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If you’ve been on Gunstagram this morning, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen the newest model of handgun from the Slovenian military manufacturer, Arex – the Arex Delta.

The US Army’s Contracting Command has announced the award of six separate Fixed Priced, Full and Open Competition Prototype OTA’s confirming earlier reports. The successful vendors will now provide the Army with the 10 testing an evaluation weapons needed for the programme’s testing phase.

Alongside the new G45, GLOCK is announcing a few additions to the modular optic-ready lineup.The G17 MOS and G19 MOS both get the Gen5 treatment. But like their G45 cousin, the new GLOCKs are also blessed with forward slide serrations and the deletion of the grip cutout on the front strap. The new MOS pistols will be available for purchase in less than two weeks.

Building on the success of the G19X, GLOCK has released a new crossover hybrid that brings the form factor of the MHS submission along with a blend of Gen5 and “summer series” features. Christened the G45 and referred to as the Ultimate Service Pistol, Austria and Smyrna are taking aim at a law enforcement market that has been clamoring for a black G19X. But the G45 is not just a colorized version of a prior release – it both adds and removes features that shooters have been requesting from previous GLOCK releases.

Déjà vu? Not quite. The US Army has announced the companies which have been down-selected for the Sub Compact Weapon programme. Six of the companies which responded to the Army’s Prototype Opportunity Notice have been selected for testing and evaluation and there are some surprising absences when we compare it with the previous round of vendors that were selected before the Army’s previous abortive RFI was abandoned.

Just last Friday, Sven Jonsson of Manticore Arms posted up a teaser image of his latest project. Sven is a bullpup fanatic and in fact is hosting his own bullpup event this weekend. There he will officially unveil his CZ Bullpup Scorpion Chassis.

Today, Polish military magazine MILMAG ( https://www.milmag.pl/) released pictures of the new CZ Bren 2 308 variant chambered in .308 Win.

Today at The Firearm Blog we have exclusive AK-related information for you. Brandon Herrera, also known as The AK Guy, informed us about the release of his first production model AK called AKG-47. Brandon has earlier launched a limited edition commemorative rifle that we talked about on TFB. Today, he is introducing a production model that will be made in large quantities and will be available both on the company’s website and via its dealers.

Sig Sauer has made the P320 M17 and M17 Commemorative pistols available for purchase, the later of which includes some authentic upgrades for those interested in owning the closest facsimile of the U.S. Military’s newest handgun. The M17 Commemorative will be limited to 5,000 units.

The ban on the publication of 3D printed firearms blueprints has been extended in a ruling by a federal judge in Seattle. Cody Wilson’s Defense Distributed won the right to publish the plans and files to print weapons back in July, when a federal judge and a number of states moved to block the publication. On Monday 27th August the Court placed a Preliminary Injunction on publication of the files essentially extending the ban on publication as the case against Wilson progresses.

Today, Kalashnikov Group (Russia) presented new assault rifle prototype called AK-308 at the International Military-Technical Forum “Army-2018”

Last Monday night, Shopify changed their policy about what items can be sold via their e-commerce platform. Shopify is banning the sale of firearms and firearm related accessories.

As TFB told you earlier this year, there are Glock Magazine Lowers for the B&T APC9-G & GHM9-G coming.

A federal Judge from the Western District of Washington, based in Seattle, temporary block on the publication of a series of 3D printed firearms plans by DEFCAD.com. The plans had been due to go online on 1st August, after the way was cleared for publication by a Justice Department ruling in June.

After a drawn out battle, Defense Distributed was set to release blueprints tomorrow that could used to manufacture 3D Printed Guns. That is until a Federal Judge just issued a restraining order to block the release of the gun blueprints, according to the Associated Press.

Thanks to a friend of mine for alerting me to an issue concerning  Safety Harbor Firearms and other manufacturers of .50 cal uppers. These manufacturers received a letter from the ATF.  The letter claims that bolt action .50 cal AR uppers can possibly be considered firearms. I reached out to Walter Keller of Safety Harbor Firearms and he agreed to share the letter with TFB.

We at TFB have been following the US Army’s Sub Compact Weapon programme closely. It was initially announced at the beginning of May, this was quickly followed by the news that weapons submitted by no less than 13 companies would be evaluated. At that point the programme’s contracts had an estimated worth of almost $260,000. Then in the first week of July it was announced that the programme was to be cancelled, pending a review of the Army’s requirements.

