The Firearm Blog

The Cav Arms guys did an extreme dust test on an AR-15. Turns out AR-15 cannot handle being buried in sand and then run over by a Jeep ... who knew? Apart from the "Jeep test", it did really well.

They also tested an AK derivative, a 5.56mm SAR-3, which did not do as well. It seems odd that the trigger group would fail to function. I have posted videos on the blog showing AKs working under worse conditions.

There is an interesting video at WorldRadio.ch about the famous unique gun culture of Switzerland. At the start of the video a Swiss guy shows the rifle he used in military service, his fathers service rifle and says that his grandfather's service rifle is hanging in his office. How cool is that?

This was my father’s military rifle and of course he got to keep it when he was finished. I have my grandfather’s military rifle hanging on the office wall. This was mine when I did service. It’s quite an old one it was introduced in 1957 and used until 1990. And this is my son’s. It’s the current model. That’s what’s being used today. That’s what we’ll be using the shoot the Feldschiessen today.

The Feldschessen, or Tiro Federale in Campagna as it’s known in these parts is an annual Swiss event and the largest shooting festival in the world. Roughly 200 thousand people come out to target practice all across the country. ammunition is provided by the government.

A shooting content with 200,000 people! Crazy!

And for your viewing benefit, here are some swiss made Sig 550 rifles from CS's collection.

Many thanks to CS for the photos and the link.

Tactical Life reports that the Remington 40-XS chambered in .338 Lapua will soon be available to purchase. It was announced nearly two years ago in Remington's 2008 law enforcement catalog but, to the best of my knowledge, was never manufactured.

It is built on the custom shop's 40-SX action and trigger group and features a 26" barrel with threaded removable muzzle brake, hand bedded McMillian A5 stock, detachable magazine and lengthly top picatinny rail.

Suburban has put together a list of links to popular DIY Ruger 10/22 mods.

The JB Weld mod looks interesting.

AR-15 owners will soon have another "point five-oh" option for their rifles: the .50 GI. Before now only 1911 and Glock conversion kits were available for the cartridge.

The .50 GI was born out of the idea that if .40 was better than 9mm, and .45 was better than .40, then .50 must be better then .45. It should not be compared to the .500 S&W, .50 Beowulf or the .50 Action Express as it has much less power. The cartridge is comparable to the .45 ACP +P cartridge, but with a larger diameter bullet.

8" SBR with .50 GI magazine.

Carbine with AR-15 magazines converted to take .50 GI

The .50 GI magazine holds 14 rounds and the AR-15 magazine holds 9 rounds.

The 16" upper will sell for $750 and with one magazine. You can see the contact details of the manufacturer, RMW Xtreme Inc., at the beginning of the below video.

Thanks to Giesler for the link.

Hat Tip: Photos from 475AR @ .50 GI Forum

Minute Man Armor make armor that mounts into picatinny rails. Weird.

Jovian Thunder Bolt has more info.

The lawsuit between ATI and H&K has been settled. Ed reports ...

Production and importation of the original design GSG-5 ceased as of Oct, 8, 2009 with the signing of the agreement. The remaining inventory now in the USA can be sold by ATI, all distributors and dealers. ATI currently has GSG-5's in stock.

Read the full press release over at at Ed's blog.

The GSG-5. If you want one, buy it NOW.

Back in July, when the specification for the original Remington ACR specifications where announced, I said one of the cartridges it would chamber was the 6.5mm Grendel. Remington said "6.5mm", and in the context I assumed it was the Grendel.

Not long after posting it, I was emailed by a well placed industry insider who told me that he very much doubted Remington would ever produce a gun chambering the Grendel. His reason? The management behind the development of the cartridge left a lot of bad blood in their wake. He suspected that the listing of "6.5mm" was a marketing ploy.

His prediction that Remington would not offer it has come to fruition. Adam Heggenstaller reported (emphasis mine) ...

