The Firearm Blog

The new A-Tacs camo scheme was debuted at SHOT. It was lighter in color than I expected.

Bushmaster rifle.

Remington / Bushmaster plan on selling guns which use the A-TAC camo.

Otis, a well known manufacturer and military supplier of cleaning kits, has entered the AR-15 accessory market.

Otis handguard.

The Otis TRS rail system was developed after the company made a few go/no-go gauges for testing picatinny rails. They found that few rails were actually within spec.

The picatinny go/no-go gauge

The TRS will retail for $260.

An FBI agent posed as a representative of an Africa nation. An S&W executive (and others) attempted to bribe the government official!

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - An executive of Smith & Wesson (SWHC.O) and 21 others have been charged with violating U.S. bribery laws after an undercover sting in which federal agents posed as arms-buying representatives of an African defense minister.

The defendants, including a senior Smith & Wesson sales official Amaro Goncalves, were accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to the sale of guns, body armor and other law enforcement equipment.

[ Many thanks to Jeffrey for emailing me the link. ]

UPDATE: S&W make a statement ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Jan 19, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Smith & Wesson(R) Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., today made the following statement in response to Justice Department enforcement actions that were announced today regarding one of its employees.

Through media reports today, we became aware of the Justice Department enforcement actions which were taken yesterday and which made reference to an employee of our company. We have no information beyond what has been reported and are prepared to cooperate fully with law enforcement in their investigation into this matter.

When I visited the NRA HQ last week Matt Sharpe took me into the infamous NRA vault where the National Firearms Museum stores all their firearms that are not on display. I was allowed to handle any of the guns (provided I was wearing gloves).

Class III guns

New arrivals on the table

Bolt actions.

Some pistols.

A gift to the museum from Uziel "Uzi" Gal's son.

Closeup of the Uzi. Checkout that serial!

Japanese MG

Some sort of target gun. It was incredibly heavy.

The barrel of another target rifle. Also incredibly heavy.

Matt.

One of Colt's people at Media Day told me that the Colt SCW (Sub Compact Weapon), or at least the short buffer tube and foldable stock, will be coming to a semi-automatic civilian legal rifle.

Colt SCW at Media Day. © Bryan William Jones

The full auto version was on display at SHOT and I had the opportunity to shoot it. Lots of fun

Stock folded back

The R8 is the latest rifle from high-end German rifle maker Blaser. Today I had the opportunity to shoot the R8 and was suitably impressed.

The R8 uses the standard Blaser straight-pull bolt system. Where it deviates from the other rifles in the Blaser stable is its trigger and magazine design.

Magazine

The trigger blade is incorporated into the detachable magazine. I cannot think of another rifle that has ever had this weird configuration. The reason for this is it allows a very compact design. The downside is that the magazines probably cost a small fortune!

The trigger does not have a reset spring. Instead it is rest by the bolt when cycled. This reduces the chance of losing game because the trigger system was dirty or frozen and failed to reset.

The rifle comes in a range of models. The Jaeger, Luxus, Attaché, Baronesse, Safari PH and Safari Luxus will be available in the US. Starting price is about $10,000.

[ Thanks to Morten for emailing me info about this rifle ].

The 9mm Beretta 92FS and 96 have been updated for 2010. The new 92A1 and 96A1 feature

The .40 S&W Model 96A1

• Higher capacity magazines (17 rounds for 92A1 and 12 rounds for 96A1). They are still compatible with older magazines.
• Picatinny rail.
• Rounded trigger guard.
• Removable front sight.
• Captive recoil assembly. Less chance of losing springs!
• Recoil buffer (96A1 only).

Recoil assembly.

The A1 line does not replace the older models, but will be offered alongside them.

Tapco will soon be selling a 30 round polymer magazine for the Ruger Mini-14 rifle.

Mini-14 in Tapco stock and magazine

The price will be $15.

The LONG anticipated Bushmaster ACR has been officially launched. I warn you in advance that it is priced FAR higher than what was rumored!

As you can see above, there are four models (ACR SS 16M B, ACR SS 16M C, ACR FR 16M B and ACR FR 16M C ). Essentially there are two colors (Black and "Coyote Brown") and two types (Basic and Enhanced). Each model is available in 5.56mm or 6.8 SPC (but can be quickly swapped from one caliber to the other by changing barrel and bolt head).

The Basic model features:

• 16.5-inch cold hammer-forged barrel system
• A2 birdcage-style suppressor
• Magpul MBUS iron sights
• A-Frame style stock
• Free floating monolithic top rail.

The Enhanced model adds the following features:

• Three sided handguard rail ( giving a quad rail setup with the monolithic top rail at 12 o'clock ).
• AAC Blackout flash hider
• 6 position folding stock. This stock is what we all think of as "THE" ACR stock.

Now what you have been waiting for ...

The suggested retail price for the Basic models is $2,685 and for the enhanced it is $3,061! This is what I expected, although many were hoping for it to fall into the $1000-$2000 price range.

I will try to find out the price of caliber conversion kits and additional barrels when I am at SHOT.

[ Many thanks to Daniel and Josh for emailing me info about this rifle. ]