Science Friday has posted a video about how researchers are developing camo to dupe deer. Apparently researchers trained deer to take a vision test!
UPDATE: American Hunter have reviewed Gore's Optifade camo.
[ Many thanks to Mik for emailing me the link. ]
The C.O. Arms AWP is set apart by an all-black Carry-Tuff finish that protects the gun from all types of weather conditions, rust and scratches and is easily cleaned with just a wipe down. The AWP has a forged 7075 aluminum frame with checkered front strap and 4140 carbon steel slide. It has a 3 ½ in. forged stainless steel bushingless bull barrel with broach cut rifling.
The AWP has XS Express Big Dot sights, a solid adjustable trigger and Commander style hammer. It has a nine round capacity, full-length guide rod, single recoil spring and 30 LPI checkered front strap with matching checkered mainspring housing. This gun also features the new C.O. Arms CCT (concealed carry tactical) slide stop, which has no sharp edges, low profile, one hand operation for ease of use and is checkered to minimize slip.
MSRP is $1599.
Sinclair International has created an eight part series of introductory videos about reloading. They are available free at the Sinclair YouTube Channel. The first video in the series ...
It is great to see more and more gun companies finally understanding social media. So many companies create a Facebook fan page (about 5 minutes work) and think that they are now "connecting" with the younger audience. Creating useful and interesting content is far more likely to attract new customers.
Pyramyd Air was the first company that I can think of which got it. Since 2005 they have been paying B.B. Pelletier to run the Pyramyd Air Report blog. That blog is hands down the best air gun resource online and I am sure it more than pays for itself.
If any companies want advice on starting blogging, vidcast (publishing videos), podcasting or facebooking you can get hold of me via email.
The Packing Rat has reviewed the Burris FastFire II red dot sight ...
The RD is small and light weight – it’s likely you wouldn’t notice the difference on Ruger Mark III 22/45. According to the project description, Burris states that the unit is waterproof. The manual instead states, “Although not completely waterproof, the FastFire is water-resistant and is usable even when exposed to moisture.”
I am not sure where it was found.
[ Many thanks to Sven (Defense and Freedom) for emailing me the the pic. ]
Jim Shepherd reports ...
Recent moves to consolidate manufacturing and production processes include the Marlin impending relocation from its long-time home for a yet-undecided Remington location and the imminent closure and disposal of Bushmaster's Arizona manufacturing facilities.
I said as much last month before withdrawing my statement. In retrospect I should not have withdrawn the statement, I confused the one factory for the other.
My good friend REMOV managed to get a couple of photos of Renaud Kerbrat's latest invention: the KRISS KARD pistol. The KARD will be officially unveiled later this year. Luckily you read The Firearm Blog and get the skinny right now!
The patent application (#20070214699) for the pistol was published in February. It somehow managed to slip under my radar! As you have probably guess by looking at the photos, the pistol makes use of a delayed bolt blowback system.
The KARD's barrel is fixed, rather than the tilting barrel system used in most conventional pistols. To provide inertia, a weight is located at the front of the gun which is actuated by the bolt. The weight, which tilts downwards during recoil, provides the same functionality (interia) as a slide on a regular pistol. By the time the bolt and barrel separate, the pressure inside the barrel will be at safe levels. A recoil spring pulls the bolt back intro battery (stripping a round off the magazine on its return journey).
So what are the advantages of this system? The primary advantage is that the recoil mechanism transfers some of the recoil energy in a downward direction (and at the front of the gun), rather than backwards like a slide does in a regular pistol. This should help keep the gun on target. Another advantage is that the because there is no slide, optics can be easily mounted on the top of the gun. A fixed barrel could be more accurate than a tilting barrel and will make it easier to use suppressors and other muzzle attachments.
I would be very surprised if a machine pistol version of this gun is not made. The design seems to be crying out for full auto trigger!
You can read the full patent application after the jump ...
[ Many thanks to REMOV for sending me info and photos. ]
UPDATE: The barrel is fixed. It does not recoil. Continue Reading »
While the tactical craze may have been largely lost on Izhmash, the official makers of the AK series of rifles, our Russian friends appear to be embracing it. The previous issue of the Russian Reporter magazine featured some very cool AK rifles. Unfortunately I do not know what the title of the article is or what it is about. UPDATE: See the comments below for a translation.
Last year I wrote about some tacti-cool prototype AK-74M rifles that Izhmash exhibited.
[ Many thanks to Lauri and Sven (Defense and Freedom) for emailing me the the image. ]
This week I have been spending considerable time trying to speed up the blog. TFB is now using a global CDN (content distribution network) to serve all the images and other static assets (such as CSS and JS).
What this means is that a network of servers throughout the world now each contain a copy of all the images on the blog. When your web browser request an image, it is loaded from the server geographically closest to you. This will really speed things up.
This graph shows which of the blogs CDN servers are being hammered the most.
The downside is that the CDN is going to cost me a king's ransom each month! I hope you enjoy it 
Tapco have launched a new 30 round magazine for the Mini-14. You can tick off all the latest magazine buzzwords. "Polymer": check, "Anti-tilt follower": check. The MSRP is $15.99.
