of the Peabody vippende bottom piece. Instead of traditional gun magazine had a solid loading device when the cartridge collars were in the two grooves. Cartridges were to fall into the gun by their own weight. When the gun was not in use, was loading device folded down so that it covered include opening.

Gun can be used both as individual leaves and machine. By simply placed cartridge directly into the bottom piece cartridge bearing. As a machine left by loading device.

Click to expand. Photo from The Danish Arms & Armour Society (I think)

The M.1888 fired the 8×58RD cartridge. The blackpowder military load for the 8×58RD sent a 226 grain bullet @ 1591 fps generating 1270 ft/lbs of energy. The smokeless version pushed the 226 grain projectile at 2034 ft/s generating 2076 ft/lbs.

While the rifle itself has faded into obscurity the 1882 Madsen machine gun was based on its design. The Madsen was in active use for over 100 years until last year when the Brazilian police force finally retired it.

1882 Madsen machine gun replica.

STI International are the latest addition to brethren-of-ar-15-manufactures, joining fellow 1911 pistol makers such as Wilson Combat and Para Ordnance (the Para TTR is based on the AR platform).

The Bane holding the new STI Tactical AR-15. Video is here.

Two models will be available. The Tactical / sporting model features:

Chambered in 5.56mm NATO, the 16-in. 410 SS barrel features a 1:8 twist with a mid-length gas system. Featuring a Nordic Tactical Compensator and JP Trigger group, this rifle also includes a custom STI Valkyrie hand guard and gas block.

Specs:

Trigger: JP Trigger group
Barrel: 16″, 410 stainless steel, 1 in 8 twist, 1/2″ x 28 thread for the compensator
Compensator: Nordic Components Tactical Compensator
Gas Block: Custom STI Valkyrie Gas Block
Handguard: Custom STI Valkyrie Hand Guard
Sights : none
Overall Length : 36″
Weight: Competition: 6 lbs., 10 oz. Tactical: 6 lbs., 7.8 oz.
Finish: Black Teflon Coating over hard anodize
Competition Approvals: USPSA

STI Tactical model.

The competition model features:

The STI Valkyrie Competition hand guard has all the same great features as the Tactical model, with a 12″ OA length for increased stability for the competitive Shooter. The STI Valkyrie Competition Gas Block is light weight and concealed under the hand guard. The entire rifle has an anodized finish with black Teflon coating.

STI Tactical Competition model.

I am not sure what the pricing on the competition model will be.

More info at STI.

SayUncle and Oleg Volk report that the Calvary Arms CAV-15 MKII polymer AR-15 lower receivers are back in production after getting approved from the BATF.

Last year in February the BATF confiscated their inventory. Apparently the feds were not happy about how the serial numbers were attached/moulded to the plastic.

Click to expand the images:

Very pretty! (The “increased profits” refers to manufactures of AR-15 rifles)

From the press release:

The CAV-15 MKII receivers are back in production, after receiving approval from BATF Technology Branch for the method of affixing the serial number plate to the lower. We are currently filling back orders for our dealers and OEM clients. We will begin taking retail orders when all dealer back orders are filled. Please check with our dealers to see if they have in stock what you need.

We are currently not selling complete lowers, or complete rifles. Our vendors for these parts have substantial back orders. We currently have no ETA for these parts. If you are concerned about impending legislation, buy a lower receiver now and assemble it into a complete rifle when the supply chain stabilizes.

Three well known gun photographers allowed me use of their SHOT Show ‘09 photos on the blog. Without those photos my SHOT coverage would not have been nearly as interesting for you to read and for me to write. A big thanks to, in no particular order …

Remigiusz Wilk (REMOV). REMOV covers military expos on both sides of the Atlantic as the editor-in-chief of Bron i Amunicja. REMOV has been known to visit The Firearm Blog from time to time

REMOV shouldering the 7.62mm Magpul Massoud at SHOT.

Chen “SMGLee” Lee. I don’t know what Chen does for a living but he is notorious for getting access to military gear before anyone else does. Luckily for us he is also a keen photographer and took over 600 photos at SHOT Show alone! SMGLee has been spotted on this blog a couple of times

Chen at SHOT probably wishing he could take the KAC PDW home

Dr Ken Lunde. Ken is computer scientist and author working for Adobe. He is a talented and prolific gun photographer who has covered SHOT for the past few years.

All of these guys are first class photographers and we are all fortunate they take the time to post their work online.

You will notice I have added these “Share / Save” buttons at the bottom of every post.

If you click on the button a popup box will allow you to easily share that blog post on whatever social network, news, bookmarking or messaging services you use.

I encourage you to share blog posts you find interesting on reddit / digg / facebook / stumble upon / delicious / twitter … etc. The more people that visit the blog, the more inspired I am to keep on blogging. Blogging is hard work, if that hard work is not paying off it can be depressing.

In summary: if you love the blog, share the love

Thanks

- Steve

The Marines are back doing what they do best – kicking pirates ass. Marine Scout Snipers are being deployed to provide protection for counter-piracy teams in and around the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Red Sea. Navy.mil reports:

The nine-member sniper team brings multiple capabilities to CTF 151, including its ability to operate from an aerial platform with a variety of different weapons systems. The scout snipers use a Mk-11, which is the 762 sniper rifle; a 50-caliber M107 special application scoped rifle (SASR); and several different sets of optics to aid them in carrying out their mission.

“We have the ability to stand off of a target, visually see what is on the target and report that information to the VBSS teams so they understand — before they’re boarding — the number of personnel, if there are any weapons on board, if there are any type of foulings on the deck, if their hook point is obtainable, and, basically, give them a warm and fuzzy feeling that they’re not out alone out here, that they have snipers watching over them 100 percent of the time,” explained Benkie.

Emphases mine. That must be a good feeling

More here.

From the you-got-to-be-kidding-me-department. The BBC reports:

“We’re looking for anyone who is brandishing offensive weapons or blades,” Holly told Newsbeat.

…

Even when pictures are taken in private, though, which isn’t technically breaking the law, he says the weapons are so dangerous his officers pay a visit to the people involved.

“We show the parents their pictures,” he explained, “recover the weapons and make sure they know that behaviour is unacceptable.

“We have large kitchen knives, axes, samurai swords, baseball bats, a huge number and different type of weapons – in simple terms weapons that can kill.”

I am speechless. If you take a photo of yourself holding a knife in Glasgow and post it on the internet the police will hunt you down and explain to you that knives are dangerous.

$3 Plastic knife: Guaranteed not to offend.

If William Wallace has been forced to cook food with a plastic kitchen knife he would never have had to heart to take on the British. I think it is safe to say that the Queen does not have to worry about the Scots seceding from the Kingdom.