by I don’t know who 1776 Duck is on Instagram but he is a devout follower of the prophet John Moses Browning.
It is obvious from reading the comments that The Way, The Truth, and The Life for him resides in steel and not polymer.
Month: January 2023
First Day Of 2023 SHOT Show
The 2023 SHOT Show opens in a few minutes. I probably won’t have time during the day to do full posts on what I see.
Therefore, I’d urge you to check out my Instagram and Twitter feeds. The ID for both of them is @jpr9954.
I will be posting pictures as I go along with short comments.
Let the fun begin!
Barrett Sells To The Aussies
In what I’m sure will be the talk of the SHOT Show tomorrow (and tonight), Barrett Firearms was acquired by the Australian company NIOA Group. This is a 100% acquisition. An email announcing the sale was sent out at noon today.
From the announcement:
In announcing the deal, NIOA Group CEO Robert Nioa said the two family-owned companies came together out of a shared commitment to quality, innovation, loyalty, and mission.
“NIOA’s association with Barrett dates back to 2008. We have been inspired by the story of Barrett and admire what Ronnie, Chris and the family have built over more than four decades,” Mr. Nioa said.
“It’s been a story of hard work, perseverance, and purpose culminating in the delivery of critical capability for the men and women of the US military and its allies around the world as well as exceptional products to law enforcement agencies and civilian markets.
“Together we share the same mission – combining our expertise and family business values will ensure Barrett carries on building the finest products in the world.’’
Mr. Nioa confirmed the company would continue to operate under the Barrett brand as a separate division within the NIOA Group alongside NIOA Australia, NIOA New Zealand, the Australian Missile Corporation and the group’s investment in joint venture company Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions.
All management and staff at the Murfreesboro manufacturing facility in Tennessee have been retained and production will continue as normal. Over time it is expected that manufacturing activities in Murfreesboro will be further expanded.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Mr. Nioa also announced two key leadership appointments – current Barrett President Sam Shallenberger has been promoted to the role of Chief Executive Officer while long-serving Barrett Chief Operating Officer Bryan James becomes President.
Ronnie Barrett and Chris Barrett will provide ongoing support as executive advisers to Barrett and the NIOA Group.
Barrett founder Ronnie Barrett said “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Barrett story. Rob and the NIOA team have great respect for the legacy Barrett has created as the leader in long range precision rifles. It’s reassuring to know Barrett will be in good hands with a family-owned company that is focused on manufacturing and delivering world-class firearms and munitions to a global network.”
According to the FAQ released on the acquisition, customers really are not going to see much, if any, difference. The pricing will remain the same, the company will remain in Murfreesboro TN, management other than the Barretts will remain in place, the Barretts will serve as advisors to both Barrett and NIOA Group, and the name will remain the same.
The Barretts and NIOA Group have had a business relationship since 2008 and both are family run. The FAQ states that the Barretts saw this as a good fit and that it provides opportunity for growth.
It will be interesting to see what other “gossip” there is about the sale tomorrow at the show. If any is worth passing on, I’ll do so.
.360 Buckhammer – Another Straight-Walled Cartridge (Updated)
My morning email brought news that both Federal and Remington would be releasing a new straight-walled cartridge. It is called the .360 Buckhammer. The cartridge’s primary market appears to be those states where hunting regulations have changed to allow the use of a straight-walled cartridge in areas formerly restricted to shotgun or muzzle-loader only. From the comments by the marketing teams at both companies, they are aiming this initially for use in lever action rifles.
Federal will be releasing the cartridge in 180 and 200 grain jacketed soft point versions. The cartridge is intended to match the energy and velocity of the venerable .30-30 Winchester but with softer recoil and better accuracy.
Likewise, Remington will be releasing the .360 Buckhammer in 180 and 200 grain versions. However, it will be with their Core-Lokt bullet. From Remington:
360 Buckhammer’s key features include:
- Ultimate straight wall cartridge
- Accurate & deadly at 200 yards or more
- Easy to shoot with low recoil
- 35% more energy than 350 Legend
- Muzzle velocity: 2,215-2,400 FPS
- .358 diameter bullets deliver deadly results on-game
Remington and, I presume, Federal are partnering with Henry Rifles to introduce the new cartridge. It will be available today to shoot at Range Day in a Henry lever action rifle. If I get a chance to shoot it, I’ll give my impressions.
