Tag Archives: news

Is an Inexpensive MP5 clone on the Horizon?

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I love MP5s! And there is no shortage of them. For instance, check out this awesome PTR 9CT I saw in Houston last week.

With the old-school “jungle” handguards and three-lug barrel, this thing almost screams, “You son of a…”

The thing is, even that no-frills PTR is $1800.

Well, I stopped by ATI’s booth and talked to Jaime, then he showed me this:

The above 9mm pistol is made by German Sports Guns GmbH, who has long made .22LR lookalikes of the MP5 and a 9mm replica of the “Schmeisser” MP40 so it is nice to see them pull the trigger on this format, and good on ATI for snagging it for import.

I’ll let you know more as I get it.

Colt brings back a Baby Snake

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Colt had a new revolver at NRAAM last weekend. A “King Cobra” Target model that looks and feels a lot like a .38/.357 but is actually a 10-shot 22LR.

The King Cobra Target 22 LR is crafted from forged stainless steel construction with a one-piece barrel topped with an adjustable target rear sight and fiber optic front sight. It comes standard with Hogue overmolded rubber grips and is available with 4-inch and 6-inch barrel lengths, both featuring a 1:16RH twist.

Of course, it could have just been called the Diamondback.

While the current King Cobra series, reincarnated in 2019, hit the market as a 6-Shot .357 Magnum big brother of the new line of Cobra wheel guns, the new King Cobra Target .22LR is a return to the company offering double-action rimfire revolvers. Not the first rimfire “snake” gun– Colt marketed the original circa 1950s first issue Cobra in .22LR and made a .22LR Diamondback into the early 1990s– the new Baby Snake fills a hole the company had in its catalog, and by extension is a first for CZ as well.

This 1985-production Diamondback is a 6-inch .22LR model. Surely, it would have been easier and better for Colt to reboot this name than to call the new model a King Cobra of all things…

MSRP on the new King Cobra Target .22LR models is $999. When compared to other DA/SA rimfire revolvers, this is on par with the S&W 63 and 617.

Inside Remington’s super factory in Huntsville

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I had the opportunity to look behind the curtain at Big Green’s plant in Alabama and see how everything from .22s to black rifles are born.

In 2014, Remington announced after an eight-month courtship it would invest $110 million into a 500,000-square-foot facility formerly used by Chrysler just outside of Huntsville with an aim to consolidate production.

Though Remington owns nearly a score of subsidiaries, just eight were selected to move to the plant in Alabama. Those included suppressor maker Advanced Armament Corp. from Lawrence, Georgia; Montana Rifleman from Kalispell, Montana; Tapco from Kennesaw, Georgia; LAR Manufacturing from West Jordan, Utah; Para-Ordnance from Pineville, North Carolina; DPMS from St. Cloud, Minnesota; the Bushmaster and Remington 1911 production lines in Ilion, New York; and a research and development facility in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

In 2016, the Remington elected to close their Mayfield, Kentucky, plant and move the operations conducted there to Huntsville as well.

Currently, the Remington family of companies operates from 12 locations across nine states employing over 3,500 people and distributes its products throughout the U.S. and in over 55 foreign countries. Besides its original plant located in Ilion, NY, Huntsville — which employs almost 500 — is among the largest of their facilities.

And they let me go for a look inside.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

When things are so bad that you have to send it to the people

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So in California, which has had an assault weapon ban going all the way back to 1989 and yet still have mass-shootings with California-compliant firearms, lawmakers tried to pass over 20 legislative actions on increased gun control this session.

A baker’s dozen of these made it through the legislature in Dem-heavy votes of which Gov. Jerry Brown signed 7 into law and returned five with vetoes.

Since gun rights groups and Republican lawmakers couldn’t derail these, a group of gun owners on a gun forum (Calguns) got together and decided, “Let’s try for a ballot referendum to repeal these…”

And that’s exactly what they are doing.

With a pressing deadline of Sept.29, they are trying to get 450,000 signatures on 7 different propositions. Of course, California has 13 million gun owners, which by definition should all be capable of registering to vote, so it’s not far-fetched.

I’ve spoken with the man behind the effort, a San Diego tech company executive, and it’s a hail Mary play with a lot of spunk behind it.

More over in my column at Guns.com here and here.