The Firearm Blog

As the article states, “only good thing coming out of that whole situation is that we get to gawk at the Russian hardware on display.”

From Russia with Guns

While at the 2014 SHOT Show, I got a chance to learn about Kinetic Concealment, a relatively new holster company that is offering a twist on the hybrid inside-the-waistband (IWB) scabbard.  At first glance, the holsters appear to be similar to other hybrid offerings from CrossBreed and others.  However, the construction of the holster may increase comfort significantly.

The design uses a piece of Kydex that is attached to a slab of leather.  The Kydex is molded for a specific model of handgun, which allows it to securely hold the pistol without the need for a retention strap.  The leather offers a layer of protection between the hard corners of the gun and Kydex.  Belt clips are attached at either end of the leather piece, which spreads the weight of the gun over a wider area when compared to traditional IWB holsters.  These are pretty standard features for hybrid holsters.

Schroeder Bauman impressed me after my factory tour. Their knowledge, service, and dedication to craft was laudable. Now with a pistol in hand and plenty of ammo, I headed out to the range.  Was the American Defender good enough to turn a proclaimed “not-1911″ guy into a fan?

Overview:

Schroeder Bauman started as a subsidiary of SWS Trimac, an acclaimed materials science, tooling, and manufacturing firm. Drawing on the owners lifetime of welding and forming the world’s hardest materials, Owner and President Jar Morley sold SWS and turned his attention to something he really wanted to do: make quality pistols. He turned his attention to and considerable expertise to hone the iconic Model 1911 design of John Moses Browning.

Hi Readers,

Many of you have requested we most more article each day, and that we post them faster, throughout the day rather than late at night all at once. We have listened. Over the next couple of weeks we will be increasing the number of posts per day and starting right now we will be posting throughout the day.

If you still only want to check the blog once per day, you still can, nothing will have changed (other than more posts). But if you are bored at work, and there is nothing interesting on Facebook, checking TFB periodically will be more satisfying than it has been in the past.

- Steve

I sometimes wonder why German gun companies can be bothered staying in business. Hot on the heels of a raid at SIG Sauer, DW.de reports that Walther may be under investigation for illegal arms exports to Columbia, something the company denies ever doing.

So how has the Walther P99 come to Colombia? “We can’t answer that,” Manfred Wörz, the managing director of the Carl Walther company, told DW, adding that the company had not delivered any weapons, or technology, to Colombia. “We cannot explain how the weapon could have arrived on the Colombian market,” he said.

Jürgen Grässlin said he doubted that statement. He’s part of the Outcry Campaign, which works to stop the arms trade, and said he has filed charges with the prosecutors’ office in the southern German city of Ulm accusing the Walther company of suspected illegal arms deals and il

Wow, another billet lower. It seems like every week a new company pops up with an AR-15 lower offering. At this point I think most of us are starting to experience lower fatigue. You are now probably wondering, why should you care about this one?

I stumbled upon Incendia Arms by chance. Over the past year I have been searching high and low for a lower to fill a gap in my collection. What I wanted was simple, a billet lower constructed of 7075 aluminum with an integrated trigger guard, that also uses a standard bolt catch and cost under $200. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. There are a few options out there, and I have tried some of them, but so far nothing had impressed me enough to keep it around. I purchased my Incendia lower in December of 2013. Right out of the box I was impressed with it; I’ve had it for two months now and I’m still just as enamored by it.

When it comes to making a quality lower the most important thing (to me) is the fit and finish. Next, it would be the attention t

Editor’s note: Claymore’s career took many interesting twists and turn through some of the worlds most notorious regions. His first article for TFB, about the rare AK rifles he discovered deep in the jungle, can be read here. His second article about the Chinese AK clones he found in the jungle can be read here.

We have another “what is it story?” today. The response from our readers on the other stories of this type has been very good. You guys are experts on this stuff.

Way back in 1988 my partner and I were doing our thing in the Pakistani town of Peshawar which had grown huge due to an influx of Afghan refugees fleeing the first war in Afghanistan.

One of the honchos we were working for “Ho chi Lynn” was an avid collector of all things from the soviet military and had put out the word to the teams going into Afghanistan that he wanted

Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) recently announced a new 5.56 NATO load called the Razor Core.  The load is designed to improve stopping power, accuracy and range when compared to standard NATO ball ammo.

The Razor Core ammo is already in production, and according to IMI, has been “combat-proven” by an “undisclosed customer.”

US-based shooting supply company Widener’s is selling IMI ammo they state is the same ammo being sold under the Razor Core name.  Widener’s website states the bullet is a 77 grain Sierra HPBT MatchKing.  Some are suggesting the Razor Core is a less expensive duplication of the MK 262 load from Black Hills.

Big Daddy Hoffman got a chance to test fire a SKS bullpup from Shernic Gunworks. The kit is rather impressive. Just from the picture, you can see how compact the SKS is compared to a standard collapsed AR-15.

Pachmayr is introducing two new styles of grips for Smith & Wesson revolvers.  The new styles are the Diamond Pro grips and the American Legend grips.

Diamond Pro grips are made of soft rubber and will come in sizes to fit all round butt J, K, L and N frames.  The grips get their name from the diamond plate style texture on the sides.  The grips are a single piece, which means there are no gaps or seams to deal with.

