The Firearm Blog

Ruger have partnered with the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) to produced a special edition Ruger Vaquero single action revolver. The SASS Vaquero is sold as a matched set (two guns) bearing consecutive serial numbers.

Ruger SASS Vaquero

The new revolver features a high-gloss stainless steel finish, the lower and wider hammer from the Ruger Montado and SASS markings. It is chambered in .357 Magnum and has a 4.62″ barrel. MSRP is $1459 (that is for a pair of revolvers) and will be available in August.

More info available at Ruger.

Vote for David has written a detailed tutorial on producing great looking photos of a gun bores like the photo below. I highly recommend reading it.

Beautiful!

I am often asked by readers how they can get a job in the firearms industry but since I have never worked in the industry I cannot offer any advice. Frederic emailed me a link to a recruitment company called Shooting Search that specializes in the “shooting, hunting, knife, law enforcement/tactical and outdoor industry.” They are definitely worth checking out if job in the gun industry appeals to you.

Thanks to Frederic for the link.

CNBC (via. SaysUncle) reports that it may be, although this analysis does not appeal to be based on hard sales data.

Shares of the nation’s major firearms makers fell Monday on analyst concerns that the postelection surge in hand gun sales may be coming to an end.

Both Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. declined following an article in the business publication Barron’s, which suggested that the companies could see slowing consumer demand for their firearms.

The news dragged stocks lower, but it wasn’t completely unexpected, said Cai von Rumohr, an analyst with Cowen and Co.

These photos are of a AMT Combat Government Hardballer 1911 pistol that fired a handloaded .45 ACP round that was overloaded with powder. The result is quite spectacular. The top of the chamber has been blown right off taking a considerable section of the slide with it.

That looks sore.

The photos are from Photobucket via. the Blue Gun Blog.

UPDATE: Elvis for identifying the pistol.

Wilson Combat are now selling accurized FN Herstal Patrol Bolt Rifles (PBR).

Wilson Combat FN Bolt Rifle

It features a green Hogue stock, fluted barrel, fully bedded action and trigger work done by Wilson Combat gunsmiths. The PBR action is based on the Winchester Model 70 action and is chambered for .308 Winchester.

Wilson are selling it for $1995.

GunVault have introduced a new gun lock for Winchester, Remington and Mossberg pump action shotguns called BreechVault. As the name suggests, it locks into the breech. The magazine can still hold ammunition so chambering a round simply requires the lock to be removed and action pumped. The lock is made from \glass nylon so it will not damage the gun.

Locks are often frowned upon by self defense experts, but some people cannot legally leave their guns unlocked, or are simply unwilling or unable to do so for whatever reason.

The MSRP is $19.95.

dfwgun @ ARFCOM posted a short tutorial on how to modify a Magpul MOE AR-15 pistol grip so that it will fit on an AK.

As you can see in the photo some dremel work is required but it is a pretty straight forward procedure.

Remington’s entry into the Precision Sniper Rifle (PSR) competition is the Remington Modular Sniper Rifle (MSR).

The first thing you notice when looking at the rifle is the striking stock design. The butt stock is adjustable every-which-way and can fold for easy transport. The pistol grip is AR-15 compatible, just like the new Savage bolt action Model 10 BAS, so it can be swapped out for something the operator is more comfortable with. The free-floating handguard features rails at 3, 6, 9, 10:30 and 12 ‘o clock positions.

Stock folded. 20″ barrel. Interesting that the bolt is lock closed, but trigger is accessible.

Remington have taken no chances and have designed the rifle to be compatible with all of top contenders for selection as the next US Military long range sniper cartridge. The MSR can be easily switch between calibers by changing the barrel, bolt face and magazine. At the moment it is compatible with .338 Lapua Magnum, .338 Norma Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum and 7.62mm NATO. The fluted barrels are available in 20, 22, 24 and 27 inches in length and can be swapped out in minutes. Accuracy is 1 MOA at 1500 meters.

It weights 13 lbs with 22” barrel and loaded 5 round magazine and 17 lbs with 22” barrel, scope, bipod, loaded 5 round magazine, and AAC Titan suppressor.

