The Firearm Blog

Uncategorized

About Those CMP 1911s

December 8, 2015 by 4 Comments

The Firearm Blog has done some excellent work on estimating the potential prices for the 10,000 Army-surplus 1911s that will be sold be the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Steve estimates that the price will probably be about 30% less than the going retail rate for a WWII milsurp 1911. He comes up with that figure by looking at the going rate for a M1 Garand from the CMP and the prices you will find on sites like Gunbroker.com. You can read his analysis here.

The Firearm Blog TV has produced a good little video explaining how it will all work.

One of the must-do things if you want to purchase any firearm or ammunition from the CMP is membership in an affiliated club. They have a search page to find a club in your area.

But what do you do if there are no clubs nearby or the club in your area is so stuck in a 1950s mindset that it just isn’t worth the injury from banging your head into the wall over their stupid rules? There are alternatives. For example, if you are a member of the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation, then you belong to an affiliated organization. Likewise if you joined the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) so as to support their litigation in Chicago, you are a member of an affiliated organization.

Another alternative is the Garand Collectors Association. A membership there costs $25, qualifies you to buy from the CMP, and gets you a very nice quarterly journal with all things M1 Garand. Moreover, they have a close relationship with the CMP and they send membership rolls to the CMP on a regular basis. This is the direction that I plan to head.

Uncategorized

Move Over Brownells

August 19, 2015 by 1 Comment

Brownells is my go-to place to get firearm parts. They, along with a few others, usually have everything I need. Well, thanks to a post on The Firearm Blog, I may be revising my choice on where to get gun parts.

I’m thinking it just might be Lowes. That’s because they a good selection of staple guns.

Staple guns and firearms? Huh?

I would have said the same until I saw this video by Clint Westwood who used a staple gun as the basis for a 4-shot .410 shotgun.

He calls it the Kaulkinator and has a photo log of the building process here.

You can see the Kaulkinator or K-441 in action in the video below. If you think about it, this could be the Liberator pistol of our generation. I really like what Cody Wilson is doing with Defense Distributed but this is even easier and you don’t need a 3-D printer.

As to the legality of it, so long as the barrels are rifled, then it would be classified as a pistol just like the Taurus Judge. Otherwise, it would be a short-barreled shotgun and fall into the NFA realm. However, if the world goes to hell in a handbasket and we fall into a period of SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, or WOL, then who cares.

Uncategorized

About Those Arrests At The 2010 SHOT Show

December 3, 2012 by

You may remember going back in time, that the FBI arrested a number of defense and law enforcement industry executives and employees attending the 2010 SHOT Show as a result of a sting operation. Incldued in the arrested was a vice-president of Smith and Wesson. These individuals were charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and had been accused of using bribes to influence purchases by the Gabon Presidential Guard.

Steve at The Firearm Blog has an excellent follow-up and summation of what has happened since the arrests in 2010. Without trying to stealing Steve’s thunder, the cases fell apart. Steve ends by saying:

So in summery (sic), the BATFE and FBI made a high profile raid during SHOT
Show to arrest a 21 gun industry people. Their case was hinged on the
word of a thief, druggie and all round morally bankrupt individual.
Bistrong got just 18 months while the accused spent two years fighting
their case.

Bistrong refers to Richard Bistrong who was the FBI’s principal informant.