The Firearm Blog

The summer Olympic Games include more than a few shooting competitions – rifle, pistol, and shotgun in several disciplines. But frankly, they are pretty dull to watch. No disrespect to the athletes (who are amazing shooters), but it’s a solitary challenge, and not something really suited to crowds of cheering spectators. The Winter Games are different, though. They include only one shooting sport, but it’s a heck of a sport: biathlon.

As I am writing this, Norwegian Ole Einar Bjørndalen is on the cusp of becoming the single most successful Winter Olympics athlete in history. He has competed in every games since 1994, and won medals in every one since 1998, including a total of 7 golds. He is no less than 40 years old now, and has already taken a Biathlon Gold in Sochi, in the face of competitors virtually half his age.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Biathlon is a sport combining cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. It is (not surprisingly) Nordic in origin, and combines the all-around fitness required to be a competitive cro

KynSHOT debuted their new hydraulic recoil dampers late last year. According to KynSHOT they help reduce recoil, bolt carrier speed, wear/tear on parts, shock and vibration to your optics, improve reliability and suppress bolt bounce. The drop-in buffer features a hydraulically dampened piston that absorbs the shock from the bolt carrier. The KynSHOT is made out of 17-4 stainless steel and weights in at 4.2 ounces. It’s available for fixed stock and collapsible AR-15s, .308 ARs with fixed and collapsible stocks as well as various shotgun platforms. It can be used in rifles chambered in .223/5.56, 7.62×39, 6.8 SPC, .300 BLK, 6.5 Grendel, .458 SOCOM, 450 Bushmaster, and .308/7.62. The KynSHOT also comes with a 10 year or one million round warranty. They start at around $110, check them out at Kynshot.com.

Primary Weapon Systems just announced that they’ll be producing a limited run of MK116 and MK107 uppers chambered in the much more affordable and plentiful 7.62x39mm. PWS is known for their long-stroke piston driven AR-15 rifles and uppers. If the limited run of uppers sell well PWS has said that they may do another run in 2015.

From the PWS press release:

We are pleased to announce that due to popular demand, we will be producing a limited run of MK107 and MK116 uppers in 7.62x39mm. These uppers will only be available from your local dealers and we expect them to go very quickly. We will be producing a maximum of 250 uppers total, so we recommend that you get your order into your local dealer as soon as possible.”

Seeing how well all their other AR rifles and uppers sell I’m s

What makes the Henry .22 lever rifle so alluring? Perhaps is the time that it brings to mind: the days of Cowboys and Indians, no seat belts, and slower life? Is it because the Henry is 100% American made, solid, and fantastic value? Or maybe it’s versatile, easy to handle, and practical?

Capable of handling 22 Long Rifle, 22 Long, and 22 Short, the Henry is a model of days past. Inspired by the original Henry Repeating Rifle, the Classic Lever Action (Model H001) is capable of rapid, accurate rimfire fire.  The Classic Rimfire is a testament to over 150 years of Henry rifles, trusted during the Civil War and the Great Expansion into the Wild West. There are a few faults in this value-oriented rifle but taken in context of the same, there are few that can beat it.

The Lahti pistol was the brainchild of Aimo Johannes Lahti, a Finnish soldier turned arms inventor. While there is some dispute it’s hard to ignore the fact that Lahti’s pistol uses a very similar locking block to the earlier Bergmann-Bayard pistols. The overall styling appears to have been taken from the German Luger, providing good handling and natural point of aim for then-standard one handed shooting. His pistol was adopted in Finland as the L-35 and when Sweden’s contract for the Walther P-38 was interrupted by WWII, they adopted the Lahti as the m/40. These were produced by Husqvarna Vapenfabriks through the war and a little beyond.  A little more about the history can be found at C&Rsenal, but let’s talk about its unusual action here.

Love them or hate them, the prolific 1911 has garnered (an often undeserved) reputation for poor reliability. For those who may be new to the platform or an experienced shooter brushing up on their platform knowledge, Modern Service Weapons has posted a detailed overview of 1911 failure methods.

Failure to Extract, commonly known as “The Double Feed”

Hilton Yam covers the full gamut of malfunctions including failure to eject, failure to extract in pictured detail. On top of the great photos, MSW offers the likely cause o

For those that favor a 20 gauge shotgun for your defensive long gun, Winchester has now released the 20 gauge fragmenting slug.  The slug is designed to fragment into three large segments when it encounters a soft target, which helps to enlarge the temporary wound channel, and create three separate permanent wound channels increasing the likelihood of hitting vital organ or blood vessel.  In recent years many have started looking to the 20 gauge to fill their home defense needs because of the reduced recoil and length of pull, many women also prefer it to a 12 gauge, even with reduced recoil loads.  This load looks to be much easier to use, and will reduce pellets that would miss the target, which can happen even on a well placed shot.  Below is a graphic depiction of what the slug looks like before and after fragmentation.

