Next up for the Big Freakin’ Cartridge Test is Vympel’s budget 55gr FMJ load in .223 Remington, made in Amursk, Russia. This ammunition features a lacquered steel case, bimetal jacketed 55gr FMJ bullet and purple neck sealant. This is one of my favorite [Read More…]
The first round up of the Big Freakin’ Cartridge Test is IMI’s take on the Black Hill’s classic heavy precision load, Mk. 262. Branded as “77gr Razor Core”, IMI’s version sports annealed 5.56mm NATO cases, neck and primer sealant, and [Read More…]
Researchers from MIT have recently found a way to trick Google’s image search engines and identifiers into confusing a popular photograph on the internet of three M16s (and one M4) representing chronological development as a helicopter. Check out the article on [Read More…]
The Armalite AR-10 is the original lightweight 7.62mm combat rifle – a space-age amalgam of aluminum, steel, and advanced plastics capable of a rate of fire of 800 rounds per minute and weighing just a hair over 7 pounds, unloaded. Its younger, 5.56mm caliber [Read More…]
The .224 Valkyrie may be the most interesting AR-15 round to come out in years, but the question many have been asking in my comments section is: Cool, but where are the rifles? Approaching the 2018 SHOT Show in Las Vegas Nevada, we are already starting to get answers, [Read More…]
The first round up for the Big Freakin’ Cartridge Test is IMI’s take on the Black Hill’s classic heavy precision load, Mk. 262. Branded as “77gr Razor Core”, IMI’s version sports annealed 5.56mm NATO cases, neck and primer sealant, [Read More…]
Through the Modern Calibers series of posts, we’ve covered 40 different rifle and pistol calibers, ranging from the diminutive .22 Winchester Magnum to full power calibers like the 7.62x51mm NATO. The series was intended to give readers a baseline picture of how [Read More…]
Kalashnikov Media has started a video series called “Kalashnikov: Around the World”. The purpose of these videos is to tell about the Kalashnikov rifles made in different countries of the world. This video series consists of short videos briefly teasing [Read More…]
Government officials from the Pakistani province of Punjab Province (capital, Lahore) have recently announced through local television outlets and in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn that a small arms procurement program for the provincial law enforcement forces is [Read More…]
About a year ago, Savage Arms launched a new line of rimfire rifles called the A22. From the information I’ve received, the guns seem to be selling well. Well enough, it would appear, for the company to offer a limited run of special A22 rifles. The new A22 FV FDX [Read More…]
Broadsword Group, LLC, the owners of Sharps Rifle Company (makers of the Relia-Bolt and .25-45 Sharps upper receivers for the AR-15), has been ordered to pay nearly three quarters of a million dollars to one of its founding members, Michael H. Blank, by the US District [Read More…]
Phoenix Weaponry has announced the launch of their new AR-10 pattern rifle chambered in a new cartridge called .45-70 Auto. The new cartridge duplicates the .45-70 Government performance in an AR-10 platform. This cartridge is made by turning the rim of the .45-70 [Read More…]
The day many tactical optic enthusiasts have been whispering about over the past year is finally here: Nightforce has just announced their long-rumored 1-8 power tactical scope, called the NX8. Nighforce describes the NX8 1-8×24 F1 as “a class leading, [Read More…]
Photographs of Egyptian Security Forces armed with 7.62x39mm CZ 807s have recently surfaced, thanks to the efforts of Egypt Defense Review and Mahmoud Gamal, both in-depth analysts of Egyptian defense programs. The 7.62x39mm rifles were recently seen in what appears to [Read More…]
A Russian YouTube gun channel called “practical shooting” has released a video showing an extremely unusual competition rifle. As you can see, it is not just a heavily modded rifle but has a totally weird layout. This competition rifle is based on a Molot [Read More…]
Axelson Tactical announced it was now selling an AR upper chambered for the 300 BLK cartridge with a 10.5″ barrel. The new AXE CQB upper is a nearly complete assembly minus the charging handle and bolt carrier group (though those can be added.) The upper uses a [Read More…]
In March of 1963, a man named Lee Harvey Oswald purchased an M38 Carcano rifle and some quantity of ammunition from Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago. Oswald would later use this rifle and ammunition (or so the official narrative goes) to assassinate the [Read More…]
In an earlier TFB TV episode, we covered some of the experiences that combat veterans have gone through while under fire. We continue that discussion in this final episode, going into much more detail about some of the nuances and specific aspects of being in combat and actually returning fire back [Read More…]
SK-17 (Semiautomatic Kalashnikov 2017) is a custom AKM-based rifle built by a company called Fire Control Group Manufacturing. Besides being a custom made rifle, it has several design changes which are supposed to increase the efficiency of the rifle. The first [Read More…]
The United States Marine Corps has finally officially announced its adoption of the 5.56mm M855A1 EPR round, developed in the late 2000s by the US Army, marking an important step towards ammunition commonality between the two services. Until now, the USMC has officially [Read More…]
Double Tap Arms has released a new version of their binary trigger for a number of Brugger & Thomet firearms including the APC9, APC45, P26, GHM9 pistol caliber carbines and APC223 rifle. The Double tap binary trigger set includes the trigger, hammer, [Read More…]
Looking like the bizarre lovechild of a bolt-action rifle, a boat oar, and those weird prop rifles from the original Planet of the Apes movie, the Thorneycroft Carbine is one of the unsung “firsts” of the 20th Century. Specifically, this British [Read More…]
ERGO Grips announced an extension of its line of the ERGO 2 AR GRIP line of pistol grips for the AR platform. The new grip has an organic camouflage pattern dominated by browns. Due to the way the grips are made, each one has a unique appearance. The camo version of [Read More…]
The Cold War is famous as the squaring off of two superpowers: The United States, and the Soviet Union, and their duel-by-proxy in Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. The standard rifles of each side, as well, became proxies: On the Soviet side, the famous AK-47 [Read More…]
Those eagerly awaiting the market for the new .224 Valkyrie round have something to celebrate. Gunmaker JP Enterprises recently announced that they are now offering three different barrels for the new cartridge, in 20″ light, 20″ medium, and 22″ medium [Read More…]
Recently on The Firearm Blog we talked about one of the great might-have-beens, the German caseless G11 rifle developed by Heckler & Koch during the 1970s and 1980s. Today we have a video from 1990 filmed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds of a demonstration of the G11K2 [Read More…]
It’s almost 3 in the morning, and I’m lying awake in bed thinking about small arms. I’m trying to put everything out of my mind so I can go to sleep and wake up in the morning, go to the range, and bring you some raw ballistic data. So of course what [Read More…]
Is the US Army pushing for a new high-powered 6.Xmm caliber with their new NGSAR program? Recently, the listing for the NGSAR industry day in December was updated with a document describing in part the agenda of the second conference. Scheduled for 9:45 in the morning [Read More…]
Back in July, we reported that the Estonian Army was in the market for a new service rifle. A tender worth €75 million (approx. $86 million) was released calling for 20,000 new rifles, to be chambered in both 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm. The rifles are to replace the [Read More…]
The Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum) in Paris houses an excellent display of European medieval small arms, showing a wide array of early firearms design. Apart from this collection, the museum is itself a fascinating portrayal of the French Armed Forces, from the [Read More…]