Chronicling the depravities of the State.
The Firearm Blog have a post about the single greatest idea ever. A FN FAL pistol. Seriously a handgun that shoots 7.62x51mm!
Yes most of that is sarcasm due to the fact I can’t really find a reason for such a large caliber pistol outside of “Because we can.” Of course that’s reason enough for me.
I can’t take credit for these sadly, I’m not Mr. Exclusive. But MrVvrroomm over on the MNGunTalk forums posted some pictures of what appear to be an actual Glock 22 Generation Four pistol. Here are the pictures:
If this is some Photoshop trickery it’s bloody good. Anyways we can see the removable back strap, new grip texture, new magazine release, and new recoil spring.
For a 100 year old design the 1911 sure is popular. But it should be because it’s an amazing weapon platform. These days everybody is making one and now we learn from The Firearm Blog that Magnum Research is going to release one next year.
It appears as though Magnum Research isn’t producing them in .50 AE sadly. Yeah sorry I’m not more excited about this but a new 1911 coming out has become the news of the month kind of thing and I just expect it now.
It appears some more information is bring released about the next generation of Glock pistols. Says Uncle has a possible picture of the new pistol while The Firearm Blog has found mention of new Glock 17 and 22 models being mentioned on a firearm distributor site.
There is talk that the new model of Glocks will have a redesigned recoil spring but that isn’t apparent in the previously mentioned picture. What the picture does show is the new Glock will have swappable back straps, a more aggressive but not as aggressive as RTF2 frame, and what appears to be a larger magazine release (hopefully ambidextrous).
I still don’t understand how Glock would improve their pistols which they claim are prefect. But I do love the fact they are moving to swappable back straps. Why? Because when I mention swappable back straps on the XD(M) pistols a Glock fan boy usually crows about how that is just another unneeded part that will break. I’m guessing it’s not going to be a great new innovation from Glock. Fucking fan boys.
The Firearm Blog points out that Remington is planning to reenter the handgun market. They seem to be coming a long ways from their “hunters only” history of the last several decades. First they introduce AR-15s, than the Bushmaster ACR, and now handguns. All they need to do is create some AK derivative and they too can be at the top of the Brady Hit List.
When The Firearm Blog says they have big news they mean it. It seems Izhmash has introduced a prototype for their updated AK series of rifles. The updates are certainly a case of evolution not revolution but when you’re platform for evolve is the ever prevalent and legendary AK-47 there isn’t much need for a revolution.
The first noticeable improvement should make the tacticool people out there happy, rails. Yes when somebody said the AK needs more rails Izhmash listened. The dust cover now has a rail running along its top. Likewise the dust cover is now hinged to the front and has a locking lever that holds it on to the rifle. This is apparently to prevent a loss of zero on optics mounted on the dust cover rails. Likewise the hand guards are now covered in rails.
The AK prototype also has a new safety by the trigger which should be easier to manipulate than the standard AK safety/selector switch. The prototype still has the old safety on it but being it’s a prototype that could be left on or taken off in the final design. The rear sight has an adjustment knob instead of the old slider that was used for elevation changes.
Anyways head over to the Firearm Blog as they have a lot of pictures and go over more details.
If you think the 5.56 mm cartridge lacks the stopping power needed in a firefight then you need to look at this little toy I found on the Firearms Blog. That’s right is a magazine fed .50 BMG upper for the AR-15 platform. That ought to have enough stopping power for you.
N.U.G.U.N. has a post informing us there is a new advertisement from Glock. Apparently they are claiming a “next generation of perfection.” Funny I always thought it something was perfect you couldn’t improve it. In fact an inability to improve something is the definition of perfection.
Well Guns, Holsters, and Gear says this is an advertisement for an upcoming line of Glock pistols with adjustable grips. Interesting theory I guess. If true there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be eating crow. One of the noted advantages of XD(m) owners is the fact the back straps can be changed out to fit your hand better. Glock fanboys say it’s just another useless doodad to break. Well if Glock heads down this path I will be laughing my ass off.
Being I have a Glock 30 I can say it’s not a perfect gun. It’s a very nice gun but certainly not perfect. The 10 round magazines are a pain in the ass to load (that last round just doesn’t want to go into the magazine), I find the trigger inferior to the one on my XD, and although the gun is physically smaller than the XD it’s slightly heavier. And before any Glock fan claims the added weight is a certain sign of better quality remember the 1911 is heavier than your Glock.
The Firearm Blog shows yet another gun that I want. This time it’s a shotgun that uses a revolver action brought to us by Russia. I know what you’re thinking, Taurus Judge. But this Russian shotgun is a long arm, not a pistol, meaning it could actually be used for clay shooting. Anyhow I just thought it looked cool as Hell.
Well I finally had two things at the same time, time to hit the range, and .380 auto ammunition for my new Ruger LCP. Although I’ve had the gun for a few weeks I’ve not been able to actually shoot it.
I loaded up some rounds using 4.1 grains of Universal Clays powder and 95 grain Montana Gold jacked hollow points (before anybody comments I know a .380 won’t reliably expand JHP rounds, but being their center of gravity is back more JHPs are slightly more accurate than full metal jacketed rounds).
First off I want to say the gun is a perfect little piece. It fits in almost any pocket (although I won’t be carrying it until my pocket holster arrives). It’s very light even when loaded with 6 + 1 rounds of ammunition and conceals better than any other gun I’ve seen.
The Ruger LCP, like most small and light guns, kicks hard. Firing the gun can be painful after a while. The webbing on my right hand hurt quite a bit after roughly 30 rounds so I switched to left handed shooting for the remaining 20 rounds I loaded up. For a mouse gun the LCP is pretty accurate. I was able to peg steel plates from approximately 20 feet without too much trouble. If I’m dealing with ranges beyond that I’ll hopefully be able to use my primary carry gun.
The only thing about the LCP I really didn’t like when firing it was how far and erratically is flung the brass. I was shooting under a covered pistol range section. The roof was approximately 15 to 20 feet and several of the brass casing landed up on there. Other cases went flying 10 feet to the right and angles ranging from 45 degrees to right behind me. Since I load my own ammunition I like to keep the cases and that’s hard with this gun.
Working the slide is pretty simple. Several small semi-automatic pistols I’ve uses had very stiff slides. The LCP’s isn’t very stiff and can be easily manipulated with two hands. Due to the fact the LCP has little in the way of sights there isn’t much to catch it on in order to rack the slide with one hand though. Speaking of sights I wish Ruger would have made them just a hair larger. As they sit right now the sights are all but useless and I didn’t get a crimson trace laser for it (being I had enough trouble just finding the bloody gun). At short ranges this isn’t that big of an issue though since the sights are more than adequate for hitting human sized targets.
The gun came with a small extension for the, one and only included, magazine. I ended up using it simple because I couldn’t get a good grip on the gun without it. With the extension I was able to comfortably hold the gun with all but my pinky finger. I do wish Ruger would have included a second magazine so I could practice reloading it (I order a couple others but they certainly do charge an arm and leg for such a small magazine). I will say the magazine does indeed drop free when you press the release button. And while I’m on the subject of reloading do note that the LCP does not automatically hold the slide open when your magazine is empty so you do need to count rounds with this gun.
Overall I was impressed with the gun. It’s exactly what I was looking for in that it’s a small pistol that is easily placed into a pocket. I don’t see any features that make me want to recommend the LCP over any other .380 auto mouse gun on the market but for the price you really can’t complain much. If you want a mouse gun certainly take a look at one.