The Firearm Blog

May their sacrifice never be forgotten.

The video I uploaded of the futuristic German shooting range made it onto the YouTube homepage for a brief period of time! So far is has been watched 137,000+ times!

This is why I blog. Tens of thousands of people whose only exposure to shooting "ranges" was watching on TV fictional gangsters breaking glass bottle with Glocks. They have now seen what I sport really looks like. It is not scary, it is not unsafe and it is enjoyed by normal men and woman.

If you have not watched the video yet, I highly recommend it.

Switzerland has introduced an awesome stamp celebrating the very popular annual federal shooting competition. The middle of the target has a tiny hole I love it.

UPDATE: These stamps can be bought for 20 Swiss Francs (about $17). Shipping worldwide is free!

The origins of Switzerland's popular culture are rooted in myths and legends, in historic events and in the everyday life of farming folk. Whether the festivities involved wrestling or traditional costumes, yodelling or cow fights, they fulfilled a key social and community function long before television reached the remotest corners of Switzerland. Now, four Swiss Post special stamps with typical motifs are turning the spotlight on these customs.

[ Many thanks to Laurent for emailing me the photos. ]

My friend Colin Stolzer of Stolzer & Son's Gunsmithing has completed what I believe to be the first rifle chambered in the enormous 2 Bore S&H Black Powder Express cartridge. For the past six months Colin has been meticulously documenting the build on his website and it is well worth reading. The finished rifle is incredibly beautiful.

Tactical Life has the skinny on the reintroduced Armalite AR-10 chambered in .243 Win.

I think the .243 would be an ideal cartridge for the AR-10 platform.

This snub nosed .357 Smith & Wesson Model 66 was used by Clint Eastwood in the 1984 movie Tightrope. This gun is part of the NRA National Firearms Museum's "Hollywood guns" exhibit.

This weeks Curators Corner episode discusses the history of the .44 Magnum.

[ Many thanks to Lars Dalseide, of NRA Blog, for sending me the photos. ]

They need to feed the 100,000 AK-103 rifles they bought from Russia.

"The ammunition plant will be capable of producing over 50 million rounds annually," said Nikolai Maslyaev, general director of the Izhevsk-based design bureau for automated assembly lines.

The ammunition plant, which is being constructed near the Kalashnikov rifle assembly plant in Venezuela's Aragua State, is expected to be ready for production by the end of 2010.

[Hat Tip: Murdoc Online]

The Journal Sentinel has posted an article about the growth of shooting sports ...

According to a study conducted by Responsive Management, 34.4 million Americans went target shooting in 2009.

For comparison, 28.6 million Americans golfed (a minimum of one round) in 2008, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The Responsive Management study included a wide spectrum of shooting activities at gun clubs and ranges, including hunters sighting in rifles, trap and skeet shooters and handgun owners practicing marksmanship.

Although the number - about 15% of the nation's population - is not insignificant, target shooters are a distinct minority in America.

And unlike golf, shooting carries a negative stigma in much of mainstream America.

[Hat Tip: Rustmeister's Alehouse]

History’s new reality series "Top Shot" debuts on Sunday, June 6th at 10pm (EST). One of the contestants is my fellow gun blogger Caleb Giddings who blogs at Gun Nuts Media. I am really looking forward to watching it.

Caleb Giddings ... with a slingshot (probably do more damage than his .25 ACP

Caleb has blogged about the show.

The new T/C IMPACT muzzleloader is priced at just $250. It looks like the perfect entry-level muzzeloader.

On his blog Tyler Kreis discusses the new innovate features found in the gun.