The Firearm Blog

This video demonstrates a fast AK-47 magazine change technique. The video author calls it the “Shayetet 13 style”. Shayetet 13 are an elite IDF marine special forces unit, similar to the SEALs. I would be surprised if they were the sole inventors of this technique, it was more likely simultaneously discovered by AK-47 wielding soldiers around the world.

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

Those hardworking boys at American Rifle have been plinking African style with a double barreled rifles chambered in .470 Nitro Express.

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?

This is the first video I have seen of the new Beretta ARX 160 carbine.

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

James Yeager, the owner of Tactical Response, has posted a video on youtube in response the controversy over the controversial training video which shows a photographer standing next to a target downrange of students shooting live ammunition.

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.

I think I visibly shuddered when I watched this video (It is safe for work).

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.

Murdoc has written a review of the Adam Arms retrofit piston system for the AR-15 for Guns and Hunting.

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.

I rarely watch The Daily Show but I got a good laugh from this video. The biggest joke of course is that its all true.

Much better than The Onion’s take on guns.

Thanks to Sven for the link.

When asked what “bullpup” I generally tell people “it is a rifle where the magazine sits behind the trigger”. Rabbityrabbit came up with an idea for a bullpup where the chamber is behind the trigger, but the magazine is in the same place as it is on a non-bullpup rifle. The design idea was inspired from the Boberg XR9 pistol.

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

No, you did not mis-read the title. You though field stripping your AR-15 blindfolded was cool, well the Iranian army have got you beat

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

I must admit I have wanted to see what would happen (I know what would happen but I wanted to see it ). The internet does not disappoint:

Caleb of Gun Nuts Media has produced a video demonstrating a moving/shooting drill.

Good job Caleb!

Future Weapons recently demonstrated a fascinating prototype less-lethal shotgun from Beretta. What is interesting is that the kinetic energy expended on the target from the rubber bullet is constant regardless of the range. This fixes a common problem with less-lethal ammunition: they are often powerful enough to kill at close range and to weak at long range to stop the target.

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.

The GSh-18 Pistol can fire a very hot (similar to 9mm +P+) 9mm Luger round loaded with an AP bullet called the 9mm PBP. It has the capability to punch holes through 8mm of steel or a Class III bulletproof vest at 20 meters. This video (from RIAN) shows off its capabilities:

Defense Review wrote about the pistol recently.

H/T: Reddit

I saw this over at Snowflakes in Hell. An armor piercing incendiary .50 BMG round is fired from an Armalite AR-50 rifle at 18 hard drives.

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