Archive for the 'Firearms' Category

I don’t normally link him up, but this is a fairly nice rifle and he has a good experience with it.  It looks like he’s shooting Wilson Combat 350 Legend magazines, and his accuracy looks good.

Uncle.

Grip angle and natural point of aim will not make you a better shooter.

A gun feeling “good in your hand” also will not.

I’ve been a practicing registered professional engineer for a very long time.  But until recently I had not studied ergonomics and biomechanics, and things like pronation and abduction, axis of action, first, second and third class levers, resistance to circulation, kinetic chains, etc.

I would have been more likely to accept these pronouncements before I engaged in my recent study.  Now, not at all.

I don’t think an experienced shooter should try to bias another, which I wouldn’t do anyway.  Readers have always known that I recommend you shoot what you like, feel comfortable with enough to practice a lot, and get good with what you like and can afford.

I shoot .45 ACP better than I do 9mm and .40.  I don’t know why, because I’ve shot a lot of ammunition, but it’s the way it is, after tens of thousands of rounds.  I also shoot a 1911 better than I do a double stack design.

Here I probably know why.  With the gnarled up knuckles of my fingers from RA, I get good purchase on the slimmer frame of a 1911 easily and efficiently.  If you don’t suffer from RA, you have no basis to comment on what I need to shoot efficiently, whether grip angle, frame design, length of pull, or whatever.

A 1911 isn’t for everybody, and a Wilson Combat pistol isn’t for me because I can’t afford one.

Ergonomics does exist, and it’s a science all its own.  I recommend folks schedule an encounter with the study materials.

Either way, it’s always a little oddball to me when somebody says (a) there is only one way to do this, and it’s my way, or (b) nothing matters, not even the things you think matter, because I say so.

TFB.

Let’s make the argument that 5.7 is, just for fun and for the purposes of this article, as suitable for personal defense as 9mm.

If we wanted to bolster a case that 5.7 is a viable defense round, we could start with this punny line: The 5.7 uses a bottlenecked case, like the .357 SIG, which is theoretically supposed to increase feed reliability. Second, 30% lower felt recoil is going to translate into better accuracy, better shot placement, and faster follow up shots. Third, the 5.7 can squeeze 20 or (as Hop learned in the video above) 21 rounds into a full-size frame for more capacity than 9mm. Fourth, the ability to defeat body armor is a plus – according to FN, the SS190 cartridge type can defeat two stacked Level II vests at 50 yards.  The round will also go through a vest and remain effective – allegedly penetrating 11 inches into ballistic gel after punching through a Kevlar vest. Fifth, we have the advantage of the increased range we discussed above, albeit this is of limited use for the reasons noted.

[ … ]

Moving away from gel and paper, there’s empirical evidence suggesting that the 5.7 is effective.  Over forty countries have adopted the 5.7, including the USA at a federal and state level, most notably, the US Secret Service. According to an article from the Dallas News, the Five-seveN is sought after by Mexican drug cartels for its effectiveness, and FN’s pistol can fetch $5,000 on the black market because of its performance, especially against armored targets. And as macabre as it might be, I reluctantly note for purposes of this discussion (and because someone was definitely going to say something about it in the comments anyways if I didn’t) that the 5.7 round was used in the most deadly American on-base shooting of all time, killing 13 and wounding over 30 when an Army major-turned-terrorist used the Five-seveN in an attack against fellow soldiers.

I’ve addressed this before.  I would carry the round for personal defense.

And if I’m not mistaken, his conviction on 13 counts of premeditated murder was short one.  One victim was pregnant.

Ammoland.

The Bishop Ammunition and Firearms 458 SOCOM 1895 GBL Lever Action chambered in 458 SOCOM comes with all the foregoing plus additional features other manufacturers charge extra for and now joins our line up in 458 SOCOM with our 458 SOCOM Hunter Bolt Action and the AR458 SOCOM Rifle. The 458 SOCOM 1895 GBL Lever Action was designed specifically for those situations where an AR-15 rifle is either not permitted for hunting while riding the range hunting feral hogs, or for those that want something completely different.

It’s a nice looking and powerful gun, but my question would be why?  When the lever guns at Big Horn Armory are available, what is the hoped customer base for this gun?

Hold your breath.  MSRP = $2,999.99.

I understand.  They’ve got to get their R&D money back out of this.  The ammo will be expensive though, just like the gun.  Let me know if any readers get one.  You can do a review of it.

Military Times.

