The Firearm Blog

MIL-STD 1913 aka. the Picatinny rail attachment system, is will eventually be replaced by STANAG 4694, otherwise known as the NATO Accessory Rail (NAR). On May 8 the powers-that-be at the NATO Standardisation Agency approved the new standard, which will now need to be ratified by individual NATO member countries.

Don’t get worried about your countless picatinny compatible attachments being obsolete, the system is fully compatible with picatinny compatible accessories. According to DTIC.mil (PDF link) the differences between the MIL-STD 1913 and the NAR are:

* Metric reference drawing (see below).
* Additional measurements and tolerances.
* Adjustments of some measurements.
* Reduction of straightness tolerances (presumably making the manufacture cheaper).

NAR Reference Drawing.

Another notable change is the recommendation that while in the picatinny system the V-angles are used for the alignment and reference of the accessory, such as detachable optics, NATO recommends using the top surface instead. They say that tests have shown that this increases repeatable alignment.

Recommended surfaces to use for alignment.

According to Janes many countries contributes to the new standard, including many of the top military arms manufacturers:

Designed in conjunction with a number of weapon specialists including Aimpoint, Beretta, Colt Canada, FN Herstal and Heckler & Koch, the NAR system has full compatibility with current US MIL-STD-1913 specifications, also known as the Picatinny rail.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes before civilian arms claim “STANAG compatible rails”.

A big thank you to jesse for emailing me about the new system.

UPDATE: Mark posted a link to another DTIC.mil (PDF warning) presentation that discusses the future developments of the NAR.

NATO members are currently working on working on a powered rail design that extends STANAG 4694. The idea is to have a single battery to power all the accessories and optics of the firearm.

Battery in the pistol grip, power management in fore grip

I have blogged about powered picatinny rails before.

In March Brownells were awarded a contact for 1.4 million M16 magazines. They have just shipped the first 60,000. Interestingly these have a new propriety anti-tilt follower, instead of the normal green follower.

The new military magazine manufactured by Brownells

Larry, from Brownells, told me that the follower will unfortunately not be available to the civilian market as part of the contact prohibits them from using the design for any other purpose than the military.

There has been a discussion on the blog about the controversial new Federal Personal Defense Handgun .410 shotshell ammunition designed exclusively for the Taurus Judge .410 revolver.

.410 Personal Defense opened and pellets dumped. Thanks to Stephen for the photo.

The round contains 60 pellets of #4 bird shot (each pellet is .13″ in diameter). The load of pellets weight 1/2 oz (218.75 grain). Velocity is listed as 1200 fps which makes the total energy delivered at the muzzle to be 700 ft/lbs.

Federal said to Guns Holsters and Gear that:

The #4 pellets (approximately 10) penetrate to a depth of up to 6″.

(the pellet number is wrong, but the penetration depth sounds right for .410)

So with these facts in mind do you think that this round is capable of delivering a blow that warrants its name? I am not sure it does, but I welcome your opinions in the comments. I have a few issues with this round and how Federal have marketed it.

Firstly, the FBI requires penetration of at least 12″ for their ammunition, added to this is the fact that the pellets are individually, only .13″ in caliber and weigh about 3.6 grain. I would not want to be shot by one, and they could certainty kill if they traveled around the body and hit a vital organ, but I seriously doubt an attacker would be stopped in their tracks.

Another problem is shot dispersion. Dick wrote this comment on the blog about he groupings he achieved.

NOT SUITABLE FOR PERSONAL DEFENSE AGAINST MUCH OF ANYTHING LARGE ENOUGH TO WARRENT “SELF DEFENSE” EXCEPT PERHAPS SMALL SNAKES! A large one shot with this round at 21′ will likely kill you before it bleeds to death! With 2 rounds it put 18-20 pellets inside a 12″ circle so the snake better be curled up and there were plenty enough large gaps to miss a head shot.

Another issue I have is the published velocity. When firearm manufacturers publish velocity they usually base it on their test barrels, which are usually longer than what you would buy. For example shotgun velocities would be recorded from 28″ or 30″ barrel. The 1200 fps this round achieves is very similar to other standard shotgun loads, the difference being it is intended for the Judge. Most of the Judge models have a 2.5″ chamber and 3.5″ barrel. Revolvers measure barrel length forward of the chamber, so compared to a normal shotgun this works about to be 6″ of barrel. I believe shotguns are loaded with fast burning powder (reloaders please correct me if I am wrong), but this seems pretty amazing if it can achieve maximum velocity in only 6″ of barrel.

Finally, if Federal believe this is an adequate round for self-defense, why have they not published their own internal studies? Telling me it has 6″ of penetration, presumably in ballistic gelatin, is just not enough information.

So far Federal have not delivered a .410 buckshot model of the Personal Defense Round, but likely will later this year.

I am interested in your opinions. I don’t consider myself very knowledgeable in this area.

UPDATE:

Other blogger have weighed in on the issue. Go read what they have to say (if you have blogged about it and I don’t know, tell me and I will add your blog to the list):

Michael Bane @ The Michael Bane Blog

Caleb @ Gun Nuts

Murdoc has written a review of the Adam Arms retrofit piston system for the AR-15 for Guns and Hunting.

The new Adams Arms gas block quickly mounted with hex screws and a new bolt carrier key, a couple springs and a bushing were all that was needed before adding the sleeved drive rod. Supplied front handguards mounted normally, and I was left going back over the installation manual, convinced that I must have missed something. It was that easy. Though it took me more than half an hour due to the troublesome factory gas block, this is certainly a task that can be accomplished by a moderately capable gun owner.

