Sunday, May 21, 2006

NRA Convention Quickie...



OKAY...I HIJACKED THE ETHERNET CABLE IN THE MOTEL BUSINESS CENTER TO UPLOAD THE IMAGES OF FNH'S MUCHLY ANTICIPATED "SCAR" LITE 5.56 RIFLE!!! NOTE THE INTEGRATED PLASTIC LOWER RECEIVER/FIRE-CONTROL UNIT...MORE BELOW!

...because I'm once again on super slow dial-up in hotel, not to mention suffering from slightly degraded performance specs from an evening with Mark Keefe from AMERICAN RIFLEMAN, Craig Boddington from TRACKS ACROSS AFRICA, Tequila, Jake Hartwick and the ubiquitous Wendy Anderson from The Outdoor Channel and other like-minded souls, doing what we do when we all have a chance to get together...use your imagination...

Happy to say NRA is SERIOUSLY SERIOUS about dealing with OUR PALS THE GREENIES and the BATFE on the custom gunsmith issue. Spent a lot of time today with NRA BoD types, lobbyists and attorneys, as well as a great conversation with Kane Robinson, NRA Director of Operations, not to mention Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman from the Second Amendment Foundation. I come away revitalized, knowing that we are marshalling forces to fight the good fight.

Also this AM got to shoot the new FNH SCAR "lite" rifle (5.56) developed by the SOCOM operators...hell of a gun! Really interesting all plastic/sealed unit lower and super slick collapsing/folding stock. All in all, an impressive piece of engineering. I have pictures, but this connection is way to slow to upload them!!!

Was also blown away by the Lakeside Guns .22 LR caliber belt-fed modular guns built on AR-15 lowers. I have pixs, but you're DEFINITELY going to see these puppies on SHOOTING GALLERY!!! Too kool for skool!

Bob Morrison at Taurus took me to heart when I talked about his .410/45 Colt revolver as an anti-carjacking tool...he did a spectacular series of tests on targets at car-jacking distances...I'm going to try and get pictures of the targets tomorrow...compelling, to say the least. Compelling enough for me to order up one of my own .410 revolvers to test it out. Also, the first 10 of the Taurus 1911s are in the country — the Commander-sized guns Bob has here are damn spectacular. Some of the other big 1911 players are sweating bullets (so to speak) about the Taurus $599 MSRP on the guns.

A very welcome four-inch adjustable-sighted version of the new Charter Arms .44 Special Bulldog should be out within the next few months. Oh yeah, FNH's beefed up Police Magnum version of the Winchester X2 12-gauge is bound to be a BIG HIT with 3-gun shooters, who'll appreciate the fact it's built like a tank and as fast as a Benelli. Plus, Herb Belin at S&W is at it again, with his bright yellow or orange "survival kits" — a hardshell case complete with compass, knife, space blanket, food AND a 2-inch non-comped .500 Maggie with matching color grips. Suggested use is to give the bear the gun and beg it to shoot you. The recoil will break it's paw!. Herb is happy as a kid at Christmas with a new toy, but he remains coy about the rumored S&W .500 "Special," a stubbier version of the .500 Magnum in a shorter cylindered X-Frame. Cor-Bon is working up factory rounds, and we'll see where they end up.

Taurus has their own fixed-sight .500 snubbie (shown at SHOT, to be sure), BTW...you wanna boom, there's plenty of ways to do it!

Julie Golowski has left Glock for parts unspecified. Word is she got a better offer, but the big question is from whom. TGO Rob Leatham is seriously considering not shooing Unlimited Class at the Steel Challenge, which would take him out of the running for the OUTDOOR CHANNEL/SIGARMS 80-Second Challenge $35,000.

Late now...more tomorrow!!!

Tommy Franks' speech tonight at the banquet was seriously awesome, too.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, all this talk about the SCAR everywhere - I didn't realize it was just a plastic AR15 lower with a gas piston upper.

Doesn't seem that exciting or revolutionary to me. Just something HK, DSA (POF), a guy in Mass and some other guy in the 80s whose names escape me all have done before. Just not with plastic, so I guess that makes it new.

Michael Bane said...

To quote from the folk song...

"It's all been done before
It's all been written in the book..."

What makes the FNH product "new" is that operator input trumped engineering/marketing/pricing input in the decision-making process. The result is a gun that shoots and maintains well, acts the way the end users "wanted" the gun to act, is simple in the extreme (you have no idea how many littles pieces of M-4/M-16 trigger groups are buried in the sand Over There), etc.

My thinking on SOCOM weaponry is actually very simple...give them what they want...it's THEIR asses on the line...they're smart, focused and know what they need to do the job. If you can figure out the logistics of a typical special forces operation, I'm pretty sure you know what you need in a rifle. It doesn't matter what "I" think a battle rifle should be!

NotClauswitz said...

I think it's sweet, and thanks for the updates from the convention. We need a little SAF mobilization to break the ice-jam in California, it's the stupid hippie beaver-dam that's holding back momentum on 2A rights everywhere and allowing the Brady Bunch to sustain hope.
If NY Bloomberg can go to the South with undercovers to sue dealers, then somebody ought to be able to nail CA on this. Can't someone dig some dirt or throw a class-action suit against our brain-dead politico AG Lockyear, and force a ruling on what exactly the "assault" in the CA AWB stand for? He keeps changing his mind.

Anonymous said...

I hope the NRA starts working on REPEALING some of these damned gun control laws, like the NICS , Illinois FOID card.

How about rolling back the 68 gun act and allow us to buy guns through the MAIL, just like we did before the 68 GCA.

Mike what about the FFL dealers that have been put in prison for paper work violations?

Will the NRA work to help restore their 2A rights?