Innholdsfortegnelse for Volume 74, Issue 13 i Firearms News

“I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER!” A Look at the TV Show Which Promoted Ruger’s Mini-14 Like No Other “In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the A-Team.” Thus began one of the 1980’s most beloved television programs. Liberally populated with larger-than-life characters and ample stylized yet inexplicably harmless violence, The A-Team became a period icon. The tale behind both the show and its guns is itself fascinating. Stephen…

I first encountered the Franchi dual-action shotgun during a visit to one of the Continental (Europe) Police Counterterrorist Police units, which was using the Franchi SPAS-12. The members of the unit found me quite entertaining as I tried to figure out its manual of arms. I did figure out how to operate it, and when I returned home I found one and purchased it so that I could stay familiar with it in case I encountered it again. I did multiple times. A lot of the European units used it, as did a few US SWAT teams. The “dual-action” aspect of the SPAS-12 allows it to be used in semi-auto mode or switched to pump mode. I’ve seen early comments that this system was designed because the self-loading action was…

Gun-ban proponents claim that more guns lead to more crime. In fact, that fallacy is the very reason most gun-control laws are pushed by anti-gun legislators and gun-ban groups. If that is true, however, why did Miami just go seven weeks without a murder for the first time in more than six decades at the very same time gun and ammunition sales were setting near all-time records? Koco.com recently reported that Miami went seven weeks — Feb. 17 to April 12 — without a single murder for the first time since 1957. According to the police chief, while “stay at home” orders played a role, the trend started in mid-February before social distancing was put in place. Of particular interest to gun owners and other Second Amendment advocates is the…

Normally, when discussing a type of firearm, I give pros and cons of various models. However, I unequivocally state that the world’s best 5.56x45mm assault rifle is the SIG550, or in Swiss military designation the Stgw 90. There are other really good ones, but the best is the 550. Well, actually, I could make a case that the 551 carbine is at least as good and maybe a bit better, but they’re variations on a theme. This article reviews the original semi-auto commercial version of the 550, of which less than 500 are available due to Republican President George H.W. Bush’s “assault weapons” import ban of 1989. I got a chance to shoot a 550 early in its existence. I had a friend who was in the Swiss 17th Parachute…

As 3-gun shooters chomp at the bit to get back on the range for their next competition, they might want to use their down time during the COVID-19 shelter-at-home period to check out Mossberg’s new 940 JM Pro shotgun. Designed in conjunction with champion speed shooter Jerry Miculek, the 940 is a feature-rich shotgun built with the competitive shooter in mind. The gun is said to be a great improvement over its predecessor, the 930 JM Pro, and features a new durable gas system that allows for up to 1,500 rounds between cleaning. The gun’s internal parts are nickel boron coated for smooth operation, and its enlarged, beveled loading part was specifically made for quad-loading. “We’ve been working together for a couple of years to get this all in one…

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator wielded a SPAS-12 one-handed in his effort to kill Sarah Connor, the mother of the unborn military leader John Connor who saves the world from Sky-Net and the sentient machines. The SPAS-12 was the only shotgun on the market hard core enough to arm a 600-pound cyborg assassin powered by dual redundant nuclear reactors. The SPAS-12 made it into dozens of productions, and certain components of the gun made it yet farther afield. In the 1986 sci-fi epic Aliens , the U.S. Colonial Marines were armed with M41 Pulse Rifles. According to the backstory the M41 consisted of a 10mm caseless Infantry rifle coupled with a 30mm pump action grenade launcher. The rifle components were built from M1A1 Thompson submachine guns. The grenade launchers were severely pruned…

I’ve been asked and seen asked on the internet: why are the Steyr-imported Maadi AK47s so sought after and so expensive? The answer is simple: they are as close to a Russian AK47 as most of us are likely to own, and not many were imported. In the 1950s, Egypt was within the Soviet sphere of influence, which resulted in purchase of a variety of Soviet arms. With the aid of the Soviets, a plant using Soviet machinery was established in Cairo to produce the AK47 at the Maadi Company for Engineering Industries (AKA Factory 54). These “Maadi” AK 47s, having been produced on Soviet machinery by technicians trained by the Russians, were virtually the same weapons as those produced in the Soviet Union. The rifles were designated as the…

With the Second Amendment under siege in Virginia like never before, the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) — the commonwealth’s foremost defender of the right to keep and bear arms — is taking proactive steps to nip local gun-control schemes at the bud. One of the laws that Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law last week allows local governments to implement their own gun-control schemes, a dangerous precedent to be sure. Philip Van Cleave, VCDL president, said his group has already put in place a plan to battle proposed ordinances that are likely to be introduced. “Now that the governor has signed bills into law that allow local government to implement their own gun-control, we need to get the Watch Teams for Local Governments (WTLG) committee formally implemented and running,”…

While many Americans are complaining that Congress is still getting paid while not working during the COVID-19 pandemic, a bold measure to further restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners once again proves what many of us have known all along—Americans are always safer when Congress is not in session. H.R. 5717, introduced by Rep. Hank Johnson, D-GA., and cosponsored by 18 other Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, is basically a wish list of nearly every anti-gun scheme ever conceived by gun-ban advocates intent on disarming law-abiding Americans. And its consideration during a time when most Americans are under shelter-in-place orders makes it even more egregious. “The Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act will save lives and make our country safer—without infringing on any law-abiding individual’s right…