I first learnt about the Ares Carbine from GunPundit who spotted it at SHOT Show '09. It was supposed to go one sale in the first or second quarter but nothing was seen of it since SHOT.

Tyler Kreis, the NRA's Firearms Inventory Manager, is the first to have gotten his hands on the Ares Defense Systems Ares-22 RCU and has shot a video of it in action. It looks like a very fun system.

The videography is amazing. I highly recommend watching it in HD over at Youtube.

I will seriously consider KeepGoing.Biz if I ever need the services they provide.

Many thanks to Bill Rushmore for sending me the video.

Has anyone been able to do this on pistol without any modifications to the recoil assembly? On a Glock, for example, I cannot see any way to do it unless the pistol is flip completely into the air, caught just far enough down the slide that the thumb can just reach around the grip and only then, assuming big enough hands and very strong muscles, could the slide be pulled far enough back. Maybe I just have small hands ... ?

Hat Tip: Mike @ Everyday, No Day Off.

The shooter claims that the Glock is stock standard and that their have been no modifications to recoil spring.

How long till we see this in an over-the-top action movie?

Many thanks to Advocate for the links and slow-mo video.

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.

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.

It demonstrates ...

• Frangible bullets on different angled surfaces
• What happens when bullets collide with flying objects
• Air gun pellets
• Shotgun pellets
• Bullets that hit the corner of a hard object
• ... and more.

Frangible bullets do live up to their claim of not ricocheting. I was impressed that the bullets did not ricochet from the low angled surfaces.

The video was shot by Kurzzeit, a company that sells a high speed video camera that can capture one million frames per second!

A big thanks to Jay for emailing me the video!

The odd shape makes the photo look screwed. It is not.

Centered Bead. "Persuasion" chokes (sharp edged).

Duel Extended Magazines - 16 shot capacity.

The underside.

I am very impressed by the workmenship that went into this gun and I am sure there would be many out there who would pay good money for it.

Moe Szyslak sporting his iconic double barreled pump gun

Thanks to Jake for helping me find out about this gun.

One day, we were testing .458 Winchester Magnum reloads and of course, we were just obligated to let Janne (158 cm / 58 kg) to test the gun. Challenge for him was that he had to shoot three full-load rounds within a minute. I think he did a good job.

Thanks to Rekyyli for the video.

Steve has a write up about the shoot over at his website.

Unlike most videos on YouTube the sound on this video is very clear and you can distinctively hear that a lot of the noise is caused by the bolt itself, rather than the escaping gas.

One of the reasons I love my suppressed .22 bolt gun is that there is no noise from the action other than the firing pin smashing the case rim.

Thanks to Max for the link.

Since 2005 JB Custom have been look-alike that is registered as a pistol with the BATFE so it can be legally owned without jumping through NFA hoops.

Steve Doran has produced a video review of the pistol. It looks like a lot of fun!

The standard model sells for $1695.

It is all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

Thanks to Jeff for finding the video.

Remember, this technique is for emergencys only, doing it repeatedly could wreck your magazines.

UPDATE: I posted the wrong video. The video above is now the correct video.

Hat Tip: FromanMD @ MP.net

A spectator shouts “Fix bayonets!”

A question to those who know more about these things than me: I noticed that the first rifle shown in the video featured ejectors while the other two rifles did not, Is there any reason not to have ejectors on a dangerous game rifle? In a real-life situation a fast reload could be the difference between taking home a trophy or being taken home in a coffin so I would have thought ejectors would be standard.

Hat Tip: Ed @ Tell Me Why?

Looks like a very easy to handle rifle. I think this would sell well if it made it stateside.

Personally I respect everyone’s right to train how they see fit, as long as they do it far away from me. Although saying that, I think Mr Yeager could have made some better arguments in his video.

Yeager states many people don’t like anybody standing even slightly forward of their muzzle when shooting. That is true, and I can be included in this group of people, but the video showed somebody next to the targets, not just standing slightly forward of the muzzle.

He uses a car analogy in his response. I know driving in a car is dangerous, but I do my best to mitigate the risks of driving as much as I can. I drive a car that doesn’t have any known safety problems, has seat belts, ABS brakes and air bags. If I could afford a new car, I would buy one with those fancy electronic stability control systems. Increasing risk when shooting just because driving is dangerous does not make sense to me.

