The Firearm Blog

This is the first video I have seen of the new Beretta ARX 160 carbine.

Looks like a very easy to handle rifle. I think this would sell well if it made it stateside.

Smith and Wesson have announced a recall of the S&W 22A Pistol.

Smith & Wesson has identified a condition that may exist in certain model 22-A pistols. Based on our ongoing product review, we have determined that the slides of certain pistols manufactured from August 1, 2008 to February 19, 2009, may not meet the design specification. This can create a situation where insufficient headspace exists creating a risk of unintended discharge.

STOP USING YOUR PISTOL AND RETURN IT TO SMITH & WESSON AT ONCE.

Any unintended discharge of a firearm has the potential for causing injury, and we ask that you stop using your pistol immediately

Over at GunNuts, VegasChris posted a link to photos of his 22A pistol which self-destructed

You can see the raw metal where the piece was blown off

Hat Tip: Caleb @ Gun Nuts Media
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Thanks to Sven for sending it through.

Strategy Page reports:

June 18, 2009: The U.S. Army has ordered 38.4 million rounds of .300 Winchester magnum ammunition for its newly modified M-24 sniper rifles, as well as similar SOCOMs Mk13 models. The new ammo will cost about $1.30 per round. The .300 Winchester magnum will be ordered in minimum lots of 56,160 rounds (117 boxes of 480 rounds each). The entire 38.4 million rounds will last a while.

$1.30 a round! I would have thought they could get it cheaper than that!

There is a discussion at SaysUncle about the pro’s and con’s of the cartridge.

Thanks to David for the link.

UPDATE:

A more factually correct article is at Defense Industry Daily, and it quotes regular TFB commenter Daniel Watters.

D.E. Watters of The Gun Zone adds that .300 Win Mag is used in the Mk13 sniper rifle, another Remington 700 long receiver derivative that’s assembled from parts at NSWC Crane. The most recent version is the Mk13 MOD 5, which allows the use of the same sound suppressor as the Knight’s Armament Company SR-25/MK11 sniper rifle.

David Crane of DefenseReview.com was on the Military Channel. I often link to Defense Review. Well done David!

Murdoc spotted a video where a Remington VC referred to the ACR, formerly Magpul Masada, as the Remington ACR. It looks like the rifle, or at least the marketing, has been transfered from Bushmaster to the military devision of their sister company Remington.

I found this Remington promotion material online.

Click to expand.

It says that the rifle will be available in 5.56mm NATO, 6.8mm SPC and 6.5mm Grendel.

There is no indication that Remington will be offering civilian sales.

K.B.I. Inc. , which includes Charles Daly, is again importing the IWI Jericho 941 pistol that was previously imported by Magnum Research under the Baby Eagle brand name.

The “Military-Tuff” Jericho 941 pistols are available in three calibers (9mm, 40S&W and .45ACP), three frame sizes (Full, Mid-size & Compact), in both Polymer and Steel frames. Standard Features include: ambidextrous de-cocking (firing pin block) safety; double/single action trigger function; combat style trigger guard; chrome-lined polygonal rifled barrels; under frame picatinny rail (except compact); low-profile combat style sights; two magazines & hard case. The Jericho’s time-tested, field-proven reliability and performance may be its best feature.

The pistol comes in three different sizes and chambered in 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. MSRP starts at $647 for the blue steel / polymer frame models to $749 for the chromed steel models.

The mid size steel / chromed model model

More info here.

Guess how much this Knights Armament muzzle break sells for …

Photos by unclemoak @ ar15.com

The Answer: About $450!

The muzzle brake is made from one of the Inconel family of nickel-chromium superalloys and claims 40% reduction in recoil.

Thanks to Jay for the link.

James Yeager, the owner of Tactical Response, has posted a video on youtube in response the controversy over the controversial training video which shows a photographer standing next to a target downrange of students shooting live ammunition.

Personally I respect everyone’s right to train how they see fit, as long as they do it far away from me. Although saying that, I think Mr Yeager could have made some better arguments in his video.

Yeager states many people don’t like anybody standing even slightly forward of their muzzle when shooting. That is true, and I can be included in this group of people, but the video showed somebody next to the targets, not just standing slightly forward of the muzzle.

He uses a car analogy in his response. I know driving in a car is dangerous, but I do my best to mitigate the risks of driving as much as I can. I drive a car that doesn’t have any known safety problems, has seat belts, ABS brakes and air bags. If I could afford a new car, I would buy one with those fancy electronic stability control systems. Increasing risk when shooting just because driving is dangerous does not make sense to me.

Lastly, he says you can never be 100% safe. I belong to a rifle target shooting club that has their own private range. The club is over 100 years old and as far as anybody can tell, there has not been an injury on the range in 100 years. There have of course been negligent discharges, but nobody was downrange at the time. Sure it is not 100% safe, but pretty damn close.

Thanks to D. Tanner and Thomas for the link.

I recently blogged about the new rangefinders from Leupold. Jeff, their PR guy, emailed me to say they also have two cheaper, lower ranged versions of the new RX-1000 coming out soon.

The RX-1000 model

The RX-600 and RX-750 can be used out to 600 yards and 750 yards respectively, but otherwise have a feature-set similar to the RX-1000 . No product photos or pricing information are available yet.