This is one of those posts I’ve been meaning to get to for a while, but haven’t really felt the urge to write. The subject came up recently* in my comments, though, and I really enjoy responding to people, so I might as well kill these two birds with one [Read More…]
Previously in our introductory series on ballistics, we’ve discussed the concept of caliber, as well as ballistic coefficient and its close relative form factor. Today, we’re going to look at the concept of rifling, and how it relates to bullet stability. [Read More…]
Modern shooters have it good. Load a cartridge, pull trigger, bang, and the case is easy to remove. Our older brethren did not have it so easy. Traditional black-powder cannons are quite a bit more involved, requiring multiple steps to clean, load, and ultimately fire. [Read More…]
Over the past few weeks, TFB has reported several news stories related to the Heckler & Koch (H&K) MP5 platform. From H&K’s announcement of the SP5K (an MP5K semiautomatic pistol) to the U.S. market to Zenith/MKE developing an MP5SD model to add their [Read More…]
Uronen Precision (or Ase ja Osa) is a small Finnish family owned company. I’ve been to see them a few times during the past years, and I’ve tested some of their rifles (AR-15s). Their rifles are focused on match grade and competition rather than mass [Read More…]
“Caliber”. It can mean a lot of different things, but when we use it, what does it really mean, and what’s its significance? Title image: From left to right are the 7.65 Parabellum, 7.63 Mauser, .300 Blackout, 7.62×45 Czech, .30 Remington, 7.62 [Read More…]
Thanks to one of our readers, we’ve come across a company in Europe that makes bullets in a variety of colors, 26 to choose from, to be exact. The company is called ARES, and is based in the small town of Nitrianska Streda, Slovakia. They make lead rounds, from [Read More…]
UPDATE: Just to be clear, Hi-Point Customs, a group of enthusiasts on Facebook, is in no way related to Hi-Point the firearm brand (manufactured by Beemiller in Ohio and distributed by MKS Supply). This post and the pistol in question are satire. It seems not everyone [Read More…]
The terminal effectiveness of modern bullets has been the subject of much study, but less well scrutinized have been the projectiles of rifles before 1900, fired by the blackpowder weapons that armed men throughout the age of empires. Fortunately, the Hungarian channel [Read More…]
When faced with large, dangerous game set on ending your life before you end theirs, there really is no substitute for raw power. That’s a fact that African big game hunters throughout history have recognized, and reflective of this are the huge, cannonesque [Read More…]
What was the first intermediate cartridge? Who designed it, and why? How did the concept evolve? These are all good questions deserving of thorough, thoughtful answers. Sadly, to give a comprehensive history of the intermediate cartridge concept would require a project [Read More…]
I routinely follow the TSA Blog. I travel for work and get to interact with the airline industry more often than I would like. What I find super entertaining is the “Week in Review” that they publish where they share all of the silly things that people attempt to [Read More…]
This article is an English-language translation of an article written for Мир увлечений: Охота & Оружие (World of Hobbies: Hunting & Weapons) magazine, by Andrey Donets and Dmytro Adyeyev. TFB reader dnepr0mike graciously aided the [Read More…]
Now things are going to get a bit interesting. Even just increasing the budget 150% over $10 can yield some fun trinkets. At $25, money starts to go a bit further, as there were a few items that just could not get under the $10 mark. Now, with a slightly larger budget, [Read More…]
It’s a rifle for when you had something very, very big that you needed very, very dead right now. Although the British exploration and colonization of Africa is most closely associated with the tail end of the 19th Century, there were hunters and [Read More…]
Whatever one thinks of the proliferation of firearms, it’s a fact that the technology needed to make reliable, effective weapons is well in hand. Even at the lowest levels of industrial capability firearms are practical, manufacturable items, and this includes [Read More…]
The first new rifles in the prototype batch made by Sako in Finland have been issued to Canadian Rangers, and initial reports are positive. The rifle, which has been designated “C-19”, will replace the venerable but aging .303-caliber Lee-Enfield rifles [Read More…]
Those who are not tactical in their drinking now have an outlet to express themselves. Martin American Designs has released “The Hammer” (which we previously reviewed) on KickStarter in order to make the product more affordable. More affordable indeed with a [Read More…]
The Spencer Carbine was one of the first successful repeating rifles ever fielded by the US Army, seeing use in the Civil War. Despite being a very advanced design for the period offering firepower well above what muzzleloading rifled-muskets of the period were [Read More…]
If you’re looking for a way to lengthen your hunting seasons or just interested in expanding your firearms repertoire, muzzleloaders are a good way to go. Lately they’ve been gaining ground, seeing more use overall, with new models and ammo being produced as [Read More…]
“Big bore” and “air rifle” are not two combinations I see in a sentence very often, but new releases in the air rifle world are pushing bores and performance higher and higher. Hatsan of Turkey is part of that crowd, having recently released the [Read More…]
This past weekend was the bicentennial anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated by the combined armies of the British and Prussians, and which marked the transition of Europe into a four-decade-long peace that would only be interrupted by the [Read More…]
Hungarian YouTuber capandball gives us a look at the world of blackpowder rifled-musket competition shooting, with his original Springfield 1861 Rifle-Musket, manufactured at Bridesburg: The original guns, when coupled with Minie-style projectiles, can provide quite [Read More…]
Shotguns have been the preferred home-defense weapon for some time now due in large part to their enormous power. Not only can a 12-gauge shotgun breach walls and blow the locks off doors, it can disable a vehicle with a well-placed slug. Of course, when pellets are [Read More…]
In the twilight of the blackpowder era, the British tested many designs in one of the biggest firearms competitions of the era, in an effort to replace their increasingly obsolete Martini-Henry rifle. The winning design was the brainchild of Scottish-American designer [Read More…]
Teaching new shooters is one of the best things we can do to expand firearm appreciation. Often times, busting clays can be an exhilarating, fun way to get a new shooter into the sport. If the shooter is light of build or small of stature, however, a heavy shotgun [Read More…]
In 1957, the T44E4 rifle was formally adopted by the United States Armed Forces as the United States Rifle, 7.62mm, M14, but this only marked the beginning of the rifle’s troubles. After numerous delays and production crises – including the rejection in [Read More…]
SoloDallas sent us a photo of his historical tactical collection. He wrote … Here we have a few of my blackpowder collection. This set includes (to the left) a gorgeous couple of Hawkins replicas made by the US Historical Society for the 1976 bicentenary of the [Read More…]
Whether or not to carry a large frame handgun can be a big decision for hunters, hikers, and backpackers in areas where you may have a dispute with other critters as to who is at the top of the food chain. Some may not like carrying the extra weight. If you want to [Read More…]
Review: Rock Island Armory TAC ULTRA CS 1911s (9mm & .45 ACP) It’s not often that we are asked to test multiple handguns at the same time. In fact, I wasn’t expecting more than one and it was a surprise when Rock Island sent out two of their latest 1911s for [Read More…]