I have learned a lot about the firearms industry from my time here at TFB. But one of my most important lessons has been to never predict the death of a company or a segment of the industry until you see a corpse in a coffin and you’re throwing dirt on the lid. And even then, you can’t count out the chance of a resurrection.

Lyman Products will be exhibiting at this year’s National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers a.k.a NASGW in Orlando Florida beginning on October 22nd and lasting through the 25th of the month. This expo and annual meeting will bring wholesalers and manufacturers together to grow business, introduce new products and build new relationships.

Here is a look at the 9th Annual Blue August Writer’s Event. Think of it as a miniature SHOT Show, but you probably won’t get sick or end up with bloody shins from someone dragging a swag cart around behind them.

New York-based Otis Technology, best known for their cleaning kits, have announced their acquisition of Atlanta, Georgia-based rifle manufacturer DRD Tactical. DRD specialise in tactical rifles receiving a number of foreign contracts in recent years. Back in August, we reported that DRD had received a contract to supply their APTUS(AMG) Rifle to an undisclosed US ally in Asia. Manufacturing will continue in Georgia, while admin and support will be run out of Otis’ New York state HQ.

Several weeks ago, TFB was contacted by a minority shareholder of CAA Israel purporting a change in licensing and distribution in the United States. Regretfully, the information contained in the now removed post was incorrect. Since that time, we have been working closely with our long time friends at CAA USA to publish a proper confirmation of their partnerships in the United States and clarify any necessary information for distributors and dealers. The official press release can be found below.

Sportsman’s warehouse just announced that it has entered into agreements with DICK’S Sporting Goods to acquire 8 of the Field And Stream Store locations. These newly acquired stores will be operated as Sportsman’s Warehouse stores and they will be located in Pennsylvania (3 Stores), New York (2 Stores), North Carolina (2 Stores) and one store in Michigan.

Rainier Arms is a popular gun distributorship for high-quality AR-15s. Headquartered in Washington State, the firearms storefront offers high-end AR-15 products direct to consumers. Recently John Hwang, the CEO and Founder of Rainier Arms has been searching for a new warehouse. Just recently he may have gotten more than just a simple warehouse.

Lew Horton Distributing Co. Inc, a wholesale distributor of firearms based in Westborough Massachusetts has just announced that they will be winding down operations. Lew Horton plans on tentatively ceasing operations entirely by December 31st of this year.

There have recently been some rumours that Colt is abandoning the civilian AR-15 market. The truth isn’t quite so simple. With national news outlets picking up the story, Colt have today released a statement emphasising their commitment to the Second Amendment and reassuring that they ‘highly value’ their civilian customers.

From now until 9/30/2019, FLIR is offering up $400 off all thermal imaging devices through their online web store and authorized retailers. Details can be found in the link found below.

Last week, WHYY Philadelphia reported that “The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating an incident in which a SEPTA police officer’s service weapon fired without manipulation while holstered.” In the days following the initial report, SEPTA Police made a decision to replace all 350 issued pistols with GLOCK 17s on loan from the Philadelphia Police Department followed by making an emergency purchase of brand new pistols for all SEPTA officers.

B&T, Inc. (Brügger & Thomet) are the creators of the B&T GHM9 that TFBTV covered at Triggercon earlier this year. B&T has just announced its new partnership with Interstate Arms in a bid to bring B&T firearms and select accessories to America’s law enforcement agencies. In addition to supplying the country’s law enforcement with their arms, B&T and Interstate Arms are seeking to increase B&Ts brand presence in this segment of the market.

Late last night TFB broke the news that the US Army had selected three companies to continue development of their Next Generation Squad Weapons prototypes. These companies include AAI Corporation Textron Systems, General Dynamics-OTS Inc. and SIG Sauer Inc. This morning we received further details from Textron about their NGSW team.

World news outlets are reporting that GLOCK has won a Brazilian contract to supply the São Paulo Military Police (SP MP) with thousands of new pistols. The article below mentions 40,000 guns, but there is conflicting information between various news sources making the actual number unclear.

Back in April TFB covered the developing story between PRIME Ammunition and RUAG Ammotec. At that time this writer had had a lengthy discussion with the CEO of  PRIME and determined the issues presented were complicated and would likely not be resolved quickly.  Fortunately, for both parties, proceedings did not drag on as long as anticipated.

Victrix Armaments, an Italian brand of precision long-range rifles, has announced on their social media pages that another Italian company called  Rottigni Officina MEccanica (ROME) bought the Victrix brand from Beretta. The Victrix Armaments brand used to belong to ROME and was sold to Beretta in 2016. The sum of the deal is not disclosed.

Edelweiss Arms is running a monthly giveaway allowing you to enter a chance to win a P49 Swiss Army pistol valued at $3,000. Later designated as the P210, the P49 was first produced in 1947 and issued to the Swiss Army in 1949. Details, links and additional information can be found below. Good luck.

Davidson’s, one of the US’ largest firearms distributors, has announced a partnership with B&T USA for the distribution of B&T’s sought after products. B&T USA recently won the contract to provide the US Army’s new Sub Compact Weapon.

Legendary firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch will be supplying the U.S Army  Squad Designated Marksman Rifle known as the M110. The Army have recently been evaluating the rifle and various potential accessory setups. H&K is ramping up to supply 5,000 to 6,000 of the HK417 variants by early next year. Each rifle will receive upgrades and accessories from several U.S. manufacturers prior to final delivery. Additional details can be found in the press release below.

