IMI Magal Carbine

I'm still alive, I just haven't found anything particularly interesting to post in a while.

I was looking for a little information on the new HK submachine guns, which brought me to the Remtek Arms website. It was there that I found a picture (just a picture) of the IMI Magal.

Info From Kalishnikov.guns.ru:
The Magal carbine is based on the Micro Galil, and is chambered for .30 Carbine, fed by 30 round magazines (don't appear to be M1/M2 Carbine mags). The rear of the receiver is definitely AK-based, but the handguard is a modern polymer design, and there's a Steyr AUG type shield over the front of the pistol grip. The stock is a side-folding Galil-type skeleton unit. Weight is 3.5kg (7 pounds, 11 ounces). Retail price is $1000, which seems like a lot of money for an AK-based weapon.

Although the Magal has proven to be unreliable due to the short barrel, which doesn't provide enough gas pressure to work the action, and the handguard overheats quickly, it is an interesting weapon.

New Steyr AUGs Available

The new AUGs must have hit the streets. Military Gun Supply has ONE black A3 model for $2495.

Short article on the new Steyr AUG from the American Rifleman website.

Free One-Year NRA Memberships

Okay, here we go. Finally, something interesting to report.


Link To Offer On NRA Web Site

They've been giving out $10-off coupons here and there for a while, but are now offering free one-year trial memberships to get new people into the organization. The American Rifleman (general gun magazine) and America's First Freedom (90+% 2nd Amendment related articles) magazines are pretty decent and almost worth the membership fees on their own.

If you go to this page, you can sign up as a life member for $500, there's also some really good deals on multi-year memberships, and you get a "free" lockback pocket knife. I think I paid $650 for a life membership about two and half years ago. Click the second option, and it will take you to a second page, where you can select your membership.

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.

Some Magpul PMags In Stock

I don't know how long they'll last, but. . .

Brownells
Direct Link to Mags
Black PMag Maglevel, the ones with the window, just under $20. Product #100-003-144.
Use promotion code EAD to get $5.50 off UPS Ground shipping

Matt's Shooting Supplies
Direct Link to Mags
Standard PMags - $15.95
MagLevel - $18.95

"Guns In America" TV Editorial

The National Geographic Channel (I get it with digital cable) is rebroadcasting the "Guns In America" episode of their Explorer show on Tuesday at 10p.m. (EST), and probably again at 1a.m. At best, it is balanced. There's some of the usual stuff you get from the major TV networks, but there is coverage of a "gun nut type" that isn't as horrible as it could have been on other networks. There is video footage of the police interviewing Joe Horn, the Texas man who shot and killed the men who were robbing his neighbor's house, and cleared of all charges.

It's an hour long show, check it out if you get the chance.

Black AR-15 Magpul PMags In Stock At DSG Arms

Link to PMags at DSG Arms

Product #: MAG211BLK (in case the link doesn't work)
$14.95

They are the new ones with the cap that snaps onto the bottom of the mag.

I ordered some PMags from them a week or two ago, and they came in pretty quick. I've got 20 total now (in addition to more than a dozen or so other AR mags), so I'm good for a while.

St. Louis Alderman Advocated Armed Self-Defense

On a more positive note. . .

Frustrated by rising crime, St. Louis Alderman Charles Troupe called on the citizens of his ward to arm themselves.

“The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it’s clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold,” said Troupe to Fox News.

Troupe recalls that when he went to a district police commander with some residents, they were told, “there was nothing he could do to protect us and the community . . . that he didn’t have the manpower.”

Remember The L.A. Riots? Many Seem To Have Forgotten.

“For years, California has been a laboratory for gun control. Now that laboratory has come crashing down in flames. . . It’s a shame that it took a riot to wake people up about what the anti-gun lobby has done with their fundamental rights,” said James Jay Baker, the Executive Director of NRA-ILA in 1992 after the rioting that came after the verdict was announced at the end of the Rodney King beating trial. Mr. Baker overestimated the logical capacity of the left-wing liberals.

I’ve been going through boxes of old gun magazines, and tossing the ones without anything really of interest to me. The article, “The L.A. Riots. . . From A Distance” by Neal Knox in the August 1992 issue of Guns & Ammo magazine struck me as interesting to say the least.

Clearly, California learned nothing from the riots. They still have some of the most oppressive gun laws in the country, and are pretty high up there worldwide. They still have a waiting period, which likely cost a number of Californians their lives during the riots. “Assault weapon” and “high-capacity magazine” bans limit the resources that California residents can use to defend themselves. Normal law-abiding citizens are denied the right to carry firearms in just about every case.

