The Firearm Blog

The Spearmint Rhino, the international a chain of strip clubs, is suing Chiappa Firearms over the logo used on their Chiappa Firearms Rhino revolvers. They claim that consumers could confuse the revolver with one of their strip clubs or branded g-strings, brassieres and corsets.

Milord & Associates, a law firm which specialize in patent, trademark & copyright law, report that the lawsuit is going to be difficult to win ...

Although the registrations cover goods and services in the adult entertainment industry, e.g. cabarets and “panties, g-strings, brassieres and corsets for semi-nude and erotic dancers,” Rhino sued Chiappa Firearms for allegedly using a confusingly similar Rhino design on its handguns: “Chiappa’s use of the Rhino Outline marks is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive because, among other reasons, consumers are likely to believe that there is an affiliation, connection, or association between” Rhino and Chiappa. Seriously? Maybe I’m a bit daft, but will consumers really confuse panties and guns?

...

Whatever Rhino’s belief, counsel should’ve advised that this is a very difficult case to prove. If Rhino owned a copyright on the work, there would be more of a case. But where the goods or services are so unrelated, confusion among consumers is highly unlikely.

The July 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix featured Mr. Clyde Farrell's Rocket Machine Gun invention, more than 30 years before the first commercially available rocket gun, the GyroJet pistol, went to market. From Modern Mechanix ...

A MACHINE gun hardly heavier than an air rifle, yet capable of firing 700 shots a minute with almost no recoil and no possibility of overheating, was recently ‘announced by its inventor, Clyde Farrell of San Francisco.

Special bullets receive only an initial impetus from the firing pin, and generate their own energy in flight, just as do rockets. All remaining energy is released when contact is made with the target.

Bullets joined together with aluminum wire feed from an endless chain in the regulation machine gun manner.

The complete gun weighs only three and a half pounds. Models have already been tested, and are now at Washington to meet final patent requirements.

It was light, had a high rate of fire, no recoil and belt fed. The weapon seemed to good to be true, so I did some investigating. I could find no rocket machine gun patented in the 1930. There are some patents related to rocket machine guns in the late 1940s, but they are for large caliber conventional military rockets designed for aircraft. In fact, I was unable to locate any USTPO patents that were filed by, or listed the inventor as, "Clyde Farrell".

The claims of being belt fed seem very unlikely. A belt fed weapon needs a power source capable of pulling in rounds and ejecting the empty case and belt links. In magazine weapons this energy is provided by the magazine spring. Belt fed weapons are either powered by gas, recoil or by an external electrical power source. Unlike conventional ammunition, which burns all its propellent inside the barrel, a rocket burns most of its propellent outside the barrel while in flight, thereby generating very little energy inside the gun. The Gyrojet rockets left the gun at just 20 ft/sec! It would not be able to generate enough momentum inside the gun to pull in rounds as well as cocking the hammer. The Grypojet was so slow you can see the rocket bullet leave its barrel in the below video.

Another detail from the article that seems unlikely is the claim that the rocket was ignited by an impulse from the firing pin. If the firing pin was behind the rocket, the hammer would also need to be behind it. If this was the case, how would the rocket cock the hammer? The Gyrojet had a fixed firing pin. Its hammer was in front of the rocket and pushed the rocket into the firing pin. After the rocket was ignited, it pushed the hammer forward as it left the barrel, recocking the gun.

So in summery: the design appears to be impossible. If it really could do what it claimed, it would have definitely been patented.

[ Many thanks to Sven (Defense and Freedom) for emailing me the the info. ]

I was wrong. Despite appearances, Magpul still plan to bring to PMAG 40 to market. Magpul founder Richard Fitzpatrick commented on my previous post saying ...

The PMag 40 is NOT Dead!

It has been delayed due to us concentrating other magazine related projects. That said we are committed to bringing it to market in the future.

It does not appear in the 2011 Catalog because we tried only to feature items that were actually for sale. We even explain this on page two in the intro under he banner "Now Shipping". Even then the MOE + and MS3 had to be delayed.

The Quad stack mag was only ever published in a patent application as required by law. It is an unannounced product and we are not discussing it at this time.

Trust me, we really love releasing products but only when they are up to the standards we set for Magpul. you should see releases pick up before the end of the year however.

I was surprised to learn that despite reviewing everything from expensive shotguns to high-end AR-15 rifles, Andrews favorite gun is the humble Marlin Papoose takedown .22 rifle.

Blogger Tam, of View From The Porch, is another fan of the Papoose.

ChocolateWeapons.com is selling a nifty chocolate replica of a full size Glock pistol made from one pound of chocolate. The "gun" is even shipped in an authentic looking foam lined pistol case! At $30, it would make a great gift for a gun nut.

If your gun nut friend does not like chocolate, or is in need of a shower, the company also sells soap Glocks.

