An article published today at the Belgium news website Leosir.be claims that le SCAR is destined to replace the M14 and M16 and that up to 10,000 could be ordered by the American Army.
Le SCAR (special combat assault rifle) est destiné à remplacer les fusils M-14 et M-16 en circulation depuis des décennies.
L’armée américaine en aurait commandé 1.600 unités, mais ce nombre pourrait augmenter à 10.000 dans les prochaines années.
Given the timing of this article and that the top news item on FN Herstal's1 website is still "FN 5.56 SCAR® Retained in USSOCOM's Inventory", I suspect FN has been feeding information to the press.
Could FN Herstal have had an ace up their sleeve all along? Or are they just refusing to admit defeat?
[ Many thanks to Clairon for posting the link. ]
This video me a good laugh. It must have been damn scary!
The owner of the unlucky Ruger Redhawk has been discussing the incident on the WeaponsCache forum.
GSN reports that the Government Accountability Office has thrown out a protest from Sig Sauer over the BATFE's decision to eliminate their pistol from the procurement competition they are running to select the new pistol system for the agency ...
“Based on the results of the shooting tests, the [source selection board] recommended to the contracting officer that Sig Sauer’s handgun be excluded from further consideration as unacceptable with respect to reliability,” said the GAO, in a decision document released on August 18. ATF agents had recorded 58 stoppages with Sig Sauer’s full-size and compact pistols, 13 of which were considered to be gun-induced and 45 shooter-induced.
Sig Sauer raised a variety of objections to the manner in which ATF considered various criteria during the evaluation process, but the GAO didn’t buy the company’s arguments.
This beautiful rifle is being auctioned off by RIA ...
The analysis of this unique wheelock style air gun can be best described in the book "Smith's Standard Encyclopedia of Gas, Air and Spring Guns of the World" by W.H.B. Smith. On top of page 17, there is a very similar example photographed with the caption "one of the earliest known authenticated air guns. German crank gun about 1560 A.D.". Blade front and adjustable notch rear sights, with an indistinct proof on the left side of the barrel near the breech and a metal retainer arm secured to the underside, extending through the bottom of the stock, and held by a swiveling latch, disengaging the latch allows the barrel to slide forward and then tip up, exposing the breech. Action is fitted with double set triggers and a wheelock style crank on the right rear side of the buttstock, which conceals an air tang. Checkered full length stock, with brass tip, ebony tipped ramrod with lion head pipes, silver wire inlay, brass combination handiest and trigger guard, raised carved floral and fruit designs on the front of the raised curved cheekpiece and a brass buttplate with aforementioned action hardware.
[ Many thanks to Todd for emailing me the link. ]
I have blogged many times about the Mexican drug lords' bad taste when it comes to firearms. Now some of these weapons are on display in a museum located at the Mexican Ministry of Defense. Daily Mail reports ...
The private museum, which is located in the country’s Ministry of Defence, opened in 1985 and is used by the military to educate soldiers to the lifestyles and culture of drug cartels.
Open only to military officials and officer cadets in drug enforcement, the Museo de los Enervantes also serves to chronicle Mexico’s war on drugs.
When it first opened, the museum featured a single room of confiscated cocaine and heroin.
[ Many thanks to Fred, Sean and RL for emailing me the link. ]
Gabe Bailey, Marketing Director, has admitted that USSOCOM is not buying the SCAR Mk.16 rifle ...
You are correct and I am not hiding any facts. And, as the main customer has stated, they do not plan to buy the MK 16...in my humble opinion, this has nothing to do with performance but rather smartly-weighed budget decisions.
Performance fact: As I previously noted, the MK 16 (and MK17, MK 13) met all requirements. Those requirements ARE well above and beyond the weapon(s) it is intended to replace. Neither the MK 16 weapon nor the program were ever cancelled as we all have come to realize through factual evidence (MS C & FRP).
Arguments raged across the internet after Christian Lowe, managing editor of Military.com, broke the story. Christian personally took a lot of flack. He recently wrote ...
We are not in the business of reporting rumors on a story as important (and emotional) as this. I searched for the facts, got them from the government source and reported them to Kit Up! readers (and I’ll also reiterate, I did seek comment from FNH-USA and got a detailed statement from them, but it was OFF THE RECORD so I could not use it).
It did not help that FN Herstal (Belgium) claimed that they "hereby refutes the allegations recently found on the web that USSOCOM abandoned the 5.56 version of the SCAR". I know for a fact that some or all of FNH-USA employees were not aware of the FN Herstal press release and obviously FN Herstal was not aware that the SCAR had in fact been dropped. I think they personally owe Christian an apology.
I am pleased this debate has finally been resolved and we can all get back to arguing which is better, the Glock or the M1911.
[ Many thanks to Rijoenpial for the link. ]
The UTSPO has just published a patent application from Magpul for a modular two-part AR-15 stock. This is the design used for their UBR stock.
You can read the patent after the jump ... Continue Reading »
I recently questioned Hi-Point's wisdom in producing a nifty .45 Carbine but only producing an eight round magazine.
Fortunately there is hope on the horizon. Doc, a reader of TFB, emailed Hi-Point about this issue and they informed him that they are developing an extended magazine.
Hi-Point .45 Carbine: A big gun with a small mag.
[ Many thanks to Doc for emailing me the info. ]
While interned in a POW camp during WWI Louis Marquis designed a .22 belt buckle gun. He later received a patent the design and during WWII was commissioned by Himmler to produce prototypes. It is thought that about 12 were made.
A 7.65mm version (probably a post-war copy).
During the 50s and 60s many copies were made in German machine shops, possibly to cash in on the rarity of the originals.
Phoenix Investment Arms has photos of an original valued at $15,000. Photos of clones can be seen at the Axis History Forum.
[ Many thanks to Sven (Defense and Freedom) for emailing me the the info. ]
Steve Adelmann of Shooting Illustrated discusses his quest to find a decent H&K G3 clone ...
Though the heavily seasoned G3A3 I carried wasn’t accurized, a few simple modifications reconfigured it well enough for mountain fighting without sacrificing reliability. Clumsy, heavy and not exactly ergonomic—especially for lefties—the G3 family still managed to carve out a spot in the nostalgic section of my little brain. I decided to add a variant to my collection, but I wanted a solid shooter that wouldn’t set me back two months’ pay, so I turned to the replica market.
The article is well worth reading.