The police admitted that they couldn’t help everyone. LAPD chief Daryl Gates shrugged and said, “There are going to be situations where people are going to go without assistance. That’s just the facts of life.” The police were telling people they were stretched thin, and that they were “on their own” to protect their homes and businesses.

Shop owners with guns, defending their businesses were branded “Vigilantes: Lacking Confidence in Police,” by The Los Angeles Times. One of the defenders interviewed by the author of the article recalled, “You better know I lacked confidence in police. . . They fled, tires screeching at the first sign of trouble.” The manager of Western Gun Shop said, “Four police cars were there when shooting started. I was very disappointed when they left very quickly.”

In at least one other case, a gun shop (Bowers Wholesale) was promised by police that they would protect the store. Looters took more than 300 handguns.

Still, state law imposes strict limits on how, and what with, its residents can defend themselves, suggesting that residents should rely on police assistance when they are in trouble, and that firearms are too dangerous to have around.

As rioters and gangs drove trucks into gun shop storefronts, taking what they wanted, California residents who wanted to buy guns for defense were saddled with 15-day waiting periods.

The police couldn’t arrest all of the rioters and looters, but they could arrest a few store owners defending their shops.

A National Guardsman shot and killed the driver of a Nissan on his second attempt to run him down. This prompted the Guard to order their people to carry their M16s unloaded. A short time later, two Guardsmen were robbed of their guns and uniforms. Nobody learned anything from that either. The troops posted in airports after 9-11 didn’t have loaded weapons (at least in some places), and the guards at some military bases are still forbidden from keeping their firearms loaded.

Also, there is the issue of the mainstream media essentially sparking the riots by not showing all of the video of the beating. In the first few seconds of the video, King, having already been hit twice by a stun gun, jumped up and charged one of the police officers. You don’t remember that part of the video because it was probably never aired on the major networks. This strikes me as a good example of the media using events to present a sensational story without much regard for the resulting events, something they have continually done to promote gun control in the way they report on murders and in rare cases when they actually report on civilian self-defense.

Those of you who don’t have the tools you may need to defend yourselves, friends, and families, should keep in mind that you may not be able to go out to get what you need when you need it. If you call for help, the sad fact is that help may not come until it’s too late. Get the tools you need before the new congress and White House, with the assistance of propaganda from the mainstream media, ban everything remotely useful for defense.

New Kel-Tec .308Win RFB Bullpup Rifle

Link to RFB rifle product page on Kel-Tec web site.

Rifle Forward-ejection Bullpup

It's sort of like the FN F2000 rifle, but in .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO. The RFB's action is in the buttstock, near where the shooter's cheek would be (BOOM!). The rifle accepts FN FAL magazines. Barrel lengths will be available from 18" to 32". KT has built 5 adjustments into the trigger, although the trigger pulls on most bullpup rifles are pretty bad due to the linkages required to transmit the force of your finger back to the action.

The scope rail is attached to the barrel, so that barrel to action fit doesn't alter the point of impact. No iron sights will be provided, even if there were, there wouldn't be much room to put them on the 18" carbine.

It looks like the pistol grip is integral with the rifle body, which would make this a one-size-fits-some deal. It might be possible to add spacers to the recoil pad to increase length of pull though.

The rifles are quite ambidextrous. The brass dribbles out over the barrel at the front of the stock. Except for the reciprocating charging handle, which can be switched to either side, the controls are available on either side.

Weight for the 18" carbine is listed as 8.1 pounds, compared to an AR-10A4 16" carbine at 9 pounds, a basic DSA FAL 18" carbine at 8.35 pounds, or a M1A 18" Squad Scout carbine at 9 pounds.

Kel-Tec says the RFB rifles and Carbines should be available for sale in a month or two, but they've been teasing about them for a couple years, apparently.

They say, "The delay is due to a re-tooling effort aimed at adjusting production in order to precede any future negative legislative actions that are likely imminent due to the incoming administration." I take this to mean that they are not going to put barrels with threads at the muzzles on the RFB, and are otherwise trying to neuter the design before a new "assault weapon" ban is passed.

Smith & Wesson I-Bolt Rifle Recall

Recall Notice at Smith & Wesson Web Site

There may be a sear engagement pin defect in a certain run of I-Bolt rifles made in 2007 that could possibly cause unintentional discharge. Check your rifle's serial number against the list in the recall notice to see if you rifle needs to be returned to S&W.