Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Firearms News

Currently, low-power variable magnification scopes are the rage on ARs and other general purpose utility type rifles. This makes a lot of sense as a 1-6x or 1-8x Low Power Variable Optic (LPVO) provides a nice blend of performance and flexibility. They can be dialed down to 1x for close work or dialed up for observing, target identification or taking a longer shot. The downside to LPVOs is their size and weight. A typical 21-ounce LPVO, and eight-ounce mount, add a noticeable amount of mass to a carbine. Many wonder if there is a magnified alternative to reduce bulk and weight, something compact like a red dot, but still offering some magnification. I believe a compact prism scope, like Trijicon’s 3x30 TA33 ACOG, can be a viable option to consider.…

A couple years back, Ruger shook things up when they introduced their LC Carbine chambered in 5.7x28mm. Frankly, FNH’s small-bore PDW cartridge had been stagnant until Ruger suddenly introduced a handgun and then their LC Carbine chambered for it. Much more modern in appearance compared to their more traditional PC carbine, the LC Carbine turned a lot of heads. Now, Ruger is back shaking things up again with a new model of LC Carbine. Once again, they are chambering it for a cartridge which is a bit of a surprise. While the first LC Carbine was chambered for the high velocity small-bore 5.7x28mm PDW cartridge, Ruger’s latest offering is a big-bore .45 ACP. Introduced back in 1905, the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge is a straight-wall rimless design developed to…

Savage offered a line of pistols up until 1928. Oh, there was the .45 ACP Test Pistol, but those were collectibles even when they were made, and if you see one on the range you should drop everything to watch. The .32 and .380 1907/15/17 pistols were well thought of back during prohibition, but that line ended in 1928. And Savage didn’t make another pistol until 2021, with the Stance. Well, the Stance now has a big brother, and it is an older brother as well, the 1911. Right out of the gate, Savage offers options. While all six current models are government-sized and in your choice of .45ACP or 9mm, you also have your choice of a combo of a rail, or none, all blued, all stainless, or two-tone.…

So-called “red-flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), might sound good in theory, but so far these laws that have been passed in a number of states violate the due process rights of citizens of those states. In fact, in most cases a person who is the subject of one of these orders can have his firearms confiscated with no advance notice, leaving him to prove in a sometimes much-later court hearing that he isn’t a danger and shouldn’t have had his right to arms infringed. Alas, that hasn’t stopped the Biden Administration from making the passage of such laws, both federally and at the state level, a priority — despite the constitutional objections. Over the weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School…

For this column, I’m going to cover a few random things of interest to CCW holders. Springfield’s new Echelon, reviewed in these pages last year, is a great pistol that I think is going to have legs, but holster availability still isn’t as good as I would like. If what you can find out there specifically for the gun isn’t quite what you’re looking for, here are a few options: N8 Tactical’s MultiFlex Holster (N8.CrossBreedHolsters.com). This is a fascinating product I first laid hands on at the 2024 SHOT Show. This is a fully adjustable holster—not just able to switch from IWB to OWB and back, but to fit various pistols. There are a number of retention and adjustment screws that allow you to fit it to just about any…

Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes looking into silencers and their use and purchase, has heard the word “baffles.” These are the guts, the interior, the mysterious inside parts that turn the raging column of hot gases your rifle muzzle belches into unicorn farts. They take the noise that would damage your hearing and turn it into a disturbance that only hurts the sensibilities of snowflakes. The baffles are the internal dividers in your suppressor that slow the progress of the gas plume your muzzle releases, and uses their mass and the time they add to the release, to suck the heat out of the gases. The cooler gas has a lower pressure than it did when hot, (that’s part of the Ideal Gas Law) and so…

World War II abounded with excellent submachine guns. The Thompson, M3 “Grease Gun,” Sten, MP40, and Suomi all achieved legendary status. Sometimes forgotten, though, are the excellent Italian submachine guns (SMGs) fielded during World War II, especially, the M 38/42. Beretta had a rich tradition of submachine gun development dating back to the Model 1918. All employing a top feed magazine and chambered in 9mm Glisenti; there were actually three versions of the M1918: • Full Auto Only using a modified Vetterli-Vitali rifle stock and having a folding bayonet, • Semi-Automatic Only using a stock similar to that of the Model 1891 rifle and with a folding bayonet, • Select-Fire: using a shorter barrel and a standard bayonet. All three versions of the M1918 used a top feed magazine and…

