The Firearm Blog

Not long ago I blogged about A.R.M.S having won a lawsuit against Troy and jdun1911 mentioned in the comments that they were also involved in a lawsuit against LaRue Tactical. Mark LaRue posted this open letter at AR15.com ...

Guys,

As some of you know, we are under litigation attack by A.R.M.S. (Dick Swan) for using the numerals 1 and 7 in our LT-170 mount part number. He filed for and last spring outrageously got a trademark on "#17" and then he sued us. IIRC, he also trademarked 7.62, 5.56, 50BMG, etc., etc.

I'm more than a little perturbed.

One of his interrogatories (sic) is what evidence I have of soldiers ever having an A.R.M.S. mount fail on them. Ask and ye shall receive.

I know a gent that says that roughly 20% of the A.R.M.S. mounts have to be replaced before he can run the guys in his sniper course. Says they come in flopping in one way or the other, levers loose, roll pins shot, whatever. And these are the ones that are left of the ones that haven't already been replaced.

I have replaced numerous busted A.R.M.S. units in the past, and have heard more stories than I can count ... the gist of one story - "busted levers on square ranges crunching under the boots of trainees" ...

So, I am officially offering to replace/exchange any in-op/broken A.R.M.S. mounts for the LaRue product that best fits as a replacement.

I'll do it even at the unit level. If your team has a bucket full of dead A.R.M.S. mounts of any sort laying around, then put them to good use. I am aware that due to NSN numbers, many are the failed units are likely sh*tcanned and a replacement bought (with taxpayer money). Either way, I don't care how many ... besides, it won't be nothing compared to the attorney bills we are incurring weekly.

I do ask that some sort of note be written that says what the problem is, i.e. broken levers, loosened roll pins, stripped-out threads, etc.

Let me know about any and all A.R.M.S failures you know about ... even if you threw them away, no worries, please let me know about it here.

We may have to spend $100,000 dollars to fend off this attack, and that's money we can't buy equipment with, money we can't hire more folks with, money shot to hell.

Any help from you guys will be much appreciated.

v/r

Mark LaRue

Obviously this is only from the point of view of LaRue Tactical, but I still thought it was worth posting.

Many thanks to Kevin for emailing me the link.

Since SHOT Show the KAC SR-15 E3 Carbine/IWS rifles have been slowly trickling out of the factory. I believe that they are now in full production.

The Stoner Rifle 15 series are semi-automatic rifles featuring a 16" chrome chamber barrel, a URX free floating barrel system, an ambidextrous control system, a two-stage trigger, an improved multi-lug E3 bolt and integral front sight and sling mounts. This is already a comprehensive package on its own and does not require excessive modular accessories for performance enhancement. The KAC SR-15 is the first rifle model with an Integral Weapons System (IWS) that combines both built-in and modular features.

One of the upcoming guest blog posts is a review of the SR-15 so watch out for it.

A few years ago, in a classic case of government bureaucracy covering their ass, the Portuguese Police decided that one requirement of their future pistol is that it must have a manual external safety. They, of course, then choose the one gun which is the epitome of manual safety-less pistols, the Glock. Glock shipped them 42,000 Glock 19s with external thumb safeties, similar to the Glock 17 safety I blogged about recently, worth 13 million Euros.

Portuguese Police Glock 19. Photo from Portal das Curiosidades forum.

The police upper management then proceeded to tell the public how wonderful their new pistols were. The cops on the street must have been given a different gun because their pistols were having all sorts of problems. They had magazines randomly falling out of the guns, magazines refusing to drop out when the mag release was pressed, brass being ejected into the shooters face and just plain failing to cycle. The Portuguese IPSC community, where I believe Glocks are popular, were not at all surprised.

FORÇA DE SEGURANÇA translates to Security Force (Police force)

A few weeks ago the Portuguese media discovered that the police have signed a contract with Glock to retrofit all their pistols with normal, safety-less, Glock 19 frames. No doubt at a significant cost to the tax payer.

