3D Printed Pistol Gets Shut Down by State Department
Cody Wilson, maverick firearms geek behind the printable gun craze is back in hot water again. This time its for the design of his new single shot (single use) Liberator pistol. The thing is, he didn’t even sell it, he gave it away. This brought the ire not of the ATF, FBI, or some other law enforcement organization– but instead, the State Department.
After all the original Liberator was designed as a throwaway ‘gun to get a gun’ that could be dropped to resistance fighters behind enemy lines during World War Two. It seems that some overseas governments may be scared of letting this genie get out of the bottle.
As crazy as it sounds, this is for real.
Read the rest in my article in Firearms Talk.com
Put a Saiga Mag on Your 870 or Moss 500
Black Aces Tactical has done it again by listening to the marketplace and giving the shotgunners what they want– a retrofit kit that will enable your humble Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 to accept detachable box magazines. Not only is this not just a theory, it’s a reality and they are selling them now.
Shotguns are not new. They have been around for hundreds of years, it’s just that in the past century, or so we have decided to increase their magazine capacity. Early shotguns were single shots, with the double barrel being brought on the scene to increase magazine capacity by 100%. In the late 19th century, the first tubular magazine shotguns came out. They allowed faster follow-up shots as well as being more tactically sound in a combat situation. Today almost every serious rifle in the world uses detachable box magazines– so isn’t it time that the shotgun caught up with the times? Black Aces thinks so.
Read the rest in my article at Firearms Talk.com
Woman Saves Hubby with Empty Shotgun
Don’t tell Joe Biden but it looks like the humble shotgun has triumphed again in one of the most amazing tales of home defense you are likely to read. It involves a shotgun, a bear, two senior citizens, and a cautionary tale about training.
Outside of the small village of Silver Cliff (pop 529) in Marinette County, there was a small cabin. A rural, back-to-nature way of life is central to this part of the country as the area’s two main rivers, the Peshtigo and Menominee, and many lakes, streams, and forests make it an outdoor destination. As reported by the IBTimes, WPRI, the Green Bay Gazette and others, it was here that 74-year old Gerre Ninnemann and his 71-year old wife Marie were spending a quiet spring day relaxing. That was until Gerre noticed their pet dog barking and went to see what the commotion was all about….
Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk
Is Everything Returning To Normal?
As soon as I saw the guncase, I knew things were getting closer to being like right. The case had spent most of the past few months being empty, save for a few miscellaneous 22 rifles and the occasional shotgun. It was the firearms case of a local big box– and it had several .223 caliber semi-auto modern sporting rifles in it. It was then that I knew, things were slowly getting better.
Inside the case that I had grown to casually inspect every time I passed through the Big Box, I had gotten used to not seeing anything more technologically advanced than a bolt-action rifle or pump-action shotgun. Both of these concepts had come about in the 1880s. Sure, there was a lot of polymer and synthetics in the guns that were there, but you couldn’t really call them modern. With everyone afraid that pending legislation would forbid access to more current designs, the modern sporting rifle had vanished from store shelves in January 2013.
Now, five months into the year, to walk by this case and see no less than four semi-auto centerfire rifles with pistol grips, detachable box magazines, and accessory rails swelled by heart.
Finally, supply was starting to catch up to demand….or so it would seem…..Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk
The Rough Parts of Going while Carrying
No matter whether you call it dropping a deuce, hanging 10, the call of nature, a trip to the water closet, or going code brown, everyone has to seriously relieve themselves at some point. Often this situation presents itself when you are out and about in a public venue. If you are armed this leads to the dilemma of what do you do to keep your firearm safe while you drop trou. Here are the options:
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
(Which one of these stalls would you pick? If you choose the one with the dead wall on the strong hand side that your firearm is on…good choice!)
The Suppressed ‘Shaft’ and ‘Threadcutter’ Rifles: One bad mother, shut your mouth
Thought historically tight-lipped about all things military, one thing the Russians have never kept secret is existence of their robust special operations, or spetsnaz, community, which they have fostered for many generations. These operators fielded the finest hardware found East of Berlin and, going back to the 1980s, the Soviets had an itch for a long-range suppressed rifle and scratched it with a Shaft and a Thread Cutter, so to speak.
Formed in the 1950s from lessons learned fighting the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, the spetsnaz (a Russian acronym for special purpose) units were bad hombres and by the later Soviet era, spetsnaz troops (roughly the commie version of the special forces/ranger type units) were a huge part of the Motherland’s military machine. At the height of the Cold War, the Soviets had no less than 14 army and 2 naval brigades of these troops compared to the sole US Army Ranger regiment and five Special Forces groups.
These groups in general, by the nature of their role on the battlefield, have long sought out suppressed weapons and on both sides of the curtain, most got by with regular issue guns with fitted external suppressors. By the early 1980s, they wanted something better and that is where the VSS and AS came in.
Read the Rest in my column at GUNS.com
Another 5 Handguns You Have to Shoot Before You Die
Ever since the first single shot pistol was crafted centuries ago, people have just dug handguns. In the intervening half millennium, thousands of designs have come forth and a few have risen above all others. Last year Guns.com brought you eight to shoot before you die. Here are five more that just have to pass through your hands before you head to that great gun show in the sky.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
The Austrian Steyr-Hahn M1912 Pistol: ‘Like if Picasso drew a 1911…
Long before Gaston Glock stopped building curtain rods and moved on to polymer pistols, the Austrian firm of Steyr was producing innovative handgun designs. One of their most curious and downright oddball offerings was their Model 1912.
The Austria of today is a small country about the size of Maine. The Austria of 1912 however was much different. With a population of more than 50-million people, it was the center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and included almost half of central Europe including what we know today as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, and of course, Austria. This polyglot country had a large army of more than a million men when mobilized. Poorly led but massive in size and brilliantly equipped, the Austrian army used some of the best small arms, machine guns, and field artillery of the time. When you realize that the companies that are now Steyr-Mannlicher, FEG, and CZ were behind these weapons, it’s easy to see gun making is in their blood.
In 1911, the regular Army was equipped with the striker-fired 8mm M1907 Roth-Steyr. To arm the Austrian Landwehr, a form of National Guard, the government of the Kaiser (they had one too), needed a new and modern pistol. While the regulars had a new handgun, the reservists of the Landwher still had to make due with old Gasser revolvers. With war in the neighboring Balkans and a looming crisis with Tsarist Russia, the time for an upgrade was at hand.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
New York Town Bans Gadsden Flag
Before this week, the quiet little city of New Rochelle, New York was perhaps known as the hometown of American Pie writer Don McLean and of 1960s “Catch me if you can” conman Frank Abagnale. Going further back, during the Revolutionary War, George Washington stopped in the town on his way to assume command of the Army. Patriot Thomas Paine considered the Father of the American Revolution because of the pamphlet “Common Sense” he penned, settled in New Rochelle after the War of Independence and was buried there.
This is even more shocking because the city council just banned the historic Gadsden Flag from being flown on city property.
Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk.com
When zombies attack, you’ll need your gun
Suppose the walking dead attacked your house. Would you (a) defend yourself; (b) lock the door and dial 911; (c) write a Facebook post blaming the sequester; or (d) negotiate?
If you don’t know that the correct answer is (a), you won’t survive the zombie apocalypse.
When zombies attack, you’ll need your gun
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