TFB’s FNG. Completely irreverent of all things marketing but a passionate lover of new ideas and old ones well executed. Enjoys musing on all things firearms, shooting 3-gun, and attempting to be both tacticool AND tactical.
What is old is new again seems to be coming around on a more frequent basis. With “retro” builds and their parts seeing a resurgence amongst builders, it would seem that the market is clamoring for something a bit more than the “next best thing.” [Read More…]
High-Speed Gear Incorporated, commonly known as HSGI, has been a constant innovator in tactical nylon. Their TACO series of pouches is one of the most popular used by both military and civilian shooters due to its inherent versatility. As a proud owner of one of their [Read More…]
Following military trials, especially historical ones, is a wonderful way to learn what not to do for weapons design. While some trails produce a few good offerings like the Garand/Pederson trials, most tend to quickly weed out the inferior designs (like the MHS’s [Read More…]
I’m not sure if Glock enjoys the fact that so many of its customers select the previous generation of its products or it loathes it. Most companies that release new products tend to quickly move past the previous generation, but good ol’ [Read More…]
Greyboe – moving from McMillan’s offshoot to its own stand-alone enterprise – has been hard at work getting new products out the market. Originally launching with their “Renegade” and “Outlander” stocks, the [Read More…]
Tulster, a Jenks Oklahoma, based company has proudly announced the release of their latest holster, their IWB profile holster for the Heckler & Koch VP9SK. The VP9SK is the newly released smaller brother to the well-received VP9. The new holster is designed… [Read More…]
Right feared for its prodigious rate of fire, the MG-42 was nicknamed “Hitler’s Buzzsaw”. The US Army quickly learned that troops often hesitated when encountering the weapon, with its fearsome reputation and rate of fire overriding the common sense [Read More…]
F4 Defense, a new firearms company who’s Mission Statement includes: “F4 Defense is unrelenting in its pursuit of innovative and game changing weapon platforms for the military, LE, and civilian markets” is launching its first rifle to a bit of a [Read More…]
After learning from the first video and subsequent “meltdown” tests, Eric at IV8888 has upped his game – now using a flak jacket and armored mask to protect him from the entertaining tomfoolery of taking a weapon well past any reasonable point of use [Read More…]
It would seem that Battenfeld is not content to rest on their laurels – instead innovating new ways to make shooters lives easier. Battenfeld is expanding their BOG-POD line of products, which “have become the standard for quality and durability in [Read More…]
A Marine and his rifle makes perhaps one of the most individually lethal combinations on the planet. Marines and their rifles, even deadlier, and battalions, supported by individual and combined arms one of the most feared and revered fighting organizations on the [Read More…]
The release of the Galil ACE has been met with generally positive reviews. The weapon system, basically an updated Galil/AK is picking up a reputation for being attractive, reliable, and usable with new features welcome including AR-style magazine compatibility on the [Read More…]
Manufacturing artillery pieces is an utterly fascinating process – especially if one has any knowledge of manufacturing. Specifically, creating the barrels is perhaps one of the most technically challenging parts of making the howitzers. Outside of the physical [Read More…]
While everyone can appreciate Freedom Ordnance’s belt-fed FM-9 9mm wonder upper, another company has been working with the name on their own rifle – the FM-9 by Foxtrot Mike Products. Where the Freedom Ordnance blazes some new trails, the Foxtrot Mike does [Read More…]
Hey SLR Rifleworks does not need no stinking low-cost manufacturing methods, instead, they have opted for the most expensive option to create an AK stock – milling it from a large block of billet material. Commonly, AK stocks are either mass-produced wood or [Read More…]
Pistol caliber carbines are (rightly or wrongly) the hot item in the modern sporting rifle marketplace. Driven by the plethora of AR-15 components out there, curiosity, adoption of competition divisions, and just plain old fun, 9mm is certainly going down range in [Read More…]
After exiting the firearms market for years, Winchester has been making a push back into them in a big way. The ammunition business certainly is the largest, but it’s good to see Winchester working to stay in touch with its roots – especially focusing on [Read More…]
Much ado has been made recently about the US Army’s piss-poor performance in completing the evaluations of handguns in the Modular Handgun System contract. While yes, they should have completed the testing, it is fair to say that the Sig is even 3/4 as good as [Read More…]
I’m willing to bet that there are many out there like me. I typically carry IWB, often with a tucked shirt (Management has to meet certain appearance standards…), which while often highly effective, has its own set of problems for us larger folks. While you [Read More…]
They say necessity is the mother of invention. I’m inclined to agree. With manual labor, especially mechanically or ballistically based manual labor requiring eye protection, the invention of safety glasses and goggles was a matter of time. For a while it was [Read More…]
Debuted back in February of this year, NIkon has been heavily pushing their new BLACK lineup of riflescopes. Designed to be value-priced and feature-packed, the optics have been well received, especially considering their sub $750 price points and lifetime warranty. One [Read More…]
Table-based magazine loaders have existed a long time. While it takes some time to get the rounds into the loading plate with a simple push, all rounds are quickly and easily inserted into the magazine. PLATE’s ACEM loaders have been a respected offering in this [Read More…]
A little over two years ago, we shared a graphic on the common misunderstandings of the common .308 Winchester vs. the 7.62×51 NATO cartridge. Astute readers pointed out that the chamber pressure readers were incorrect on the graphic (which we did not create [Read More…]
A lot of ado has been made over the recent extreme long range confirmed kill by the Canadian sniper. A confirmed kill past 1,000 yards is impressive by itself, but to truly have a confirmed kill past 2 miles is a feat of legend – as it has been made to be. Those [Read More…]
I love me some tacos, incredibly useful and capable of accepting most (gun) food, they have been a staple of war belts and chest rigs for nearly the last decade. Why? HSGI’s bungee-infused design was the first truly useful multi-magazine pouch out there. Plus, it [Read More…]
Ladies and Gentleman – I stand here before you today and eulogize our dear friend Suppressor. Suppressor was the strong and silent type. Suppressor was a great Silencerco SWR can, who devoted his whole life to the protecting the ears of our beloved shooters. His [Read More…]
The partnership of trainer Chris Costa and handgun maker STI International seems to be going well. The pair has introduced their latest handgun collaboration – the V.I.P. STI states the Costa V.I.P. is modeled after their own similar non-Costa V.I.P., but [Read More…]
In my opinion, Walther is one of a few significantly underappreciated handguns here in the US. Long known for quality manufacturing and renowned for their ergonomic grips on their handguns. The redesigned PPQ is an excellent handgun and it pains me as a shooter that [Read More…]
I, for one, have enjoyed watching the civilian market develop “tactical” products. Often, the innovations are brilliant – look at the ultra-lightweight pouches for vests and M-LOK as examples of civilian organizations putting their best foot forward. [Read More…]
Despite using the arguably backward L85A2 (which Ian did a great series on that Nathan S. covered), after World War II, the British were one of the foremost thinkers in terms of individual small arms. Almost immediately after the war, the British Army and start [Read More…]