Ongoing development will focus on the 6.8 mm Rem. SPC, 7.62x39 mm, a yet-to-be-disclosed 6.5 mm round and, get this, the .30 Rem. AR.

Will we ever see this cartridge? I don't know. At least we know why Remington are not just saying "Grendel".

UPDATE: My original source just emailed me to suggest that the .30 Remington AR necked down would make a lot of sense! He has a good point. (This is just speculation - not inside knowledge).

7.62x51mm NATO, 6.5mm Grendel and 5.56x45mm NATO

Adam Heggenstaller has just posted the first concrete detail of the consumer Bushmaster / Remington / Magpul ACR ...

The cool thing here--other than it being a brand-spanking new gun that you can get your hands on real soon--is the ACR's modularity. The consumer version will be offered with a 16.5-inch barrel, but Bushmaster will also be making barrels with lengths of 10.5, 14.5 and 18 inches. The first version of the ACR will be chambered in 5.56x45 mm, of course, but since a tool-less disassembly allows you to change bolt heads, barrels and magazines, the ACR can be user-configured to run with other cartridges as well. Ongoing development will focus on the 6.8 mm Rem. SPC, 7.62x39 mm, a yet-to-be-disclosed 6.5 mm round and, get this, the .30 Rem. AR.

Read more about, and for photos, click on over to Incoming Blog.

UPDATE: Read my post about Remington and the 6.5mm.

The Washington Times reports that there have been cuts a defense spending bill ...

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

Lance, I think correctly, pointed out to me that this attitude of cutting defense spending to the max, probably guarantees that the M4 and M16 are not going anywhere anytime soon.

Many thanks to Daniel Watters for the link.

Wilson has just announced quite an extensive line of 6.8 SPC AR-15 rifles. Three base models are available and each is customizable.

Wilson Combat Recon 6.8SPC

Tactical Hunter Lightweight 6.8 SPC

M-4T 6.8 SPC

The prices start of $2300 for a complete rifle, or $1025 for just an upper.

More info here.

Caleb has posted his picks top all time rifles:

1. The M1 Garand
2. The Ruger 10/22
3. The AR-15 family
4. The ‘98 Mauser family
5. The Brown Bess Musket

It is hard for me to argue with his picks. I think the addition of the 10/22 is interesting. While it is a cliché, I think the AK-47 should be included. Regardless of what you think of the gun itself, it is probably the most influential rifle of the past 60 years. I would replace the Brown Bess with the AK.

Brown Bess Musket. Image from Wikipedia.

Caleb discusses his picks in more detail on the latest episode of the Gun Nuts Radio podcast.

SaysUncle reports:

Heckler and Koch is suing German Sports Guns and American Tactical Imports over trade dress infringements. Seems they don’t like GSG making a 22LR version of their MP5.

These cases, like when Colt sued H&K over the 416, are counter productive to the industry in general. It seems bizarre that a firm, which is a subsidiary of a German company, is suing the importers of a German made gun. They must not be able to sue for it in Germany court.

I know nothing about "trade dress infringement", but I do know that those fanciful concepts of "common sense" and "justice" have long been forgotten in intellectual property court, thanks to the efforts of Disney Corp's hard working lawyers and lobbyists.

I recently reported that H&K has licensed the production of .22 rifles patterned after the MP5, MP7 and other H&K firearms to Umarex. No doubt this is the reason they have taken legal action against ATI.

UPDATE: H&K and ATI settled. GSG-5 sales will cease.

UPDATE:

How long till the Wii MP5 controller gets banned! (Thanks David for the link)

Bonus style points for iPhone

You know someone is serious about shooting when the total cost of their spotting scopes are more than your car.

Yep it's a 6 inch objective and 50x (crazy wide field of view)

the other is a WW2 rangefinder that goes out to 20,000 yards!

More photos here.

By the way, who can tell me how "Cheytac" is pronounced? I have always said "shay tac" ("shay" as in "Che Guevara").

Hat Tip: SayUncle