The Firearm Blog

The takedown version of the famous Winchester 1892 lever action rifle was last manufactured in 1932. For the first time in 77 years Winchester are producing a limited run of the rifle.

.45 Long Colt 20″ Barreled Version

The deluxe rifles feature high grade walnut stocks and octagonal barrel. The 20″ version is chambered in .44-40 and .45 Long Colt and has a MSRP of $1874.95. The 24″ version is chambered in .44-40, .38-40, .32-20 and .45 Long Colt and has a MSRP of $1899.95.

For each caliber offered, 500 rifles will be made in the 20″ version and 250 in the 24″ version.

Winchester should seriously consider mass producing a modern takedown version in .30-30 and some of the fancy new Marlin cartridges such as the .308 Marlin Express. I think it would sell very well.

CNBC’s Fast Money show talks to Michael Golden, CEO of Smith & Wesson, about the gun market and how S&W is faring.

He says that the gun market is cooling but S&W’s M&P rifles and tactical rifles are selling well. I do not dispute that S&W is doing well, but I find it hard to believe S&W, or Ruger, will be able to maintain their current stock prices. Both stocks have more than doubled since February courtesy of the gun buying frenzy.

Golden mentions the M4 competition. I expect they will have sometime more interesting up their sleeve than the M&P4, a pretty standard direct gas impingement M4 clone, which the Military Times reported a while back that S&W would be entering.

Kamil Arikut, who works at Safir Arms, makers of the .410 AR-15 shotgun, posted a comment on the blog saying that a english language forum has been created for American users of the Safir T-14 so that they can get in touch with their Turkish counterparts. If you have questions about the gun, they probably know more about it than anyone in the USA.

Tactical Arms is a new show on the Sportsman Channel. The show hosted by the well known Larry Vickers (ex-Delta) and co-hosted by Kyle DeFoor (ex-SEAL) and Jason Falla (ex-SASR). It looks like it will be taking a more technical look at firearms and how they work, rather than the pop-culture hype seen in Future Weapons. From the show’s website:

Guns, guns, and more guns. In each episode of Tactical Arms, our experts will examine one modern weapon from the inside out. From machine guns, to battle rifles, to shotguns to handguns, they go through a metric ton of ammo to show you the anatomy, performance, origins, and uses on today’s battlefields that make these weapons the best of breed.

Thanks to Sven for the link.

War games just got more fun. Raytheon has applied for a patent on a simulated M18 Claymore Anti-Personal Mine for the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) training system.

The patent describes a device that looks like a claymore but instead of hundreds of steel balls and C4 explosives, it is armed with over one hundred laser diodes and LEDs arranged to simulate a claymore explosion, including the back blast.

Real Claymore Range


Simulated Claymore Killing Zone

To increase authenticity, the device could be hooked up to a pyrotechnic charge to simulate the light, sound and smoke of a real claymore. In short, it provides everything expect the for horrific mess and mental trauma that is the modern anti-personnal mine. I am sure it will help green recruits learn that “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY” does in fact mean front toward enemy

Many thanks to Daniel E. Watters for telling me about the patent.

Shernic Gun Works have unveiled a new bullpup conversion stock for the SKS rifle.

Two things differentiate the stock from other attempts at SKS bullpup conversions. The first being that it can be loaded with stripper clips and the other being the low price of $159.95.

I am not entirely sure how it works, but from what I can see in the below video, the bolt dust cover / cheek rest, for lack of better terms, is spring loaded and can be popped open, either with a button or unlatching it somehow. When it is popped open and the bolt locked back a stripper clip can be inserted into the magazine. After loading, the cheek rest can be push closed. While it can be used with SKS rifles that take either AK-47 or Tapco magazines, many people, including myself, don’t like the magazine conversions and prefer the simplicity and robustness of Simonov’s original design.

The SG Works Bullpup in action

The stock does not require any permanent modifications and the original front sight assembly can be left on the rifle, but it is not heigh enough to be of any use.

The stock will not be shipped before September, but it can be pre-ordered at a discounted rate. The manufacture will be sending me some more photos of the stock shortly.

