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News from 2012 NRA Show

2012 NRA Show

One of our writers is at the 2012 NRA Show this weekend, so watch this page for news and photos of guns and gear being shown in St. Louis. Please note that the NRA Annual Meetings and Expo is the largest public event in the USA for shooting enthusiasts. For members of the shooting industry, the annual SHOT Show is the big event you will want to attend.

Rock River Arms Varmint Rifle

Rock River Arms (RRA) showed the new Fred Eichler varmint rifle at the show. The guns are based on the company’s LAR-15 platform and have a variety of upgrades designed to enhance accuracy. The MSRP for these guns is $1,510.

Beretta ARX 160 in .22 LR

This is a video of the new Beretta ARX160 chambered in .22 LR. The Beretta team also announced that the ARX160 in 5.56 should be released later this year.

New Products from CrossBreed Holsters

Mark Craighead talks about some of the new rigs the company is now making. Also, they are offering a 15% discount for all NRA show attendees if you are at the show.

Advanced Technology International Halo Heatshield

This is a new free-floating heat shield for shotguns. It includes ghost ring sights and the ability to add Picatinny rails if desired.

New Gear from Fort Knox Gun Safes

Fort Knox has a number of new safes and accessories that they introduced at the show. The corner bolts on the safes look impressive.

Ruger 22/45 Lite Pistol

Ruger showed off the new 22/45 Lite pistol. This is an impressive little rimfire pistol. I would love to get one of these on the range.

Crimson Trace

CT introduced a number of new products at the NRA expo. Included among them were new pistol mountable lights called the RailMaster Light. They throw 100 lumens and have a run time of 120 minutes.

The company also brought out some new green laser aiming devices. Green is all new for the company with red in the name. There will be a number of new products using the green lasers.

Show Photos

While at the show, Aaron grabbed a few photos:

2012 NRA Show

2012 NRA Show

2012 NRA Show

2012 NRA Show

2012 NRA Show

Categories
Military

Marines: Hey Lets Train with Our Actual Weapons!

Marines Firearms Training

The US Marine Corps has decided to train as it fights. At weapon qualifications, Marines will be allowed to use the weapons and approved optics they carry into battle.

“The intent is to ensure Marines train with the weapon system with which they will fight,” wrote Lt. Gen. Richard Mills in an administrative message.

Not being a Marine, I didn’t realize this, but it seems that firearms qualification scores are part of how promotions are calculated. Therefore, in an effort to ensure “fairness” in the promotional process, it appears the Marines have not allowed their personnel to qualify with what they carry.

For example, the free-floated barrel on the Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR) could provide an accuracy advantage to the shooter as compared to a Marine shooting a standard M16 or M4, and therefore could have been removed from qualifications to promote the concept of fairness.

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news

ArmaLite 300 BLK Rifle

Armalite 300 BLK Rifle

In keeping with the 2012 SHOT Show trend, I’ll be looking at ArmaLite‘s offering in the newer .300 BLK chambering. I got a chance to handle their new rifle at their booth, and I learned a few things along the way. Before getting into the details of the ArmaLite .300 BLK rifle, I thought it would be interesting to share a little history on the AR rifle platform that has become so popular.

Armalite 300 BLK Rifle

AR-15 History

ArmaLite was a subdivision of the Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corporation back in the 1950s. The founder was Lockheed corporate counsel George Sullivan, and the company’s first rifle designs were meant to be light survival rifles for downed pilots.

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Rifles

Ruger 10/22 Takedown Rifle

Ruger 10/22 Takedown

The Ruger 10/22 Takedown is a new rifle that allows the shooter to break it down for compact storage with a quick twist of the barrel. Take down rifles are simply long guns that are designed to easily come apart and reassemble for compact storage and easy transportation.

Take down .22LR rifles like the AR-7 have been popular with backpackers, outdoorsmen and preppers for a long time. Ruger is now throwing their extremely popular 10/22 into the take down mix.

On the new 10/22, disassembly takes mere moments, and reassembly is even easier. Watch the videos below to see how easy it is in action.

The new 10/22 is weather resistant with a synthetic stock and stainless barrel. It comes with a black backpack (with molle webbing, of course) that can hold the Takedown and extra magazines and accessories. This rifle may wind up being the perfect backpacking gun for many people.

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Categories
Ammunition

Buffalo Bore .38 Special Short-Barrel Ammo

Buffalo Bore Short Barrel 38

Buffalo Bore is loading .38 Special ammo specifically for short-barreled guns.  The load uses a Barnes 110 grain TAC-XP bullet, which is an all-copper bullet.  The ammo uses brass cases and a low-flash powder.

Until recently, snubnose revolver shooters made do with standard ammunition and the knowledge that the ammo would not be as effective as if it was shot out of a longer barrel handgun.  The amount of velocity loss varied with the load and the firearm, but generally, it has been understood that short-barreled guns are less potent than longer ones.

There are probably others out there, but the 135 grain Speer Gold Dot load for the .38 Special was the first short-barrel load to really get traction with the public.  The load uses a medium-to-heavy weight bullet for the cartridge (most bullet weights run 110 grain, 125 grain or 158 grain in .38 Special) and a special powder to maximize velocity out of short-barreled guns.  From what I hear the load has been effective “on the street.”

The load was developed by Speer for the New York City Police Department, and it has been adopted by many other law enforcement agencies as the back-up gun ammo of choice. The “halo effect” of police agency use often drives sales in the commercial market, and I suspect that is one of the reasons the Speer load has been popular.

The Buffalo Bore uses a lighter bullet than the Speer load.  In-house testing by Buffalo Bore shows their load makes for more than 1100 fps out of 2″ Smith & Wesson revolvers (1104 fps with a model 340 and 1119 fps with a model 60). Moving up to 3″ barreled revolvers moves the velocity north of 1200 fps (1202 with a Ruger SP101 and 1210 with a S&W model 66).

By way of comparison, Ballistics by the Inch tested the Speer load and obtained 897 fps from a Smith & Wesson 642 (1.875″ barrel) and 928 fps from a Colt Detective Special (3″) barrel.  Keep in mind that the Buffalo Bore tests and BBTI tests cannot be directly compared, as they were not controlled environments, etc. But for the sake of discussion, they are interesting.

The Buffalo Bore load is +P rated, and the company states the bullets are crimped, so shooting out of the ultra-lightweight revolvers should not be a problem.  Buffalo Bore also noted very tight groups with the load (check out their website for more information.)