#StarWars

Mission First Tactical, or MFT for short, produces a wide variety of firearms-related components and accessories. From buttstocks and grips, to rail systems and muzzle devices, to holsters and more, their product catalogue covers a fair amount of ground. Among MFT’s product lines is a series of polymer AR magazines. Their standard Extreme Duty (EXD) 30-round mags carry a $12.99 MSRP, but MFT has produced several dozen special edition versions with various graphics printed on the bodies. Their “Magazine of the Month” releases avail a limited run of one of these special designs, and now MFT has announced their latest version. In honor of the Star Wars “May the Fourth Be with You” homage, their May 2023 monthly offering displays a Beskar-pattern graphic, as a nod to the TV series “The Mandalorian”. Check out MFT’s press release below for details.

Many guns are exceedingly serious tools, purpose-built for potential life-or-death situations. Others are made more for fun – entertaining, enjoyable range toys. Today’s examination focuses on a case of the latter. Unless you live under a rock, by now you’ve likely at least heard of the extremely popular television series “The Mandalorian”, launched in 2019, from Disney’s Star Wars universe. One of the titular character’s weapons in the series is a sniper rifle called the Amban Phase-Pulse blaster, noted for its prominent two-pronged forked muzzle. As gun guys often do, some viewers who are also firearms aficionados have geeked out over the show’s prop weapons, looking for real-world guns that the props may be based on. In the case of the Amban rifle, there were none to be found. The blaster was an entirely fabricated prop and not a dressed-up real gun, as many other Star Wars weapons have been. However, the mad AK scientists at a Phoenix-based shop called Lee Armory have at least somewhat changed that.

Late last year, Vytal Manufacturing introduced Beskar grips for the CZ75 (and variants), that resemble Mandalorian Beskar armor as seen in season one of the Mandalorian Star Wars show. For anyone that hasn’t seen The Mandalorian, the bounty hunter, Din Djarin, is offered a job which will be paid with a metal called Beskar, with the payment being separated into Imperial marked ingots. Photos and information surrounding the fictional armor can be seen HERE.

In recent years, Star Wars fans have begun to ditch their dreams of building a Mauser C96 based replica of Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster due to soaring costs, and have a new hope in the much more affordable AR-15 DL-44 clones. Enter Canto Arms, which, at present have a dedicated line of AR-15 DL-44 clones for sale, both as complete .22LR pistols, and as parts kits, plus many other accessory options to complete the DL-44 build you never thought possible. Purists will no doubt scoff at a non-Mauser blaster clone, but with Canto Arms’ Nocturne 22 Heavy Blaster, you can have a close representation of Han Solo’s blaster for less than half of what a C96 conversion would cost, and you get to save the remaining Mausers at the same time.

CMMG, the firearm manufacturer that has brought you popular firearms like the Mutant and the Banshee has just released a video showcasing one of their latest goofy creations for the firearm industry – a replica Star Wars blaster which was originally based on the Mauser C96 (called a DL-44 Blaster) when used in the Star Wars movies. The Blaster will be part of a giveaway that lasts from the time of posting till May the 21st. Winners of the May the Fourth giveaway will be drawn the week after the giveaway ends.

Today’s  Photo Of The Day is a bit different. It’s an illustration from the People Choice Award for Military Photography Competition. The picture was taken by Sgt. Matthew Aaron Callahan (USMC). The Defense Information School (DINFOS), located at Fort George G. Meade, Md. (USA) set up the 2015 Visual Information Award Program.

Many of you saw my recent article about my friend’s rough replica of Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster from the Star Wars movie franchise. If you missed it, you can find it here. The idea behind that build was to construct an AR pistol to look like a rough approximation of the movie prop, as inexpensively as possible. Today I bring you another functioning DL-44 replica gun, but the goal with this one was much different. The owner sourced a real C96 “Broomhandle” Mauser and commissioned a professional gunsmith to rebuild and modify it to be as close to a perfect movie prop replica as possible. This was not to be just a cheap, fun range toy. Today’s blaster was the obsessive mission of a Star Wars mega-fan and his gunsmith, bent on excruciating detail. Let’s discuss how they accomplished this galactic feat.

In the Star Wars movie franchise, Harrison Ford’s iconic portrayal of space-borne smuggler Han Solo is inextricably linked to his trusty blaster pistol. Throughout the interstellar saga, our roguish patron saint of shooting first wielded a modified BlasTech DL-44 heavy blaster, which he used to dispatch dozens of Imperial Stormtroopers and the occasional humanoid alien, among others. This fictional blaster was itself a modified real firearm, based on the venerable Mauser C96 – affectionately known as the “Broomhandle” Mauser. The German manufacturer produced more than a million of these guns between 1896 and 1937, and long before Ford fired laser beams out of his on the silver screen, C96s were reportedly carried by the likes of Winston Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia.

Welcome back to our Sci-Fi Movie guns series where we explore and discuss various weapons used in sci-fi movies and TV shows. This week we’re going to dive deeper into the weird and interesting movies ranging as far back as the 70s all the way up to the 2000s. So suit up, check your oxygen levels and charge your blaster, we’re going back in with TFB’s Top 10 Sci-Fi Movie Guns Part II.

The Star Wars saga and its characters have entertained and inspired several generations of people, firearms enthusiasts among them.  Episodes IV, V and VI (as well as sequel episodes) had easily recognizable surplus firearms, despite the addition of extra parts fastened to them for a more space-age look.  One of those surplus firearms, the Mauser C96 pistol became iconic as Han Solo’s blaster, later dubbed the DL-44, mounted with an offset pistol scope and a large flash hider.  Some people have made their own DL-44 blaster clones from working C96 pistols, however, as time moves on, the old Mauser pistols designed in 1896 become fewer and more costly.

If you’re a huge Star Wars fan then I’m sure you’ve already signed up for the new streaming service Disney Plus. I did, mostly for the new live action show “The Mandalorian”. The show is essentially a spaghetti western in space that follows the story of a Mandalorian bounty hunter played by Pedro Pascal. Mandalorians are a popular group in the Star Wars saga among fans with their iconic T visor helmets, armor and gun fighting skills.

I was watching Star Wars Rogue One yesterday and noticed this. Odd I did not see it when I saw the movie in the theater. Although it is only used for a brief second. The scene is from when the rebels free Jyn Erso from the Turbo Tank. The first guy into the confined space is clearly using a thumb over bore grip technique, more commonly referred to as the Costa Grip.

Love them or hate them, there is little denying that the RONI kits for the Glock pistol are extremely popular with the shooting public. Made by CAA, these kits come in a variety of sizes with a range of options to accessorize your Glock handgun. One of the latest is the limited edition Micro RONI Stabilizer Advanced Kit White. Whew…that’s a heck of a name.

Perhaps one of my favorite non-firearms blogs is Angry Staff Officer, a completely irreverent, passionate, off-kilter, and on-point blog of a US Army mustang who perhaps regrets the jump into officerdom. In his occasional musings, Star Wars frequently pops up as a favorite topic including his recent missive analyzing the Raid on Scariff as only an officer can. Replete with words like “plan”, “operationally”, and “command and control.”

In the decades since the release of the original Star Wars movie and subsequent episodes, “researchers” have extensively analyzed the weaponry carried by both Empire and Rebellion characters alike.  And while the technical discussions have delved into the engineering and obvious parallels to World War II era firearms, no one seems to have hypothesized about each character’s personal choices in blasters.