Hat Tip: Хроники безумного Макса

The Target Cannon is a reusable reactive target designed to be used with .22 LR firearms or high powered air guns.

The device has three vertical “barrels” which are loaded with blackpowder. A shotgun primer is inserted into the side of the barrel. The shooter aims at a hole in the front steel plating. Through the hole is a steel plunger that ignites the primer. The result is a big bang and lots of smoke.

It looks like a lot of fun and only costs 25c per target (according to the manufactures website. I do not reload. ). That even cheaper than the poor-mans-reactive-target (pool chalk).

More info at Target Cannon.

The US gun imports account for half of all rifle and pistol imports, and about 45% of all shotgun imports!

STRATFOR has published an article entitled Mexico: Economics and the Arms Trade. They made a very good point in saying that with semi-automatic rifles and ammunition prices in the United States so high, the large Mexican gangs have little incentive to shop over the boarder when importing from overseas is so much cheaper (even ignoring the fact that US civilian weapons are not fully-automatic, unlike overseas imports).

In fact, due to this surge in demand, it is downright difficult to locate many types of assault rifles and certain calibers of ammunition, though a lucky buyer might be able to find a basic stripped-down AR-15 for $850 to $1,100, or a semiautomatic AK-47 for $650 to $850. Of course, such a gun purchased in the United States and smuggled into Mexico will be sold to the cartels at a hefty premium above the purchase price.

By way of comparison, in places where weapons are abundant, such as Yemen, a surplus fully automatic assault rifle can be purchased for under $100 on the white arms market and for about the same price on the black arms market. This difference in price provides a powerful economic incentive to buy low elsewhere and sell high in Mexico, as does the inability to get certain classes of weapons such as RPGs and fragmentation grenades in the United States. Indeed, we have seen reports of international arms merchants from places like Israel and Belgium selling weapons to the cartels and bringing that ordnance into Mexico through routes other than over the U.S. border. Additionally, in South America, a number of arms smugglers, including Hezbollah and Russian organized-crime groups, have made a considerable amount of money supplying arms to groups in the region like the FARC.

I previously wrote that a significant proportion of the US-manufactured weapons captured in Mexico were in fact civilian hunting weapons, not semi-automatic, and legal to own and purchase in Mexico.

Thanks to Michael for sending me the article.

My internet at home is not working but should be fixed shortly. Expect blog posts tomorrow morning.

This pistol belonged to a member of EOKA, a group who fought against the British and Turkish for Cypriot independence during the 1950’s.

The barrel on the pistol is a 20mm cartridge case! I think the general idea was to pack a very small charge of blackpowder at the back of the “barrel” by the touch hole and jam some sort of projectile in the front, sort of like a blackpowder cannon. As the text in the above photo says, it would have need to be held right up to the victims head.

I do wonder if it was ever fired because a cartridge case is not designed to hold up against pressure, it is designed to expand. I suspect this would do as much, if not more, damage to the operator than it would to the intended target.

Hat Tip: weissent @ MP.net

Daniel E. Watters, who is always vigilant, alerted me to the fact that the Marines are looking to procure M1911A1 frames. The frames are for the MEU(SOC) pistols that are used by Force Recon.

Up till now they have been using surplus 1911 frames. I guess the supply of quality surplus frames in their inventory has finally run out, nearly twenty years after 1911 pistol was replaced by the M9.

S&W are now selling a version of the .22 AR-15 patterned M&P15-22 that is compliant with Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and New York law.

It has been made compliant by fixing the stock so it cannot be adjusted and supplying a 10 round magazine. The MSRP is still $499.

The pistol grip and removable magazine prevent it from being California compliant. .22 Rifles are exempt from California Assault Weapon laws.

The FN Five-SeveN Standard is a new model from FNH USA. The Standard has fixed three dot combat sights, while the other models feature an adjustable rear sight.

The MSRP is $1316.56, which I presume is less than the other models because of the cheaper sights. I have emailed the PR person to confirm this.

The FN Five-SeveN chambers the 5.7×28mm which is a round marketed at law enforcement who can use it with ballistic-vest penetrating ammunition that is not available to civilians.

UPDATE: These are actually better sights than the other models which have a $1237.50. Thanks to David for the info.