While takedown rifles in .22 and even .223 are becoming the norm, DRD Tactical has announced a takedown rife in .308 that is new for 2014 called the M762.  A SR25/DPMS patterned lower, the M762 will accept Magpul P-mags.  With a less than a minute assembly time, the rifle could become a good option for hikers, or even hunters that might want to carry their rifle stowed on the hike in.  Having the option of a .308 takedown rifle would be a major plus for those looking at targets that might take the extra power achieved with the .308 round.

Press Release from DRD Tactical:

DRD Tactical announces new for 2014 Model M762 Rifle, a quick takedown, semi-automatic rifle chambered in 7.62 NATO, which can be assembled from its hard-case or back-pack without any tools, in less than a minute. The M762 is built on billet lower and upper receivers, uses standard Magpul 308 Pmag or DPMS pattern metal magazine, comes with a MIL-STD 1913 Picatinny 13″ Rail with mounting holes on 3 sides for Magpul L-4 Rail Panels. Comes standard with 2-20rd Magpul Pmags, small hard case with custom cu

The biathlon has been an Olympic sport since 1960. It’s a combination of cross country skiing and rifle shooting in the prone and standing positions. Athlete’s get their heart rates going skiing a course, and then they have to shoot five circular metal plates on each round. In the prone position, they shoot at 45 millimetre (1.8 inch) plates, and at 115 millimetre (4.5 inch) plates.

The sport originated from Norway where it was an alternative to training for the military. One of the most popular rifles is the Anschütz 1827F Fortner .22LR rifle. According to Anschütz, “More than 97% of all biathletes worldwide rely on the ANSCHÜTZ precision rifles made in Germany.” Men’s and Women’s biathlon is occurring almost every day during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Specs, pics, and video:

Model 1827F ANSCHÜTZ Sprint nitrided

A combination of an extra light 1827 Fortner barreled action with the stock of the model 1827. This combination makes the rifle 300 g lighter, the center of gravity is closer to the body. The weight is 3.7 k

Weight can be deceptive.  You can’t put your finger on the how or why of it, but you almost subconsciously make an inarticulable quality judgment as soon as you assess the weight of a tool in your hands.  Often, ‘lightness’ connotes ‘flimsiness’ or cheap build; If you’ve ever handled a counterfeit branded watch, something about the light weight is unsettling, and it just ‘feels’ wrong.  Other times, however, that first impression you get when you pick up an instrument makes a different mark.  Like picking up what you thought was a steel rifle suppressor, only to find that it has a titanium body.  In other words, it feels lighter than it should, but you still feel a sturdy quality about it.  Handling the Tactical Solutions (“TacSol”) X-Ring gives that same feeling – in person and from across the room, the beefy, bull-barreled X-Ring looks like a substantial block of alloy, but to pick up this light and balanced rifle is next to shouldering a cloud.

Swiss military arms manufacturer SAN Swiss Arms AG, maker of the SG 550 rifles, has laid off half their workforce. Swiss Arms AG is owned by German company L & O Holding which also owns SIG Saur, Sauer & Sohn, Mauser and Blaser.

Tagesanzeiger.ch reports (Google-translated from German) …

Approximately every second of the total 34 employees has terminated at the end of January, the company SAN Swiss Arms. This was confirmed by the manufacturer of the Swiss assault rifle into the program “ECO” on Swiss television . Swiss Arms produced in Neuhausen Rhine Falls (SH) as the successor company of SIG, the weapon with which the Swiss army is equipped.

The production order of 450,000 assault rifles for the army, however, is done long ago. Today, especially national and international police forces and sport shooters refer the rifle. And here is broken, according to Swiss Arms demand. Al

A fire broke out in the Winchester Ammunition plant in East Alton, IL during the early hours of Sunday morning. KMov.com reports …

Firefighters said the blaze broke at a maintenance building on the site of Winchester Ammunition plant in East Alton just before 3:30 a.m. Authorities said propane cylinders exploded, but those cylinders were isolated from more dangerous materials.

Thankfully it sounds like nobody was hurt.

Thanks to Jay for the tip.

For the rifleman who desires the ultimate in creative customization, Unique-AR’s or Idaho offers custom free-float handguards for the AR platform. The company offers a variety of stock configuration tubes, configurable in either 7, 9, 12, or 15″.  Also, Unique-ARs has options for custom one-off projects, group designs/buys, and private label options for OEMs.

