The Firearm Blog

Earlier this month an explosion in the Prvi Partizan ammunition factory took six lives. Yahoo reports:

Prvi Partizan is Serbia's largest ammunition factory. It produces military and hunting ammunition as well as gun powder and explosives.

Maric said firefighters had "doused the fires and there is no danger of more explosions." He did not elaborate about the causes of the blast pending the end of the initial investigation.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic was on his way to the site, said a ministry spokeswoman.

Serbian defense industries have stepped up production in past two years, mainly exporting to Iraq, Libya, the United States and Myanmar. The total value of export deals in 2008 exceeded $600 million.

Prvi is notable for being the manufacturer of many obsolete cartridges. This year they started manufacturing the 8mm Lebel, which has not been manufactured by any other factory in the past few decades.

8mm Lebel

Thanks to mrwon and Himmel for the info and link.

UPDATE. Sadly the final casualty count was 7 dead and 14 injured.

Thanks Matt for the link.

Michael Bane has written an interesting blog post on the shift in the perception of what a rifle is or should be.

If you read gun blogs and forums as well as owning a few of your own tacti-cool guns, it is easy to think everyone values the black rifle. I agree with Michael that only recently are we seeing the black rifle go mainstream.

However, in truth, nearly every type of rifle was originally designed for the battlefield.

Alan finds an innovative use for his iPhone.

Hat Tip: SayUncle via. FatWhiteMan

For the last fifty years 100,000's of M1 Garands and M1 Carbines have been sitting in Korean warehouses, many of which will now be sold to US collectors. AFP reports:

Washington has approved South Korea's plan to sell about 86,000 M1 and 22,000 carbines together valued at 130 billion won (108 million dollars), the ministry said.

The rifles used during the Korean and Vietnam wars have been kept at military warehouses, it said.

"The US government recently approved our plan to sell old M1 and carbine rifles, which were given to our soldiers as part of a US aid programme," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

The rifles are occasionally used by reserve forces for drills, he said without giving details.

The military will dispose of all its M1s but will keep about 640,000 carbines for reserve forces, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.

That means 640,000 more are patiently waiting in cosmoline to be shipped over stateside

Many thanks to REMOV for the link.

I was incredibly surprised to open an email a few days ago and see photos of the mythical Australian F88T Austeyr. Quite a long time ago I had scoured the internet searching in vain for photos of this gun.

The F88T Austeyr

Note the subcaliber magazine insert - the only giveaway that it is chambered in .22 LR

Almost no information about this rifle is available online. This is very surprising because the rifle is currently in service with a major defense force.

The F88T Austeyr was developed by ADI Limited (now known as Thales Australia). It is, as far as I know, the only variant of the Steyr AUG chambered in .22 Long rifle. A page on the, now offline, ADI website described the weapon as:

ADI has developed a .22 calibre training rifle for use by the Australian Army. The weapon provides an economical training alternative, with very low ammunition cost, which can be used in environmentally sensitive training areas and indoor areas for special force training with reduced risk to trainees and instructors.

This paragraph sums up just about all the information available online! Because of the lack of information I was convinced that very few of these had ever been built, but I stumbled across the minutes of a meeting from an Australian Air Force conference where they discussed an order of 200 F88T's which were going to be used for cadet training. Presumably there are more than 200 in existence.

Australian cadets also train with .22 single shot bolt actions rifles.

I do not have any technical information about the gun. Most .22 semi-automatics share similar features. The gas system will be non-functional because a .22 LR cannot generate enough case to cycle an action. The action will be a standard blowback system. The barrel is probably the same as the regular Austeyr. While this is not optimal for accuracy I can't imagine it would have been worth the cost of producing dedicated .22 Long Rifle barrels.

I am sure that the owners of the civilian Steyr AUG SA, which went on sale this year, would love to have a .22LR conversion kit. Realistically, a third-party American firm is much more likely to develop a conversion kit than Steyr is too either develop their own or license the design from Thales Australia.

Many thanks to Jon for the photos.

Izhmash, possibly the world's most famous arms manufacturer, has filed an application for bankruptcy with the Russian courts. Pravda reports ...

Izhmash, the pride of the nation’s defense industry, may prove to be an unprofitable enterprise. Udmurtia’s Court of Arbitration will look into the financial documents of the group of enterprises of Izhmash Concern. If reasons for bankruptcy are unveiled, Russia’s largest maker of firearms will have to be reorganized. >

Izhevsk owns the designs and trademarks of many different guns including:

• AK-47, AK-74, AKM and AK-100 series.
• SVD Dragunov sniper rifle.
• Tigr rifle (civilian SVD).
• Saiga rifles and shotguns.

I asked Max Popenker, well known author and owner of world.guns.ru, about the situation. Max told me that the upper management of the company has been absolutely useless for years. He thinks eventually the government will save the company, but he is not optimistic about its future.