UPDATE: The weather at Industry Day at the Range was challenging. That is a nicer way of saying very windy and then it got worse. They had to close the ranges due to thunder and lightening in the area. I don’t know if it resumed after the storm as I had left by then.
Nonetheless, one of the first things I did after getting to the range was shoot the Henry rifle in .360 Buckhammer. I had never shot a Henry lever action before but it is slick. It had a very smooth lever stroke. As to the .360 Buckhammer, I found the recoil to be quite reasonable and I hit the steel target off-hand every time. For those that must use a straight-walled cartridge for big game hunting, I can’t see any reason not to give this combination serious consideration.
ANME Winter Expo
The ANME Winter Expo, a trade show for military surplus retailers and wholesalers, is held in Las Vegas around the time of the SHOT Show. This year it is being held at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort from January 15th through the 17th. It attracts buyers from all over to look at the latest military surplus available as well as camping gear, survival gear, patches, clothing, and other military related items.
As I had arrived in Las Vegas a day early, I used time this morning to attend this trade show. I had attended it in 2019 and knew I’d find some interesting stuff. It has a much “homier” feel to it than the SHOT Show and fits into a large ballroom. The teachers’ conference, Get Your Teach On, held concurrently at the Westgate took up much more room.
In terms of true surplus, you could find all sorts of pouches, packs, clothing, boots, and even demilitarized RPGs. The vendor who had the RPG also had a working full-automatic, NFA-registered, M2 Browning machine gun in .50 BMG. I didn’t bother to ask the price!
There were a lot of morale patches being sold. I know from my times at gun shows, they are a popular item and the producers were here. Here is an example of a few I saw.
One of the first vendors I came across was AceCamp Outdoor Equipment. They had some really interesting items such as a top for a water bottle that dispensed liquid soap and then would squirt the water on your hands. As Mark Drennan, the owner, noted, hand sanitizer doesn’t clean your hand; it only gives you sanitized dirt.
Another product AceCamp had was a LED light to hang in your tent that also incorporated a bug zapper. I thought that was innovative.
I will be following up with AceCamp as they had a number of products that would be useful in prepping or even just when you lose power.
There were some other innovative products on which I’ll be doing posts in the future. That really is the beauty of this expo. You find some really innovative gear mixed in with the trinkets and military surplus. Just as when I found the Simple Shower in 2019 at the expo, this year I found the bug zapper LED light.
SHOT Show Patches
I got my first SHOT Show patch and I haven’t even left for Las Vegas!
A-B Emblem is one of the largest manufacturers of patches in America. They have done almost every NASA mission patch along with patches for the military, law enforcement, and the Boy Scouts. Just as important to me, they are local. Some patches are made here in Buncombe County. They also own factories in both Mexico and China where they can produce both embroidered and PVC patches.
I had decided it was time to update my own patch. The old patch still had the Blogspot address. Moreover, I was down to just a few. I decided to go with a round patch with a green background as opposed to the old khaki or tan background. As you can see below, I think they did a nice job.
If you see me at the SHOT Show, ask for one of my new patches.
As both my wife and David Yamane will testify, I do have a thing for patches. I blame it on my years in the Boy Scouts where patch collecting was a big thing especially in the Order of the Arrow. I am sure I will do a post on the patches I return with from Las Vegas.
One of these days I’ll also do a post on a low-cost way to display them. The Complementary Spouse – mostly her – and I have got this figured out.
Lionheart Industries Vulcan 9
Lionheart resurrected the Daewoo DH-51 a few years ago. I still have a DH-40 which is the .40 S&W version of that pistol. It is a full size service pistol that is DA/SA plus it has the Safety Fast Shooting System. The system allows you to lower the hammer on a cocked pistol. If you touch the trigger, it will recock the hammer.
Since resurrecting the old Daewoo pistol, Lionheart has moved well beyond it. Now they are releasing the Vulcan 9 which will be optics ready.
Details on the pistol:
The new VULCAN 9 picks up where the REGULUS left off. Continuing Lionheart’s record of providing combat ready, heirloom quality pistols, the VULCAN 9 answers the call for those looking for a refined, optic-ready, hammer-fired pistol for concealed carry.