The government fears that the other pistol manufacturers such as HK, Beretta, Walther and Mannlicher, who were passed over in the search for the new pistol, will sue them for choosing a faulty pistol and for stipulating that a safety was a requirement, only to drop the requirement a few years later.

Many thanks to my anonymous Portuguese source for the links and translations he sent me.

The Cav Arms guys did an extreme dust test on an AR-15. Turns out AR-15 cannot handle being buried in sand and then run over by a Jeep ... who knew? Apart from the "Jeep test", it did really well.

They also tested an AK derivative, a 5.56mm SAR-3, which did not do as well. It seems odd that the trigger group would fail to function. I have posted videos on the blog showing AKs working under worse conditions.

This video shows a Filipino hitman demonstrating the concealment and quick draw techniques he was taught by the guerilla NPA (National Peoples Army).

Interesting use of two hands.

Many thanks to Michael for the link.

This interesting grenade, manufactured by Bulgarian firm ARCUS Co., is designed to combat frogmen. The AR476 is fired from standard 40mm launchers at the area where combat divers are suspected to be underwater. When the projectile hits the water, a time deployed fuse is activated.

Many thanks, again, to Lusaka for the photo and info.

Steve has created a video about practicing point shooting with a dryfire laser system.

John Broekhuizen wrote a blog post to accompany the video.

There is an interesting video at WorldRadio.ch about the famous unique gun culture of Switzerland. At the start of the video a Swiss guy shows the rifle he used in military service, his fathers service rifle and says that his grandfather's service rifle is hanging in his office. How cool is that?

This was my father’s military rifle and of course he got to keep it when he was finished. I have my grandfather’s military rifle hanging on the office wall. This was mine when I did service. It’s quite an old one it was introduced in 1957 and used until 1990. And this is my son’s. It’s the current model. That’s what’s being used today. That’s what we’ll be using the shoot the Feldschiessen today.

The Feldschessen, or Tiro Federale in Campagna as it’s known in these parts is an annual Swiss event and the largest shooting festival in the world. Roughly 200 thousand people come out to target practice all across the country. ammunition is provided by the government.

A shooting content with 200,000 people! Crazy!

And for your viewing benefit, here are some swiss made Sig 550 rifles from CS's collection.

Many thanks to CS for the photos and the link.

The WSJ reports that Cerberus is putting together an IPO for The Freedom Group. It is not hard to see why they are choosing to do it now. S&W (SWHC) is up about 150% and Ruger (RGR) is up just under 100% since January

The WSJ reports tonight that Cerberus is preparing an initial public offering for Freedom Group, a little known company that it started in 2006 and has grown into a big player in the rifle industry.

The deal, of course, will prove to be a headline writer’s dream: (Cerberus Guns for IPO; Cerberus Aims to Take Freedom Group Public). It could also prove to be a profit machine for the private equity firm, as it cashes in on the growing market for guns and ammunition.

Comparison chart from Yahoo

While I The Freedom Group is too powerful, much like Google in the tech industry, I would rather they were public than private.

The other big news is that the WSJ quoted Bitter, a well known gun blogger. Bitter blogs at Snowflakes in Hell and The Bitch Girls. Congrats bitter! Now the race is on to be the first gun blogger quoted in The Economist

Bitter has written a post-WSJ post about the IPO.

Hat Tip: Sebastian @ Snowflakes in Hell

UPDATE: Ed Friedman has written an article about this.

Tactical Life reports that the Remington 40-XS chambered in .338 Lapua will soon be available to purchase. It was announced nearly two years ago in Remington's 2008 law enforcement catalog but, to the best of my knowledge, was never manufactured.

It is built on the custom shop's 40-SX action and trigger group and features a 26" barrel with threaded removable muzzle brake, hand bedded McMillian A5 stock, detachable magazine and lengthly top picatinny rail.