Lastly, he says you can never be 100% safe. I belong to a rifle target shooting club that has their own private range. The club is over 100 years old and as far as anybody can tell, there has not been an injury on the range in 100 years. There have of course been negligent discharges, but nobody was downrange at the time. Sure it is not 100% safe, but pretty damn close.

Thanks to D. Tanner and Thomas for the link.

The video was taken at one of James Yeager’s Tactical Response Fighting Pistol classes. The photographer seen forward of the firing line is Jay Gibson, one of the Tactical Response instructors.

Apparently bullets whizzing by you as you train and is quite common at Tactical Response classes. My personal opinion is that I would never do what the photographer did, nor would I shoot with someone standing next to the target. I know I will *never* be skilled enough to guarantee I would not make a mistake. As far as I am concerned even the best shooters can make mistakes or have equipment failures, such as a pistol going full auto.

The counter argument is that the elite military units train with live cross fire, none of the four rules of firearm safety have technically been broken and that if you trust the shooters it is not any less safe than driving a car (I don’t know about this last point, that is just the argument).

The video is being hotly debated at Photobucket (where the video was posted), AR15.com and GetOffTheX (the official Tactical Response forum).
Thanks to Jay (not the same Jay) for the link.

UPDATE: James Yeager’s official response can be viewed here.

The new Adams Arms gas block quickly mounted with hex screws and a new bolt carrier key, a couple springs and a bushing were all that was needed before adding the sleeved drive rod. Supplied front handguards mounted normally, and I was left going back over the installation manual, convinced that I must have missed something. It was that easy. Though it took me more than half an hour due to the troublesome factory gas block, this is certainly a task that can be accomplished by a moderately capable gun owner.

It is a well written review and worth reading.

This 3D animation shows how the piston system works verses the AR-15’s normal method of operation, direct gas impingement.

Much better than The Onion’s take on guns.

Thanks to Sven for the link.

While I think this idea could work well, many armed forces do fine with a standard configuration bullpup.

This is quite possibly the most ridiculous video I have ever watched online!

Good job Caleb!

View though the LTLX7000 scope.

The range is configured using the holographic scope. The distance is set by moving two red dots in the scope until the bottom dot is at the feet of the target and the top dot it at the top of the head of the target. Because the approximate height of people in the region will be programmed into the scope, it can easily calculate the distance to the target. This method of calculating distance is similar to how hunters and snipers calculate range using mil-dot scopes.

The round is then fired by pulling a trigger. In the video we see a round hitting a target placed at 50 and 230 feet away at the same speed ( 309 fps).

The video:

The only way I think this could work is by venting gas from the barrel. The amount of gas vented would depend on the range selected. The more gas vented, the lower the gas pressure behind the projectile, and so the speed is reduced. The slower the projectile, the lower the kinetic energy expended on the target.

When watching the video you can see a puff of smoke coming out of the action after each shot is fired. This is not a semi-automatic firearm so it cannot be coming from the action cycling automatically. It must be coming from a vent.

I did some patent searching and I managed to find a patent entitled “Variable velocity weapon system having selective lethality and methods” that describes almost this exact system:

The present invention relates to weapon systems that accelerate projectiles using gases generated by the rapid combustion of a solid propellant, in particular, such a weapon system is able to vary the barrel exiting velocity of the projectile through a barrel venting means. In one embodiment, a front venting means exhausts gas generated by combusting propellant from behind the accelerating projectile and redirects a portion of the exhausted gas either to at least one fixed volume, to the front of the projectile, or to a combination of at least one fixed volume and to the front of the projectile. Redirecting some of the exhausted gas to the front of the projectile restrains the projectile, thereby slowing the projectile, and thus further decreasing the muzzle velocity of the projectile. In another embodiment, gas from behind the projectile is exhausted into a fixed volume, thereby decreasing projectile acceleration, and thus, the muzzle velocity of the projectile. One can use a…

Venting system proposed by patent.

The patent suggests venting gas in front of the projectile in the barrel to increase the air pressure and slow it down.

Defense Review wrote about the pistol recently.

H/T: Reddit

The round passes through 16 and it embedded in the 17th.

