The Firearm Blog

Editor’s note: This article was written by Claymore. His previous blog posts can be read here.

In 1957, George Kayaian was tasked by his wife to replace a stubborn and ailing sun lounger. After a trip to Lowe’s and several hours of tinkering in his basement, the Kayaian Machine Pistol was instead born.

Yep, it was just a bit too smooth of sailing. As I was cleaning my home to prepare for the interview on Monday, I received a call from the IOI “Rick.” Rick received a message back from the City of Fort Wayne, that they wanted to talk to me first. Uh oh…

SureFire is now selling a new .22 LR suppressor called the SF Ryder 22-A.  This can is an updated suppressor in the Ryder series.  The unit weighs 3.1 ounces, has a diameter of 1″ and is 5.4″ long.  SureFire gives the suppressor a rating of 117 dB.

Check out the Nemo Omen .300 WinMag AR. The music gets a bit obnoxious but it doesn’t detract from this amazing weapon. For more information head over to Nemo Arms.

Thanks to Pekka for sending this one over to us.

The US Marines Black Sea Rotational Force is seen training in Finland. Training for cold urban combat. Interesting that they are using the AK-47 and not the standard issued M4.

The great Phil White let me know a couple of weeks back that a fantastic custom AR15 maker was eager to send me a test rifle so that I could experience first hand what their company is all about. Since I started writing for TFB, I have reviewed four AR style firearms and none of them have impressed me as much as the KVD-15 by KAVOD Custom, a boutique AR-15 manufacturer located in Vidalia, Georgia. Kavod in Hebrew is a greeting in the IDF that roughly translates to “with honor”, which to me is pretty neat. When I got in touch with them, they asked what I wanted on the rifle. Not just what kind of stock or other easily changed part, but internals, bolt, trigger, barrel, and anything else I could dream up. This resulted in me receiving the following on my KVD-15 (which they built for me in a day or two):

How many John McClain’s would it take to survive real-life Die Hard movies? Turns out, a lot. He would only survive a single movie and would need a few more lives on top of that. in one noted case, John is even “super dead.”

The famous Knob Creek Gun Range bi-annual Machine Gun Shoot needs no introduction. It is heaven-on-earth for gun nuts, or at least for gun nuts with cash to burn on ammunition. The April shoot happened last weekend. Roy of Andrews Armory, Little Rock, AR and Houston Hardin of Xrayguns.com (the man who makes those awesome xray gun prints) sent me these photos and videos taken at the shoot …

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Ares Defense has now put out a press release confirming the release of the SCR at NRA next week.I would also like to add that Ares Defense out of Florida is not affiliated with Ares Armor out of California, a distinction I would like to make after some comments on the last post regarding the SCR release.

Gizmodo has a nice pictorial roundup of Future Solider programs from around the world. Its not a comprehensive list, its missing a number of countries, such as the recently announced Sudanese program we blogged about a few weeks ago, but its worth taking a look. The photo above is of Spanish troops participating in the Combatiente Futuro (COMFUT) program.

Many thanks to Torrin for the link.

Steve says: It is our honor to present the first TFB post written by veteran gun expert and historian Max Popenker ...

Firefield has announced a purpose-built red-dot sight for Remington 870 shotguns. The red-dot comes pre-integrated with receiver-pin mount. On the upside, it reduces the profile of the sight. The downside: you will have to remove any existing top rail and it looks like side-saddle carriers may not be compatible.

Much to my surprise and well ahead of 60 days (much less 30 days), the local examiner has called to set up my FFL 07 interview. My agent (let’s call him “Rick”) sounded enthusiastic, but overworked. It was a god-send that he had an open day as next week I am heading down to the NRA show for TFB’s coverage. After that, I head to India, Florida, and then on to Saudi Arabia. Ay Carumba! Rick was a bit incredulous at first on an apartment-based FFL 07, but when I explained what I was up to (design, experimentation, writing, research, and assembly of completed lowers) he was up to speed and on-board. The extra due diligence submitted with my package paid off. Rick mentioned that he had never seen one so thorough and so easy for him to verify (I included letters from the local zoning board and my landlord will full contact information). Everything has checked out with them...

The Olympics are long over, but the Desert Eagle has still taken bronze.  Well, a bronze Cerakote finish anyway.

Magnum Research is now selling .50 AE and .44 Magnum versions of the Mark XIX Desert Eagle pistol in a Burnt Bronze color.  The pistols will be available only through the distributor Bill Hicks & Co., Ltd.  Both models will retail for $1,696.

Diamonhead USA has a set of folding BUIS. Sure that is nothing new but these pop out at a 45 degree angle. What’s the big deal? They just mount to your flat top and BAM! open up at a 45 degree angle. They retail for $298.00 and you can get them from the Diamondhead web store.

Ok, so it isn’t the most practical shotgun shell reload but it is a nifty trick.

In both the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine anti-government troops, without identification on their uniforms, popped up supposedly from nowhere. Nobody had any doubt that the troops in the Crimea where professional Russian soldiers. They were highly disciplined, armed with the latest Russian equipment and well supported. It has been assumed by many that the Eastern Ukraine militias occupying government buildings are also Russian soldiers. Arto Pulkki at Suomen Sotilas, a Finnish Military magazine, makes a compelling case that the Ukraine militias are not Russian troops, but rather an assorted rabble of civilians and retired or reserve soldiers …

The NY Times has published an interesting article back in 2012 about the tourist shooting ranges in Cambodia. Its well worth reading, but what especially a reader’s attention was the .22 AK AR-15 in leading photo (click though to see the full resolution photo). The rifle’s upper receiver is some variant of an AR-15,  maybe originally an M16. The lower receiver looks hand fabricated. The rifle furniture looks to be taken from a couple of different Type 56 Chinese AK rifles (or some other AK variants … I am frequently criticized by readers for getting my AK identifications wrong).