The Firearm Blog

Mexican Marines captured a weapons cache containing 80 rifles, 20 pistols, 3 rocket launchers, 50,000 rounds of ammunition, 880 magazines, 3kg of explosives, 4 hand grenades, 2 40mm grenades, and 1 ton of fireworks.

The weapons were found near the city of Monclova, Coahuila state, and are believed to have been owned by the Los Zetas drug cartel.

What is especially interesting is the number of MWG 90 Rounder AR-15 magazines (or clones). Over 40 appear in the above photo.

If you’re a firearm enthusiast, you might not like what you’re about to see – the results of a house fire that destroyed a number of interesting firearms. They were stored in a secure room, but unfortunately, not in a fire-resistant safe.

Among the weapons destroyed were an exceptionally rare AWC G2 bullpup M1A, several Class III items, ARs, shotguns, and a number of standard M1As.

Burned Firearms

A friend of mine is a young man who is not only exceptionally skilled when it comes to modifying and repairing firearms, but has a devious mind when it comes to such things. He’s a Marine and works in the firearms industry, building exotic weaponry all day long. As a result, he’s unimpressed with “average” firearms, and chooses to build something unique whenever he sets out on a project. Many of these are based on firearms he’s seen in movies or video games; others are simply products of the dark recesses of his mind, like the “Finn-Engineered Rifle” – a Chinese Type 53 with a Suomi barrel shroud, front sight, and muzzle brake.

Type 53 Suomi

He often works with Piece of History Firearms, a firearm restoration company which had taken “custody” of the destroyed weapons, and was given the opportunity to acquire one of the M1As for a song. He had every intention of quickly righting the grievous wrong that had been done to the rifle, but before he could do that, important parts such as the bolt, barrel and receiver, among others, had to be tested to see if they had been too badly damaged in the fire.

Luckily for him, every part except the barrel passed hardness testing. The receiver is marked Century Arms M14S; these were actually Chinese Norincos imported by Century. The receiver is forged and heat treated 5100 series steel, and was apparently durable enough to survive the fire with only cosmetic damage. It’s second from the left in the above photo.

With the testing done, he replaced minor parts such as springs and pins, and set out to clean and refinish many parts of the weapon. Because the barrel needed to be replaced, he found a replacement – a heavy match barrel – online. This barrel required the use of a unique op rod guide that wasn’t readily available, so he had the barrel turned down by his friend Dave, a very skilled machinist. While Dave was turning down the barrel, one of the unique touches they put on the weapon was to fin the barrel. Why? Because they could.

Finned barrel

The “Scout” upper handguard wasn’t chosen to show off the fins, rather, it was the only handguard that he could find for free. Besides the stock/handguards and barrel, the only parts that were replaced include springs, pins, spring guide, and the rear sight assembly.

If it’s not immediately apparent, the white-stocked M1A is a tribute to the rifle that was on the cover of the box for the PC game “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear,” which was pretty popular when it came out way back in 1999. I myself spent quite a bit of time playing it, and thought his choice of “themes” for this rifle was pretty cool.

As you can see, the metal parts of the rifle look essentially new, thanks to a complete manganese refinishing job, and what I think was a lot of good prep work. Beyond that, it functions like new – he’s put a lot of rounds through it without any problems.

I think he did a great job with the “Rogue Spear Rifle.” Even if I didn’t like the “snow camo” – and I do – I’d still be happy that he was able to bring this rifle back from the dead.

Stoeger recently introduced the X20 Suppressor air rifle to the US market. The break-action rifle features an integrated suppressor which utilizes an air regulator and baffle system to keep the gun as quiet as possible.

What the suppressor will not quite is the noisy piston that break-action air rifles use. Stoeger claim the rifle is 7.05 decibels quieter than their competitors suppressed airguns, see the video below ...

California Competition Works P-MAG Coupler replaces a P-MAG base allow another PMAG to be attached, increasing capacity to 60 rounds (or 50 if a 20 round magazine is used).

