The Firearm Blog

I didn’t know they used shot line adapters. When I saw the photo I thought he was using a suppressor.

PACIFIC OCEAN (March 24, 2008) Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Aan J. Doscher, assigned to the dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49), fires an M-14 with a shot line adapter toward the Military Sealift Command combat stores ship USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7) during a refueling-at-sea. Harpers Ferry is assigned to the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua J. Wahl (Released)

Full sized photo here.

Hat Tip: Navy.mil via. MP.net

According the Guns Magazine the US Army and Navy have purchased 10,576 M9 pistols (I do wonder how they come up with these exact numbers).

Beretta USA received purchase orders from the US Army and US Navy for a total of 10,576 M9 pistols (5,969 for the Army, 4,607 for the Navy). The purchase orders were issued against a multi-year contract between Beretta and the US Army, which serves as executive purchasing agent of the M9 pistol for all branches of the US Armed Forces.

So the M9 is not going anywhere in the near future.

“The Beretta M9 pistol remains the most reliable and well-tested handgun in the US military inventory, with tests resulting in an average of only one malfunction every 20,500 rounds fired.”

Apart from the special forces it is the only pistol, isn’t it?

According to wikipedia the last big order was in 2006 for 70,000 pistols.

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

Like every other red-blooded American boy, I enjoy the notion of propelling a piece of lead at up to Mach 8 and at “extreme” ranges. That’s why I was glad to hear that BAE Systems has delivered a rail gun capable of such feats, and that the US Navy signed for the package

Not exactly a firearm but I won’t discriminate against any device that can hurl lead and twice the speed of a .204 Ruger

Mind you, the Navy isn’t like pissing its pants for joy that it gets to play with a 32-megajoule rail gun. This is America, after all. What the Navy really wants is a 64-megajoule rail gun. But since that might take 13 years and would require, yep, 6 million amps per shot, the Navy’s gonna have to quit bitching and enjoy the toys it has, at least for now

More @ Gizmodo

I came across a Navy presentation showing what can happen when the bore of an M16 is obstructed!

Click on the below thumbnails to enlarge them.

The upper receiver has been blown off:

Half of the upper receiver was found 25-35 yards away!

More photos here.