The POF-USA Revolution .308 AR10 patterned rifle has won the 2019 Rifle of the Year award from the Firearms Industry Choice Awards. Details on the announcement and the award can be found below.

Yes, I know, Firearms, Not Politics, but my friends at the American Suppressor Association need your help. Raising awareness, fighting ignorance and protecting the rights of NFA owners across the U.S. takes money. There are approximately 24 hours left in the ASA’s ‘Cans Not Bans’ membership drive and donation campaign and if you enjoy owning silencers, I’m asking you to pull your weight. Several companies have chipped in to offer prizes that will be awarded by random drawing. If you are not an ASA member, consider joining. If you are already a member, consider making a donation.

Hot off the wire is the news that the sale of Savage Arms, to a financial buyer, has been completed for $170M. The possibility of Savage Arms leaving Vista Outdoors has been discussed for more than a year, with discussions starting after a business transformation plan announcement in May of 2018. Previously, Savage arms was owned by Vista Outdoors’ predecessor before being spun off in 2015.

Two great companies have come together to design, produce and market both a PEQ-15 front sight and NGAL front sight. Midwest Industries in cooperation with Defense Solutions Group (DSG Arms) are releasing the two rail mounted sight options for users of the weapon mounted laser/illuminator devices for night vision use. Because of the way the PEQ-15 and NGAL devices sit on a top rail, it is difficult to mount traditional iron sites without moving unit farther back. The PEQ-15 front sight made by Midwest Industries and DSG Arms allows the laser/illuminator to sit much farther forward.

In the free world, like the United States Of America, companies can freely make and sell products to consumers. Capitalism isn’t perfect, but it is a part of what makes America great. So when Nike decided to kill their plans to release “Betsy Ross” themed sneakers based on one ex-Footballer’s comment, it didn’t bother me in the slightest. Instead, I thought we could focus on the positive news, like the Betsy Ross lower receiver just announced by Palmetto State Armory.

Backpack feed systems are nothing new to light machine gun design, these examples dating to the early days of the AR10 and AR15, in addition to modern Russian concepts, and even a Libyan take on the idea.

A.C.S Industries is an Israeli startup that has been successful in producing and selling a quick-deploy polymer grenade pouch wherein users simply unlatch and rip a grenade out of a polymer casing to immediately deploy it. At ISDEF 2019 they were demonstrating a similar concept in terms of a polymer STANAG magazine pouch design wherein the magazine is retained in the pouch by a catch that holds it against a spring-loaded follower that rests against the front of the magazine as it is encased in the housing. Pressing against an exterior trigger allows the magazine to be ejected out of the pouch and into a shooter’s hand. This might raise concerns about how ‘far’ the magazine will be ejected, but we were told that when fully loaded the magazine shoots out just enough to slightly pop out of the pouch allowing a shooter to grasp the magazine and then insert it in their rifle.

Dongrun Safety is a Chinese company that presented an armored dress-vest that could be ordered in various ballistic ratings up to the Chinese GA141-2010 Level 3, or roughly equivalent to an NIJ IIIA. Incorporating Kevlar ballistic material into dress attire has existed for some time now, albeit it hasn’t taken off too much within the VIP protection circuit that it is designed for. One company in the US has even tried to turn a line of everyday clothing into armor as well, in addition to another one even offering a two-piece suit armor combination. The reasons for both might appear to be that having a very basic set of a standard (Point Blank or Velocity Systems) soft armor vest allows for a much more versatile clothing option for a client or security detail because one isn’t stuck with a single outer layer. Users can also ‘armor-up’ by simply putting on a steel or ceramic plate over their soft option, thus gaining more protection by incorporating their soft armor into a system.

Orsis was at ISDEF 2019 with the relatively new to U.S. readers .308 Win ‘Bro’ semiautomatic precision rifle. Known more for their T-5000 manually repeating rifles in use throughout the world, the K15 is the company’s entry into the semiautomatic field. As of yet, we don’t know of any large scale Military or Law Enforcement orders for the K15 and company representatives didn’t mention any upcoming ones at ISDEF 2019 either. Since our earlier post on the rifle, we’ve noticed some minor differences to this most recent version, most that appear to be cosmetic or accessory-based in nature. First and foremost, the safety pictograms have been redesigned and moved about an inch up on the receiver. The selector is of a different design than earlier as well. Looking at the stock, we now see that the display rifle has a FAB Defense GL-CORE CP AR-15 telescoping and cheek rest configurable stock, mounted on a Russian Hartman AR15 buffer tube.

Back in May TFB reported on Heckler & Koch’s first quarterly financial report for 2019. We reported that the company was enjoying a large order intake for both military and law enforcement contracts, many of which we have covered here on TFB, but also noted the company’s problems with cash flow. We published Heckler & Koch’s statement on the quarterly report and endeavoured, as we always do here at TFB, to report the news in the most balanced manner possible.

Steyr Arms USA recently announced that they would be hosting a FREE Range Day open to the public at their Steyr Academy located at the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park. Well, the date has finally been set for July 27th for those who may be interested in attending. Steyr Arms has a full day of activities planned for attendees ranging from the casual to the competitive and it is behind all Steyr Arms firearms. Their most recent Press Release can be read below elaborating on the Range Day: