On the 24th of this month the USPTO approved Magpul's patent application for the Magpul self-leveling AR-15 magazine follower. Patent number 7621063 lists the inventors as Richard M. Fitzpatrick, Michael T. Mayberry and Eric S. Nakayama.

Diagram of the follower from the patent.

The patent can be viewed after the jump.

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Daniel E. Watters, a well known expert and my go-to man on many of the topics I write about, sent me info and photos of the beautiful 1911 pistols he has built.

.38 Super

I built this .38 Super pistol in late 2000 for use in IDPA's Enhanced Service Pistol division. The frame and slide were from Caspian; each made from 416 stainless barstock. This was during the brief period that they offered barstock frames in addition to their usual cast frames. I had to lap the two together as their rails were purposefully cut oversize.

Starting from the top, the rear sight was the Novak LoMount, mated with a MGW front sight. I was delayed in completing the pistol by the lack of a front sight staking tool. A friend was supposed to lend me his MMC staking kit, but he couldn't find it. Ultimately, he did find it, but only after he had ordered a replacement from Brownells. I did most of the early test firing without a front sight by using the front sight slot as an index. The barrel and bushing were from Bar-Sto. The barrel was ramped, with a Clark/Para lower lug profile. I used a lug cutting kit from Brownells to fit the lower lugs of the barrel. I don't remember where I got the barrel links from, but I ended up having to buy a couple of kits to find an odd-ball size.

The firing pin was from Nowlin, and the oversized firing pin stop was from EGW. As few aftermarket vendors offered a stainless .38 Super extractor, I ended up buying a Colt high polished stainless extractor as that was the only one Brownells happened to have in stock. The guide rod was a two-piece model from Wilson Combat, as were the recoil springs. I bought one of their Spring Caddies that had different weight springs so I could tune it to the loads I was using. If I remember correctly, I ended up settling upon a 15 lb recoil spring.

For the lock work, I used a Wilson #299S Commander hammer as it was one of the few quality aftermarket hammers offered in stainless. This was mated with Wilson's Deluxe A6 sear. The short length Dlask trigger has a magnesium shoe and a titanium bow. A tab on the bow allows the trigger to be adjusted for pre-travel. The sear spring was from Nowlin, as I had previously found it very easy to tune. I ended up settling on either a 20 or 21 lb mainspring from Wolff Springs. After some tweaking and stoning, I ended up with a crisp 2 lb trigger pull. It was still as nice nearly 3 years later. (After a couple more years, the current owner eventually replaced the sear and disconnector with the low mass models from Cylinder & Slide. At last check, he was also considering replacing the hammer with one of the Doug Koenig models offered by EGW.)

The grip safety was a standard stainless model from S&A. While the frame was precut for a .250" radius, it still took little extra fitting to install the beavertail. The thumb safety was another Wilson product: their narrow extended tactical model in stainless. The stainless plunger tube was from Nowlin. The stainless extended .38 Super ejector was from King's. The original magazine release was a stainless extended model from Nowlin, but you can see from the photos that the current owner has replaced it. I used Ed Brown's stainless flat mainspring housing with 30 lpi checkering, which has since been discontinued.

The slide stop was originally one of the oversized EGW models that had recently been introduced in stainless. However, EGW had yet to offer a .38 Super specific slide stop, and occasionally, the follower of the Chip McCormick magazines would slip past the side stop. (A proper .38 Super slide stop has a longer engagement surface than its .45 ACP counterpart.) As a result, I ended up replacing the EGW slide stop with a stainless .38 Super model from Wilson. Oddly, the first Wilson slide stop would not seat flush with the frame. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the slide stop's pin was warped. Thankfully, the shop had a second one to swap out. However, the manager of the shop ended up putting the defective part back into his display case. Speaking of magazines, I tried several different 10 round models before settling on the McCormick. The Wilson magazine was simply too hard to load to full capacity, and the follower of the MagPak magazine actually got stuck in the bottom of the tube once it was fully loaded.

The stocks were the Chip McCormick Slim Carry grips. As the name implies, these are thinner than standard stocks, and require their own shortened grip screws and grip screw bushings. The front strap of the frame was checkered at 30 lpi, which I cut by hand using a checkering file. You'll note that I didn't add any horizontal lines below the cutout for the front of the magazine baseplate. This allowed me to round over the ends of the vertical lines to keep them from snagging. I also beveled the magazine well using files. I prefer a deep angle, instead of the typical 45 degrees. At the time, Colt was cutting a deep bevel, but they didn't continue it to the rear of the magwell. I did a carry bevel on all of the parts, and I rounded over the bottom rear corner of the frame.

I regret that I never got a chance to bead blast the frame. However, at last check, the current owner hasn't done so either.

