The Firearm Blog

Lancer Systems recently debuted their new L7AWM .308/7.62x51mm magazine. It’s designed to be used in multiple rifle platforms such as the SR25, SIG716, DPMS 308 and LM308. Their new hybrid magazine features both a polymer magazine body and steel reinforced lips. It also features a switchable drain on the floor plate lock as well as drain channels for use in sandy or wet environments. It will be available in either opaque or translucent polymer bodies in 5, 10 or 20-round capacities.

FEATURES

- Impact resistant polymer body
- Insert molded stainless front guard, resistant for high volume shooting
- Stainless rear feed lip, provides a durable stable platform for feeding
- Available with translucent or opaque body
- Straight internal geometry with a controlled tilt follower
- Stainless steel spring
- Slide on bottom with a switchable drain
- Aggressive texture to improve gripping and retrieval from pouches
- Designed, tooled, manufactured and asse

EOTech released their new drop-in Laser Battery Cap for their 512 and 552 optics. It’s operated via a on/off toggle switch and also includes an accessory port for use with a remote pressure switch (which is sold separatly). Their Laser Battery Cap (LBC) simply replaces the cap on the 512/552 and is rated at between 36 and 60 hours of continuous use. It will have a starting MSRP of $285 and will be available in four different configurations.

American Tactical Imports (ATI) showed off their sweet looking all metal .22LR version of the German MP-40 submachine gun a few SHOT Shows ago with different shipping dates every year. Well the reps at ATI confirmed today that their MP-40 will be shipping this summer with an MSRP of $539.95 (note the GSG STG-44 retails at $499.95). It will come in a wood crate just like the STG-44 as well.

The BROWE Combat Optic (BCO) is a military-grade 4×32 rifle optic with a machined titanium housing which is stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum. It is short and lightweight, keeping more of the rail free for gear and accessories. The BCO’s Target Light Sensor uses a photocell measure light levels at the target, not at the shooter. This means that the red chevron reticle’s illumination and contrast is appropriate for what’s being targeted through the optic regardless of the environment. For example, a shooter in bright sunlight targeting someone or something inside of a cave or building will get the proper brightness for the best shot. The brightness level is updated continuously as the shooter moves or lighting conditions change without requiring intervention on the part of the shooter.

A single control button is used to switch from OFF/SLEEP to AUTO to MANUAL. The manual mode overrides the automatic Target Light Sensor setting to provide steady reticle illumination. Manual mode has 10 daylight and 3 night vision brightness level settings which are cycled th

If you have read my posts in the past, you know I am a big HK fan, and their booth at shot had me drooling big time. The icing on the cake was a GMG hooked up to a digital interface for training. This allowed us to destroy pixelated trucks with virtual 40mm grenades!

My friend Chris and I had to try it. Here he is engaging enemy jpegs:

And myself:

And of course I took a video to show how neat the interface really is. Of course I think this may be the closes

Glock’s new G42 is on full display here at SHOT 2014. It’s a .380 Auto conceal carry gun with 6+1 capacity.

Holding it in my hand, it feels a bit different than other Glocks, notably that it’s significantly slimmer than the baby Glock 26. The 5.5lb trigger and sights are still signature Glock, and I’ve heard from a colleague that it shoots really nice with low perceived recoil making it easy to control.

I was disappointed last year when an ARX160 or a semiauto variant wasn’t on display. Hype had been that it was coming soon. This year the rifles rested atop a folding table, with the wind blowing the tablecloth over them; ignored wile the crowd was magnetized to the company’s pistols. Assuming I got lucky and didn’t have to wait, I approached the table.

The rep. handed me a loaded magazine. The mags are deceiving, they are the same color as GI aluminum’s, but are steel and made by Beretta. These are the type used by the Italian military, I was told.

The first handling experience was grip, with my torn shoulder I’m not comfortable extending my weak arm out straight and often use a more SMG type hold. The handguard looks as though it would be uncomfortable for this, but gave me little notice. The cheeckweld is thin but petite shooters, following me in line, had more of a problem than I did. The bolt release is manipulated with the trigger finger, and is stiff like the Bushmaster ACR’s similar arrangement, but with a lot less material to push on. I imag

FLIR’s been making thermal sights for as long as people have been using the technology, but historically they have always been for governments, and always exorbitantly priced.