If you were thinking about buying a Saiga rifle or Saiga-12 shotgun. I suggest you buy it right now.

Many thanks to Jay for alerting me to the situation.

LaRue OSR 7.62mm

The LaRue Tactical OSR has been a long time coming but LaRue are nearing shipping the rifles that are currently on order.

The OSR is an AR-10 type rifle styled after the Knight's Armament SR-25 and M110. It is built from high quality components and shoots sub-MOA groups at 100 yards. THe price reflects this, and it starts at $2,485.

From the above video. I love how the the SureFire suppressor heats up on night vision! I guess suppressors are not a good choice in night time combat operations.

After having recently launched their first AR-15, the Ruger SR-556, Ruger have now unveiled the Ruger SR-22, a Ruger 10/22 in a tactical AR-15 configuration. For years we have been asking for it, and finally they have delivered!

Ruger SR-22

Jeff Quinn holds a tricked out SR-22

You are probably thinking that the action in the above rifle does not look much like a Ruger 10/22. This is because a standard Ruger 10/22 action and trigger group sits inside a Nordic Components designed conversion chassis / enclosure.

Nordic Components Stock Kit - very similar to the SR-22 rifle.

The chassis allows a standard AR-15 stock and pistol grip to be used on the rifle. It also allows a standard Ruger 10/22 barrel, which attaches to a v-Block, to be used with a the AR-15 style handguard. This breakdown photo illustrates how it all fits together:

The mid length handguard is drilled and tapped to allow picatinny rails to be installed on the 3,6,9 and 12 o' clock positions, if desired. These rails allow all standard AR-15 accessories to be used with the rifle.

Ruger 3" SR-22 TR 3 Picatinny Rail ($14.95)

SR-22 Full Length Picatinny Rail ($39.95)

Another benefit of the SR-22 over a standard 10/22 is that the barrel is factory threaded and a Ruger SR-556 / Mini-14 flash suppressor is installed.

The Ruger press release:

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE-RGR) announces the introduction of the Ruger® SR-22™ Rifle, an autoloading, rimfire rifle that combines the legendary reliability of the Ruger® 10/22® with the ergonomics and configurability of the new AR-style Ruger SR-556™. The new SR-22 Rifle allows shooters to use economical .22 LR ammunition, while still enjoying the look and feel of an "AR" and experiencing the reliability they have come to appreciate from Ruger.

Because it utilizes the unique rotary magazine supplied with the Ruger 10/22, the SR-22 Rifle offers the same gold standard for reliability in autoloading rimfire rifles. Like the 10/22, the AR-style SR-22 Rifle also has an extensive array of accessories available, allowing shooters to select a custom configuration that best suits their tastes and needs.

The SR-22 Rifle uses a standard 10/22 action inside a top-quality, all-aluminum chassis that faithfully replicates the AR-platform dimensions between the sighting plane, buttstock height, and grip. The SR-22 Rifle provides a Picatinny rail optic mount, and includes a six-position, telescoping M4-style buttstock (on a Mil-Spec diameter tube), plus a Hogue® Monogrip® pistol grip. Buttstocks and grips may be swapped out for any AR-style compatible option.

The SR-22 Rifle also features a round, mid-length handguard mounted on a standard-thread AR-style barrel nut. Picatinny rails, specifically designed for this handguard, are available from Ruger, allowing the handguard to be configured to accept any number of rail-mounted sights or accessories. A barrel support block is installed in the handguard, ensuring accuracy and allowing the standard 10/22 V-block barrel attachment system to be used.

The SR-22 Rifle is equipped with a precision-rifled, cold hammer-forged alloy steel barrel. The 16-1/8" barrel is capped with an SR-556/Mini-14 flash suppressor mounted with a 1/2"-28 thread.

More photos:

Ruger advertisement for SR-22:

Michael Bane has also created a video review over at the Down Range TV Blog. Michael hinted at the rifle earlier this week, but I must admit I did not imagine a tactical Ruger 10/22 was what Ruger had in store for us!

Kel-Tec have partnered with radio personality Michael Savage to produce a limited edition .380 P3A pistol that commemorates the ratification of the Bill of Rights.

The limited edition features:

• Hard Chromed slide.
• The word "Freedom" and "December 15, 1791" laser engraved on the slide.
• Crimson Trace laser.
• Two magazines.

Korean firm Dong In Optical specializes in red dot sights for machine guns, miniguns, grenade launchers and auto-cannons.

The Model DCL100 Red Dot Sight (below) is designed specifically for the FN Minimi / M249 and FN MAG / M240 light machine guns. It is seen here mounted on the Minimi Para, FN's short 13.7" barreled, collapsible stocked, machine gun.

DCL100 mounted on the FN Minimi Para.

The larger Model DCL110 designed for .50 heavy machine guns and 20mm cannons

I have an overwhelming desire to mount one of these on a Ruger 10/22

A big thanks to Groot Mamba for the photos.