Smith & Wesson PPK Recall

Link To PPK Recall At Official Smith & Wesson Web Site

"Smith & Wesson has identified a condition that may exist in certain PPK and PPK/S pistols which may permit a round to be discharged without the trigger being pulled. When the manual safety is disengaged, Smith & Wesson’s Product Engineering Group has determined that the possibility exists in certain firearms that lowering the hammer may cause a chambered round to fire."

Check the link for serial number affected, and more details.

MSNBC "Assault Weapons" Poll

Link To Poll

"Should President Obama push to permanently reinstate a ban on assault weapons?

Congress imposed a ban on what it called assault weapons in 1994, outlawing the sale and importation of 19 military-style weapons, copycat models with similar features, and high-capacity ammunition magazines. In a compromise with Republicans, the Democrats who controlled Congress agreed to let it expire in ten years unless it was renewed. By 2004, with Republicans in charge, support had evaporated.

• Yes. We had the ban for 10 years. He should use up whatever political capital is necessary to reinstate the ban.
• No. It was a mistake the first time around and it would be a mistake again. Existing gun laws are enough.
• Maybe. Owning a gun is a right, but I'm conflicted as to whether or not average Americans should be able to own assault weapon"
  

Magpul Maglevel PMags In Stock At Brownells

Looks like Brownells has some Magpul PMag Maglevel 30-round magazines in black and "flat dark earth." Be sure to note that I posted a shipping coupon code for Brownells recently.

If anyone knows where I can order some black 20-Round PMags for reasonable prices, please drop me a line.

Some New Firearms

Vltor Fortis
Vltor is working on new versions of the Bren Ten (10mm CZ-75 type pistol from Miami Vice), which they're calling the Fortis.

Link to the Fortis pistol on the Vltor website.
Vltor blog with more information
Defense Review article on the Fortis

The new design uses EAA Witness or the Vltor magazines, holding 15 rounds of 10mm or 10 rounds of .45ACP for a standard length magazine. I believe there are extended Witness mags that hold more. Vltor offers floorpates that replicate the look of the origional Bren Ten magazines.

Vltor is shooting for a retail price of less than a thousand dollars. That sounds like a lot, but based on Vltor's reputation for quality, engineering, and durability (not many pistols will hold up to a steady diet of full-power 10mm), I don't consider it to be totally unreasonable.

Drum-Fed Semi-Auto Shotgun
Link to Defense Review snippet on the new drum fed semi-auto shotgun.
The shotgun feeds from tube magazines in a cylinder formation. Sounds kind of confunsing, doesn't it? Okay, so like a normal tube-fed shotgun, shells are pushed into the action from the tube magazine holding 2-4 rounds, depending on the overall length of the shotgun. When the tube currently in use is empty, you rotate the cylinder, allowing shells from the next tube to feed into the action. Perhaps not the ideal solution, but it is an interesting one.

AR-15 Shotgun from CMMG
Defense Review snippet on the CMMG gas piston AR-15 Shotgun
MGI was showing some new pistol-caliber magwells for their modular lower at SHOT show '09, and having recently purchased a Saiga-12, a shotgun variant of the AK-47 platform, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to come up with an AR-15-type shotgun. Well, it looks like CMMG did it, although with a proprietary lower. Not much information is available on the AR shotgun yet.

LMT Piston Upper vs. HK416
Defense Review comparo of HK416 and the newish LMT piston uppers.

U.S. Legal Steyr AUG
I don't have any links, but Steyr in reintroducing the AUG to the American market.

Jack Weaver Passed Away

I don't have much information on when or how, but I hear that Jack Weaver recently passed. Jack being the "Weaver stance" guy.

Brownells Shipping Coupon Code

"$5 Shipping at Brownells.com on orders over $99! Valid on standard shipping now through 4/30/09. Enter the promotion code CEF to receive this discount."

Poll, RE: Stanton Heights Shooting, Pittsburg Post Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/polls/?pollID=3019

In the wake of the deadly police shootings in Stanton Heights, do you feel current gun control laws are too weak, are well-balanced, are too restrictive or make little difference one way or the other?

A. Too weak
B. Well-balanced
C. Too restrictive
D. Make little difference one way or other

Associated Press M4 Carbine Replacements Videos

Link to AP video articles on the carbines that are, or were, in the running to replace the M4 Carbine in U.S. military service. There's info on the M4, the FN SCAR rifles, the HK416, and the HK XM8.

Charter Arms Rimless Revolvers (CARR)

Coming soon from Charter Arms are some new revolvers in pistol calibers; 9mm/.380ACP, .40S&W, and .45ACP. A spring catches the cartridge's extrator groove, so the revolver will extract empty cases without a moon clip. The spring will also allow the 9mm revolver to fire .380ACP ammunition.

The .40S&W revolvers will be out first, followed by 9mm and .45ACP. Snub-nosed models will be available first, 2" barrels for 9mm/.380 models, 2.2" barrels for .40S&W and .45ACP. The 9mm/.380 snubbie will be based on their compact and lightweight undercover revolvers with an aluminum frame. The .40S&W and .45ACP revolvers will use the Bulldog frame.

Retail price for the 9mm/.380 snub model is said to be $399, with the .40S&W and .45ACP snubbie prices are said to be $449.

I'm not sure what to think of these. One of the benefits of using semi-auto cartridges in revolvers is the speed of the reloads with moon clips. I've also heard some bad things about the quality of Charter Arms revolvers.

DSG Has PMags In Stock Again

Link to Magazines at DSG

Item # MAG211BLK

About every week I see posts that they got another shipment in. I don't know how they do it.