The R-series of thermal weapon sights are the latest offering from FLIR Personal Vision systems, and offer what looks to be an impressive system for an affordable price. As affordable as thermal gets anyway.

Unlike the T60 and T70 series from FLIR Government systems, the RS units are well under $10,000. The entry level unit, the RS-24 has an MSRP of $3499.

Like the ATN Odin or the Armasight Zeus: the Thermosight RS is a stand-alone rifle sight built on FLIR’s Tau core with a variety of palettes and reticles.

But the FLIR unit is much less a “tv screen” and more like a traditional rifle optic with 3 inches of eye relief and an integral Larue mou

The finalized production version of the Trijicon VCOG (Variable Combat Optical Gunsight) 1-6x24mm at the pre-SHOT Show Media Day at the Range Event. The VCOG will available to at Trijicon dealer shortly after SHOT Show 2014.

The VCOG features a non-protruding battery compartment at the center-line 6-O’clock position. Its integral mount is perfect for the AR-15/AR-10 sight-height. I would probably replace the standard ACOG slotted thumb screw base with a LaRue LT681 QD mounting base and flip it around for more forward off-set.

TriStar Arms introduced a new tactical shotgun at the SHOT Show called the Cobra Marine.  The shotgun has an 18.5″ barrel and is finished in brushed nickel.  It has a synthetic stock.  The forearm has a Picatinny rail allowing for the addition of a white light or other accessory.

The Cobra Marine is a pump gun with a return spring.  After being pulled to the rear, the shooter can let go of the forearm and it will slide forward and chamber a shell.  The gun has a 3″ chamber.  MSRP is $369.

Cobra Marine Tactical Pump Features:

• Brushed nickel finish
• Spring-loaded forearm for fast cycling
• Picatinny rail on forearm
• Blade front sight
• 5-round magazine (shot plug included)
• Chrome-lined chamber and barrel
• Swivel studs
• One Beretta® style choke tube (Cyl)

One of the popular booths at Media Day was the Tac-Con booth with their 3MR trigger. While Chris posted his review here, I thought I would throw my opinion out as well.

Now I am a seasoned machine gunner, and have all kinds of experience turning money into noise with them so I knew going into this that the 3MR trigger would have to do a lot to dazzle me.

The Tac-Con booth was very cool, and they had some really tricked out ARs on display:

It was said best here, “Korth: you either know the name or you don’t. And if you do know it, you either dream of one day scraping together the scratch to buy one of the legendary German gunmaker’s custom pistols, or you think it’s silly to shell out untold thousands of dollars for a gun that’s not even made in the USA.”

In my opinion, when it comes to handguns there is no finer choice than a Korth pistol, and I own this monument to excess. The announcement of the new Korth PRS made me weak in the knees too, and this video shows how awesome it really is:

2014 Will mark my first SHOT Show attendance. While I did get an invite last year, unfortunately I was out of the country for an extended period of time and was unable to attend. This year however I have my boots on the ground here in Vegas so far it has been a blast! As a first time SHOT attendee I figured I would gather my impressions and post them here so you guys and gals get a feel for what it is like. The experience starts at the airport too, with banners and signs welcoming SHOT attendees!

At the Media shoot there are dozens of tents, all with manufacturers showcasing their wares.There is a distinct pistol, long rifle, shotgun, and kind of a misc. section. There are also large mobile trucks that the manufacturers use to showcase their wares (they are like rolling showrooms):

I g

During today’s Media Day at the range I stopped by the Winchester booth and had a look at the new ammo lineup.

They have some interesting ammunition coming out this year. As most of you recognize when a new shooter is being trained they will do well with training ammunition but be shooting all over the place with personal protection ammunition. The student also has trouble with the recoil not only as it relates to accuracy but it can also hurt the new shooters hand. This can cause some to give up on the idea of shooting. That person may also go ahead and carry without the needed training.

