Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2024 i Firearms News

By Mark Chesnut | News Field Editor RECENT NEWS FOR THE FIREARMS COMMUNITY BY MARK CHESNUT Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for the past 25 years. Having failed over the past few decades to get an “assault weapons” ban passed, two U.S. senators are again proposing such a ban, but giving it a different name in an attempt to garner support from those in Congress who have long opposed such a restriction. Calling it the “Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine introduced a measure on Nov. 30 that would…

The information age we live in has led to a more informed buyer when it comes to riflescopes. Today’s marksman and hunter demands more from a scope intended for long range use than his father and grandfather did. He reads niche magazines, pours over blogs and websites, and is constantly watching videos to become informed on what features he needs. He also stays up on the latest trends. Due to this, marksmen today have very specific demands when it comes to riflescopes. They look for certain features, and if a scope doesn’t have them it’s passed by. This is especially true when it comes to reticles. Marksmen of today demand more from a reticle than they did decades ago. They want the reticle broken down with finer delineations to allow…

When the engineers at Springfield Amory imported modified Croatian HS-2000 pistols under the new XD moniker more than two decades ago, many gun nerds — myself included — hoped they would bring additional Croatian military firearms into the states. Last year, our prayers were answered with the introduction of the Springfield Hellion — a civilian-legal version of the Croatian VHS-2 bullpup carbine. While this gun was fantastic and critically acclaimed, it wasn’t quite the exact same gun issued to the Croatian armed forces. Full-auto capability aside, it also featured a 16-inch barrel instead of the proper 18-inch one found on the VHS-2 and lacked the rifle-grenade-launching spigot. Springfield Armory responded once again with more of an original model this year, but they also brought in a new version featuring a…

Brügger & Thomet started out in 1991 in Thun, Switzerland as a sound suppressor manufacturer. In 2004, they started producing firearms. For a modestly sized company, well under a hundred employees, B&T produces an impressive variety of iconic small arms including submachine guns, bolt action and semiautomatic rifles, an integrally suppressed bolt action pistol, grenade launchers, as well as parts for other gun makers. Some of the designs are evolutions of older models, like Steyr TMP and Welrod, while others are largely original. Based in a very expensive country and manufacturing high quality arms, B&T asks a premium for its wares and usually gets it. Having worked with a Czech Bren 805 and FN SCAR, I got curious about an outwardly similar B&T APC223, a 5.56mm short-stroke pistol carbine aimed…

Back when I was just getting into handguns, most ammunition makers had just one or maybe two lines of defensive handgun ammunition, and that was it. Winchester’s Silvertip. Federal’s Hydra-Shok, etc. Now, not only are there a lot more ammunition manufacturers, they have much more extensive offerings when it comes to defensive ammunition. This might seem confusing, but in reality, it’s not—they are all pretty darn good, you just have to figure out which best suits your needs. Let me cover two 9mm defensive loads—one new, and one new to me. Sierra (SierraBullets.com) Sierra THD—this is a brand-new product from Sierra, and while it will soon join their regular lineup it currently is only being offered as part of a package deal—buy a Walther PDP pistol, get 100 rounds of…

Usually, when I see “one size fits all” I’m prepared for disappointment. As someone who is not average sized, it usually means “force it on until it fits” which almost always means “it doesn’t fit.” Well, I’m here to tell you that Silent Legion doesn’t disappoint. The Complete Multi-Caliber Kit covers the common rifle calibers, so you can have one can that quiets them all. And let’s save a lot of typing, and reading, and simply use the Silent Legion product code for this box ‘o wonderful; SL-MC. The MC comes with all the goodies you’ll need for 5.56, 6.8 Remington SPC, 7.62 NATO and .300 WinMag. That means the silencer itself, made out of Titanium, comes with a QD back plate, made to accept a two-lug QD mount. The…

Until recently, Henry Repeating Arms produced an impressive array of manually-operated actions and a single rimfire semiauto evolved from a licensed design, the AR-7. The Homesteader 9mm carbine is their first foray into self-loading guns, and a rather ambitious one! Endowed with classic Henry looks, it contains several technical innovations, some of them non-obvious. The first entry in the Pistol Caliber Carbine (PCC) category married modularity and high performance with the traditional look and feel, topped off with excellent accuracy and ergonomics. The 6.5-pound blowback design with fancy wood furniture follows the tradition of the Marlin Camp Carbine but on a whole new level of quality and durability. The stock is American walnut, with prominent grain, sealed finish against harsh weather, and pre-installed sling swivel studs. The modular design gives…

The ArmaLite AR-180 and AR-18, a semi-automatic sporter and selective-fire assault rifle variation of Eugene Stoner and ArmaLite’s later production rifles. Designed in 1963 by Sullivan, Stoner, Dorchester and Miller, the AR-18 was designed as a “cost effective” combat rifle, being cheaper to produce than the Colt M16. Largely produced from steel stampings, the AR-18/180 made for a quality and somewhat unique rifle, considering that it utilized a gas piston, over the AR-15’s gas impingement system. While never officially adopted by any nation’s military, it did see use by the Irish Republican Army (aka IRA) with success against the British, and was the rifle featured in the Irish song “My Little ArmaLite.” Outside of the short use by the IRA, both the 18 and commercial 180 practically fell into obscurity…

The 2004 vintage 6.5mm Grendel is an impressive cartridge which has defied the odds. Introduced by a small AR-15 manufacturer, Alexander Arms, at the same time Remington released their 6.8x43mm Rem Special Purpose Cartridge, most figured the 6.5mm Grendel would be a brief footnote in history and quickly forgotten. Instead, the plucky Grendel stood toe to toe with the giant from Remington and gave better than it got. They battled for years until Hornady made it a SAAMI standard and Wolf Performance Ammunition introduced economical steel case ammunition in 6.5mm Grendel. With that the Green Giant’s SPC was seemingly vanquished. Today the 6.5mm Grendel is recognized as a superlative intermediate cartridge which performs well in barrels from 12 to 24 inches. A fantastic whitetail deer, pig, and coyote cartridge it…

Marching fire, also known as walking fire, is a military tactic—a form of suppressive fire used during an infantry assault or combined arms assault. Advancing units fire their weapons without stopping to aim, in an attempt to pin down enemy defenders. Marching fire usually ends with an infantry charge to engage the enemy in close combat. The tactic required ample ammunition and rapid-fire weapons. It differs from fire and movement in that the attacking force advances in unison rather than leapfrogging forward in alternating groups. The French army first used marching fire during WWI at the Battles of Verdun and the Somme. They used mobile three (later four) man teams consisting of a gunner, a loader and ammo carrier who used the Fusil Mitrailleur Modéle 1915 (“Chauchat”) automatic rifle to…

When carried or stored, we want a firearm to be as compact as possible. This usually requires a compromise of one kind or another. A shorter barrel, or a (gack!) bullpup design. Trailblazer has a different idea. The Pivot does just that: the top half rotates around to un-compact the carbine, and ends up being a usable size with a non-SBR barrel length. This does, however, require other compromises. But we’ll get to those. The Pivot is a 9mm carbine with a blowback system, feeding from Glock magazines. The upper receiver is an aluminum shell with a partial rail on top. Partial in that there are sections out front and at the rear, in case you want to mount back-up sights on it. The rear rail is long enough to…