Sinister and good looking, the “Web” handguard from Unique-AR’s

All of their products are American-made and covered by a limited lifetime warranty. The sto

Taking it a step further from their MS2 and MS3 designs, MagPul has introduced the MS1. The MS1 by itself is tailor-built piece of webbing that interfaces with multiple adapter types offered by MagPul. With the multiple adapter options (QD, Paraclip, MS3/MS4, and others), the operator can tailor their sling to their mission, creating either a 1-point or 2-point system.

The base sling is built around the new MS1 slider that allows the operator the change the length with no loops, tails, or potential snag hazards. The 1-1/4″ wide webbing is NIR and wear resistant while remaining “anti-chafe for user comfort.”

The stand-alone MagPul MS1

Nathaniel Fitch blogs about the wisdom (or lack thereof) for having a single general purpose cartridge that can satisfy the needs of riflemen, machine gunners and sharpshooters to replace both the 5.56mm NATO and 7.62mm NATO …

The first group of cartridges all greatly resemble (though none improve upon) the .276 Pedersen. These include the7x46mm UIAC, the .270 Sidewinder, the .280 British, and others. The second-most mature group, many have examples have actually been loaded and fired, and the .280 British was even officially adopted, briefly. Because their performance has been verified, it cannot be said that these cartridges are unfeasible, but is it worth the cost and effort to field one, in light of the widespread adoption of 7.62mm weapons? In a word, no. Even the literature for 7x46mm UIAC shows it’s not greatly more efficient than 7.62 NATO, and it doesn’t provide any additional capability, so why would military procurement spend millions re-arming with entire

We blogged about Deborah Bay’s beautiful bullet photos last year. Her Big Bang series is being exhibited again, this time at the wall space gallery in Santa Barbara. She is selling prints of her photos, starting at $1,200.

Exhibition dates – February 4-March 30, 2014
Reception – Friday, February 21, 6-8pm
Artist talks – Saturday, February 22, 2-3pm

wall space gallery
116 East Yanonali Street C-1
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

As reported in Popular Science, a company called RevMedx has recently submitted their blood clotting device to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Their device injects a number of specially coated, quickly expanding sponges into wounds, and they claim the sponges expand and stop bleeding in just 15 seconds.

RevMedx recently asked the FDA to approve a pocket-size invention: a modified syringe that injects specially coated sponges into wounds. Called XStat, the device could boost survival and spare injured soldiers from additional pain by plugging wounds faster and more efficiently than gauze.

The team’s early efforts were inspired by Fix-a-Flat foam for repairing tires. “That’s what we pictured as the perfect solution: something you could spray in, it would expand, and bleeding stops,” says Steinbaugh. “But we found that blood pressure is so high, blood would wash the foam right out.”

So the team tried a new idea: sponges. They bought some

My predecessor, Dustin Ellermann, won Season 3 of Top Shot and was known as the humble Christian camp counselor who is a self-taught shooter. He and I have become very good friends, and it’s been fun sharing some fun hunting and 3-Gunning experiences.

History Channel’s Top Shot Season 3 Champion Dustin Ellermann. Photo courtesy of HISTORY.

One of the perks of winning Top Shot is that it opens doors and brings awesome opportunities. Dustin had the opportunity to work with 5.11 Tactical and develop a range bag according to his own specs.

Paradigm has made a modern recreation of the Duckbill shotgun spreader used by the US Navy SEALs back in the Vietnam War. Re-engineered to be much stronger than the original Duckbill, the GATOR Shotgun Spreader spreads the shot into a narrow horizontal pattern making your shotgun much more effective in close quarter combat situations. It spreads the shot up to 6 feet at around 12 yards and also helps in reducing felt recoil and muzzle rise. The GATOR works best with #4 lead buckshot and is easily installed on any shotgun that’s equipped with a choke. Paradigm doesn’t recommend 00 buckshot but it could still be used in a pinch. Steel shot and slugs should never be used with the GATOR however. They retail for $199 and are available at Paradigmsrp.com. Check it out in action below.

AberdeenNews.com reports on the shortage of ammunition in South Dakotan gun stores …

The explanations for the shortage differ. At a gun show over the weekend at the Ramkota Hotel, a couple of hunters said they believe ammo manufacturers are producing as much as they ever did.

“The only shortage is on the shelves. People are still in panic mode, still buying stuff,” said Dave Soehren of Appleton, Minn.

…

Cory Appl, the sporting goods manager of Ken’s Shell Express, said customers are also looking for .17 HMR, a rimfire rifle cartridge for the Hornady Magnum Rimfire, and .22 Magnum ammo. Ken’s hasn’t had any .22 Magnum cartridges in months, and it’s also been a while since the store has stocked .17 HMR, he said.

Five to 20 customers a day come in asking about .22 ammunition, Appl said. The last big load of .22 longs that Ken’s received — 80 boxes — was in October. Those were gon