The Coupler costs $45 and includes a replacement coil spring.

[Hat Tip: ENDO]

Have you ever purchased a plastic gun part and felt like you were charged far more than it cost to manufacture? Maybe you were. The Army has purchased 25,000 SOPMOD stocks for just $12.28 a piece. This is the same AR-15 stock sold by The Lewis Machine & Tactical for $200 - $300! How did the Army get such a good price? They bypassed LMT and went with another manufacturer [PDF Link], B5 Systems, Inc of Xenia, OH.

LMT SOPMOD Stock

LMT claims to be "the sole provider of the SOPMOD Buttstock to the US Special Ops Command, US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps and other government agencies and bureaus." That claim appears to be no longer true. They also claim, on their homepage, that non-LMT SOPMOD stocks are counterfeit. LMT did not design the SOPMOD stock, they licensed it for commercial production from the Navy (Crane). Any SOPMOD stock produced to the mil spec, under license from the government, is very much legitimate.

Apparently surplus B5 stocks can be found for about $68 retail, which is a lot more expensive than what the government is paying (go ahead and buy 25,000 and you will also get a discount), but a fraction of the cost of a "genuine" LMT stock.

[ Many thanks to jdun1911 for emailing me the link. ]

When I talked to the folks at Ruger at the 2011 NRA convention, the buzz was all about the Ruger SR1911. Ruger’s offering for the 100th anniversary of John Moses Browning’s iconic pistol was well-received, and they had triplicate models highlighted as the centerpiece of their pistol display. Talking to several of the Ruger staff, they were quite eager to reach out to gun writers both print and online to get the SR1911 into the hands of folks who wanted to test it out.

Well, except those of us in Massachusetts.

Not to be daunted, the request was submitted for an LC9 – Ruger’s micro-9mm is pretty significant in its own right. Not content to rest on the success of the LCP, Ruger offered up the LC9 as a “bigger brother” to the diminutive .380. The LC9 lands between the compact SR9 and the LCP for size, a thin, nearly pocketable 9mm to rival the Kel-Tec PF9, Kahr PM9, and SIG SAUER P290. Pistols in this market segment are small, light, and chambered in “major” calibers – 9mm, .357 Sig, and .40 S&W.

The LC9 comes with an impressive assortment of gear – zippered pouch, lock, finger rest magazine floor plate as well as flush, etc. (Picture 1). Since it’s so new to the scene, magazines are somewhat scarce and accessories are still in the development stage; however I was still able to procure both a pocket holster (DeSantis Nemesis) and a tuckable IWB holster (DeSantis Sof-Tuk) for the LC9 (Picture 2). Despite the protestations of some, the LC9 can indeed be carried in a front pocket, although not as easily as its smaller sibling the LCP.

The LC9 is both exactly what you’d expect from Ruger – solidly built, plain-jane looks, and superfluous safety features (LCI) – and also nothing like you’d expect. This is a subcompact 9mm bordering on pocket size – obviously geared for the concealed carry market, something that Ruger resisted for decades. Smith & Wesson made their smallest revolvers lighter and lighter; until the debut of the LCR, Ruger’s had been charitably weighted similar to anchors. It is obvious that the folks at Ruger have embraced the civilian concealed carry market, and everybody benefits.

First impressions. The LC9, despite its diminutive size, manages to fill one’s hand nicely. The magazine comes with both a flush floor plate and one with a finger rest which are quickly interchanged depending on one’s preference; for this review the flush plate was left in place. The gun has smooth, rounded lines for carry; simple and well-placed controls; and a trigger with minimal creep that smoothed out very nicely after a few hundred dry fires. The light weight allows it to both be carried with ease and also shot extensively – the empty weight of 17.1 ounces makes it only slightly heavier than an Airweight revolver. It’s heavy enough to absorb the recoil of 9mm but light enough to carry all day long.

