Category: General Opinion

"All AR-15s are parts guns" - I don't know how many times I've heard that statement. I'll even admit to thinking that way once. It is, now that I've had time to think about my sins, wrong. What the people who say such things don't realize - or choose not to realize - is that the person who put the weapon together has a tremendous impact on the overall quality of the weapon. While the process of assembling one may seem really simple, it's also very simple to screw up.… Read More

It's taken several millenia, but Vltor finally has a web store, located at www.vltorstore.com/, and you can order items directly from them online. They have a great law enforcement/military discount, too, so be sure to take advantage of that if you're eligible. Don't forget that Bravo Company has the original Modstock on sale for $50, and Rainier Arms has the new IMod for $95 (cheaper if you're LE/Mil).

Because I'm seething with rage at the moment, I won't write very much, other than that fake tourniquets, manufactured in China, are apparently finding their way into the hands of American servicemen overseas. These fake tourniquets cannot be used to control bleeding and have reportedly contributed to at least one fatality. They are intended to be indistinguishable (to the casual observer) from real CAT tourniquets currently in use. A PDF file of the differences between the two tourniquets can be found here. Please forward it to anyone you know who… Read More

In this helmet cam video, we see a team of Dutch Marines fastrope from a helicopter and retake a container ship that had been boarded by Somali pirates. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcqZKBJMNhI How could I not post this video, since my blog title means "Firearm" in Dutch? Beyond that, though, it's pretty neat to watch. The pirates, facing real resistance from highly trained forces, quickly surrender. The crew, having locked themselves in a "safe room", emerged after the ship was retaken, unharmed. The ship apparently had good "passive" anti-piracy countermeasures, but lacked armed… Read More

I'm going to deviate from the subject I normally cover on this blog and discuss current events. As pretty much everyone knows by now, the governor of Arizona recently signed legislation relating to illegal immigration. There has been loud and, at times, violent opposition to the law. Some of the strongest voices against the law come from Mexico - in fact, the Mexican government has condemned the law and issued a travel advisory informing its citizens about it. Perhaps misinformed would be the proper term, but that's another topic for… Read More

In a recent AR15.com thread, it was claimed that Federal 9mm ammunition identified as XM9HA was a contract overrun of 147gr HST hollow point projectiles loaded to the impressive velocity of 1180 feet per second. That's 9mm Major territory - and beyond. It was also reported that this ammunition had a high rate of failures to feed or failures to fire in a variety of handguns. I was recently sent a small quantity of this ammunition for testing via a chronograph. It was requested that I use a Glock 19… Read More

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words... Here are two cases I found at the range last week. On the left is a properly fired 7.62x54R case. On the right is a 7.62x54R case that was fired in a rifle which was decidedly NOT chambered in 7.62x54R! It should go without saying that this is dangerous and can end badly. If you feel resistance when chambering a cartridge, do yourself a favor and check out the round before you try to fire it. If you don't believe… Read More

Some of you may notice that this post is not filed under "firearms" or "reviews" or even "tests". It's filed under "Lies, Errors, and Omissions." Why is that, you ask? Well, this firearm is an error. The company that made it is an error. I might even go so far as to say that the ancestors of the people who founded the company were also errors. But first, the firearm. It looks just like this. Yes, I stole Auto-Ordnance's photo. I had a pretty hard time finding .30 carbine ammo… Read More

As anyone who had their finger anywhere near the pulse of the black rifle market knows, the market had become saturated with semi automatic rifles as of July or August of 2009. The ferocious buying frenzy dried up pretty rapidly. Meanwhile, the economy continued to get worse. People continued to lose their jobs. Those who didn't lose their jobs might still have had to deal with reduced hours or pay cuts. All through this period, a number of people continued to hold out for the release of the Adaptive Combat… Read More

Lightweight, compact rifles are highly sought after in the United States military. However, the supply of these weapons is often constrained by budget or other issues. The USMC, especially, does not have the budget to replace all of its M16A4s with M4s, as the Army seems to be doing - and apparently the Army is moving towards replacing all of its M4s with M4A1s, or at least as far as the barrels are concerned. Furthermore, the USMC doesn't want to completely abandon the extra velocity offered by the M16A4, and… Read More