News

A Christmas Tree at FOB Fenty, Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Former Gun Tests and American Gunsmith contributor Bryce M. Towsley has written a new novel called The 14th Reinstated. The book lays out a frightening and dark scenario of how the world may look in a few years, and readers will pray it is not a prophecy of the future.

The Second Amendment Foundation has won a huge victory for the right to bear arms outside the home, with a ruling in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that declares the right to self-defense is 'broader than the right to have a gun in one's home.'

‘Armageddon Arsenals’ debuted last night on Discovery’s Destination America network. The series explores the weapons and security aspects of the massive new prepping movement, focusing on individuals and families across the country who are preparing for a variety of worst case scenarios–many of them more plausible now than ever.

ARES Defense Systems is introducing the ARES-15 Mission Configurable Rifle (MCR), which offers dual-feed capabilities and quick-change barrel.

In the course of a typical day's gunsmithing, I test fire at least three weapons for such things as inconsistent primer ignition, failure to feed properly, and sear disengagement. With the cost of commercial bullet traps somewhere in the stratosphere, I had no choice but to make my own to keep costs down. My indoor trap, which I use for pistols and rimfire rifles, cost less than $25 to build. Even if you use brand new materials, it should cost less than $100.

The SIS Custom RL came with night sights. The rear unit, windage adjustable via drift, was mounted in a dovetail aligning its rear face precisely with the back of the slide for maximum sight radius. Its forward edge presented a vertical surface reaching about 0.2 inches upwards from the top of the slide. This was to provide a catch point on one’s belt or other edge in case the slide needed to be racked without using two hands. Today’s pistols commonly feature a rear sight with a ramped profile front to back. The ramped profile is much less likely to snag clothing than a tall and sharp sight blade. But if the slide must be racked and the support hand is not available, the operator might wish for the sharp edge of the old-style rear sight. Kimber’s SIS-style rear sight meets this need without the worry of hanging up on the inside of a jacket or shirt.

Magpul is now shipping its XTM Hand Stop Kit, XTM Enhanced Rail Panels, and Pink Magpul Furniture.

The Llama's firing mechanism differs considerably in detail from the 1911. The slide is the main area of interest. For illustration purposes, I chose a rather common Commander-length Llama in 9mm Luger. This pistol is a true compact, however, rather than a short slide on a full-length frame. The extractor is of the external type. There is no extractor tunnel in the slide and no firing-pin stop. While the elimination of the firing-pin stop and internal extractor may seem a good thing, if the treatment is not of high quality, then we have a problem. I've personally never seen a broken firing pin in a Llama pistol, but my friends in the gun-parts business have sold quite a few. On the other hand, I have repaired numerous extractors. The steel seems quite soft and new replacements are not easy to come by (though Gun Parts Corporation and Bob's Gun Shop are places to start looking). I have recut and reshaped these extractors, sometimes convincing the part to last for a time.

A short while back Gun Tests magazine tested some pretty small 9mm pistols, by Kahr and by Rohrbaugh. They particularly liked the Kahr PM9's handling qualities, and the fact that it worked well as a back-up pistol. They noted Kahr produces a similar pistol in .40 S&W caliber, called the PM40. They decided it was appropriate to try one, because anyone who liked the PM9 would probably welcome more power in a package nearly as small.

John Hayward, writing on the HumanEvents.com blog, said this week, “It never takes long for gun-control fanatics to exploit tragedy for their political ends. NBC’s Bob Costas put on a particularly disgusting and unacceptable display on Sunday night, as he hijacked a football broadcast to sucker-punch fans with a gun-control sermon following the horrible Jovan Belcher murder-suicide.

Jim Axelrod filed a one-sided report on Tuesday's CBS This Morning linking the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide to a lack of gun control inside the NFL. Axelrod sourced the piece with only gun-control advocates – Brady Center flack Marcellus Wiley, NBC's Bob Costas, and New York Times sportswriter William Rhoden.