The video function can be set to kick in the moment the pistol it is mounted on is unholstered. Additionally it can be configured to take a still shots during recoil (and presumably after the recoil). The primary purpose of the ShotCam is to document self defense shooting by civilians and law enforcement, but it would be great for hunting and plinking to show off your one-hit-wonder shots.

The device can be mounted on pistols, rifles or shotguns

Midway have it listed for $695.

Thanks to Heath for sending me the link.

It is pretty funny, even though it is making fun of us and that they do not know the difference between handgun and rifle ammo.

Thanks to David for the link.

You can watch the video here.

It answers a question I have had: is the lower standard AR-15? The answer is that it is almost 100% mil-spec and with a minor modification it can be used with other AR-15 uppers.

AT-14 / T-14. More photos here.

Tony says that the rifle is classified by the ATF as sporting shotgun partly because of the 5-round magazine. I have read it is possible to use modified AR-15 30 round magazines. This does raise the issue of Section 922R Compliance – converting an imported sporting arm into a non-”sporting arm” that would not be allowed to be imported in the first place. Saiga shotgun owners know all about this.

(I know nothing about 922R compliance – just what I have read – so don’t take anything I have said as legal advice)

It should be easy to get enough US-made replacement AR-15 parts to make the shotgun classified as a US made firearm by the ATF. A problem may be people messing with the shotgun not realizing that just because it looks identical to the Bushmasters sold at the local gun store, the ATF have other ideas.

Any legal eagles who understand the issues are welcome to sound off in the comments.

Derek writes:

I have designed and patents pending on this.. Its a beltfed 12 gauge upper receiver for a ar-15 or m16 lower receiver. It uses your lower receiver, so if you have a ar15 its a semi auto shotgun, however if you have a registered m16 lower or a drop in auto sear it becomes a full auto 12 gauge machine gun. This is a prototype model and all the bugs arent worked out quite yet. Most of the problems that I have encountered revolve around the shotgun sheels not being consistent enough to eject sometimes.

I will be doing a brief interview with the Derek soon.

Hat Tip: Say Uncle

Even through I posted that impressive video of a guy being shot point blank with a .44 Magnum and .308 Win., I am still amazed at what little effect on the target the bullet has when it impacts a ballistic vest. Sure, I do understand the physics, but still!

More videos of people being shot by Miguel are here.

Someone from Bulletproofjackets.net posted the info about Miguel Caballero. Thanks.

What can we learn from this?

* Well for a start having your guardian angel around is a great way to survive a shooting!

* Pistol bullet are low powered especially after penetration of other materials (the window).

* Skulls are hard, hunters with high powered rifles can testify to that.

* Again, pistols are low powered! Tell that to most people and they don’t believe you. Hollywood says otherwise.

Thanks to Jay for the link!

Thanks to Jason for twittering me the video.

Video here.

LiveLeak reports:

The robbery happened in broad dayligh More..t at a home on West Vande Loo Street. All the action was caught by the homeowners outdoor surveillance system.

The victim was able to get back inside his house, close his door, semi barricade it, reach for a weapon that was easily accessible.

The homeowner shot at the suspects.
He even put a bullet through the windshield of the suspects car, which is also caught on camera.

No doubt that guy had at least some training. There is a discussion about this at ar15.com

Reader of the blog, Jay, reckons this may be related to the crime that has crossed the border. Phoenix, two hours drive further away from the Mexican border, is now the #2 city in world for kidnappings!

Big thanks to Jay for the links.

[ Definition: Firing out of battery: when a round is fired before it is fully chambered. Instead of the expanding gas being forced out the barrel it wrecks havoc inside the gun) ]

AR-15 blows up, not sure that happened. Out of battery?

12 Gauge single shot shotgun blows up. A home made shell apparently caused the problem.

He seems to have a problem fully closing or cocking the shotgun. Maybe the shell was to long and it protruded slightly out of the chamber, causing the explosion. Anyone got a better explanation?

The slide is blasted off a blank firing pistol.

A homemade pistol blows up. The barrel shoots off and the shooter gets the steel primer cap embedded in his arm.

AK-47 blowing up. Out of battery. This is an old one I have posted before on the blog.

Safety glasses are your friends. These are WileyX tactical glasses.