The new “Train & Defend” ammo is made to solve this problem. What Winchester has done is make training ammunition with a jacketed flatnose as well as a copper jacketed hollowpoint. Sounds pretty normal doesn’t it. Well the difference is both rounds have the same weight bullet with the same powder charge so that whether the shooter fires the training ammo or personal protection ammunition the recoil is the same as is the point of aim point of impact.

As most of you know I attended a Remington tactical products seminar at the world famous Gunsite Academy. That yielded the R51 announcement.

Well we have another product under the DPMS brand. This is an AR15 rifle in .308 caliber that has ben reengineered to a great degree with the purpose of not only upgrading the internals but shrinking the size and weight of the .308 to more closely resemble a 5.56 AR.

After having a chance to go hands on with this new model it is indeed very close to an AR15 in size as well as weight. While a 5.56 rifle weighs in at just over 6 pounds empty a .308 weighs in at a bit over 8 pounds. The new DPMS splits the difference at a little over 7 pounds.

Lets go through the various changes and steps involved in creating this innovative design.

The photo above shows the

The new Glock 41 was on the range at Media Day.  The gun is a long-slide version of a Glock 21 pistol, and outfitted with a slide that is roughly the same width as the slide on a model 35.

Without a doubt, the gun feels much larger in the hand than the standard Glock pistols.  If the 20 or 21 fits your hand well, you will like this pistol.  If you find those guns too large, you will probably find this gun too large also.

The recoil was easy, without a lot of flip, and bringing the gun on target for a quick second shot was not a problem.  I experienced no malfunctions, and neither did any of the other shooters I observed.

The introduction of the 41 may not be a revolutionary step for the company, but I think Glock has a winner on their hands with this gun.

I was able to test a new target viewer at the annual SHOT Show Media Day at the range today, and one that looks to answer a lot of the nagging problem that long distance shooters face.  In the past there have always been three options.  Shoot and walk down to the target after several strings, shoot steel which provides feedback that can be seen or heard from the line, or build your own remote system. Building your own long range video system are nothing new, but can be costly and require a lot of equipment to bring out to the range and set up.

TargetViewer is a WiFi enabled camera system that connects back to a base unit, then creates a Wifi hotspot to connect to and view the video feed, which can be viewed on any android or or iOS device. The resolution is high enough that you can zoom into the target, and see the impacts on your tablet sitting right beside your rifle.  This system comes self contained in its own pelican case, with everything in the case needed to make the unit function, just supply your own viewing device.

This unit is not bullet resistant, so you may not want to take it to a b

The SAR Arms ST9 is a polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol that is made in Turkey.  While at Media Day, I had a chance to shoot one for the first time.  The pistol I shot was chambered in 9mm, but I was told by a company rep that the company also makes the gun in .45 ACP.

The gun felt a little large in my hands, perhaps a little larger than a Glock 17 grip, but not as large as a Glock 21.  Recoil was quite mild – a combination of a large frame gun with the relatively tame 9mm.

Trigger pull was smooth, with a clean break and a very positive reset.  The reset distance was short and there was a distinctive feel when it reset.

Due to the time restrictions on the range, I was only allowed to shoot one magazine.   I did not experience any malfunctions with the gun.  I watched two other people shoot the same gun, and none of them had any failures either.

New for 2014, Kimber is now making sound suppressor ready versions of the Custom TLE II and Custom TLE/RL II pistols.  The new guns are available in both 9mm and .45 ACP, and they share many of the same features as the original, non-suppressor ready versions.

Both new guns come with a 5.75″ threaded barrel.  A threaded endcap is provided to protect the threads when a suppressor is not attached.

MSRP on the TLE II is $1,153.00.  The suggested retail on the TLE/RL II is  $1,251.00.

Steyr is celebrating their 150th anniversary, having first established 1864 in Austria. They have also recently moved into a new facility. Thirdly, they offering a new AUG A3 receiver design, currently titled the “M1″.

This version is already sold internationally, in select-fire, as the Steyr AUG A3 SF (top photo).

Working with VLTOR, Steyr Arms is offering a fixed-mount optic receiver. Although it looks like a single machined part, the optic mounts with a fixed pin, which can be seen inserted in the front of the mount. The new version will be offered in tan and “mud” as well as the standard black and olive drab stocks. There is no current MSRP.