The Firearm Blog

Taurus's Judge revolvers have proved to be incredibly popular. Not resting on their laurels, Taurus has introduced the gigantic Raging Judge Magnum. In additional to the standard Judge cartridges, the .410 shotshell (2.5"/3") and .45 Colt, the Raging Judge can chamber the .454 Casull! Outside of Africa there is probably nothing that cannot be taken down with a Raging Judge Magnum.

Kristin Hunt and the Judge

Raging Judge Magnum (6" barrel)

The handgun will be available with either a 3" or 6" barrel and in either a stainless or blued finish. The 6" version includes a vent-rib for use with a scope mount.

3" barrel model

Like the Taurus Raging Bull line, the gun is big and it is heavy. The advantage that the Judge has over similar .454 chambered guns is its ability to chamber shot shells. A hunter or fisherman can load a shotshell in the first chamber for snakes and .454 in subsequent chambers to defend against bears. The cylinder holds six rounds.

Last year American Tactical Imports was forced to take their GSG-5, a .22 MP5 patterned pistol and rifle, off the market after they were successfully sued by H&K for trade dress infringement. You can imagine my surprise when I saw them on display at SHOT only a couple of months after the lawsuit.

It turns out H&K had initially sued them over a long list of complaints. Most of these, the trade dress infringement being the sole exception, were thrown out of court. By simply making some design changes to avoid the GSG-5 being confused with the H&K MP5, ATI has been able to bring the gun back into the market under the GSG-522 name. The GSG-522 design was signed off by H&K and no royalties are required to be paid.

The GSG-522 has many subtle design changes. The biggest changes are ...

• Textured pistol grip
• Redesigned selector switch
• Picatinny rail on top
• Square "open" front sight rather than the classic H&K ring front sight.
• Integrated sling bracket (on trigger guard ... looks a bit flimsy to me)

New GSG-522 Pistol (bottom) compared to original GSG-5 PK Pistol

Close up of the new sight.

It still retains the MP5 style but is much less likely to mistaken for a real MP5 (although in reality the original GSG-5 would also not have been confused with the real deal).

The joke is that ATI will offer "upgrade" kits that will allow you to retrofit a GSG-522 to look like the original GSG-5.

GSG-522 Pistol and SD Carbine (with 110 round drum!!!)

The GSG-522 will be available in many configurations:

• GSG-522 Carbine with 16.25" barrel
• GSG-522 SD Carbine with 16.25" barrel (MP5-SD style)
• GSG-522 Pistol with 9" barrel
• GSG-522PK Pistol (MP5K style) with 4.25" barrel

The carbines will be available in black, nickel and camo finish. Each model will ship with either a 10 round or 22 round magazine.

One of the coolest features of the new GSG-522 line is the 110 round drum magazine.

The drum does not need to be wound. This is a plus, although I imagine after 75 rounds your fingers are going to be very tired (a mag loader is not yet available). An adapter will be offered at a later time which will allow the magazine to be used with the ATI GSG Kalashnikov.

As soon as this drum goes on sale you can be sure that in no time Youtube will be filled with videos of people dumping 100 rounds as quickly as possible

I do not yet have pricing info for the drum or GSG-5 firearms.

GSG-522PK

A company is selling speed loaders for the .500 S&W! These monsters are machined out of aluminum billet and hold 5 rounds.

I can't help but think that a better solution than a .500 S&W speedloader is simply to keep far away from lion prides, rhino herds and dinosaur parks.

Veeshir said to me in an email ..

The prices are decent, the .500 at $25 are kinda high dollar but they make the only ones I've ever seen and it is a lot of aluminum, the rest are $15, or only $5 more than Cheaper than Dirt, plastic ones.

They'll make whatever you want too, if you click their links you can see they're CNC machines, they'll do one offs for people.

I got two for the .500 and they look good out of the box. Nice machining, no rough edges or burrs or anything, and they worked fine the few times I tried. Nice and smooth. I just got them today, but so far they look really good.

Veeshir wrote a review here.

[ Many thanks to Veeshir for the info. ]

One of the major product launches at SHOT Show was the launch of the S&W Bodyguard Series.

Smith & Wesson have applied the Bodyguard name to a variety of lightweight wheel guns over the past 50 or 60 years. The latest iteration of the Bodyguard brand again includes a light weight revolver but also, cleverly, a light weight pistol (offering something for everyone).

The Bodyguard 380 pistol and Bodyguard 38 Revolver were both designed with similar objectives in mind. Both are lightweight compacts, both are chambered in low-powered .38 caliber cartridges, both have a similar black finish and, notably, both come standard with a built-in laser sight.

The laser sight is a feature S&W will be marketing heavily. The INSIGHT manufactured lasers feature ambi control, constant and pulse modes, windage and elevation adjustment and three hour continuous operation.