It is a well written review and worth reading.

This 3D animation shows how the piston system works verses the AR-15′s normal method of operation, direct gas impingement.

ATI is importing 5.56mm NATO and 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition from Turkey. It is manufactured by Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK), the Turkish state owned arms and munitions manufacturer.

The previously unnamed 9mm polymer 1911 has been named the SPEC-OPS 9.

It is being marketed as a full size concealed carry pistol. One of the main selling point is the lower weight of the polymer frame. The pistol weighs in at 29.6 oz., about 25% lighter than the stainless Wilson Combat Classic. It holds 16+1 rounds and has an accuracy guarantee of 1.5 " at 25 yards.

Caliber: 9mm Magazine Capacity: 16 rounds
Barrel Length: 4.5"
Overall Length: 7.9"
Sight Radius: 6.2"
Height: 5.3"
Width: 1.3"
Weight Empty: 29.6 oz.
Weight Loaded: 36.7oz.

As you can see in the photos it has all sorts of fancy 1911 doodads such as ultra light hammer, extended safety and Wilson Custom Three Hole trigger.

The price is $1995.

What do y'all think of the star burst grip pattern? I can't say that I am a fan.

More info @ Wilson Combat.

Rock Island Auction are auctioning off a beautiful engraved and gold in-laid .25 ACP Colt Model 1908 “Vest Pocket” pistol.

In my opinion it is absolutely beautiful.

Wikipedia has an article about John Browning’s creation.

Hat Tip: Ammoland

Tam (View from the porch) overheard this conversation at a gun store

Me: “Geez, I’ve got more rimfire ammo than y’all do.”

SalesGuy: “That’s not funny.”

Ha ha

Uncle (Says Uncle) is having to wait 5-7 weeks for his CCI subsonic HP ammo order (it also happens to be my chosen .22 round of choice).

This shortage is getting ridiculous!

(by the way, If you do not read View From The Porch or Says Uncle, you should start)

The fact that guns get dirty is is one of those unfortunate facts of life, along with death and taxes.

A piston operated gun will reduce the dirt that enters the rifle compared to a direct gas impingement gun (AR-15). When you add a suppressor, I think it makes little difference what type of gas system your rifle uses, it is going to get very dirty!

From the patent of an early model MP5SD suppressor.

A suppressor works by slowing down the gas through a series of baffles. The slower moving gas makes less noise as it is vented out of the can (can = slang for suppressor). The downside is that on a autoloading firearm once the action cycles and the spent cartridge is ejected there is more pressurize gas in the system than there would be without a suppressor. This gas, along with carbon, dirt, unburned power, is vented into the rifle action. Without a suppressor this still happens but the pressure inside the barrel is lower because the gas is vented faster.

“new-arguy” posted photos at AR15.com of his HK 416 upper (piston AR-15 upper), which had a AAC 416 suppressor attached, after firing 2000 rounds without cleaning.

This is my HK 416 upper, I ran it with an AAC 416 silencer at the last Magpul Dynamics class here in St Augustine. 2 days, 2000 rounds. I only took the silencer off the start of day 2 for a few drills, I would guess about 150 rounds. All the rest were with the can. I dropped some lube in the gun at the start of the class, aside from that, no cleaning, no oil, nothing at all. No problems either, well, not really. I will admit, I have run regular DI guns like this without problems, but I needed to keep dumping oil on the bolt group. In fact, one of the guys who works with me ran his Noveske N4 with a AAC M4 2000 right next to me the whole class. His gun ran fine as well, but he did keep dumping lube into the bolt carrier.

Anyway, the gun was fiilthy. I have never cleaned a gun that was so dirty. Grime and crud was seeping out between the upper and lower trying to escape. It is worth mention that a large piece of carbon built up and fell under my trigger group toward the end of the second night. I thought it was a primer, but when I opened the gun up and shoot the lower, it was plainly a piece of carbon. So technically, the gun did comletely fail. I have seen this same thing happen one other time, in another Magpul class (actually the one from the last DVD). My friend Derek was running a gun with a can on it for about as many rounds. Same thing, crud kept building up until some of it found its way under the trigger group.

bigbore, of adcofirearms.com, posted photos of his AK-74 rifle after firing 2000 rounds of corrosive ammunition using a suppressor and leaving it sit for a week.

After leaving it sit for a week, the bolt rusted into place and it was no more than a club.

A problem with some of the now discontinued Ruger Police Carbine and Marlin Deer Camp, blowback autoloader pistol caliber carbines, was that their actions got very dirty. A pistol in the same caliber with a 4″ barrel would vent gas much faster than a 16.5″ barreled carbine.

Ruger PC4 (Police Carbine .40 S&W).

There is no substitute for cleaning your rifle. If you are considering a suppressor this is something to take into account. Bolt/lever/single shot action rifle with suppressors will not have this problem. The gas will be vented before the action is manually cycled. I personally have not had any problems with .22 semi-autos rifles with suppressors, nor have I heard of anyone having problems.

Many thanks to Jay for emailing me the link to the photos.

Leupold’s new RX-1000 Rangefinder is very impressive. It is lightweight, compact, has a 6x zoom and can measure out to 1000 yards.

Standard model RX-1000

There are two models, the standard and the TBR model (True Ballistic Range). The TBR model includes an integrated ballistics computer which can calculate MOA elevation adjustment or the hold over point and the equivalent horizontal range when firing at an angle … the only thing it does not do it skin the game

I am not sure what the official MSRP is, but OpticsPlanet.net have the standard model listed for $350 and the TBR model for $400.