The Firearm Blog

Greg Brush, an Alaskan fishing guide, was ambushed with no warning by a charging bear. All he had time to do was pull out his .454 Casull and fire as fast as possible, while falling backwards after tripping on a branch. The Anchorage Daily News reports:

He drew a Ruger .454 Casull revolver. There was no time to aim, barely time to squeeze the trigger. He’s not sure whether he got off two shots or three, but one proved fatal.

“Total luck shot,” he said.

“It doesn’t get any closer. He slid by me on his chin when I shot him,” Brush said. “I was backpedaling as fast as I could. I wasn’t even aiming. I tripped over my own feet as I pulled the trigger.”

He estimated that the animal weighed 900-plus pounds, and was 15 to 20 years old. It had grass packed in its molars and little fat on its bones.

“It was starving to death and saw an opportunity,” Brush said.

I sometimes get asked what should be carried in bear country. I always say the same thing: “I know nothing about bears but if I was in bear country I would want a .44 Magnum by my side”. I despair when people say they would rather carry their 9mm or .40 S&W Glock because they can get off more shots! This story perfectly illustrates that you may only get off one or two shots at a charging 900 pound beast! A 9mm round is not going to do much good.

Greg was most likely carrying a Ruger Super Redhawk. The Low-Glare Stainless model has a 7.5″ barrel and is available chambered in .454 Casull or .45 Colt. It has a MSRP of $992.

Big thank you to Don for emailing me the link.

UPDATE: Commenters point out that he was using the Super Redhawk Alaskan. This snub nosed .454 Casull has a 2.5″ barrel . It also has a MSRP of $922. Thanks guys for the correction.

Tom Gresham has an interview with Greg on his Gun Talk show. Thanks to Jake for the link.

Joe Huffman has had some pretty nifty photos he took of pistols recoiling published in an Italian magazine.

During the past few years India’s Armaments Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) have been developing an interesting Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) called the Modern Submachine Carbine (MSMC).

Modern Submachine Carbine

The firearm chambers a round developed in India called the 5.56×30mm. This round is sometimes referred to as the “5.56×30mm INSAS” after the first gun to chambered the round, the INSAS Carbine.

5.56×30mm MARS

Those of you who follow the industry closely may recall that Colt developed a round named the 5.56×30mm MARS during the 90’s as part of their now defunct Mini Assault Rifle project. I imagine the INSAS cartridge is very similar. The Colt patent describes the MARS cartridge:

The MARS cartridge is designed as part of the weapon system and exploits the high energy densities of modern ball powders. It for the first time uses magnum pistol type powders burned at rifle pressures to achieve high rifle velocities in a short rifle barrel. It uses a fast ball powder to achieve 2600 ft/sec with a 55 gr full metal jacket projectile in only an 11 inch barrel.

The MARS cartridge/rifle was able to achieve similar ballistics as a ultra-short barreled 5.56×45mm NATO rifle (I use the term rifle loosely, sub-carbine is more correct), but with less muzzle flash, noise and weight. The Indians went with the 5.56×30mm over the 5.56×45mm for these exact same reasons as Colt.

Out of a 11″ barrel, the MARS Rifle was able to push a 55 grain bullet at 2600 fps, generating 825 ft/lbs of muzzle energy. For comparison, according to Wikipedia, the original Colt Commando (11″ barreled sub-carbine) could push a bullet (presumably a 55 grain M193 Ball) at 2750 fps.

Colt M4 Commando (current model)

While the 5.56×30mm has advantages over a pistol cartridge such as the 9mm NATO, to wit, less weight and kevlar vest penetration, it has in my opinion one fatal flaw. 5.56mm bullets were never designed to operate at such low velocities. While 2650 fp/s may seem fast, that is at the muzzle, not 200 meters downrange where the target is situated.

A graph I generated. Numbers are estimates for illustration only.

Col. Martin L. Fackler, MD famously did a study which determined that a 5.56mm bullet (M193 and M855) would fragment only slightly ,or not at all, when hitting flesh below the speed of 2500 fps. Low fragmentation results in a .22″ sized hole in the target – less damaging that a .38″ (9mm) or .45″ hole.

Col. Martin L. Fackler, MD results

It will be interesting to see how this new sub-carbine and perform in real life, and what official nickname the cartridge is given. I think 5.56mm India or 5.56mm Short should are much better named than 5.56×30mm INSAS.

Hat Tip: 8-AK Defense News and Ammoland

Tag: 5.56×30

I did not like it. The trailer makes the film out to be about Nazi hunting but the “Bastards” seem less interested in finding Nazis than they are in mutilating any German solider they can find.

Many of you have probably seen this revolver before, but I had not. The gigantic wheel gun measures four feet in length!

It was build by Ryszard Tobys and was modeled after the Remington Model 1859 revolver. It is 28mm in caliber (1.1″)!

Thanks to Sven for the link.

Hat Tip: Weapons Blog

UPDATE: Added corrected information and photos. Thanks pauloos for the link.

ZeroHedge via. WSJ report that investors in the Cerberus hedge fund want out.

Cerberus Capital Management has been swamped with redemption requests with the Wall Street Journal reporting that investors are asking to pull out $5.5 billion or 71 percent of assets from its hedge funds.

Cerberus last month tried to entice investors into staying with the firm, but found that its clients overwhelmingly wanted to leave, the newspaper reported.

…

Last year, when the average hedge fund lost 19 percent, Partners lost 24.5 percent on investments.

I am not sure how this is going to effect the other assets owned by Cerberus. According to Wikipedia Cerberus have $24 billion in assets.

Among their assets is the Freedom Group which owns Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin and other gun manufacturers.

Freedom Group’s gun businesses

Thanks to jdun1911 and Brian info about this story.