The booth was lit up with red lights (emphasizing the laser capability)

S&W Bodyguard 380 Pistol

This pistol is a brand new design. It is lightweight at 11.85 ounces, although not quite as light as the Kel-Tec P-3AT which weights in at just 8.3 oz. Its polymer frame with integral laser has a cool futurist look to it.

It is double action, has an external safety and can hold 6+1 rounds of .380 ACP ammunition.

S&W Bodyguard 380 Revolver

The Bodyguard 380 is a lightweight J-Frame with aluminum/polymer frame and steel cylinder. While less exciting than the above autoloader, it is a decent compact revolver. It features an ambidextrous cylinder release on top and fully enclosed hammer for snag-free drawing. The laser is mounted on the left side (laser switch is mounted on top for ambidextrous use).

OK ... words fail me.

This Glock 22 (.40 S&W) blew up while firing reloaded ammunition.

From AR15.com ...

Was at the range with some friends today, and a friends glock 22 grenaded with some commercially reloaded .40. This brand is really popular up here for idpa and ipsc as well as plinking.

The trigger, mag release, and slide stop disintigrated, but were recovered amongst the rubble around the range. The head of the case was found about 20 yards downrange. Also, the top of the chamber took a chunk out of the ceiling. not to mention the slide coming off of the rail on one side, and the frame being completely warped in that area.

his hand is alright, no cuts, but will probably be bruised soon.

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

Danger Room reports on a unique pistol made by German firm Armatix. The gun is armed by a wristwatch and disarmed when the watch is out of range. The .22 pistol sells for 7000 EUR ($9750)!

Photo © Bryan Jones. Click through to see high res pics.

Obviously this device is very impractical in the real world. The bright green light shining into the user face would make the sights very hard to use at night, not to mention making the user an easy target.

[ Many thanks to all the readers who emailed me the link. ]

Over the past 6 months I have been following the Marines sly procurement of M45 1911 pistols (formally MEU(SOC) pistol) in small parts. The Marines have just procured 150,000 rounds of Federal Premium Gold Medal .45 Auto 185GR FMJ-SWC Match Ammunition.

The procurement is notable because the rounds are not loaded with classic 230 gr hardball bullets, but the lighter and faster 185 grain FMJ-SWC bullets.

[ Many thanks to Matt for emailing me the info. ]

UPDATE: Daniel pointed out that the purchase was for the USMC Competition-In-Arms Program and that the solicitation appears to have been canceled.

A reader emailed me these photos of a revolver which belonged to his Grandfather during WWI. It looks to me like a fancy Webley. Does anyone know what model gun it is and who made it?

Unbeknown to me, China has been developing a line of underwater guns. Their designs are based on Russia's underwater guns but are chambered in a new cartridge that appears to use 5.8x42mm (Chinese DBP87) brass.

The Chinese version of the Russian SPP-1 three barrels in a triangular configuration, rather than the SPP's four barrel setup.

SPP-1 (top), Chinese variant (bottom)

The Chinese version of the [Russian APS] rifle(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APS_underwater_assault_rifle) being fired.

More info at China Defense.

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

The entire TDI KRISS line is going to be available in .40 S&W later this year. Additionally, lower receivers will be sold so that a .45 model can be converted to .40 S&W. Like the .45 version, it also uses Glock magazines.

The photo below of the prototype .40 S&W submachine gun model. I had to promise them I would make is clear it is a prototype and that the finish on the lower is rough and not what will be seen on the production version.

DS Arms, not wanting be to outdone by their AR-making counterparts, will be selling a Short Barred Rifle (SRB) and pistol version of the FN FAL. They feature a barrel about 8" long (+/- one inch, I forget the exact length).

SRB (top) and Pistol (bottom)

The pistol is essentially the SBR with the stock replaced with a sling attachment. I forgot to ask, but I think they will have made it hard for a regular stock to be attached (the BATFE can be fussy about this).

SBR with para-style stock in folded position.

The SBR pictured above is actually a full auto model; it is in effect a 7.62x51mm Personal Defense Weapon!

DSA were not able to give me pricing for the pistol or SBR and as of now no pricing is on their website.

The TDI KRISS Vector is now available in a pistol configuration. This allows civilians to purchase a short barreled configuration where previously they were limited to the 16" carbines. The military and law enforcement the select-fire pistol version makes for a compact and controllable PDW.

.45 KRISS pistol

The Vltor Bren Ten (formally the Fortis pistol) is a clone of the original 10mm Auto Bren Ten. The main differences are, according to the company, tighter tolerances and better magazines (not compatible with original Bren 10 mags).

The pistols will go on sale in May this year. Pricing will range from $1099 (Spec Ops .45 ACP model) to $1299 (Vice 10mm Auto model). Production is limited. They do not expect to produce more than 700 of the Vice model and 500 of the Spec Ops model for sale in 2010.

Vice model. Note that these are branded "Fortis". Production pistols will be branded "Bren Ten"

Defense Review also has photos of the pistol.