Tag Archives: Joshua Waldron

Farewell, Ideal Conceal

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Ideal Conceal hit the scenes early in 2016 with its two-round capacity .380 pistol that folded up to look like a smartphone and a tagline that read, “From soccer moms to professionals of every type, this gun allows you the option of not being a victim.”

Drawing flak from anti-gun types including Chuck Schumer in record time – even before the guns were shipping– Ideal Conceal’s founder, Kirk Kjellberg, kept plugging away and by 2018 the little gun was in low-rate production.

I caught up with the Ideal Conceal crew at the 2018 SHOT Show in Las Vegas – their first time exhibiting at the industry trade show – where they had some mock-ups on hand to give a feel for the gun, then with an MSRP of $500.

Since then, the guns have increasingly filtered out to the market.

However, in recent days, all the items on the company’s site have been listed as “out of stock” and Kjellberg confirmed to me that a mix of component issues and cash flow problems has spelled the end of the road for the company, leading him to refund orders and close shop.

Always sad when an innovative product in the industry runs out of gas.

See: The Hudson Firearms Company’s H9.

For the record, this was not a factory option from Hudson (Photos: Chris Eger)

The Maxim 50, err 47

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The first “silencer” was developed and patented by Hiram Percy Maxim in 1909 and he continued to patent new designs into the 1930s, when he withdrew from the market in the wake of the National Firearms Act of 1934, which placed a (for then) outrageous $200 tax on transferring the devices, which had to be registered with the federal government.

Currently, there are over 1.3 million suppressors on the NFA’s NFRTR list, in all 50 states (law enforcement and dealers have to register theirs as well) with the devices approved for civilian use and ownership in 42 states, and for use in hunting in 40 of those.

Well, SilencerCo last week introduced a brilliant idea: a .50-caliber in-line 209 muzzleloader with a 9-inch “moderator” welded to the end of the barrel, making possibly the first commercially available suppressed black powder rifle. Since the ATF says BP guns are primitive weapons, and the can is permanently attached to said primitive weapon, then it is not a NFA-regulated suppressor.

Which means that, as far as Washington is concerned, it can be bought online via mail-order, and shipped to your door everywhere in the country with no tax stamp or NFA paperwork.

SilencerCo is sending me one to T&E, and it looks simple and very cool.

Touting a significant reduction in recoil and smoke as well as 139dB sound performance, the overall length of the system is 45-inches while weight is 7.4-pounds.

They recommend 100 grains of Blackhorn 209 powder and projectiles that do not have wadding or plastic that separate upon firing, for example, Federal B.O.R. Lock Z or Hornady FPB rounds.

Unfortunately, while the feds say the Maxim 50 is 50-state complaint, at least three states disagree, so they are just shipping to 47 states at the current time.

Still, 47 is higher than 42…and the genie is out of the bottle.

Hanging out at SHOT Show

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Whelp, back from the annual gathering of the gun tribes in Las Vegas. Saw some interesting things. Did some interesting things. I think the biggest stories, besides the new SIG M17, is was the Hudson H9 and the SilencerCo Maxim 9.

Prefaced by a quiet build up over the past few weeks via social media, the H9 melds a full-sized 9mm semi-auto to a striker-fired pistol with a crisp 1911 trigger that has a .115-inch travel. But the innovative handgun with its cyberpunk panache didn’t just hatch fully formed from an egg last month.

More here.

Then there is the Maxim. The pistol, a 9mm that accepts double-stack Glock 17 magazines, can be arranged in either a short or a long configuration– both of which are suppressed. The difference in length between the two options is about an inch, with the full-size configuration measuring 10.75-inches overall and the abbreviated one taping out at 9.54-inches, which is about an inch longer than a standard 1911. Weight varies between 37-39 ounces.

More in the video below and in this piece in my column over at Guns.com.

Get ready for homemade suppressors if HPA passes (but not in every state)

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oil-filter-suppressor

With the possible removal of silencers/suppressors from National Firearms Act control, a number of legal questions around the devices emerge.

The current mechanism for change, H.R.3799 — the Hearing Protection Act — is stuck in the U.S. House but would likely see a stronger reboot in the next Congress in 2017. If a new bill gains enough momentum to make it through Capitol Hill and onto the waiting desk of President Trump, it would leave a few things undecided if signed into law with its current language.

I spoke with Adam Kraut, an attorney specializing in Second Amendment rights and NFA issues in particular, about just what could be in store.

More in my column at Guns.com.

NFA deregulation of suppressors a very real prospect for 2017

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Firing the 03 Springfield with the Maxim silencer, 1910. From left to right Hiram Maxim, Lieut. Col. Richard J. Goodman, and Capt. Earl D Church

Firing the 03 Springfield with the Maxim silencer, 1910. From left to right Hiram Maxim, Lieut. Col. Richard J. Goodman, and Capt. Earl D Church

A Republican trifecta in Washington next year will likely see action on a bill to remove firearm suppressors from National Firearms Act regulation after 82 years.

The Hearing Protection Act was introduced last October by U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., and currently has 78 bipartisan co-sponsors from 34 states. Since then, the HPA has been among the top 10 most-viewed bills on Congress.gov almost every week since it was introduced.

However, with a slim Republican majority in the Senate unable to override a near-certain veto from President Obama, the bill has been in doldrums.

Now, with the White House under new management next year, advocates for the measure feel signs are looking up and will likely return to the next Congress with a fresh mandate.

“Imagine for a second that we lived in a world where you had to pay a $200 tax to buy a pair of earplugs,” Knox Williams, president of the American Suppressor Association, the industry trade group for the devices, told me on Wednesday. “Now, imagine that even after paying that tax you still had to wait 8 months before you could bring your earplugs home with you. As silly as that sounds, it’s the world we live in with suppressors in the NFA.”

Maybe not any more…

(More in my column at Guns.com)