Funny story: A Highway Patrol firearm instructor moonlighted at a local range teaching CCW permit courses. He was seriously in love with the pistol. After I let him examine it, he handed it back to me, and I put it back in my range bag. We'd continue to talk, and then he would reach over to my range bag, unzip it, and remove the pistol in order to handle it some more. This process was repeated several times until it was time for his class.

UPDATE: Daniel has priced the parts for this pistol in the comments below.

Colt M1991A1 Compact .45 ACP

Hand cut 30 lpi checkering on front strap
Carry bevel, including rounding over bottom rear of frame
Ed Brown - beavertail grip safety
Wilson Combat - narrow extended thumb safety
Ed Brown - barrel bushing
Novak - Carry rear sight
Hogue - Kingwood stocks
King's - short aluminum trigger (black)

I also fit and blended in a S&A mainspring housing/magwell that was not installed at the time of the photo. In the process, I cleaned up the factory's half-hearted attempt to bevel the magwell. Also not visible is the EGW oversized firing pin stop.

Colt M1991A1 Compact

Colt Combat Commander (XS Series) .45 ACP

Carry bevel, including rounding over bottom rear of frame
Ed Brown - 30 lpi mainspring housing
Wilson Combat - beavertail grip safety (replacing Colt Competition part)
Heinie - SlantPro rear sight (replacing Colt Competition part)
Ahrends - Kingwood stocks
Videcki - short aluminum trigger

Not visible is the EGW oversized firing pin stop. As before, I cleaned up the factory's half-hearted attempt to bevel the magwell. The short-lived XS series was the product of the brief partnership of Colt with C-More, operating as Colt Competition. The XS series' rear sight, thumb safety, and grip safety were all patented designs from C-More's Ira Kay. When their partnership broke up, Kay took all of his designs with him. This led to Colt's XSE series, which reverted to the parts Colt previously used on their Enhanced series. Of the Kay's designs, only the grip safety lives on. It is now offered by Caspian and is standard on the SIG-Sauer 1911 models. Personally, I hate the design, as its "dragon's tooth" digs uncomfortably into the palm of my hand during recoil.

Colt Combat Commander

Many thanks to Daniel for the info and D.A. Murray for the photos.

Wyn Boniface was quick off the mark in spotting a pre-solicitation request from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the purchase of two Anzio Ironworks 20mm magazine fed rifles (cannons) with suppressors.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intends to award a non-competitive, sole source purchase order to Anzio Ironworks Corporation, 1905 16th Street N, St. Petersburg, FL 33704 for two (2) Magfed 20mm Rifles and accessories in accordance with FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

The FBI intends to procure the following items:

Magfed 20mm Rifle with Belgian Camo Overcoat finish. Includes bipod, brake, handguard, free floated barrel and case (Qty: 1 each)

Magfed 20mm Rifle with Navy NWV Camo Duracoat finish. Includes bipod, brake, handguard, free floated barrel and case (Qty: 1 each)

Non-firing bolt assemblies (Qty: 2 each)

Extra magazines (Qty: 4 each)

Suppressors in 20mm (Qty: 2 each)

The solicitation number is 10-Q-LDQ002768.

4 foot barrel (49")

Anzio's rifles are chambered for the 20x102mm Vulcan cartridge. When loaded with a non-explosize 1543 grain projectile the round can achieve 3395 fps, generating 39500 ft/lbs of muzzle energy (compared to 14,000 ft/lbs of the .50 BMG).

At longer ranges the relatively poor ballistic coefficient of these large rounds will cause a significant decrease in energy but when used with high explosive ammunition this is not a problem as the on-target kinetic energy is less important than the chemical energy contained in the warhead.

It would be interesting to find out what these rifles will be used for. With just two rifles being purchased they might be destined to just training and / or evaluating the usefulness of this class of weapon.

EmptorMaven asks why is range of 60 gr. ammunition so limited and where are the guns and barrels with the 1:12 rate of twist required to accuracy shoot these long 60 gr. bullets. From EmptorMaven's blog ...

.22LR is by far the most popular consumer cartridge. Every .22LR shooter with a silencer, and many without, would love to be able to buy reliable and accurate 60gr+ bullets, as well as threaded barrels with sufficient twist rates to stabilize them.

So my open question to the firearms industry is: Where are the reputable bullet manufacturers selling cases of plinking, varmint, and match-grade 60gr .22LR ammunition? And where in the vast marketplace of .22LR guns and parts are the 1:12 twist .22LR barrels with threaded muzzles to shoot those bullets?

Aguila 60 grain SSS Sniper Subsonic. Image from MidwayUSA

I think your only options right now are the Aguila 60 grain SSS Sniper Subsonic and, if you want anything resembling accuracy, a Volquartsen barrel for the Ruger 10/22. I imagine a lot of work would needed to be done on the 10/22 action to ensure if would cycle.

I was excited to hear from Jim that Ballistics By The Inch will soon be testing how much a revolvers' cylinder gap effects the ballistic performance of a round.