Stoeger is one of those companies that just doesn’t get much attention, even though it has some impressive credentials. Stoeger was founded in 1924 (so expect to see some sort of centennial celebration this year) and is a subsidiary of Benelli, which is in turn owned by Beretta, the world’s oldest firearms manufacturer. Over its history, Stoeger has made a number of different air rifles, handguns, and shotguns. They took over production of the Beretta Cougar at one point, making the pistols on Beretta factory tooling in Turkey. However, for the past few years, the product getting the most attention out of Stoeger is their STR-9 pistol, a very affordably priced polymer-framed striker-fired 9mm. At first it was just one model, the STR-9, introduced early in 2019, but it has…

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. In addition to being a regular featured contributor for Firearms News, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts onTwitter: @dcodrea and Facebook. The questions and arguments weren’t going as some had envisioned in front of the Supreme Court Wednesday in Garland v. Cargill, the much-anticipated bump stock case. At the end of the day, the best word to describe the court was “divided,” and the outcome for gun owners was uncertain. Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian H. Fletcher argued on behalf of the government and Johnathan F. Mitchell represented gun store owner and respondent Michael Cargill.…

Who developed the 300 AAC Blackout cartridge and for what purpose was it intended? Today, the 300 AAC Blackout is the second most popular AR-15 chambering, but where did it come from? Truly new cartridge concepts and designs are few and far between. No one would comment that the 300 AAC Blackout was an entirely “new” design. However, in concept it is much older than most might realize. In order to understand the 300 Blackout, you must delve into the .300 Whisper® and .300/.221 Fireball (.300 Fireball). These two cartridges are rather well-known having been around for decades. The .300/.221 Fireball is, as its name implies, based upon Remington’s .221 Fireball cartridge. Introduced in 1963, this design was a shortened (35.6mm case length) .222 Remington designed for optimum performance in…

The turn of the 20th century saw dramatic innovations in military small arms, one of which was the development of fully automatic weapons — a.k.a. Machine Guns. Designers such as Maxim, Browning, and Hotchkiss devoted efforts towards which saw the perfection of the machine gun which quickly replaced manually operated guns such as the Gatling, Gardner and Nordenfelt. One of the lesser known of these designers was a German, Andreas Wilhelm Schwarzlose. Herr Schwarzlose’s gun was simpler and less expensive to produce than the competition. He did this by using a delayed blowback action using a heavy bolt and a lever-delaying system which avoided the necessity of a gas or recoil system and its attendant extra components. Schwarzlose’s gun utilized a toggle lock similar to the Maxim and Luger except…

The H&K MP5 was designed in 1964 by Tilo Möller, Manfred Guhring, Georg Seidl and Helmut Baureuter. Since production began in 1966, this closed-bolt pistol caliber Maschinen Pistole has been the yardstick by which all other submachine guns, personal defense weapons (PDWs) and close-quarters weapons are measured. This is due to its reliability, impressive accuracy, robust design, build quality, ease of operation and controllability. The MP5 is one of the most widely fielded, most successful and widely copied submachine guns in existence. Think of it as the Czech CZ-75 of sub guns. In addition to selective-fire variants, the design has also been produced in semi-automatic form for commercial use, such as with the Century Arms 9mm AP5 pistol seen here. Any longtime reader of Firearms News should be familiar with…

The SGMT from Freedom Machine Works is an extraordinary semi-auto adaptation of the Combloc WWII belt-fed medium machinegun that replaced the M1910 Maxim in front line Soviet military service. Developed by master machinist John Earnest from an inspired semi-auto conversion originally crafted by Steve Sundin of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Freedom Machine Works semi-auto SGMT is a gun nerd’s dream. Poring over this thing will restore your faith in the supremacy of American engineering. The original SGMT was the tank coaxial version of the SGM which was itself an evolutionary development of the original SG43. The product of a desperate wartime design process, the SG action is novel, reliable, brilliant, and weird. For more than three quarters of a century, this weapon has soldiered on in war zones around the world.…