The Firearm Blog

The Italian Media are upset that Armalite used a photo of Michelangelo’s David in an advertisement for their AR-50A1 .50 BMG rifle. The UK Guardian newspaper, with all the hyperbole they could muster, likened this a worse affront that when the statue was vandalized with a hammer. The city of Florence has told the company to remove the advertisement because it is in violation of an Italian law.

I love the ad. It looks fantastic.  Nobody seems upset, or notices the irony, that David was a Israeli king, nor are they upset about the Ancient Egyptian Obelisk, built by Ramses II and taken by the Romans, is a mere two

Andrew Tuohy of Vuurwapen Blog wrote a rather comprehensive article comparing muzzle devices for the AR-15. He captures the flash from the devices with a camera, videos the recoil and muzzle climb in slow motion as well as test for DB levels. He then quantifies the results in a nice tidy bar graph.

Check out the review.

At SHOT Show 2013, AWC unveiled an integrally suppressed Ruger takedown. Shut up and take my money haha. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this until now.

Suppressed Takedown

ITS Tactical has a great breakdown of their AR-15 parts organizer. I am really impressed with the organization.

Check it out here.

Tacome1942 is a genius. He makes working replicas of firearms, out of paper by hand. The use of metal is unavoidable. He does use metal for extractors, springs, firing pins, and screws. Now when I say “working replicas” they don’t fire conventional bullets. The paper barrels can’t sustain that amount of pressure. So what does he use instead? He makes his own bullets using match heads instead of gun powder. So they are technically working firearms with projectiles.

He has made a MG42, 1911, Makarov, AK47, and a Winchester 1894 just to name a few.

Check out his page to see his creations.

Just check out this revolver trigger mechanism he made, out of paper.

Four years ago, frustrated after having a bad experience with an Armalite AR-180B, I purchased a Colt 6920 rifle from a gun store in Northwest Louisiana, which I was passing through at the time. Since then, I have put close to five thousand rounds of steel-cased ammunition through the rifle, along with about a thousand rounds of brass-cased ammunition. During the past four years, I have tried numerous times to get the rifle to stop working, and only succeeded once. Along the way, I used the rifle to shoot at targets that conventional wisdom says are too far away to hit with a 5.56mm carbine. This review will cover my experiences with the rifle in greater depth, and conclude with why I think the Colt 6920 is a benchmark for civilian self-loading carbines.

Despite my best efforts to push the rifle beyond its limits, I found the Colt to be as reliable as the Yugoslavian M70B1 AK that I owned at the same time. Shooting through Southeast Texas rain and mud, New Mexico sandstorms, and thousands of rounds without cleaning, the rifle proved itself to me as an outstandingly reliable machine. In one of my att

Zel Custom is selling a single shot AR-style lower designed to handle the abuse of high-power calibers.  Along with other companies, Zel Custom manufactures AR uppers in calibers like .50 BMG, .416 Barrett, and .408 CheyTac.  Some standard AR lowers may not be up to regular abuse from these heavy hitting cartridges.

So, Zel is selling the BR-15B, which is designed to handle the punishment.  This lower eliminates the standard magazine well, uses an integrated trigger guard and is machined from 7075 aluminum billet for maximum strength.

Shooters can buy the B

FN Manufacturing has been awarded a $27 million contract to produce spare  19 grenade launcher receivers for the US Army. The full press release …

(McLean, VA – March 6, 2014) FNH USA, LLC announced today that FN Manufacturing, LLC in Columbia, SC has received a new, three year, $7.6 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to build MK 19 spare receivers for the U.S. Army.  This award is in addition to the $27 million contract the company currently has from the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) to produce MK 19 grenade machine guns through August 2015.

“We are pleased that FN Manufacturing has been selected to produce the MK 19 spare receivers,” said Mark Cherpes, FNH USA President and CEO.  “Since its founding in 1989, FN Manufacturing has proudly built a variety of military firearms for all branches of the U.S. Military including iconic products such as the M240, M249, M4 and M16 rifles.  We are extremely proud of the high-quality and reliable firearms we build for our service men and women and look forward to continuing this

Pachmayr announced the introduction of American Legend grips in a variety of colors for the 1911-style pistol.  The new grips combine laminate wood with rubber inserts to achieve enhanced “looks and handling” according to Pachmayr.

The laminate wood portion of the American Legend grips will be available in the following colors:

• Tropical Purple,
• Tropical Passionwood,
• Rosewood,
• Evergreen Camo,
• Charcoal Silvertone, and
• Heritage Walnut

All of the new grips should be available some time this month.  Each of the grips will carry a MSRP of $49.95.

Pachmayr states the gri

HSGI is producing some of their gear in Kryptek Highlander camo for a limited time.

HSGI Kryptek Gear

Here is an odd duck gun. The Dardick Model 1500. We had posted an interesting magazine fed Frankenruger revolver the other day. This is nothing like that one. It uses a proprietary polymer cased bullet that is triangular and called Trounds. They are fed into an internal magazine. It is an open chamber design. Very interesting concept.