The mould for both the soap and chocolate pistols appears to have been made from a third-generation Glock. I am not a lawyer, but this looks like a trade dress lawsuit waiting to happen. In 2010 Glock settled a lawsuit against Austrian Sporting Arms, who were importing the ISSC M22 pistol, a pistol which had a distinct resemblance to the Glock. If you are wanting a soap Glock pistol, buy it now before Glock hears about it.

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

I missed the original press release, but in case you did not hear about it, two weeks ago the Pursuit Channel began airing a new program called 'Student of the Gun'.

Student of the Gun will cover diverse topics that will include, but not be limited to, Concealed Carry, Practice and Training with Handguns, Rifles, and Shotguns, Modern AR parts and Accessories, Long Range Shooting, Gear and Accessories for the Armed Citizen, Alternate Uses of Force, Gunfights with Lights, Selecting and Zeroing Optics, Personal Survival and Rescue tools, Pocket Pistols, and much more.

Episode #1 is scheduled to premier on Tuesday June 28th, 2011. The program will air every Tuesday and Thursday. The Pursuit Channel is available in over 40 Million homes nationwide and is carried on Direct TV channel 608 PRST and Dish Network channel 240 HUNT. Please check listings for show times in your area.

Alexander Perfilyev, of Chita, Siberia, has been handcrafting miniature fully functional gun replicas for over 30 years. He even goes as far as rifling the tiny barrels! RIA Novosti.ru have published a video (in English) about his hobby.

Alexander Perfilyev with mini Degtyaryov machine gun

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

I am not sure what to call Command Arms Accessories latest product. The RONI Recon is a variant of their RONI Carbine Kit, which converts pistols to carbines, but this kit does not turn a pistol into a carbine, it simply makes a Glock into a much bigger Glock.

The $350 kit allows two handed operation of the Glock, one hand on the pistol grip and one hand on the fore end, as well as a better mounting platform for optics on its 9.4" picatinny rail.

So why would you want to make your compact handgun into a much bulkier handgun? For fun is the only good reason I can give. Unlike the RONI Carbine Kit, the RONI Recon does not turn the pistol into a Short Barrel Rifle and therefor is not subject to NFA rules and taxes.

On two occasions I have had the opportunity to use FLIR thermal imagine scopes. They are very impressive, but so are their price tags. With a relatively low price of $1,999, the new FLIR Scout PS24 Thermal Camera brings thermal imaging within the reach of many consumers who need thermal capabilities for hunting or for locating lost people or livestock.

Unlike image intensifier night vision technology, which amplifies all the available visible and near-infrared light, thermal imaging system operate exclusively in non-visible infrared electromagnetic radiation. Because we are not able to see infrared radiation, the device instead creates a representation of what it detects and displays it on a small digital screen. The screen resolutions of the consumer models are low. The PS24 and PS32 have a 240×180 and 320×240 pixel screen respectively. You view the screen by looking through the view finder, like an optical scope, or by plugging in another device, for example a TV or computer, into the video output port.

A grazing bovine. Taken in the White Hot palette.

The Scout displays temperature contrast. This means that as long as the object you are trying to locate is of significantly different temperature to the surroundings, it will be immediately obvious. In the White Hot palette white represents the hottest temperatures and black the coolest. The Black Hot palette is the reverse and the InstAlert palette highlights very warm objects, such as people, in red.

What most people don't realize is that the temperature contrast works just as well during the day as it does at night.

Deer in a forest, also taken in the White Hot palette.

In February 2009, after many scandals, litigation and other PR disasters, Blackwater USA infamously rebranded themselves as Xe Services. We were puzzled when Mossberg announced a range of Blackwater USA branded shotguns. Then last month the situation became clearer when, at E3, a Blackwater videogame was announced for the XBox 360. Whoever owns the Blackwater trademarks¹ , clearly have plans to milk it for all its worth.

TFB contributor Richard noticed that their old website is now back online and features the above "IS BACK" image with the Blackwater logo. The site hosts an ecommerce store, not yet fully setup, with product categories for Tactical Gear, Knives, Patches, Clothing, Games, Luggage and even Paintball.

The BlackwaterUSA.com domain is registered to someone named "BlackWater BlackWater" with a LA address.

Registrant Contact:
   BlackWater
   BlackWater BlackWater ()

   Fax:
   308 Catalina Avenue
   Los Angeles, CA 90277
   US

Administrative Contact:
   BlackWater
   **BlackWater BlackWater (blackwaterproducts at gmail.com)**
   +1.3104573456
   Fax:
   308 Catalina Avenue
   Los Angeles, CA 90277
   US

Technical Contact:
   BlackWater
   **BlackWater BlackWater (blackwaterproducts at gmail.com)**
   +1.3104573456
   Fax:
   308 Catalina Avenue
   Los Angeles, CA 90277
   US

It seems bizarre that a much a sullied brandname is still commercially viable.

Blackwater Mossberg 500 Cruiser