Mystery Magazine

Go have a look on the Firearm Blog. It’s got me stumped. Sometimes it helps to list what we know has to be true:

  • From the front lip and nub in the back, this magazine gets rotated into place. That should speak to an AK style magazine function. That rules out anything with a straight mag well.
  • The overall length of the cartridge is less than that of a 5.56x45mm cartridge, but from the follower and width, would be wider.
  • It would likely need to fire a straight walled, or fairly straight walled cartridge, because otherwise the magazine would need some curve or bend.

I have no idea what that could be to, but it’s definitely obscure.

Interesting Video on the AN-94

I was excited to see a multi-part video over at the Firearm Blog that details field stripping an AN-94 Abakan, because I never saw the inside of one to really understand how it worked. Now that I’ve watched the videos, I’m even more confused as to how it works. I guess it needs some translation from Russian. It’s hard to see how a gun with so many springs, pulleys and cables can be reliable. I also question the accuracy of a firearm where the entire barrel can reciprocate in the stock. It would be interesting to get a hold of on in real life, but unfortunately, a civilian legal AN-94 would be vastly different internally.

Photo of the Day: Tony the Tiger Murdered in China

From the Firearm Blog, I guess the Chinese decided to train realistically. Or as realistically as I suppose you can get without releasing a live tiger. I nominate the dude in the suit for “Worst Job in the World.”

Should Have Taken That Job at Foxconn

Steve continues with a discussion of caliber selection for tiger that is being employed by the Chinese. I couldn’t get over who drew the short straw to be the guy in the tiger suit.

Because It Could Be Done

Someone, I think it was Tam, said that Para’s 1911 LDA trigger was an answer to a question no one asked. This double barrel 1911 would seem to be in the same category, but perhaps it’s more along the lines of doing it, because it could be done.

UPDATE: Link fixed.

NFA Hacks

Uncle has several links to NFA hacks that sound very interesting. I say sound, because I haven’t looked at them yet. Since I don’t work in America anymore, and my glass barrier half-height cubicle (which I’ve nicknamed the fishbowl) is a tourist attraction for about 100 coworkers on their way to the only pot of coffee on this side of the building, I’m reluctant to look at gun p0rn on the work computer. I’ll have to check to see if it’s as cool as it sounds when I get back to America.

In other news, this week I don’t have to do all post aheads in the afternoon. Only about half my posts today are scheduled. Not much to do this week, unfortunately. I actually really hate being bored at work.

“Chicks With Guns” Appears in Time LightBox

I spoke about the “Chicks with Guns” display at the Beretta Gallery in New York a few days ago. Now it’s appearing in Time Magazine. You can buy it on Amazon, and if you ask me, it would make a great holiday gift. I’m surprised to see it in Time, which has traditionally been quite anti-gun. It has to drive our opponents nuts to see guns getting mainstream play like this. It’s basically more messaging to women that it’s OK to own guns.

Kriss Vector SDP Review

Over at Shooting Illustrated, Caleb gives the civilianized Kriss Vector pistol a review. I was going to point out the Kriss review I did after the Lucky Gunner shoot, but it turns out it only ever existed in my head. Guess I need to remember to write the down. The Kriss SMG is also quite a lot of fun, and the recoil reduction of the system does work as advertised. It has more kick than I expected, but for as high as the cyclic rate is, it’s quite controllable. I think they have an interesting system, but with tactical teams moving toward rifle-caliber carbines and PDWs, I’m not sure how much luck they’ll have selling a pistol caliber SMG.

But if you have the cash to pony up, it is a lot of fun. Obviously the Kriss SMG is not available to civilians, but the carbine version is the same system in semi-auto. If I were going to pony up the money for one, I’d go for the extra $200 for the tax stamp to get the short barreled version. As a shooter, I’ve never been too enthusiastic about semi-auto versions of submachine guns, and I don’t own any, but if I were going to spend the money on one, I’d get a Kriss.

Interesting Semi-Auto Shotgun

Steve at the Firearms Blog has all the specs and some pretty pictures of the system, so go check it out. It holds sixteen rounds of 12 gauge in a magazine which the shooter has to rotate every four shots:

Makes me wonder how hard it would be to create a magazine system similar to this, but where you rotate it after insertion to wind a spring, and the rotation happens automatically during firing. Of course, that might be a little bit too much like this for comfort of the manufacturer.

The problem with semi-auto tactical shotguns is that the magazine needs to be huge to have a reasonable capacity. This is an interesting solution.