When Winchester Ammunition announced their straight-walled .350 Legend cartridge at SHOT Show 2019, only CMMG and Ruger had firearms chambered in the new round.

Now, roughly one year later, the potent round appears to be gaining traction with additional gun manufacturers with the latest adopter being Franklin Armory.

The cartridge was developed in response to various hunting laws in the United States that restrict calibers to straight-walled cartridges. This effectively restricted hunters to .30-30, .45-70 Gov or similar rounds in lever-action, or breech-loading rifles.

To give hunters an auto-loading alternative, Winchester developed the .350 Legend – a round that functions in a modified STANAG magazine in standard AR-15 magazine wells.

Despite being developed initially as a hunting round, it is equally as effective as defensive cartridge. There are even super-heavy subsonic loads available for shooters running a suppressor who want more ballistic energy than .300 BLK.

I’m not sure why it flew under the radar, but Rock River Arms also has an offering in 350 Legend, as well as uppers.

From Shooting Illustrated.

EOTech’s HWS offerings are extensive, but L3Harris (EOTech’s parent company) is no longer the only kid on this block. Vortex offers its own take on HWS in the form of its Razor AMG UH-1. Hampton told me that Vortex’s holographic system is different than EOTech’s, but I suspect that to the user, the differences will remain hidden inside the optics. Vortex’s HWS appears to be in the same size and weight category as EOTech’s EXPS family, but instead uses an enclosed-style housing.

Good review.  I guess I’ve been a little out of the loop.  I didn’t know that EOTech wasn’t the only Holographic sight maker now.

This guy does a good review of the new Arken Optics scope.

Rex also does an unboxing review.

Here is the web site.  The quality looks high for the prices.  I like the idea of good optics without the huge price tag.  Seems to me that quality scope prices have come down drastically because the the interest in long range precision shooting.

Good.  I like competition.

News from PRCa.

A majority of Californians, including gun owners, support an “amnesty” program where high-capacity firearm magazine owners can turn them in, “no questions asked.”

More than 62 percent of Californians surveyed said that they favor such a program, which 51 percent of gun owners also said they supported.

The results, published in JAMA Network Open, come from the Violence Prevention Research Program at University of California, Davis. Researchers interpreted data from an online survey of 2,558 California adults that was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs.

Hmm … an “online survey.”  So the authors of the survey and the article want you to believe that the gun owners of California who own standard capacity magazines don’t want them, and don’t really know what to do with those plastic boxes they have in their closet?  They want to “turn them in” to someone in authority.

They don’t know how to use a hacksaw and cut them into pieces.  They don’t know how to start fires and burn them up, but they don’t want those things at all so they need an amnesty to turn them in.

Right …

Ken Hackathorn appears to like it a lot.  The thing I really appreciate about this video though is Ken explaining proper revolver technique and procedure.

Recoil.

On the drop-down menu, select FMI (for Form 1 manufactured), and you’re on your way. You’ll also have to describe the length and caliber of the can you’re going to make. Tip: Some people get wrapped around the axle when it comes to fingerprints. There’s absolutely no reason to make an appointment and pay a third party to fingerprint you, when you’re perfectly capable of smearing ink on your own digits. Order a fingerprint kit from Amazon, and do it yourself in the comfort of your own home.

Once your Form 1 has been approved, which usually takes around three weeks, you can then buy a tube, spacers, baffles, and endcaps from the many online vendors that exist on the fringes of the interwebs. Due to the nature of NFA law, these will be described in rather coy terms, and you may wind up purchasing “barrel shrouds,” “solvent traps,” “oil filter kits,” or “storage cups,” all of which are largely useless for their advertised purpose, but give the vendors a fig leaf of deniability. Yes, it’s all a bunch of bullsh*t, but it’s the system we’re stuck with.

Once your components arrive, you can then set to work engraving the tube to meet the legal requirements of the National Firearms Act (see RECOIL Issue 44). You could go get this done on a laser engraver and make it look all professional-like, or you could just bust out the Dremel. We did the latter, as it’s going to be wrapped in a suppressor cover anyway. With your tube engraved, you can then drill holes in the baffles and endcap, screw everything together, and head to the range with your shiny new can. Enjoy!

I had never really paid this much attention and didn’t know that the constituent parts were available like that.  I’m sure that without a lot of effort I couldn’t build a suppressor with the acoustical engineering effectiveness that the large corporations and research organizations put into it.

Then again, rarely does anyone use a suppressor without ear pro anyway, so a little bit more protection is good, albeit not perfect.

If any reader has experience with this, please drop comments below and give us some pointers.