Features:
- LHI Tru-Axis™ Barrel – Chambered in 9mm
- Optics-Ready – No Adapter Plates Required
- Rapid Engagement Grip System with Integral Gas Pedal
- Optional On-Board Storage for Multitasker Tools NANO²
- Optional J-Trigger and Bobbed Hammer
- Forward Slide Serrations
- Reversible Mag Release and Ambidextrous Safety
- Flush-Fit 15-Round Magazine
- Shipping April 2023
The specs are as follows:
- CALIBER: 9mm
- MATERIAL: 7075 ALUMINUM FRAME – 4140 ALLOY STEEL SLIDE – 416R STAINLESS STEEL BARREL
- SIGHTS: FIBER OPTIC OR TRITIUM NIGHT SIGHTS
- CONTROLS: DOUBLE ACTION+ TRIGGER, AMBIDEXTROUS SAFETY, REVERSIBLE MAG RELEASE
- TRIGGER: J-SHAPED or STANDARD HOOK
- GRIPS: CNC-MACHINED G10 MATERIAL WITH INTEGRAL GAS PEDAL
- HAMMER: BOBBED OR STANDARD SPUR
- BARREL: BLACK DLC COATED 416R STAINLESS OR BLACK NITRIDE 416R STAINLESS
- BARREL LENGTH: 3.7in STANDARD – 4.3in THREADED
- HEIGHT: 5.0in (15-RD BASEPLATE, NO SIGHTS)
- LENGTH: 6.9in STANDARD BARREL – 7.5in THREADED BARREL
- SLIDE WIDTH: 0.95in
- MAGAZINE: TWO 15-ROUND MAGS INCLUDED (ONE INCLUDES SIGHT TOOL), 10- AND 18-ROUND AVAILABLE SOON
- WEIGHT: 24oz (DEPENDING ON OPTIONS)
- MSRP: STARTING AT $1200
More info here.
The Vulcan 9 is 100% US made unlike some earlier Lionheart models.
SAF Response To Pistol Brace Rule
The Second Amendment Foundation has an existing case filed in 2021 that currently challenges how the BATFE and DOJ went about the now-released pistol brace rule. They are joined in the lawsuit by Rainier Arms plus two individuals. Interestingly, the lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Texas which means the precedent set by Cargill v. Garland applies. The lawsuit contends BATFE and the DOJ violated the Administrative Procedures Act as well as the Second Amendment.
From the SAF release sent out today:
BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today accused the Biden administration of “once again trying to trample the rights of gun owners” by allowing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to adopt a “final rule” on arm braces for modern semiautomatic pistols.
While the definition of a rifle in federal law should be clear, noted attorney Chad Flores, who is representing SAF in a federal lawsuit filed two years ago that was stayed by the court in anticipation of this new rule, it is clear the Biden administration’s new definition of a rifle ignores tradition. SAF sued ATF and the U.S. Attorney General in 2021 in a case known as SAF et. al. v. BATFE, et. al.
SAF is joined in that case by Rainier Arms, LLC and two private citizens, Samuel Walley and William Green. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
According to Flores’ analysis of the 291-page Final Rule, the definition of a “rifle” now turns on a bewildering six-factor test. This new definition can be controlled not by the firearm’s objective characteristics, but instead by what ATF agents in D.C. think of a manufacturer’s marketing materials or the firearm’s “likely use.” The new rule itself is forced to admit its dramatic result: Under this new definitional regime, “a majority of the existing firearms equipped with a ‘stabilizing brace’ are likely to be classified as ‘rifles.’”
“The Biden administration’s new rifle definition overrides the true wish of Congress, to upend the reasonable expectations of stabilizing brace users and makers nationwide,” Flores said.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb noted the foundation’s 2021 lawsuit raised critical points about what has now been adopted by ATF.
“When we started this process,” Gottlieb said, “we anticipated where the agency’s efforts would lead. With our co-plaintiffs, we will continue to challenge this new arm brace rule.”
BOHICA – Pistol Brace Rule
We knew it was coming. Some had speculated it would be released during the SHOT Show. However, the weasel running the Department of Justice, Merrick Garland, decided to release the new pistol brace rule on the Friday before a long weekend. This is usually the case when you don’t want to make a big splash with an announcement.
In his press release, Garland said this:
“Keeping our communities safe from gun violence is among the Department’s highest priorities,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Almost a century ago, Congress determined that short-barreled rifles must be subject to heightened requirements. Today’s rule makes clear that firearm manufacturers, dealers, and individuals cannot evade these important public safety protections simply by adding accessories to pistols that transform them into short-barreled rifles.”
