There has been a debate on AR15.com about how powerful this gun is. My guess would be a 800 grain slug traveling at 100 ft/second and generating just under 18 ft/lbs (24 joules) of muzzle energy. This is guesstimate fits in with the inventor's estimate of 1-3% efficiency (1250kj * 0.03 = 37.5 joules).
This gun would still have recoil. Newton's third law of motion cannot be circumvented by the use of magnets. Please correct me if I am wrong (UPDATE: I am!), but I think the recoil would be spread out during the time the projectile passes through the "barrel" (magnetic coils), unlike a firearm where the recoil occurs after the bullet exits the barrel. A marksman would need to counteract the recoil whilst aiming the gun, much like a machine gunner. This would have a horrible effect on accuracy, but the felt recoil would probably be more comfortable.
[ Many thanks to Ben and jdun1911 for emailing me the link. ]
So I was giving my car a much needed clean and I found1 a long forgotten surplus Swiss SIG 510 rifle cleaning kit. Having never given it a second look since the time I bought it on the cheap, I take it inside and examined it. It contains two plastic bottles. I expected one to be used for oil and the other for solvent, but I was wrong. They both were full of grease. Long story short, I manage to get this ancient Swiss grease on my fingers and then, replying to an email, I get it on my beautiful new aluminum Apple keyboard!
I keep gun grease handy for the occasional application to a sear or trigger linkage, but this one kit contains far more grease than I have ever used on a firearm. Can someone please explain to me why a Swiss solider would need not one but two bottles of grease? Enlighten me!
One of the advantages of being a gun nut is that just about every drawer, cupboard and shelf contains a long forgotten but highly useful piece of equipment. ↩
EMA Tactical will soon be importing the RONI Carbine Kit's for the Sig 226 and 2022, the Springfield XD and the Beretta Px4 Storm pistols. The price will be $399, the same as their GLOCK kit.
Legally, the converted pistols are SBR's, not carbines, and so the necessary paperwork must be filed with the BATFE.
An Australian news website reports that Google claims hunters regularly shoot down their ariel fibre cables ...
Google has revealed that aerial fibre links to its data centre in Oregon were "regularly" shot down by hunters, forcing the company to put its cables underground.
...
"What people do for sport or because they're bored, they try to shoot at the insulators," Gill said.
I am not saying that some individual is not intentionally targeting their cables, maybe a technophobe with metal health issues or some irresponsible kids with a .22, but not the hunting community as inferred by this Google employee. Sadly this story has hit Slashdot and will soon be plastered all over the web and painting hunters everywhere in a poor light.
Remington Defense has been awarded the contract to upgrade up to 3,600 of the Amry's M24 Sniper Weapon Systems (SWS) to what will be classified as the M24E1.
The Remington M24E1
The M24E1 is a total conversion upgrade. The Army requires them to use the same receiver and trigger, but everything else will be replaced.
The new M24E1 features:
Chambered in .300 Win. Mag.
New stock design. Fully adjustable. Features picatinny rails.
Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20x50mm Extended Range/Tactical (ER/T) M5 Locking Adjustment riflescope variable power scope with bullet-drop compensator for the .300 Win. Mag. cartridge and Horus H27 or H58 reticle in the front focal plane (magnifies with the image). This scope is Leupold's premier Mark 4 scope.
Quick detach AAC muzzlebrake and suppressor.
Five round detachable magazine.
Corrosion resistant finish.
This much needed upgrade brings the venerable M24 into the 21st century. The snipers are going to love it!
I want to congratulate long-time reader and contributor Aurélien on the publication of his first "major work", a special edition of the French magazine RAIDS. The edition is entitled "le pistolet au combat" (the handgun in battle). It covers the evolution of the combat handgun, and has articles about the M1911, the GP35/BHP, the 92, the P22X, GLOCKs and Makarov pistols.
For those of you who can read French, the magazine can be purchased here and, I am told, shipped worldwide.
Hootiewho has posted an incredibly comprehensive article on M4Carbine.net comparing the FN SCAR and AR-15. He went as far as to do a temperature analysis!
This article is well worth reading.
[ Many thanks to Vitor for emailing me the link. ]
One of the lessons learn't during the recent wars in the Middle East is that the 7.62x51mm owns the long distance engagement. The problem with 7.62mm weapons is that they are heavy. The new HK121 is a next-generation GPMG that is designed to be as light weight as possible.
The HK121 is still a prototype. The Visier magazine article (cover pictured above) states that it is a new design despite the external similarities it shares the the MG4. It weights just a few pounds more than the MG4 making it much lighter than the FN MAG / M240.