There has been a lot of speculation online about how the Ukrainian Revolution of 2014 will effect ammunition supply in the West. There is one large ammunition exporter in Ukrainian called Lugansk Cartridge Works (LCW). They manufacture 5.56mm, 5.45mm, 7.62x39mm, 7.62x54mm, 9x19mm and 9x18mm cartridges. Their rounds are made with steel-core FMJ bullets for military use and lead-core for consumer use.

Lugansk Cartridge Works headstamp on case found in Libya. Credit N.r. Jenzen-Jones of ARES.

They export cartridges under their own brand but, mo

Strike Industries’ new Ambush Low Profile Sling Loop has just gone on sale. I had a chance to look at the prototypes at SHOT Show and I can tell you ‘low profile’ is not quite accurate, it is really ‘no profile’. The sling loop is actually mounts lower than the ridges of a picatinny rail. It won’t interfere with other attachments, such as optics, flashlights and other accessories that can take up space on a rail. The Ambush is retailing for $26.

STI is now making “lite” versions of the company’s existing Duty One pistols.  These new lightweight pistols use aluminum, standard width frames.  Three versions of the new guns are now in production:  the Duty One Lt 3.0, Duty One Lt 4.0 and Duty One Lt 5.0.

The new pistols are 1911-style handguns available in .45 ACP, 9mm and .40 S&W.  The guns have a flat mainspring housing, high-rise beavertail grip safety and a left side only thumb safety.  The grips are made of G10 with the STI logo.  All of the guns ship with a single magazine.

The Duty One Lt 5.0 Specifications

• barrel length:  5.11″
• overall length:  8.5″
• weight (unloaded in 9mm caliber):  32.2 oz
• magazine capacity (9mm):  nine rounds
• magazine capacity (.40 S&W):  eight rounds
• magazine capacity (.45 ACP):  eight rounds
• MSRP: $1,384

Designed for all mil-spec forged lower receivers, the Advanced Safety Trigger Guard simultaneously opens up the trigger guard and provides a solid tactile place for a finger rest (while taking up that annoying gap). High Velocity Arms touts that the ASTG gives “increased leverage for competition / tactical maneuvers.”

Black & NiB-X coatings side-by-side.

The ASTG is all-steel construction, available in either NiB-X Nickel Boron or blac

Katelyn Francis is only 13 years old in this video. She is amazing. Watch her rock this stage. She is smooth and most of the time is constantly moving and shooting. Very impressive. The Full Auto ACR is a stage gun that all competitors must use at the start of the stage.

One of the under-the-radar new products at the 2014 SHOT Show was the appearance of the new SIG SAUER ammo.  SIG hosted a private media event prior to the SHOT Show where they let a hand-picked group of media members shoot the company’s new firearms.  The ammo being shot through the weapons?  SIG V-Crown.

The SIG V-Crown line uses a jacketed hollow point, and is labeled as “Elite Performance Ammunition.”  Initially, ammo will be loaded for the 9mm, .40 S&W, .357 SIG and .45 ACP.

Jeff Creamer, the director of product development for SIG SAUER, appeared on the January 19 edition of Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk radio program.  Creamer stated the ammo will be officially launched at the 2014 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in April.

Winchester is once again expanding their ammunition lines by offering the new Blind Side shotgun ammunition in 12 and 20 gauge in their high velocity line.  With up to 15% more pellets per shell, it idea is that it increases the kill zone by putting more pellets in the air at a higher velocity.  Their hexagonal shot allows for more pellets to be packed into a shotgun shell.

New for 2014 is the high velocity line of Blind Side shells, meaning shorter leads for wing shooters.

My thanks to reader Foghorn_Leghorn who just introduced me to EverydayNoDaysOff’s epic AR-15 vs. AK vs. Mosin thread. Those looking to waste an hour (or more depending on how much you laugh!) should peruse over to the post most ricky-tick.

My personal favorites are below (there are hundreds more on ENDO):

AR15: Such light recoil, you could put on over your balls and fire.
AK47: Recoil manageable enough for anyone to use it.
Mosin-Nagant: Recoil that registers as small tremors in the earth itself.

AR15: Clean with fancy lubes and solvents with special tools.
AK47: Clean? In Soviet Russia AK clean you!
Mosin-Nagant: Squirt some Windex down the bore. Ready for another 500 rounds tomorrow!

AR15: Goes pew pew pew
AK47: Goes pow pow pow
Mosin-Nagant: Goes BOOOOOOOM!

AR15: You are careful to keep in clean i

The Mako Group, known to many to be the major importer of many of the innovations that come out of the Israeli Defense Forces is releasing another innovation from the official holster of Israel’s military here in the US.

Front Line holsters is releasing a new polymer holster that is a new design that is made from a new polymer, designed to give the user the strongest and most flexible holster that will stand up to even the harshest of conditions.

The remarkable thing about their new holsters is the price.  For the OWB, paddle version the MSRP is only $23.85, far below many of the manufacturers making polymer holsters.

The holsters will be available in both an OWB paddle and IWB version.  The also released magazine carriers in both paddle and belt slide versions.

Front Line, the official holster of Israel’s military and law enforcement, continues to innovate with their new molded polymer holsters and magazine pouches. Offering professional quality at an unbeatable price, the products are ideal for on duty, range use and everyday carry. The unique designs and high