SBRs were not added to the NFA by Congress because they “must be subject to heightened requirements”. Rather, the original proposed NFA would have banned handguns and the drafters wanted to make sure that cutting down a rifle didn’t make it into a pistol. When Congress said there was no way in hell that they would ban pistols, the bit about SBRs was forgotten.
ATF Director Steve Dettelbach who knows diddly squat about firearms added:
“This rule enhances public safety and prevents people from circumventing the laws Congress passed almost a century ago. In the days of Al Capone, Congress said back then that short-barreled rifles and sawed-off shotguns should be subjected to greater legal requirements than most other guns. The reason for that is that short-barreled rifles have the greater capability of long guns, yet are easier to conceal, like a pistol,” said ATF Director Steven Dettelbach. “But certain so-called stabilizing braces are designed to just attach to pistols, essentially converting them into short-barreled rifles to be fired from the shoulder. Therefore, they must be treated in the same way under the statute.”
More bullshit. Screw the disabled for whom pistol braces were designed.
The rest of the release includes some gems as “more easily concealable”, “more destructive power”, and “heightened requirements”. In other words, the more they can demonize pistol braces, the better in their minds.
I’m sure this will be a topic of conversation at the SHOT Show. Likewise, I am sure that the lawsuits are already prepared and ready to be filed. It also increases the importance of the 5th Circuit’s ruling in Cargill v. Garland. Under the doctrine of lenity, the ATF cannot just say something is what it isn’t and thus make it a felony to possess one unregistered. That is the job of Congress.
The rule which was released today goes into effect in 120 days.
Here is the full rule and the factoring criteria.
Everytown Must Have Fire-Proof Pants
Everytown for Gun Safety (sic) just released a breathless report on the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
NEW: Our new report details the role that the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) plays as a front group for the nation’s firearms industry—an industry willing to cross every line for profit—and how their agenda is just as dangerous as the NRA's. 🧵https://t.co/4qTvVpy0mE
— Everytown (@Everytown) January 12, 2023
NSSF is accused of being “a front group” for the firearms industry. Well, no shit, Sherlock! They are explicitly the firearms industry’s trade association.
Then NSSF has the effrontery (sarc) to hold their trade show aka the SHOT Show in Las Vegas “just two miles from the site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.” How dare they bring millions and millions of dollars to Las Vegas with the 5th largest trade show in the city.
The report itself attacks the SHOT Show. The authors rail about it and Range Day being closed events “unlike other gun shows” but then go on about how NSSF is trying to get guns in the hands of everyone. Think about that – an event closed to the general public. If NSSF and the gun industry really were the evil monsters the report wants you to believe, they would invite in everyone to the SHOT Show.
But unlike other gun shows, the SHOT Show is a closed-door event open only to exhibitors, potential customers who buy in bulk — including gun wholesalers, retailers, and military and law enforcement personnel — and media outlets that regularly cover firearms.
The first event associated with the annual SHOT Show falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when attendees are shuttled 30 miles into the desert to shoot hundreds of new guns from various manufacturers at a massive outdoor shooting range in Boulder City, Nevada.2 The official convention then takes place indoors, at the Venetian Expo Center and Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, where attendees can walk “13.9 miles of aisles”3 over four days to inspect all the new guns, ammo, and related gear on display — after getting through security.
With “Range Day” held in the remote desert and the rest of the convention walled off within the Venetian and Caesars Forum, SHOT Show symbolizes how far removed the gun industry is from the real-world consequences of its deadly products and how they are sold.
Read the whole thing and then think about this.
The NSSF and the industry do more to stop straw purchases through their “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” campaign, dealer education, and FFL reporting of suspicions to the BATFE than anyone else.
In terms of actual safety, Project ChildSafe has partnered with over 15,000 law enforcement agencies to hand out over 37 million firearm safety kits. What have the Bloomberg minions actually done to promote actual gun safety? I think we know the answer.
If I had to guess, Everytown, Bloomberg, and the rest of the gun control industry are upset that the NSSF is stepping up to combat gun control just when they thought they had the NRA on the ropes. The timing of this “report” just before the SHOT Show is evidence of this.
I just hope the authors of this report had their fire-proof pants on because otherwise they would be on fire.