Colt made a lot of jaws drop when they announced the re-introduction of double-action revolvers back in January 2017. That initial offering of a Cobra was a bit of a departure from the double-action revolvers they used to produce with its matte finish and rubber grip. The 2nd iteration of the Colt Cobra came this last January with the unveiling of the Night Cobra. This specialized revolver with more concealed carry motivated traits was an even more modern take on the classic name. Now we are seeing the 3rd installment in this series of revolvers with the Bright Cobra.

FN has just announced the release of the 509 Tactical, the anticipated MHS pistol variant submitted by the Virginia-based manufacturer as part of the Army trials that ended in January 2017. Both TFB and TFBTV have the new guns in house and will bring you first-hand reviews in the coming days.

Announced just prior to SHOT 2018, the latest Sig Sauer catalog highlighted the release of the M17 P320 pistol to the civilian market. Just six months later, a few select distributors have started preparing for orders.  The RSR Group has item and stocking information while Osage County Guns has descriptions and pricing. Some models might be a available as early next week whereas others may show up in early September. So is this a Sig Sauer Summer for you?

In 2015 we reported that Defense Distributed had teamed up with the Second Amendment Foundation to sue the Department of State over the “Censorship of 3-D Printing Information”. Three years later it has emerged that Defense Distributed and the Second Amendment Foundation have been successful, winning their case and achieving a settlement with the government.

Acusport is nearing the end of its journey to its final resting place with United Sporting Companies and Ellett Brothers. United Sporting Companies now owns Ellett Brothers, Jerry’s Sport Center and Acusport which are all distributors of firearms and related goods. After facing many tumultuous, roller-coaster years like all of us in the firearm industry coupled with a fast return to normalcy, Acusport eventually filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

The announcement and subsequent release of the GLOCK 19X pistol was an emotional time for the company, fans and critics alike. For years the Austrian powerhouse’s MHS pistol submission was shrouded in secrecy, salivating curious onlookers with possible models like the law enforcement-only 17M and 19M guns. Whereas GLOCK fans understood the reason for the G17 grip and G19 slide configuration as being the model that had been submitted for the XM17/XM18 Army new sidearm trials, critics took the release of the 19X as an opportunity to suggest that the reverse configuration – G19 grip with a G17 slide is really what shooters wanted. However, we are just over 180 days since the 19X’s release and GLOCK is announcing that it has shattered its own sales forecasts with over 100K pistols sold to U.S. consumers.

Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, have issued a synopsis/solicitation to negotiate a five year indefinite quantity contract with firm fixed price orders for a number of SIG Sauer weapon systems including rifles, submachine guns, pistols and suppressors.

Over the last few weeks TFB have been keeping abreast of the US Army’s Sub Compact Weapon program. The program to arm Personal Security Details with a new compact, concealable submachine gun saw contracts awarded to as many as 13 companies to supply weapons for testing. You can check out my two-part breakdown of the weapons submitted by the 13 to the program here & here.

In what may be the largest adoption of red dot sights on pistols to date, the Houston Police Department has issued a letter to sworn officers approving the optics for duty use. The approval comes along with some common-sense caveats; a Safariland level III Holster must be used, optics-ready pistols from specified manufacturers and the completion of an eight hour training course prior to putting the RDS into service.

What a difference a year makes. Last June we announced that Gemtech was breaking ground on a new world headquarters. Last night we learned that in six to nine months Gemtech will no longer exist in Idaho. At a company meeting yesterday, the remaining Gemtech employees were told that the facility would close and that all business would be moved to Smith & Wesson’s headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The US Army has expanded its upcoming Sub Compact Weapon evaluations adding three more weapons to the trials. Back in May PEO Soldier – Project Manager Soldier Weapons issued a Request for Information to industry for a Compact, concealable 9x19mm submachine gun. Following this the US Army’s Contracting Command posted a notice on FedBizOps awarding 10 sole source contracts on 8 June.

According to a public filing in Nevada, Freedom Munitions and its parent company Howell Munitions, recently petitioned the court for bankruptcy protection. Information subitted to TFB from several anonymous sources pointed to two cases outlined at inforuptcy.com, showing filing dates of 6/8/2018 and 6/11/2018. Information is slim at the moment, but the court information states that both Freedom Munitions’ assets and liabilities lays somewhere between $10M and $50M.