On Point Firearms have just started selling a great looking over-sized charging handle for the Benelli M1, M2, M3 and M4 shotguns. It is machined from aluminum and simply bolts onto the existing charging handle.

Benelli M4 with Extended Charging handle.

On Point are selling them for $30.

Earlier this month Serbian police discovered a weapons cache hidden inside a buried oil tank. The weapons were found outside a village that was a former stronghold of an ethnic Albanian militia. It is quite impressive how much hardware and ammunition can be packed away in a relatively small space!

Investigative Judge with the Vranje District Court Staniša Mihajlović said that 100,000 bullets, a recoilless cannon, three mortars, six RPGs, three machine gun stands and 21 anti-tank mines were recovered from the tank.

Hat Tip: MP.net

The Daily Mail reports:

It promised to stretch reality television to the limit: one man pitting his wits against the Yukon wilderness with just a camera for company.

But hopes for an epic three-month contest between man and nature were dashed when adventurer Ed Wardle failed to go the distance.

Seven weeks after striding out into the rugged forests of western Canada armed with a rifle and a fishing rod, Mr Wardle had to be airlifted back to civilisation suffering from starvation.

This first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the photo was the fact he was using an extended magazine tube on this shotgun. What use is that in the wild? I have no idea. Seems to me like extra weight and one more aftermarket part to break.

Jim Downey has also blogged about it.

There is an interesting article at Human Events about the US Army culture favoring the M4, while the Marines culture being pro-M16A4.

Two years ago when I was in Iraq, I noticed there were essentially two different primary infantry weapons (the M16 automatic rifle and the also-automatic M4 carbine) carried by America’s two primary ground forces — the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army.

Marines for the most part were carrying the M16. The Army on the other hand was primarily carrying the M4: a shorter, lighter version of the M16 with a collapsible-stock.

Hat Tip: Say Uncle

… other than that the bank robber is holding it like a gangster moron? Tam has the answer.

[ I have done my best to ensure there are no spoilers in this blog post, but read forth at your own risk and DON'T read the comments that are below the blog post. All pictures are from the trailers and promotional material, not the movie itself. ]

Two readers emailed me saying that many of the weapons I mentioned in my 5 Weapons that should’ve been in Transformers 2 post were used in new hit sci-fi movie District 9. I was considering seeing the movie, but after hearing this I decided I had to go. It was fantastic! Despite being a low budget production, they must have hired a very competent weapons consultant. The weapons used were appropriate for the task at hand and were used correctly, something few action, or even historical, movies do right.

Where can I buy this target?

There are three main human factions in the movie. The Multi-National United is organization styled after the UN. The Mercenaries (I can’t remember what they are called in the movie) are private military contractors styled after the likes of Blackwater (Xe). The Gangsters live among the aliens and are involved in the arms trade.

The movie is set in South Africa so it is no surprise that many of the weapons used in the movie are weapons produced by the South African defense industry.

Multi-National United (MNU)

Vektor CR-21 – This is the “white” gun used by the MNU. The 5.56 mm CR-21 is a bullpup version of the Vektor R4. The R4 is the South African licensed-built version of the Israeli Galil (an AK-47 derivative).

CR-21

R1 (FN FAL) – The R1 was the South African licensed-built FN FAL. In the movie it is used by airborne snipers.

R1 / FN FAL

Unknown Pump Action Shotgun – A pump action shotgun is used by a minor character. I could not identify it.

Mercenaries

Vektor R5 – This is the carbine version of the Vektor R4 rifle. The R5 has a 13.1″ barrel.

Vektor R5.

Colt M4 with M203 – Some troops appear to be using the M4 Carbine and M203 grenade launcher.

Colt M4/M203

FN Minimi – Better known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW).

FN Minimi

PMP Neopup PAW – I am pretty sure this awesome semi-automatic grenade launcher was used briefly.

Denel NTW-20 – This South African made 20mm rifle was used too good effect.

Unknown Machine Pistol – A machine pistol or submachine gun was used in one scene, but I could not identify it. UPDATE: Commenters point out that it was the BXP.

Unknown Pistol – I could not identify the pistols carried by the mercs. UPDATE: IMFDB says it was a Beretta 92FS.

Gangsters

AK-47 – Not introduction needed.

RPG-7 – Again, no introduction need. Used realistically in the film.

RPG-7

Milkor MGL – I was surprised to see the gangsters packing this. I only saw it in one scene.

M1911 pistol – I am pretty sure a 1911 clone is used by one of the gangsters.

Aliens

Unknown weaponry

Alien Assault Rifle

While watching the movie I tried to keep track of what guns they were using. I probably missed many and I had trouble identifying some. Please post a comment below if noticed any mistakes or omissions I have made or identify any of the unknown weapons listed.

Thanks to Cory and Raymond for their emails regarding the movie weapons.

UPDATE: More info at IMFDB (Spoiler alert).

If you were wondering why Remington would recall their entire line of .17 HMR Model 597 rifles just take a look at these photos which show a magazine and cases fired from a .17 HMR Model 597. This type of damage was not uncommon!

Cracked Remington 597 magazine


Blown out case head.


Split Case

Thanks to Joe for the photos.

Weatherby have added two new additions to their line of SA-08 semi-automatic shotguns.

The Youth Synthetic is a 20 gauge shotgun with a short 12.5″ length of pull and low weight of 5.75 lbs. It has an MSRP of $449.

The Youth model also comes in a wooden stocked version. The lower recoil of the twenty gauge makes it a good choice for youngsters and the recoil sensitive (myself included).

The 12 gauge Waterfowler features a Mothwing Marsh Mimicry finish and is available in 26 and 28″ barrel lengths. The MSRP is $649.