Aaron is a sergeant with a midwestern police department, where he serves as a trainer, supervisor and SWAT sniper. In addition to his broad tactical knowledge, Aaron is an experienced hunter using bow and both modern and blackpowder firearms.
The new Marlin Model 336 BL has arrived. I got to handle one of these rifles at the 2010 SHOT SHOW in Las Vegas. The BL version stands for “Big Loop Lever”.
This new Model 336 version offers a slight variance of their highly popular lever action rifle with a hint of old West flavor. The Model 336 BL has an 18.5″ barrel that has a highly polished blued finish. The stock and fore grip are composed a brown laminate finish that will be familiar to Model 336 owners.
It would appear that Crimson Trace is preparing to launch several new products at the 2010 SHOT Show. Michael Bane teased to this in his podcast, Down Range Radio, last week.
In addition to the Lasergrips introduced with new guns (as they did with the Ruger LCR at the 2009 SHOT Show), I think we may see green lasers from Crimson Trace. A number of CT competitors, including Viridian and LaserMax, have been capitalizing on their green laser products.
If you have not used a green laser-equipped gun before, you may not recognize what a significant difference this is. I have used various red laser products before, including Crimson Trace. Frankly, I was never impressed by their capability in daylight or indoor lighting conditions. In bright daylight, I found them to be completely unusable. Green lasers, however, are different.
I’ve had the chance to play with various green lasers, and have found them to be much more visible in all lighting conditions. I can easily see and use a green laser in full daylight. The difference between green and red is profound.
Don’t be surprised to see Crimson Trace introduce a green laser product at the 2010 SHOT Show. Blue and purple lasers are probably not terribly likely to be seen. A green laser, though, is a possibility.
There were no green lasers from Crimson Trace – just more red lasers. Â It took Crimson Trace a couple of more years to bring out a viable green laser product for the consumers. They were not the first to market with a green colored laser, but they did bring out a high-quality line of green lasers.
The 2010 SHOT Show was a good one for Crimson Trace, and for everyone in the shooting industry. The show was held in Las Vegas, and it looks like it will stay in Vegas for a while.
Buffalo Bore is now manufacturing the .45 Auto Rim in four loadings: two standard pressure and two “+P”.
In standard pressure, you can get a 200 gr JHP at a little over 1000 fps (444+ ft-lb) out of a 4″ S&W revolver. The 255 gr hard cast FP is clocking almost 870 fps (410+ ft-lb) out of the same 4″ Smith.
With the “+P” designation, the 200 JHP is sizzling at almost 1200 fps (635 ft-lb) out of the 4″ S&W. The hard cast 255 gr FP is moving at more than 1030 fps (570+ ft-lb). These are amazing numbers. It should be noted that there is not a SAAMI specification for “+P” in the .45 Auto Rim. Consequently, use only a modern firearm with the +P ammunition. Buffalo Bore does state that the +P loads are safe to use in all post-WWII revolvers chambered for the .45 ACP.
In March, Tango Down introduced a new polymer AR-15 magazine called the ARC-L. Tango Down took a different approach to the AR-15 magazine, and designed something new that is worth looking at.
Tango Down developed the ARC-L magazine by going back to the drawing board and taking a hard look at ammunition feeding in the AR-15 platform. Tango Down started with the understanding that 30-round magazines in the AR-15 are curved, yet the magazine well in the AR-15 is straight.
Instead of utilizing a single piece of molded plastic, the Tango Down magazine is a two-part assembly that snaps together (permanently) in the middle. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is to have a straight portion that is in the magazine well, with a curved portion that is the part extending beyond the magazine well.
Tango Down says by using the two-piece construction they can mix various polymers for different portions of the magazine:
We can also mix materials, impossible with conventional plastic magazines. We can offer transparent lower/high tensile strength upper sectioned magazines that avoid the brittle feed lip issue of all-transparent material construction.