The Diamond Pro grips were originally introduced in 2013 for the Taurus line of revolvers.  The new Diamond Pro grips for S&W revolvers will be available in May and will carr

The other afternoon I was walking though my local Cabela’s and stumbled upon their caliber specific, competition cleaning kits.  They have everything you need, sans oil and solvent, to clean your firearm. I picked up two of them, one in .40 for my handguns and one specific to the 556/223 AR platform.  They come in a nice case, with slots for each tool and even have a rubberized back to the case to keep it from sliding away.  I was intrigued because I was tired of my current cleaning kit that had tools for every caliber under the sun, and I don’t use 90% of the kit.  I like simplicity, and not having a bunch of things lying around that I have no use for.

These kits also include some driver bits with them so you can disassemble your firearm in at the range if needed.  The cleaning handle

Read the full blog post here.

A great offering from MWG is their IK-520 40 round magazines. The mags are imported from Bulgaria and cost the same as a 40 round Magpul magazine. From MWG’s website:

• Designed by renowned development engineer Ivan Kolev, designer of the Bulgarian high capacity polymer AK Magazine.
• Increased Capacity
• Durable, Steel Reinforced Polymer Construction
• Ergonomic Waffle Design
• Stable, Level Follower
• Lightweight:  .4 Lbs
• Tested full and semi auto in M4, AR-15, M16A1, M16A2 Models
• .223 Caliber, 5.56mm

So how do they work? Well first off I wanted to see if they locked in and fit in my SCAR, a gun well known for being picky with magazines. Some mags have a tendency to raise the bolt catch just a tad that results in damage to the firearm. The IK-520 mags locked in without raising the bolt catch:

Jonathan Ferguson writes about brand new pistol designs appearing in the strangest of places, Libyan arms bazaars …

 The shared name of these weapons, inscribed on the slide, is ‘TACTICAL-HULK PT11-PRO’, accompanied by the inscription ‘ПОХКЕТ АТТЕNYATE’. This appears to use a combination of Cyrillic and Latin alphabet letters, and may be a poor attempt to approximate foreign markings. Markings indicate the weapon is chambered for 7.65 x 17 mmSR (.32 ACP), a rather weak handgun calibre, especially when fired from the short barrels seen. The fit and finish of the weapons does not seem much better than many of the blank firing weapons produced in Turkey, particularly on the larger model below. The slide markings on the handguns in photos #1 and #2 may indicate production in 2012. – See more at: http://www.armamentresearch.com/new-pistol-designs-out-of-libya/#sthash.01Syr8Ap.dpuf

Pure Awesomeness.  The GM6 Lynx is a 50 cal semi-automatic anti-material rifle. It is a bullpup, but that is not the interesting part. The barrel reciprocates all the way back. Just watch the video, I could watch this thing shoot over and over again.

For those of you who want one, Tactical Imports has one commercially available in Canada.

TRUGLO is now offering several products for turkey hunters: the Strut Stopper Extreme choke tube and the Gobble Stopper Triton Series of 1x optics.

The Strut Stopper Extreme choke tube is designed to be used without the need of a choke tube wrench and is made in both 12- and 20-gauge versions.  The tube is not for use with steel shot.

• construction for tight, dense patterns
• 12 gauge and 20 gauge
• precision CNC-machined
• internal grooves for improving patterning
• accepts all turkey loads including Hevi·Shot

Gobble Stopper Triton optics are 1x red dot-style sights with variable brightness controls and numerous options.  Shooters can get the Gobble Stopper in plain black or in Rea

Federal Premium has gone live with an online ballistics calculator for both Federal’s factory loads and your custom hand-loads. The calculator works for both rifle and handgun. If you make an account with Federal, the calculator can store all your custom loads. Federal explains its capabilities best:

The Ballistics Calculator lets shooters manipulate multiple variables such as temperature, elevation, wind speed, sight height and zero range. It displays results in inches, centimeters, MOA or Mils. Wind drift, vertical drop, velocity and energy can be calculated out to 2,000 yards.

Now, before you roll your eyes at yet another 1911 manufacturer, I encourage you to hold the skepticism for just a moment.  I’ll admit, when I arranged the factory visit I was interested, but not expecting anything out-of-this-world.  By the time I was done, my mind was blown.

I was hooked-up with Schroeder Bauman (SB) (note, not Schroder & Bauman), through my local range. When I visited to set up my membership for the year, Mike the General Manager was raving about the three new 1911′s that he just got in. He offered to let me handle them (why would I refuse any new gun?) and I was generally ambivalent. The SB full-size model felt good, but it was a 1911. Interestingly,

Japan’s Crisis Intelligence has made a monster of a search light. The Alpha-1. It looks like a small cannon with a FNH P90 style grip.

They boast this light is a 50w LED and on a two hour charge time it runs for an hour. To put that into perspective, my SureFire Hellfighter is rated at only 35w and puts out 3,000 lumens but it is not really portable or battery operated, unless you get a DIY battery solution.  Just like the Hellfighter, the Alpha-1 is designed to be vehicle mounted.

This video is silent, don’t ask me why.

For more information check out their website.

LaserMax offers a laser aiming unit for several Kahr pistol models that do not have normal accessory rails.  The CenterFire laser unit mounts the to pistol frame without any need to swap parts or permanently altering the handgun.

The CenterFire units use a red laser, which typically offers good performance in a wide range of lighting conditions except for bright light.  In direct sunlight, red lasers tend to be very hard to see.  In low light encounters, red lasers work very well.

One of the benefits of the red laser is it tends to be less expensive than green lasers.  The CenterFire has a MSRP of only $129.

The unit weighs only 1/2 of an ounce.  It uses a 1/3 N lithium battery that offers one hou