The Firearm Blog

Xavier has a write of an an amazing five barrel shotgun made in Czechoslovakia.

Looks like a similar concept as the Winchester Liberator and Colt Defender

Eight barreled 20 gauge
Colt Defender Mark 1

Read it here.

This amazing 3D animation shows a 1911 being assembled. Made with the free open source Blender software, it is the best video I have seen on the internet in a long time.

The description:

This is an animation i made in blender of a colt 1911. all of the parts are modeled to blueprint specifications

it took me about 100 … all hours to model all of the pieces and about 10 to get the animation done. rendering was a multipass process, using yafray for a high quality GI render, then using blender for a post process DOF blur total rendering time was around 500 hours on a core 2 quad

I have a friend who can make some amazing models using blender. I have tried but I am not very skilled. I have always wanted to model one of those cut away animations of a rifle or pistol.

Hat Tip: Freedom Sight

From Reuters

He said the Colt Cobra revolver used by Jack Ruby to kill Oswald in 1963, just days after Oswald was arrested for assassinating Kennedy, could fetch several million dollars alone. The initials of detectives who handled the gun are scratched on it.

Personally I would not want to own a murder weapon, be it a gun, knife, stick etc.

Check out this auction. It has thousands of beautiful photos. I think all, or nearly all, come from one collection.

Daniel Fraser Miniature Double Rifle .22 Hornet


Franchi Model 1962 Semi-Auto Carbine 9mm


Smith & Wesson Mark I Light Rifle 9mm

Custom Martz Luger Carbine

Colt Model 1900 .38 ACP

FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received a $33.7 million firm-fixed-price, contract for M16A3 and M16A4 Rifles to support the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

….

Colt Defense in Hartford, CT received a $15.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for M16A3 and M16A4 Rifles to support the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

I know FN and Colt are happy

More at DID

From Army Times

One of the upgrades that may be coming in the future is a more reliable magazine. The test revealed that 239 of the 882 stoppages M4 suffered were magazine-related.

The hope is that upgrades, such as stronger springs, will increase the magazine’s ability to feed rounds more effectively, Radcliffe said. If all goes well in testing, the improved magazines could be ready by next spring.

Another upgrade under consideration is a “hammer-forged” barrel, Brown said.

I didn’t think that they were actually planning on replacing the M4 when they announced the testing. Even without magazine stoppages the M4 performed very badly.

DID has a very comprehensive article

“Even with extreme dust test III’s 98.6 percent success rate there was a total of 863 class 1 and 2 weapon/magazine stoppages with 19 class 3 stoppages. During extreme dust test II conducted during the summer, there were 296 total class 1 and 2 stoppages and 11 class 3 stoppages.

A class 1 stoppage is one a Soldier can clear within 10 seconds; a class 2 stoppage is one a Soldier can clear, but requires more than 10 seconds; and, class 3 is a stoppage that requires an armorer to clear.”

DID will simply point out that 10 seconds can be a rather fatally long time when people are shooting at you, and at your friends. So, what happens when the Extreme Dust Test III stoppages are broken out by weapon?

The M4 Carbine is the Army’s existing weapon.

* 882 jams, 1 jam every 68 rounds, again using heavy lubrication. In addition all 10 of the M4 barrels needed to be replaced, and a number of their parts were replaced during the test. None of the cold hammer forged HK416 and XM-8 barrels needed replacement.

The HK416 is a modified M4 carbine, which can be and has been converted from existing rifles. Used by US Special Forces.

* 233 jams, 1 jam every 257 rounds, 3.77x more reliable than the M4.

FN SCAR is US special Forces’ new weapon, designed by SOSOCM. It just went into production in late 2007.

* 226 jams, 1 jam every 265 rounds, 3.85x more reliable than the M4

XM-8 is a developmental rifle. It’s an advanced version of HK’s G36, a rifle in wide use by many NATO armies. The US Army cancelled the XM-8 weapons family 2 years ago.

* 127 jams, I jam every 472 rounds, 6.95x more reliable than the M4.

Hat Tip: Murdoc Online

Malaysia is apparently switching from Steyr rifles to Colt M4 Carbines.

The Deputy Prime Minister has said a Malaysian company, SME Ordnance (SMEO), has a license to manufacture the M4 for use locally and possibly for export in the future.

“We took this decision as we want to enable our soldiers to be soldiers of the future, equipped with the latest modern technology”

Interesting. I don’t think Colt will allow export to North America. Export will probably be limited to South East Asian countries.

More here.

Hat Tip: Rustmeister @ The Gun Blogs

This Is Awesome!

AM15 full auto UPPER RECEIVER allows you to shoot slightly modified.22LR American 180 drums, in either 165 round, 220 round or 275 round capacity, on your M16 host receiver. The full auto AM15 upper receiver conversion is a BATF APPROVED OPEN BOLT .22LR rimfire caliber conversion that ejects through the AR mag well.

It uses fire control parts that are similar to Colt Light Machine Gun parts, which will be provided with the AM15 conversion. The AM15 conversion at this time will only work on registered receiver sear drilled M16 lowers. We are working on reliable solutions for owners of drop in auto sears.

Check out the videos

Hat Tip for the 2nd post in a row to Traction Control (via SaysUncle). Check out the Traction Control blog, its a good read.

I came across an M4 comparison chart. Its compares the Colt 6920, LMT, Noveske M4 Light Carbine, Sabre Defense XR15-A3 M4, S&W M&P15 CMMG 16″ M4 Carbine, Stag Model 1, Bushmaster BCWA3F 16M, Rock Rivers Arms AR1251X, Armalite M-15A4C, Olympic K3B-M4-A3 and DPMS AP4-C.

Click to enlarge.

The latest version of this chart can be found here on m4carbine.net

I hope no one was shooting next to this person shooting this Colt Anaconda. Half the cylinder must have gone flying left!

Hat Tip: The Real Gun Guys