The Firearm Blog

Daniel Eindhoven has build a very sci-fi looking semi-automatic coil gun.

The pistol uses a single magnetic coil to pull the projectile out of the gravity fed magazine and towards the coil, thereby accelerating the projectile. It then shuts off the coil and the projectile, because of its momentum, continues on its course through the barrel and out of the muzzle.

This gun shoots 648 grain projectiles at a speed of 100 feet/second, which works out to be 14 ft/lbs of energy. To put that in perspective, it is about half the muzzle energy of a .22 CB Cap and 10% of a high velocity .22 Long Rifle’s muzzle energy. It would certainty bruise the skin.

Like laser guns and rail guns the practicability of coil guns is limited by the amount of power they require. Until we can safety store vast amounts of electrical energy in a small package, carrying around energy in the form of smokeless power will be the preferred method of reaching-out-and-touching-something.

Hat Tip: Engadget

At the National NRA Foundation Banquet on 14 May, Governer Palin will be presented with a custom AR-15 chambered in the powerful .50 Beowulf cartridge. The Alaskan Hunter, as it is named, was designed by Bob Reynolds of Templar Consulting. Bob was kind enough to email the photos for the rifle and its specs.

This is the actual rifle that will be presented to Sarah Palin.

- It’s approximately 6-7 pounds
- One of a kind custom solid billet upper hand fit to a forged lower made of 7075 T6 alloy
- Vltor Enhanced Modular stock with the state of Alaska engraved on the side
- Satern machining single point cut rifle barrel 1/20 twist, with an integral flash hider milled into the barrel with an 11 degree crown, chambered in .50 Beowulf
- Composite G10 hand guards with spiral pattern cut
- SSA Geiselle 4 pound trigger
- Magpul trigger guard
- Eotech 512 holo sight
- One seven round magazine
- Ergo small grip

Engraved on the receiver is “In honor of Sarah Palin”.

An absolutely beautiful rifle. Do you think if I move to Alaska, become Governor and run for the Office of the Vice President, they will also give me one? I am tempted to try just to get my hands on the rifle

Many thanks to Bob for taking the time to email me.

UPDATE: Palin is not attending the banquet. (Thanks to Sebastian and ExurbanKevin for letting me know).

I am no lawyer but there are a couple of clauses from the Montana Firearms Freedom Act and how I interpret them.

Section 3 states

(4) “Manufactured” means that a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition has been created from basic materials for functional usefulness, including but not limited to forging, casting, machining, or other processes for working materials.

So unfortunately it looks like 90 / 80 / 70% finished receivers imported into Montana and completed will not be considered “Made in Montana”.

This also means Montanans will not be allowed to chop down their rifle barrel or add a foregrip to their handgun without running a foul of the BATFE, unless the gun was made in Montana.

Section 5 (restrictions) states:

(2) a firearm that has a bore diameter greater than 1 1/2 inches and that uses smokeless powder, not black powder, as a propellant;

What this means is that while 20mm rifles/cannons are not going to be classified as destructive devices if made in Montana, and we may even seen 30mm cannons manufactured there. That will be exciting!

1.5″ is equal to 38.1 millimeters so unfortunately 40mm RPGs will not be legal due to the caliber restriction

A big thanks to Jay for the info about the Act.

The Beretta ARX 160 is the new assault rifle being adopted the the Italians. I first mentioned it on in blog post last October and now thanks to REMOV I have the specs and some detailed photos (copyright Armi e Tiro/Beretta). According to REMOV the R&D cost 4 million euros, 70,000 man hours and 500,000 rounds of ammunition for testing!

Click to expand the photos.

GLX 160 grenade launcher attached.

The weapon has been designed to be modular and easy to maintain in the field. It has an upper/lower polymer receiver, much like the AR-15, a gas piston system and a rotating bolt. An interesting feature, for an assault rifle, is the ultra-quick change barrel system. Beretta claim barrels can be swapped in two seconds without tools by simply depressing two latches in the upper receiver! Quad Picatinny rails allow for accessories to be attached.

Ergonomics have been an important design goal in the development of this rifle. To this end the ejection and charging handle can be switched from one side to the other in no longer than a minute. All selector switches and buttons are fully ambidextrous and the folding stock is collapsible (four position).

The rifle will come three variants: the Special Forces (12″ barrel), Carbine (16″ barrel) and Designated Marksmen / light Sniper (16″ heavy barrel). This is the first time I have seen a designated marksmen rifle come standard with a 16″ barrel and is another step in the current trend towards shorter carbines and sub-carbines.

The standard rifle configurations are chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO and use STANAG (M16) magazines. By swapping the bolt head, lower receiver and barrel the rifle can be reconfigured to use 5.45x39mm, 7.62x39mm or 6.8mm SPC rounds.

