In the interests of full disclosure, these were the free gifts given to me at Media Day (the industry shoot before SHOW Show starts).
What you have there is four caps, one notebook, eye and ear protection (not really a gift), a backpack and a Otis cleaning kit-in-a-can (a promotional version of their kit, I think).
These were not given to me personally, but were on offer to all attendees of Media Day.
Trijicon are under fire after it was discovered that Trijicon scopes supplied to the US Army contain a references to bible verses inscribed on them.
ABC News reports ...
One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
The tradition of inscribing bible verse references on the sights was started by the founder, a devout Christian, and continued after his death in 2003.
[ Many thanks to all the readers who emailed in this story ]
UPDATE: Brits also complaining.
From the press release ...
Steyr Arms announced the acquisition of Merkel USA today. Merkel USA is the U.S. importer and service center for Merkel’s side-by-side and over/under shotguns, fine double rifles, drillings, combination guns, K1 single-shot stalking rifles, the innovative KR1 bolt-action rifle, and the exceptionally reliable SR1 semiautomatic rifle. Merkel Hunting And Sporting Arms was created in 1898 in Suhl, Germany, and its firearms have been available in the U.S. since 1991, two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Merkel USA is also the importer for Anschutz precision rimfire sporting rifles. It also imports Grulla’s exquisite line of Spanish-made sidelock side-by-side shotguns as well as Docter Optic sights and scopes.
Merkel USA is an importer and should not be confused with Merkel in Germany who manufacture firearms.
Last year I blogged about NASA's incredibly powerful hybrid/air gun used for simulating impacts from meteor and space debris. Quicklaunch is taking the concept even further. PopSci reports on their proposed cannon which could be used to launch fuel, supplies and satellites into space.
The Quicklaunch cannon would float at sea at the equator. The proposed firing system works by burning natural gas inside a heat exchanger. The heat from the burning natural gas is used to heat hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas expands quickly and pushes the projectile out of the barrel. Release valves prevent over pressure inside the barrel. There is a photo at the PopSci website.
The idea of launching objects into space from a cannon is not new. In the 1960s Canada and the United States attempted to develop a Space Gun as part of the High Altitude Research (HARP) Project. The most infamous attempt at building a Space Gun was Saddam Hussein's Babylon Project which fortunately never came to fruition before the project was dismantled following the fist Gulf War.
[ Many thanks to root for emailing me the link. ]
NRANews's Cam and Company [ iTunes Link, 1/14/10 episode ] let slip the news that Ruger would have a LCR chambered in .357 Magnum on display. I am sure that this is the wheel gun that Michael Bane recently blogged about!
The original .38 Special Ruger LCR was announced at SHOT Show last year.
[ Many thanks to Nick for alerting me to the news. ]
Solider system reports ...
Robinson Arms, manufacturers of the XCR have filed suit yesterday in US District Court for Utah against Remington, Bushmaster, Rock River Arms, and Magpul Industries based on alleged infingement of their patent (Multi-caliber ambidextrously controllable firearm #7,596,900) issued 6 October, 2009 and initially filed in August of 2003.
I will be sure to ask Robarms about this at SHOT (and they will be sure to tell me they cannot say anything for legal reasons).
The patent in question can be read after the jump.
[ Many thanks to jdun1911 for emailing me the link. ] Continue Reading »
I won't normally post trailers for training DVDs, but the Magpul Dynamics series is REALLY good.
[ Many thanks to Dave who emailed in these videos. ]
Hey y'all,
I have been traveling extensively over the past couple of weeks and spending very little time in one place. Until SHOT Show I will be moving around a lot! I am blogging as much as I can!
My mail box has 173 emails which need a reply! I promise to read every email I get, but at this point please do not expect a reply in the near future!
Tomorrow I plan on posting about my visit the NRA Vault 
Ed Friedman, Associate Editor of the NRA's Shooting Illustrated magazine and gun blogger, was kind enough to organize for me a tour of the NRA. I had the pleasure of meeting most the editors for the Shooting Illustrated, American Hunter, American Rifleman and Insight magazines.
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Matt Sharpe, Assistant Curator, gave me a personal tour of the NRA National Firearms Museum. The museum is amazing. If you are in the DC metro area, you must go and see it. After the tour I was privileged to be taken down to the infamous vault and see the vast collection of guns not on display
During the tour I was briefly interview by Danielle Sturgis, the Senior Media Specialist, who blogged about my visit at NRABlog.com.
To round off my trip Tyler Kries (Firearms Manager, blogger and the guy with the coolest office I have ever seen - it resembles a high end gun shop) organized a shoot of the new Savage BA .338 Lapua Magnum. Shooting a .338 with a big fraking muzzle brake in a small room (about 60 yards long and a few yards wide) was quite an experience! I am not sure my heart could put up with much more than the two rounds each of us put through it! I joke, it was a LOT of fun.
Many thanks to everyone involved with the tour (including Danny-The-Interen), especially Ed Friedman who invited me and organized it. I had an amazing time and look forward to catching up with y'all again at SHOT.
The NRA National Firearms Museum (website not working at present) is situated in the same building complex as the NRA Headquarters Fairfax, Virginia. The Assistant Curator, Matt Sharpe, was kind enough to give me a personal tour (exclusive tours can be arranged in advance 1 ) . The exhibits start with the development of the first handheld cannons and continue through history to the present. I cannot speak more highly of the museum - it holds an amazing and diverse collection of guns, many of which you will never see anywhere else,
The photos I took are pretty bad, but I hope to do a follow up post with better quality photos taken by professional photographers.
I am pretty sure admission to the Museum is free. If you are without a car, catch the DC Metro (orange line) to Fairfax, VA and then go the remainder of the distance by Taxi (the taxi cost me about $16).
National Firearms Museum
11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030-9400, United States
(703) 267-1600
Again, many thanks to Matt for giving me the tour and sharing with me his extensive knowledge of the collection.
Tomorrow I will post photos of the NRA Vault
According to NRABlog.com, exclusive tours can be arranged by calling (703) 267-1600. ↩
