Week 20. So some of the tweaking did pull in some odd results, and I obviously did not check every link (1000 rd tumbler, etc…). I went a little more conservative with the data this week and spot checked a lot more. My overall goal is to add more data points so [Read More…]
Apparently the local gun shows are where I pick up many leads. A recent Saturday morning, I went with a couple of friends to the Gun Collectors of NM gun show. The show was smaller than normal, but I did my rounds anyway. BMC Tactical (the shop that did my most [Read More…]
Week 19. We have added a whole bunch of new vendors and adjusted the process a bit. If you notice anything strange please let us know in the comments. Hopefully the tweaks have not impacted the overall data. We do appreciate the support and constructive comments and [Read More…]
HPR (High Precision Range) is taking the path of light, high speed frangible bullet in making their new Black Ops ammo. With a high muzzle velocity and low bullet weight they are able to make a bullet that’s design is to hit a soft target and dump all of [Read More…]
Week 18. There was basically an even amount of price increases vs. price decreases across all of the vectors, so no real movement or spikes that are noteworthy. Ammoman has free shipping and it looks like some of the 7.62x39mm from SWVA Arms also qualifies. We do [Read More…]
New to the market is Blackbore, which claims to have “The Cutting Edge in Choke Design.” Dorky moniker aside, the tagline actually has some relevance to their product line. Setting itself apart from Carlson or other choke manufacturers, Blackbore [Read More…]
This video is from 2011. Ted Gundy is a WWII Veteran. On top of that, he was a sniper. The US Army Marksmanship Unit honors his achievement and skill with the USAMU Black Hat. According to Lt. Col. Daniel Hodne, only 8 black hats have been given to people outside of [Read More…]
Stepping out of the chronology that the past few Weekly DTIC entries have taken, today we’ll be examining two much more modern pieces of research, which help explain some of the phenomena observed by end-users when firing their weapons in anger. The first document [Read More…]
If you have ever gone to a precision rifle competition you will see all sorts of 6mm rounds. From the 6mm Creedmore and .243 Winchester to 6.5 Grendel and .260 Remington. They are flat shooting, high velocity rounds with a very high BC, which is why a lot of the [Read More…]
Week 17. So, it appears that prices are generally moving a bit up. We have more vendors that have increased prices on calibers than have lowered. .223 Rem and .308 Win have taken the brunt of the increases. The Armory contacted me and wanted me to let everyone know that [Read More…]
Since its introduction in 2007, Sightmark has been aggressively expanding its product lines. Originally oriented as a value-focused brand, recently they have been making moves up-market with their new Ezekial line (which we also have for testing). Now, Sightmark is a [Read More…]
UPDATE: Chris Cheng was at the event and has posted up live pictures of the new suppressor mounted to various Mossberg, Remington, and Benelli weapon systems. I’ve been hearing rumors of new 12-gauge suppressors from a few manufacturers for awhile, but [Read More…]
Week 16. A couple of the vendors contacted me today and wanted to pass on that they are seeing a run on ammo right now, likely due to the sanctions that were recently announced. Also given some of the other world events within the past couple of days we may see some [Read More…]
Week 15 (of data). I took last week off to celebrate the 4th with my family–I hope this didn’t impact your thirst for data trending… I think I’ve found a somewhat reliable way to flag entries if they are free of shipping costs, but it is going to [Read More…]
Following the publication of the Hall report, but preceding it in conception, were two important documents in the origin story of the military .22 caliber cartridge. These were Operational Requirements for an Infantry Hand Weapon by Norman A. Hitchman, and Design and [Read More…]
Grandpa used to tell me that buckshot spreads 1″ for every yard from gun. I took him for his word, but suspected he was wrong after patterning my 870 and 930 shotguns. I chalked my results up to long barrels and modern technology, never putting the assertion to a [Read More…]
As many of us have noted, ammo prices are pretty stable overall. .22LR is still overpriced. .380 ACP is actually trending down. And most dealers are pretty close in price to one another for a given caliber and lot size. There are some vendors that have generally lower [Read More…]
13th week! The summary article has been submitted and should be live at https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/?p=75836 We do appreciate the support and constructive comments and will continue this article series as long as it is productive. As always, if you have comment [Read More…]
Billed as the “largest international land and air-land defense and security exhibition” Eurosatory 2014 kicked off in Paris on the 16th. Announced during the exhibition are four new rifles from Kalashnikov Concern (formerly Izhmash). Among them are the [Read More…]
Following up on a Sources Sought released back in 2012, the US Army is moving forward with a potential acquisition for the next-generation Semi-Auto Sniper System (SASS), the aptly named “Compact-SASS” (CSASS) through a best-value contract. The current SASS [Read More…]
12th week. Next week I will do an additional post just breaking down the metrics with some graphs and stats. If there are specific metrics you would like to see, please leave a comment. While 23 vendors increased prices on some calibers, more than 2.5x as many reduced [Read More…]
Tracking Point has just raised another $29 million in new funding. CrunchBase reports … Austin-based applied technology company TrackingPoint has raised $29 million in new funding from Genesis Inventions and McHale Labs with participation from Austin Ventures [Read More…]
Nosler has announced a new round, the 26 Nosler. The 26 Nosler is a .264 caliber bullet aka 6.5mm. The 26 Nosler cartridge uses the Nosler 129gr Accubond Long Range bullet and fires it out at 3,400 fps at the muzzle. When zeroed at 350 yds, the 26 Nosler has a point [Read More…]
11th week! Welcome to The Armory! One of you readers suggested it, and it looks like they are the clear winner for the week in terms of lowest priced ammo in almost all categories (sans shipping of course). We do appreciate the support and constructive comments and will [Read More…]
Week 10. My apologies for last week’s issue with the table headers. The problem is related to some annoyances with the content management software–basically it strips out some of the attributes I put in the headers for styling and analytics. If I don’t [Read More…]
Nikon has added a new scope to its AR product line, the M-223 1.5-6×24 BDC 600. The scope has a 30mm body tube, and gradiated marks for 55gr .223 Remington ammunition. It will also come in an adjustable-illumination variant called the M-223 1.5-6×24 BDC 600 [Read More…]
Week nine! I know looking at all this data is just too much work for some of you :), so this week’s new feature is a summary table of the best prices by lot sizes for caliber. The vendor’s name is linked to the ammo page. It looks like LAX Ammunition is [Read More…]
Week eight! Interesting to note that this week, bulk pistol ammo is trending down from previous prices at vendors. Only a couple of vendors have increased. SG Ammo is showing the lowest of the week for 3 types of rifle ammo (in 500 round lots). Bang It Ammo is showing [Read More…]
Rifleshooter.com repeated their previous .300 Winmag test with a rifle chambered in .223/556. He borrows his friend’s Remington 700 chambered in .223 Remington. They start at 26″ and cut the barrel down 1″ at a time until they get to 16.5″. They [Read More…]
Seventh week! Again, there are a lot more vendors selling .22LR this week. Most are still at $0.13/rd (or less; which I realize is still hideous). You 300 BLK people need to get some more vendors on board–that stuff is sparse in bulk. I may get the opportunity to [Read More…]