Takedown is simple and achieved with minimal tools – simply empty the gun, push the takedown plate down, push lightly on the muzzle, and drive the takedown pin out (picture 3). One criticism I heard from a friend in the business is that with repeated firing/jostling of the gun, the takedown gate may become loose and allow the pin to fall out if nudged the wrong way – it doesn’t appear likely that the sequence of events needed for that to occur would happen in every day shooting and carrying, but it is something to be aware of. Having a spare takedown plate and pin in case they get worn wouldn’t be a terribly idea.

Shooting the LC9. The LC9 was taken to the range for a preliminary shakedown testing. Several different types and manufacturers of ammunition were acquired for testing – including jacketed hollowpoints as would be used for concealed carry (picture 5). The LC9 did not like RWS 124 grain FMJ ammunition, having three failures to fire out of the two magazines; however all other ammunition fed, fired, and ejected flawlessly. Most ammunition used was 115 grain FMJ; two magazines of Remington jacketed hollow point ammunition was added.

Accuracy was surprisingly good for a lightweight gun with a short sight radius (picture 6). Recoil was very manageable, allowing for rapid shots that stayed on target. Shooting the LC9 offhand at a distance 25 feet, rapid fire, all seven shots stayed well within the confines of a standard NRA B-34 silhouette target. Felt recoil was no worse than a standard S&W J-frame revolver firing light .38 Special rounds. The LC9 trigger, while on the heavier side, was consistent from take-up to release and is similar to a double action revolver.

Conclusion: The LC9 is a solid hit for Ruger. It’s priced very competitively in the field of subcompact 9mm handguns, with competitors either significantly higher or statistically equal. The fit and finish is what one expects from Ruger – solid yet utilitarian. Further testing remains to be done with regards to how it carries as well as the long term reliability – less than 75 rounds were run through this model for the testing, which barely covers the break-in period. It will also need more time in the holster to see if the small size and light weight translate into “carry lots”.

[ We are proud to continue to have Jay G of the MArooned blog as a guest writer. ]

THOR is taking pre-orders for their new THOR TR-15 "Talon" PDW. The gun has a 7" barrel and is piston operated.

The carbine features:

• Quad Rail System
• Noveske KX3
• Magpul CTR stock
• Magpul PMAG maagzine
• Magpul MIAD Grip
• TROY Rear Sight
• TROY Front Sight
• Magpul AFG
• KAC Rear Sling Swivel
• KNS Anti Walk Pins
• Badger Tactical Latch

You have to ask for pricing, so you bet it will be expensive.

The latest edition of the popular reloading book The ABCs Of Reloading: The Definitive Guide for Novice to Expert by Rodney James was published earlier this year. The Kindle Edition is currently on sale for just $3. If you don't have a Kindle, you can run the Kindle application on a PC, Mac, iPhone/iPod/iPad or Android phone.

Benelli is a relatively new firearm manufacturer, especially in European terms, having been established in 1967. It’s grown to be a respected force in the shotgun business, and especially since becoming part of the Beretta Group, it’s adopted many new technologies. The level of automation is incredibly high – for example, production of the new Vinci shotgun, from processing of raw materials to final packaging, is entirely done by robots and machines.

One of the technologies that Benelli has wholeheartedly embraced is cryogenic barrel treatment. Using their 1 million frames per second high speed camera, they have determined that cryogenic barrel treatment has definite benefits to the end user. Mauro of Benelli explains more.

A few minor corrections to the video – several other firearms manufacturers, such as Lewis Machine & Tool, use cryogenically treated barrels. Also, the distinction between seconds and milliseconds was lost in translation – the Benelli high speed camera is capable of taking 1 million FPS.

An eight year old girl at Allamanda Elementary school in Palm Springs, Florida, gave her teacher an end-of-term present containing toiletries and a loaded .22 pistol. It is thought that the girl added the gun to the parcel without her grandmothers knowledge.

The mainstream media have focused on the unusual gift, but a loaded gun in a box or parcel is very unlikely to cause harm, but a loaded gun in reach of an eight year old is a disaster waiting to happen.