Back in July, when the specification for the original Remington ACR specifications where announced, I said one of the cartridges it would chamber was the 6.5mm Grendel. Remington said "6.5mm", and in the context I assumed it was the Grendel.
Not long after posting it, I was emailed by a well placed industry insider who told me that he very much doubted Remington would ever produce a gun chambering the Grendel. His reason? The management behind the development of the cartridge left a lot of bad blood in their wake. He suspected that the listing of "6.5mm" was a marketing ploy.
His prediction that Remington would not offer it has come to fruition. Adam Heggenstaller reported (emphasis mine) ...
Ongoing development will focus on the 6.8 mm Rem. SPC, 7.62x39 mm, a yet-to-be-disclosed 6.5 mm round and, get this, the .30 Rem. AR.
Will we ever see this cartridge? I don't know. At least we know why Remington are not just saying "Grendel".
UPDATE: My original source just emailed me to suggest that the .30 Remington AR necked down would make a lot of sense! He has a good point. (This is just speculation - not inside knowledge).
7.62x51mm NATO, 6.5mm Grendel and 5.56x45mm NATO
Adam Heggenstaller has just posted the first concrete detail of the consumer Bushmaster / Remington / Magpul ACR ...
The cool thing here--other than it being a brand-spanking new gun that you can get your hands on real soon--is the ACR's modularity. The consumer version will be offered with a 16.5-inch barrel, but Bushmaster will also be making barrels with lengths of 10.5, 14.5 and 18 inches. The first version of the ACR will be chambered in 5.56x45 mm, of course, but since a tool-less disassembly allows you to change bolt heads, barrels and magazines, the ACR can be user-configured to run with other cartridges as well. Ongoing development will focus on the 6.8 mm Rem. SPC, 7.62x39 mm, a yet-to-be-disclosed 6.5 mm round and, get this, the .30 Rem. AR.
Read more about, and for photos, click on over to Incoming Blog.
UPDATE: Read my post about Remington and the 6.5mm.
David emailed me to ask what the below object is. I have no idea, although the suggestion that it's a cartridge delinker sounds plausible.
I believe it is a military accessory and I would like some help to identify what it is. Attached is a picture, there is a stamp on the side that says "8D/2538" with a crown and "M" below that, and a circle below that with "R G 31" inside the circle. It appears to be made from brass. Someone suggested it is possibly a delinker to remove shells from a machine gun belt.
Anyone know?
The Washington Times reports that there have been cuts a defense spending bill ...
Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.
Lance, I think correctly, pointed out to me that this attitude of cutting defense spending to the max, probably guarantees that the M4 and M16 are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Many thanks to Daniel Watters for the link.
Wilson has just announced quite an extensive line of 6.8 SPC AR-15 rifles. Three base models are available and each is customizable.
Wilson Combat Recon 6.8SPC
Tactical Hunter Lightweight 6.8 SPC
The prices start of $2300 for a complete rifle, or $1025 for just an upper.
More info here.
This photo, taken at a German Army artillery range, is not a fake.
The side expansion chambers will be to accommodate the blast of the cannon's muzzle brake.
I know what you are thinking: "WTF!".It was build to reduce noise to communities nearby. The vehicle pictured is the M109G 155mm self-propelled howitzer.
Many thanks to Sven for emailing it to me.
UPDATE: Thanks to Mark for these images of another German tank suppressor.
UPDATE: Daniel found a US patent that German defense firm Rheinmetall GmbH has on the design of cannon silencers.
Caleb has posted his picks top all time rifles:
- The M1 Garand
- The Ruger 10/22
- The AR-15 family
- The ‘98 Mauser family
- The Brown Bess Musket
It is hard for me to argue with his picks. I think the addition of the 10/22 is interesting. While it is a cliché, I think the AK-47 should be included. Regardless of what you think of the gun itself, it is probably the most influential rifle of the past 60 years. I would replace the Brown Bess with the AK.
Brown Bess Musket. Image from Wikipedia.
Caleb discusses his picks in more detail on the latest episode of the Gun Nuts Radio podcast.
Firearms and Training has posted an essay written by a Marine who was badly wounded in combat, and only realized his mistake after taking tactical training courses.
The reason for this belief of mine is fairly simple: When I was engaged in combat the day I was wounded, I made several critical mistakes resulting either from training scars or from simply not being trained how to do something in a certain manner (if at all). I know that training, tactics and procedures (TTPs) and SOPs have changed greatly over the past 6 years since I was wounded, but I guarantee that they are still lacking enough to where I would strongly advise anyone who is planning on going into harms way, either on foreign soil or here domestically in our own nation's cities, to reach out to the private sector for some enhanced weapons training. I believe that it could save lives, and could prevent a lot of men and women from being needlessly wounded (not all by any means, but quite a few such as myself).
He does make it clear that he does blame the Marine training for his mistakes.
SaysUncle reports:
Heckler and Koch is suing German Sports Guns and American Tactical Imports over trade dress infringements. Seems they don’t like GSG making a 22LR version of their MP5.
These cases, like when Colt sued H&K over the 416, are counter productive to the industry in general. It seems bizarre that a firm, which is a subsidiary of a German company, is suing the importers of a German made gun. They must not be able to sue for it in Germany court.
I know nothing about "trade dress infringement", but I do know that those fanciful concepts of "common sense" and "justice" have long been forgotten in intellectual property court, thanks to the efforts of Disney Corp's hard working lawyers and lobbyists.
I recently reported that H&K has licensed the production of .22 rifles patterned after the MP5, MP7 and other H&K firearms to Umarex. No doubt this is the reason they have taken legal action against ATI.
UPDATE: H&K and ATI settled. GSG-5 sales will cease.
UPDATE:
How long till the Wii MP5 controller gets banned! (Thanks David for the link)
Bonus style points for iPhone 
You know someone is serious about shooting when the total cost of their spotting scopes are more than your car.
Yep it's a 6 inch objective and 50x (crazy wide field of view)
the other is a WW2 rangefinder that goes out to 20,000 yards!
More photos here.
By the way, who can tell me how "Cheytac" is pronounced? I have always said "shay tac" ("shay" as in "Che Guevara").
Hat Tip: SayUncle