UPDATE: A bonus video. The bolt action barrel is plugged causing the barrel to split. [ Thanks to UraniumHead for the link ]

It is hit 37 times (what they say, I did not count) by the 0.11 caliber lead shot traveling at over 1300 fps. Very impressive!

I don’t shoot birds and so I do not use steel shot, just lead for plinking, but I think high end ballistics glasses like these should be used when shooting steel shot. Unlike lead, steel is hard and can bounce. Last year a friend of my brother lost one of his eyes when he was out duck shooting with his father. The guys father negligently discharged his shotgun into the ground and one of the steel shot bounced back and hit the son.

The Revision Eyewear Sawfly costs between $89 and $169.

YouTube videos of a Victoria man blasting a couch with an assault rifle in the woods near Jordan River were entered as evidence in a trial yesterday in B.C. Supreme Court.

The showing of “AR-15 Makes Swiss Cheese Out of a Couch” is the first time the Crown in B.C. has used YouTube videos to prove a number of allegations, prosecutor Nils Jensen told Justice Robert Metzger in his opening statement. The video has been removed from YouTube.

Darcie Kate McNeill and Brian Lynn Morrison are charged with a number of prohibited and dangerous weapons offences. These include use of a prohibited weapon in a careless manner near Jordan River in 2007 and possession of a loaded Colt AR-15 rifle — the equivalent of an M16 assault rifle — without a licence or registration certificate. The offences are alleged to have taken place between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7, 2007.

A while back an Australian emailed me from his work email address asking me to provide instructions on how to build a suppressor. I replied that I thought they were illegal in Australia. He said he knew they were but really wanted one. Sheesh. I could have forwarded that email to his boss! (I didn’t).

So to the drop test. I wanted to see what they could do in the cold. I dropped it from the same table (3′ high) I have dropped metal mags from on the range. If you drop a metal mag on concrete from the same height it will damage the feed lips as to be unuseable-but you can bend them back. I was planning on dropping them on all sides but it broke before I could try it. From the table, fully loaded, no cover, both feed lips shattered when they hit the concrete. I expected it to break/crack but these things shot off and rounds went everywhere. I stopped the test right there as didn’t want to try it with any others on the other sides. You can see in the AK HTF that if empty they do fine in the cold.

So what does this mean.

IF you drop ANY mag loaded on the feed lips it will be useless. The Pmags might survive during the summer but all metal mags will bent hot/or cold. The metal mags can be bent back.

The plastic shatters when cold (duh) it doesn’t just crack.

I finally got a answer as to what these can do.

This test was dropping on concrete in cold weather. I had to clean off a spot to get down to the concrete. If the mags are dropped in the snow vs just concrete they do just fine. So the possibility of hitting on the feed lips in cold weather on a hard surface-very unlikely

The covers are great to keep out the snow – huge plus.

Overall they do just fine. I was surprised at the complete breaking vs. cracking buts that’s what cold can do.

The result: cracked/split feed lips:

uafgrad tried a simular experiment in even colder weather:

Ok Back to tougher in Alaska
…
Here is where it set for a period of about 18 hours. This was the “hi” temp for the period
…
The mag was fully loaded and dropped from a height of 36″ directly onto the feedlips (as previously requested) striking bare concrete.

Once it hit the ground, all but 6 of the rounds exited the magazine on to the ground.

Some plastics becomes become brittle in cold conditions, so this is not surprising. The good news is that Magpul are not sitting on their laurels. Their latest version of the PMAG can survive a drop from 5 feet onto concrete feed lip first, fully loaded in -30 F. See this video shot with a high speed camera:

A big thanks to Jay for the link.

I am impressed by the accuracy. The recoil does not seem to be much and at first I wondered if the video was a hoax. But it looks like it is a big RC helicopter, which has a lot of forward thrust which would counter some of the recoil.

Package about the 82nd Airborne Division testing new weapons currently being released and prototypes. Provided by 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs.

It is all in Russian but still very interesting to see inside the factory. According to a couple of Russian speakers at WAFF they mention that a new line of AKs will be launched next year (2009)! I wonder what they have in store for us? Maybe finally a left-hand side charging handle?

During the interview Kalashnikov says he gets a lot of hate mail asking how he sleeps at night. He says it is politicians not guns that kill people. Well said! I have seen many interview of Kalashnikov over the years.