#Handgun

Heckler & Koch has had an unusual relationship with the striker-fired handgun. The world’s first polymer-framed striker-fired production pistol, the VP70, was an H&K, and what many consider to be the company’s finest handgun ever, the P7, was also striker fired. However, aside from those two, Heckler & Koch had not produced any other striker-fired handguns, despite being one of the world’s major pistol design and manufacturing firms. Had, that is, until the summer of 2014, when the company released a brand new handgun, which harkened back to the aforementioned VP70 with the name VP9.

A company called Veri-Fire, LLC based out of San Antonio, Texas has designed and is selling a device that fits on the trigger guard of a handgun, and is essentially a high tech biometric trigger lock. Instead of a key unlocking it, your finger unlocks it. It was designed by two former Airmen who were prior Security Force guys. Release date is November 16th, MSRP is $299, but if you purchase one before that date, it will be $199, in addition to another reserve price of $159, which I’m not quite clear about the difference between those two last prices. It also appears to be rail mounted, wherein you access the biometric lock, and the cover slides forward, allowing use of the trigger. I don’t know how this translates to handguns that don’t have rails, or if a shooter wants to have a light on their handgun, which is a very valid reason for a home defense gun. It also appears to have a manual override but doesn’t explain how that works.

Beretta has finally released the product details and has started shipping M9A3s for the commercial market. I can’t find anything yet on whether or not the commercial M9A3 is different from the upgrade package that was submitted to the Armed Forces, but I’m sure there are a few differences, possibly in the materials used. The pistol itself appears to come in a plastic case, different from most handgun cases in that it opens up more like an ammunition case than a flat gun case. The website also lists wraparound grips, has a picture of them, but I can’t find them anywhere else. It also comes with tritium night sights, beveled magazine well and a threaded barrel with protecter in the stock model. The big question that everyone wants to know, MSRP is $1099.

A project called SALT- A Safe Gun for a Safe Home has been started on Indiegogo already has over $12,500 raised in just 17 hours. Essentially it is a project aimed at introducing a non lethal solution into a home defense scenario, so no matter who breaks into your house (or while concealed carrying), there is no way you’ll be able to kill the aggressor. The inventors of this product believe that a compressed packet of salt and whatever other magical mixture is included, has the ability to halt and temporarily incapacitate an aggressive intruder or attacker, possibly with the intent on not only stealing, but also physically harming and/or killing the intruder.

MVD agent KardeN gives us another look into an elusive piece of Russian equipment, this time the Russian rotary GSh-18 pistol:

Meprolight from the Mako Group has come out with a new handgun front and rear sighting system that consists of strips of tritium that line up with each other to almost form a sort of “cross hair” in addition to a center front sight dot, when everything is aligned. The design comes from the R4E Evolution that came out last year. Their video announcement of the product is pretty well done. From Meprolight-

So a strapping young lad that goes by the username of MyDifferentUserName on Youtube, has over the years come out with over a hundred different LEGO 1:1 scale reproductions that have controls that function, but don’t actually propel a LEGO projectile or similar object like some other LEGO 1:1 scale productions. LEGO creations are nothing new on the Youtube or internet scene, but I don’t think anyone has made them to just the sheer quantity of this guy. Another interesting tidbit is the guy lives in the U.S. and has videos of going out and shooting “real steel” to borrow a phrase from the airsoft world. A certain amount of firearms replication occurs in places where it is harder or impossible to get ahold of actual firearms and thus people settle for their own creations, such as the .22 rifles in deactivated machine guns that we featured earlier, or the wooden replicas made by a teacher in the U.K. Regardless, this guy has everything from Lee Enfields, SCARs, Mini-guns, revolvers, the LSAT, break open shotguns, and much more, over 100 different firearms. Most of his inspiration seems to come from video games such as Counter-Strike, and Battlefield. But a few are historically inspired such as the Lee Enfield No.1. I can absolutely empathize with him on this point, because I myself built cardboard replicas of video game firearms when I was in elementary school, starting with models from video games, and later branching off into historical small arms. What I like about his videos that differentiate them from other LEGO firearm videos is that he goes in depth with each one, touching on history, operation, form and function.

The Editor Writes: This week’s Friday Field Strip Video/Article combo is on the fascinating 1907 Roth-Steyr. Watch Alex’s video above then read Nathaniel’s article below …

The FBI has released a request for proposal for new 9mm semiautomatic handguns, in four categories. The RFP lists these as full-size, compact, Simunition trainers, and inert but articulated “red gun” trainers:

SilencerCo is really pushing up their ad campaign of “Fight the Noise” through a redesign of their website, and a partnering with Nitro Circus  in new video they just released on Youtube. I have to admit, their mouth taping and slogans of “We, the Suppressed” are a tad bit catchy. I will knock them immensely for the complete lack of eye protection in this video, hearing protection, alright I got it, suppressors. But no eye protection at all.

Angel Armor out of Fort Collins, Colorado has released some new ballistic protection called the Ally One Level IIIA. It seems to be shaped in the size of a rectangle. Not sure if it is meant to be worn in a vest, or just carried in some sort of bag. From the press release-

I don’t think there is a single shooting event/competition, civilian or military, where it is declared in the safety brief, that everyone present is a range officer and has the right to call out an unsafe act or situation, on behalf of the whole group. Often times we listen to this and nod our heads in understanding, but how many of us have actually called out an unsafe act? Whether you have or not, this is an excellent video of a range officer doing the right thing.

Ever since the movie came out in theaters, I’ve been waiting to buy it and take copious amounts of screen shots in order to make this post. Well, the movie was released on the 15th to the general public for paid download, you can go buy it yourself here at Google Play. Anyways, I’m the typical gun guy when it comes to action movies, always criticizing and calling everything out that is wrong with the small arms present. Although there was a lot completely off and unrealistic about the small arms in Furious 7, there actually was a lot of stuff right. In addition to a lot of detail that went into them and making the movie come alive, from a small arms perspective. If you want to get into some real detail, go check out the Internet Movie Firearms Database entry for Furious 7. There is also an excellent behind the scenes write up of the armorers from the movie, and some of the details from Range 365 blog. From their post-

Riding on the enormous popularity of the AR15 post we recently completed concerning the feedback from Battlefield Las Vegas, we’re now bringing to you the handgun section that the manager, Ron has so diligently posted up on AR15.com. I’ve combined all of his relevant posts on the forum, to make one solid block of information about mostly handguns, but he’s also included some NFA machine guns, and some suppressor tidbits. I’ve edited some of it just so it flows and makes sense to the reader, but didn’t touch any of the actual information.

Here is a different method of carrying your handgun for self defense. It is a simple design. The handgun sling is a loop of cord, that looks to be elastic. The ends are joined by an 8mm tube and looped onto the cord is a coin tab. You loop the Handgun Sling around your belt, insert the tube into the muzzle of your handgun and tuck the pistol into your pants. Then you use the coin tab to lift the cord up and over the rear of the slide. Thereby securing the pistol.