#GuestPosts

[ This guest post was written by CanadianSoldier ]

Until now, most discussion concerning firearms and cigarette lighters had been that a cigarette lighter in the shape of a pistol might be mistaken for a real weapon, perhaps by a police officer.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is part of the tour of Europe the Guns For Sale team did earlier this year in conjunction with the IWA 2011 show. More behind-the-scenes footage from the CZ plant is available here: CZ.

NOTE: This post is part of the tour of Europe the Guns For Sale team did earlier this year in conjunction with the IWA 2011 show. More behind-the-scenes footage from the Fiocchi plant is available here: Fiocchi.

Michael James Gesty, owner of Black Wolf Weapons/Spartan Armory in Tucson, Arizona, has been indicted on 9 counts relating to the illegal manufacture of machine guns, allowing straw purchasers to buy weapons, and possession of firearms and ammunition by a drug user, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

As regular readers of this blog know, TFB visited the IWA trade show in Germany earlier this year, as well as various factories in Europe: Beretta, Benelli, Fiocchi, Sig, CZ, Steyr, and Chiappa. As it turns out, we missed one very important factory: Ruger! Luckily, they’ve made their own factory tour video.

Wolf Ammo announced a new 7.62x54R cartridge for 2011.  The new load is called Extra Match, and Wolf claims it is “one of the most accurate 7.62x54R rounds in the world.”

As a CZ-75 fan, it was great to visit the CZ factory in the Czech Republic. One of the highlights of the trip was examining the first prototype of the CZ-75 as well as the first serialized production model and the one millionth pistol made.

Benelli manufactures most of their firearm components at their factory, but sources some others from outside companies. As an example, all Benelli rifle and shotgun barrels are made by Beretta. Wood stocks come from a variety of sources, as do some polymer parts. Mauro of Benelli explains to us how they make sure that every part is made to their specifications, and what it means to be a “Benelli Certified Supplier.”

Our first factory tour in Europe was the Beretta Armi factory in Gardone, Val Trompia, Italy. I came away very impressed with pretty much every facet of their operations, and this opinion didn’t change as we visited other manufacturers.

The second handgun I ever purchased – and the most accurate I’ve ever owned – was a replica single action revolver made in Italy. It was chambered in .45 Colt and a blast to shoot. There are many varieties of single action revolvers available now, and many are made by the Italian manufacturer Uberti.

An example of how the latest in technology has found its way into the firearm industry is Benelli’s design bureau. The engineers there utilize various CAD software programs, as well as a high speed camera capable of taking 1 million frames per second, to design, test, and analyze their weapons. One of the more interesting things we saw at Benelli was what you’re about to see in this video: high speed camera footage alongside a computer model in motion.

Beretta semi-auto shotguns are prized in the competition world, but don’t have the same presence in the “tactical shotgun” world alongside weapons such as the Remington 870 Police and Benelli’s Tactical series. Beretta is hoping to change that with the Tx4, a 12ga semi-auto with an 18″ hammer forged and chrome lined barrel, iron sights, and a top picatinny rail. Jarno of Beretta explains more in the video.

If you’re a firearm enthusiast, you might not like what you’re about to see – the results of a house fire that destroyed a number of interesting firearms. They were stored in a secure room, but unfortunately, not in a fire-resistant safe.

Benelli is a relatively new firearm manufacturer, especially in European terms, having been established in 1967. It’s grown to be a respected force in the shotgun business, and especially since becoming part of the Beretta Group, it’s adopted many new technologies. The level of automation is incredibly high – for example, production of the new Vinci shotgun, from processing of raw materials to final packaging, is entirely done by robots and machines.