12″ barrel (bottom and middle) and 16″ barrel (top)

The GLX 160 grenade launcher can be quickly attached to the ARX 160 or be used as a stand-alone weapon. In its most basic configuration is weighs less than 1 kg (2.2 lbs) and 2.2 kb (4.8 lbs) when fitted with a collapsible stock and grenade iron sights.

The GLFCS ( Grenade Launcher Fire Control System ) is a range finder / ballistics calculator for the GLX that attaches to the ARX 160 allowing for accurate fire.

Not much has been said about this rifle while the Bushmaster ACR and FN SCAR have been getting all the attention. I think the ARX / GLX 160 is an impressive package and I look forward to seeing how it performs in Italian service.

Credit for this blog post needs to go to REMOV who provided me with a lot of information. Thanks Remi.

Sayuncle has reviewed the Crimson Trace laser grip be bought for his Kel-Tec P3AT pistol.

Read it here.

Two months ago I blogged that the Norwegian Army suspected that the ammunition used in their new H&K 416 rifles were making soldiers sicks. Chief of Staff Brig. General Rune Jakobsen initiated an investigation after Army HQ received three different reports about groups of soldiers getting sick after firing the new rifles. Symptoms included headaches, fever and joint pain. The investigation has determined that the soldiers were experiencing mild heavy metal poisoning caused by the “green” lead-free 5.56mm NATO ammunition manufactured by Nammo.

Norwegian solider with H&K 416

The report states that the gas exhausted from the rifles contained high levels of copper and zinc which account for all the symptoms suffered by the riflemen. A few, quite comical, short term solutions have been recommended. These include only shooting outside, slower rate of fire and spacing the shooters out more when at the range!

In 2003, under pressure from environmental groups and politicians the Army started using environmentally friendly ammunition. Since then they have had plenty of problems. The Norwegian ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) troops in Afghanistan were ordered to use the new ammo. The ammunition delivered either failed to fire or did not have enough energy to cycle the weapons. 300,000 rounds had to be dumped leaving the troops with no reserve ammunition. All the troops who did not need to leave the base had to hand in their ammunition so it could be distributed to those who needed it. The Army has also had to ban the green ammo from use in the MG3 machine guns because unspecified malfunctions occurred that could harmed the operators.

Nammo 5.56mm ammunition

I found a powerpoint presentation on the internet made by Nammo in 2006 extolling the virtues of their green ammunition. Here are a few very ironic slides (I added the red arrows):

Recently it was determined that the “green” tungsten training ammunition used by the US Military could be toxic.

So in summery: don’t use green ammunition.
Many thanks to Daniel Watters of The Gun Zone for the research he did for this blog post.

After being delayed a few time the Kel-Tec RFB .308 Bullpup is now shipping.

Kel-Tec:

We are happy to confirm that the RFB is in production and shipping to distributors (yes, it’s true!). We are currently shipping small batches, however full-scale production will commence in the coming weeks! On a similar note, we have purchased three (3) new CNC machines specifically for RFB production.

More info on the RFB.

CMMG are taking pre-orders for their new stripped lower reliever that is compatible with DPMS Panther Arms .308 AR-10 style upper receivers. The lower uses H&K G3 magazine which can be bought for under $5!

G3 lower (top)

Some minor modifications are needed to the upper to accommodate the larger magazine. The price is $449.95 and it can be ordered online.

Many thanks to Tom for the info.

I had no idea you can sort of reuse primers. This video, by ammosmith.com, explains how to “reload” your primers with the ignition compound found on matches. It is a slow process, not 100% reliable and the priming compound is corrosive.

Part 1

Part 2

Fascinating! Start hoarding your spent primers, you may be needing them.

Hat Tip: Tech, Guns, and Food

Robarms will be making a PDW (personal defense weapon) version of their XCR rifle. The PDW has a shortened stock and a 9″ barrel. From the videos it looks like it will be available with either a fully automatic trigger group, for those who can buy such things legally, and a semi-automatic trigger group for the rest of us.

So far they have a 5.56mm NATO and 7.62x39mm model.

5.56mm NATO model


7.62x39mm model

Compare the sound and recoil of the 5.56 and 7.62 models in these videos:

5.56mm NATO model


7.62x39mm model

A very sexy firearm that will be available in July. This video shows a 5.56mm semi-automatic model being shot:

Also from Robarms is a new two stage trigger for the XCR called the Enhanced Trigger.

This trigger is two-stage with a 3.5 pound pull. We’re calling it an “Enhanced Trigger” rather than a match trigger for several reasons. First, match triggers usually have very small tight control surfaces and/or small screws or springs that cannot hold up under tough use. Our Enhanced Trigger is a very light two-stage trigger that is very controllable whether shooting paper at a distance or at moving targets. We are taking orders for the Enhanced Trigger now. The parts consist of a a new trigger, hammer, and disconnect. They can be added to existing XCRs without modification to the rifle.

UPDATE: 6.8 SPC is now also offered. Two models are available: the Mini (9″ barrel) and Micro (7.5″ barrel). The basic models cost $1500.