The Firearm Blog

Chauss513 is an artist whose unusual medium is guns that have been destroyed by the U.S. Attorney's Office. He turns the firearm pieces he receives into furniture and steampunk-esque replica guns. His latest batch of raw material come from a local gun buy-back program.

Chauss513 creations are for sale and he can be contacted through Flickr. His Flickr account has over a hundred photos of his many creations. I highly recommend checking it out.

Thanks to Todd for putting me in contact with his friend Chauss513.

It just goes to show you don't need to be a big guy to fire a big gun, although I am sure Janne felt every ft/lb of energy!

One day, we were testing .458 Winchester Magnum reloads and of course, we were just obligated to let Janne (158 cm / 58 kg) to test the gun. Challenge for him was that he had to shoot three full-load rounds within a minute. I think he did a good job.

Thanks to Rekyyli for the video.

Italian firearms manufacturer Armi Chiappa have developed a very cool looking .357 Magnum snubnosed revolver called the Chiappa Rhino Revolver.

It sure does resemble its namesake

Its angular design and the fact that it fires from the bottom chamber, unlike most other revolvers, gives it an appearance that closely resembled the legendary Mateba Autorevolver. Having a barrel fire from the lower chamber is supposed to help tame recoil and reduce muzzle flip.

Gun Holsters and Gear spoke to the company and found out that they may be available stateside at the end of the year.

Mateba Model 6 Unica autorevolver. Production of this pistol has ceased.

UPDATE: Daniel points out below in the comments that the Rhino and Mateba were both designed by the same person, Mr Emilio Ghisoni.

From the Rhino Patent.

Last week the Polish Army sighed a contact for over 5000 new modernized wz. 96 Beryl assault rifles and Mini Beryl carbines. The updated rifle features a telescopic buttstock, quad picatinny rails, new pistol grip and forgrip design and nifty semi-transparent magazines.

A mean looking rifle! I like the magazine. Photo by REMOV.

REMOV told me that included into he contract is a set of four camo paints and paint thinner. This apparently means the rifle was officially adopted into the Polish Army!

Many thanks to REMOV for the photo and the information for this post.

Over at my blog post about the Walther PK380, readers have anxiously awaiting the arrival of the pistol that was announced in January. S&W have finally announced that it is shipping.

Limited "First" Edition

More more about this .380 ACP pistol here.

Troy Industries have developed a nifty new diamond aperture rear sight for the AR-15.

Troy claim the diamond shaped aperture helps the shooter acquire a sight picture faster than a round aperture.

The DIO has two aperture settings, one for 300 meters and another calibrated for 550 meters. The price starts is $140 and it comes in a variety of colors.

Thanks to Konrad for the info.

Snowflakes in Hell is hosting a very interesting discussion about the pro's and con's of handloading ammunition for self-defense.

There is also a smaller discussion on the same topic at SaysUncle.

Spiegel Online reports:

And now it appears that the financial difficulties facing the weapons manufacturer have reached crisis point: its very existence is threatened. A businessman in Izhevsk has filed a motion to declare Izhmash Arms bankrupt because of outstanding debts of around 8 million rubles (around €180,000 or $265,000). The case has caused a sensation in Russia because for a long time the Russian armaments industry has been one of the only industries considered competitive on an international basis. And Izhmash, which was founded in 1807 by Russia's royals, is one of the largest firearms manufacturers in Russia.

A debt of $265,000! That would be petty cash to The Freedom Group.

Izhmash has made an official statement. Translated into English using Google (emphasis added):

Official commentary of the situation, established in connection with the statement OOO Gremikha " recognition "Izhevsk machine-building plant" bankrupt

As is known, the Arbitration Court of Udmurtia admissible statement OOO Gremikha "on the recognition bankrupt OAO Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant", as posted a message on the website of the Supreme Arbitration Court of Russia. Trial was to verify the validity of this statement is scheduled for October 7.

OOO Gremikha "to" Izhevsk machine-building plant "does not apply. This situation has arisen as a consequence of a dispute businesses. Right debt requirements this society was through the chain cessions rights from third parties, the validity of which "Izhevsk machine-building plant" is going to find out by contacting law enforcement authorities.

Note, this is not the first treatment of small company's creditors in the arbitration bodies, in which, as practice shows, then is not grounds for the organization of the bankruptcy process.

Which occurs in this case, the dispute between economic entities in no way affect the activities of the group companies Izhmash in particular on the work of the major groups of plants and its subsidiaries. Existing obligations under the state defense order and contracts for the supply of special equipment and civilian goods strictly enforced. The company has a long-term orders and plans for the development of production, including in the framework created by the CC Rostekhnologii holding company for the development and manufacture of small arms.

"Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant

Hopefully this means that exports of civilians arms will not be halted.

Many thanks to the anonymous person who emailed me the link.

In my opinion this new stock and forend from ATI (Advanced Technology International) is a stroke of genius! There is a lot to be said for having a collapsable stock as it makes transport easier and allows younger member of the family to comfortably shoot a gun that otherwise would have too long a length of pull.

Fully extended (top). Collapsed (Bottom)

The market has been saturated with M4 style adjustable stocks, which is fine if you want a tactical looks, but a pistol grip is not as ergonomic for shotgun shooting as a traditional stock. Even for tactical / self defense use I have heard many experts argue against putting a pistol grip on a shotgun.

The stock is made from DuPont Reinforced Polymer. It is 4-position and extends from 12-3/8" to 14-3/8". It fits 12 and 20 gauge Remington 870, Maverick 88, Winchester 1200/1300 and Mossberg 500/590 shotguns.

I was offered one of these stocks for review, but I am not able to review products at present, although I think I will be buying one of these stocks in the future.

This under hammer percussion pistol was manufactured, probably in the mid-late 1800's, by Bacon & Co. These types of guns where known as "boot pistols". I don't know for sure where the name comes from, but would guess these were backup guns that could be stowed away inside your boot - in other words an early sub-compant CCW

I love the clean lines on this gun.

For those of you who are interested, its markings are "Bacon & Co. Norwich C-T" and "Cast Steel".

Thanks to Heath for the photos.