We’ve had a Single Action Army clone in .357 magnum modified to allow for adjusting the barrel position from a standard 0.006″ to 0.001″ to no gap (barrel snug against the cylinder). We have a dozen or so different ammunition loads in .38/.357, and we’ll be essentially repeating the BBTI procedure for each of these, with the normal gap then the minimum gap then without any gap, starting with an 18″ barrel and going down in increments of one inch to just 1″ . Actually, one slight difference – to make sure we get a better statistical sample, we’ll be firing 10 (ten) rounds of each type of ammunition at each point rather than just 3 (three) as we did with the BBTI tests. Because we are limiting this test to just one caliber, we thought this was a reasonable step to take. We hope that this will allow us to conclude with some actual data what the effect of having a cylinder gap in a revolver actually amounts to.

These tests are sure to settle a few arguments.

The Engineer reports that a net and rope launcher, which can also fire golf balls, is being developed to prevent pirate attacks. The Engineer reports ...

The Buccaneer, from BCB International, uses compressed air to fire a plastic cylinder containing either a coiled rope or net up to a range of 400m.

The coiled line of net or rope, which has a parachute attached to the end, will unravel and lay out across the surface of the water. As a pirate boat travels through the water its propeller shaft will pick up the line and become entangled.

Another poor solution to a problem that was solved hundreds of years ago.

Hat Tip: Slashdot

I hope y'all have a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Michael Bane said it much more eloquently than I ever could, but like Michael I am thankful for each of you who read the blog. If you were not reading it, I would not be running it.

Regular blog posting will resume on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Rumors that the French military are considering dropping the FAMAS rifle have been spreading fast across the internet. The speculation arose from a post [English translation] at The Mammoth, a French milblog.

I asked Aurelien, an authority on the French military, what he thought of these rumors. I was surprised when he told me that the FAMAS has caused many problems.

The F1 model only works with the older M193 (55 grain) 5.56x45mm ammunition and it uses propriety magazines. The FAMAS G2 corrected these problems by modifying the rifle to work with STANAG (AR-15) magazines and the modern SS109 (62 grain) round. So far only the Navy has adopted the newer G2 model. The Army has to source M193 for the FAMAS and SS109 for the FN Minimi machine gun and to make matter worse, stocks of the old M193 are running low.

The French special forces, because of the lack of modularity of the FAMAS, have been using M4-style and Sig 5xx rifles for decades.

FAMAS G2. Photo from Wikipedia.

Aurelien says that while their have been talks of a replacement to the FAMAS, the FELIN program (the French equivalent of the Land Warrior program) still involves fielding an upgraded FAMAS G2.

I am sure I had always heard good things about the FAMAS. Admittedly from non-French sources. Talking to a locals always gets better quality information. Since running the blog I now have contacts all over the world.

Many thanks to Aurelien for taking the time to answer my questions.

Hat Tip: Eric @ LightFighter

At $219.99 this new stock for the Remington 700 BDL Short Action looks like a bargain.

More information at Accurate Shooter.

After writing the The quest for high-capactity firearms post, readers told me about other interesting attempts at high capacity guns.

Porter Revolving Turret Rifle

9-shot; .48 caliber. In excellent overall condition. Bore is excellent plus; 28" barrel. Metal is smooth and well marked. Showing little or no use. Manufactured in 1851. Mechanically excellent. Wood is excellent, with one tiny area of wood loss. Only 1250 Porter Turret Rifles made, in three types, of which approximately 375 were type II. Lacks rear sight, cover screw broken, otherwise complete and excellent. A very advanced weapon for its time, and a competitor to the Colt Revolving Rifle, many were used during the Westward Migration. Seldom available on today's market, this example is in far above average condition. $11400

If you are interested, this rifle can be purchased at 19thcenturyweapons.com.

Isaiah Jennings 12 shot repeating flintlock rifle

According to the press release [PDF warning], when this gun was auctioned off, it achieved a record sales price in Louisiana.

An 1820 Prototype Isaiah Jennings 12 Shot Repeating Rifle, engraved with the serial number “No. 1,” generated a great deal of interest on the telephone, through eBay and from within the room. Bidding finally stopped (and the applause began) when a local purchased this exceptionally rare rifle for $34,000.00, making it a Louisiana record price for a firearm sold at auction.

Does anybody know how this type of gun works?

Ingrham's Underhammer Harmonica Rifle

The Underhammer Society Blog has a post about a modern reproduction of this 175 year old rifle design. Be sure to watch the video.

The Puckle gun

This gun dates back to the early 1700s! It fired 32mm caliber projectiles at a rate of just under 10 rounds per minute. I think make almost makes it an Auto-Cannon

Photo from Wikipedia.

Many thanks to Mehual, Clodboy and El Duderino for the links.