The Firearm Blog

A blunderbuss is a muzzle-loading firearm with a flared, trumpet-like barrel which discharges lead shot upon firing. It is the predecessor to the shotgun.

The term blunderbuss is of Dutch origin namely donderbus, a combination of the Dutch terms donder (thunder) and bus (gun).

From Wikipedia

This company makes real shooting blunderbuss”

Very nice! More here.

A very interesting video about the AK’s 60th anniversary. I like the following quote from the video

“If it has given some countries the opportunity to gain freedom then it is a useful thing” - Kalishnikov

It covers the history and current events such as the Russian crackdown on foreign AK manufactures including the US clones.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Includes an interesting interview with an associate of the infamous arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Hat Tip: Defense Tech

I came across a PDF, with no date or author, about the history of the Chinese M14 clones. It is a very interesting read!

UPDATE: H2O MAN in the comments below let me know that the text comes from “M14 Rifle History and Development” by Lee Emerson. Thanks H2O MAN.

A persistent rumor states that M14 rifles produced by the People’s Republic of China were reverse engineered from enemy captured M14 rifles in Viet Nam. China North Industries Corporation, known as Norinco, is reported to have produced M14 rifles by the early 1970s. The story continues that 100,000 Chinese M14 rifles were produced for an armed revolution in the Philippines. In preparing for this work, the author interviewed a very reliable source with extensive firsthand knowledge of Chinese and Taiwanese production and export of small arms was interviewed for this work. This gentleman wishes not to be identified. He is referred to as Other Source # 12.

Chapter 6 contains the History of the Chinese M14 Clones. The PDF can be downloaded here.

I came across a fascinating article discussing medieval archery, specifically the English victory over the French at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 which was won by the English longbow archers.

Henry had approximately 5,000 archers at Agincourt, and a stock of about 400,000 arrows. Each archer could shoot about ten arrows a minute, so the army only had enough ammunition for about eight minutes of shooting at maximum fire power. However, this fire power would have been devastating. Fifty thousand arrows a minute - over 800 a second - would have hissed down on the French cavalry, killing hundreds of men a minute and wounding many more. The function of a company of medieval archers seems to have been equivalent to that of a machine-gunner, so in modern terms we can imagine Agincourt as a battle between old-fashioned cavalry, supported by a few snipers (crossbow-men) on the French side, against a much smaller army equipped with machine guns. Perhaps from this point of view the most remarkable fact about the battle is that the French ignored the very great military advantages of the longbow.

Read the article here. Just ignore the math!

I read many shooting magazines from around the world and I came across this advertisement in an Australian magazine. It shows what must to be the current AIA M-10 range being produced.

I scanned it into the computer. Click the image below to enlarge it.

Australian International Arms (AIA) calls the M-10 the the 5th generation Lee-Enfield, read more about it here.

I fired up Skype and actually tried calling one of the Australian companies at the bottom of the advert to see if I could get any more information about the rifles. Unfortunately after trying two numbers I realized my rough timezone calculations were a bit off. Checking a timezone website confirmed this!

It is a pity they do not offer the 7.62×39 version anymore. Not at all practical but a 30 round AK-47 magazine on a bolt action rifle would be … unique! Although the special edition M10-B3 that has a M134 mini-gun barrel is very cool

I have no new information about their availability in the US.

A photo of the M10 No4 MK4 Classic:

A photo of the M10-B2 Match:

Continue Reading »