Posted by boottrac at Sniper’s Hide forum.

A video of the rifle in action:

Overall this rifle seems to meet, and in many cases exceed, the SOCOM Precision Sniper Rifle (PSR) requirements. It is good to see Remington MPD (Military Products Division) innovating. They have not introduced new military hardware for quite a long time (aside from the Remington ACR, which they did not design).

More info at Remington.

Hat Tip Accurate Shooter

The US Military is looking for a system to replace the existing bolt-action SOF Sniper Systems M40, M24 and MK13 which are all based on Remington 700 actions.

Marine’s M40A3 Sniper rifle.

One of the key requirements for this system that differentiates it from the existing 7.62x51mm NATO and .300 Win. Mag. sniper systems is that it needs to reach out to 1500 meters with MOA accuracy. Armed forces around the world have long recognized the need for a system that can reach out further than the 7.62mm NATO but is lighter than .50 BMG rifles. Many have adopted the .338 Lapua Magnum chambered rifles to fill this niche. The .338 Lapua Magnum was originally a US Military project but it lost traction and the .300 Win. Mag. is currently used for longer range shooting. The .300 Win. Mag. lacks downrange energy and the lighter projectiles mean greater wind drift at long range (1000 – 2000 yards).

The current Precision Sniper Rifle, as at March 2009, are as follows.

1) The system shall be chambered to safely fire factory produced “non-wildcat” Small Arms Ammunition Manufacturing Institute (SAAMI) or Commercial European standard (CIP) ammunition.

This eliminates some of the fancy odd-ball caliber long range cartridges such as the .408 Cheyenne Tactical (CheyTac). The most obvious choice is the before mentioned .338 Lapua Magnum. The cartridge has been around for a while and manufactures know how to get the most our of the cartridge. Another alternative is the .338 Norma Magnum which is only coming into production this year. It is similar in length to the .338 Lapua but has a slightly shorter and fatter case so it can use heavier and longer bullets which have a higher ballistic co-efficient.

.338 Lapua vs. .338 Norma Mag. Photo from Wikipedia.

2) The action can be either manually or gas operated and available in left and right hand versions.

I think most, or all, entries will be bolt-action rifles. They are easier to make accurate, lighter and more reliable than autoloading rifles. The advantage of a semi-auto is of course rate of fire, but this is not a requirement for this weapons system.

3) With primary day optic and ammunition the system shall provide 1.0 MOA from 300 to 1500 meters (in 300 meter increments) when fired from the shoulder or an accuracy fixture in nominal conditions. This is further defined as 1 MOA Extreme Vertical Spread for all shots in a 10 round group at the stated distances.

1500 meters = 1640 yards.

The rifle is fired from a rest and 80% of the fifty 10 round groups need to be 1 MOA. Note that the MOA is measured only for the vertical spread which eliminates the effects of wind on the measured accuracy. 1 MOA spread is over 10 round groups is much harder than getting 1 MOA for a standard 3 round group!

4) Mean Rounds Between Failures (MRBF) shall be 1000 rounds.

5) The system shall have an overall length no greater than 52″ in full configuration / extended excluding suppressor with a single component no greater in length than 40″.

6) The system shall weigh no more than 18 lbs with a 12:00 MilStd 1913 rail and a loaded magazine with 5 rounds.

7) The system shall be capable of operator breakdown into major components in less than two minutes.

The barrel also needs to be able to be swapped out by the operator within 20 minutes.

8 ) The system will assemble from the major component breakdown in less than two minutes by the operator.

9) The system will assemble from breakdown with no change in weapon zero.

10) The system will have an integral MilStd 1913 rail at the 12:00 position, the rail will be capable of maintaining bore sight alignment and weapon zero while conducting routine firing combined with combat movement and operational training drills.

These are all pretty standard requirements. One other test than will be performed will be drop tests with loaded rifles. The rifles are expected to be able to be dropped 1.5 meters at various angles without firing the chambered cartridge.

Overall they seem very sensible requirements. It will be interesting to see how this competition progresses.