In Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the early days of AK production in China, Part 2 was dedicated to the “golden years” of Type 56 history when it was exported to the US and produced in multiple countries.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we talked about the variety of ammo choices available when it comes to self-defense. If you missed that article, I will leave a quick link to that article right here for you guys. This week’s topic is a bit different since it’s fairly easy to get distracted and sucked into distractions that ultimately could allow you to be put into difficult situations. With everything available at our fingertips in society, it can be easy to get distracted on your phone rather than paying attention to your surroundings. Let’s take a closer look at dangerous distractions in our world.

My friend Sgt. Levos is the armorer for San Jose Police Department (SJPD) and they currently have 400 Colt 6920s but are actively looking for 400 more rifles to add to their inventory. I saw Sgt. Levos at SHOT Show 2023 while I was checking out Aero Precision’s newest SOLUS rifle. Sgt. Levos approached Aero Precision and they arranged to have an LE Demo. Aero brought down two of their 11.5″ SBRs, two 16″ rifles as well as their SOLUS rifle.

In Part 1 of this article, I talked about early Chinese AKs and the humble beginnings of Kalashnikov rifle manufacturing in China. By 1956, China was building new factories and improving old ones with the help of Soviet engineers, and it seemed like nothing can break apart two great comrades – the Soviet Communist party and their Chinese counterparts.

Welcome everyone to the 177th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only has a Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

Welcome to TFB Weekly Web Deals 38. Range bags come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations. Whether you’re headed out for a hunting trip or just taking one of your weekly trips to the pistol range to get some practice in, transporting your firearms, ammunition, and accessories is actually a pretty important step in the process, especially if you want to stay safe, prepared, and organized. Today we’ll be going over some of the best range bags I’ve come across and used over the years, some of which I use together for specific types of shooting or shooting events.

Welcome to TFB Podcast Roundup 74! TFBTV has long been a staple of The Firearm Blog brand, however, over the years our humble little YouTube channel has not only seen some pretty amazing growth but it’s also come under attack several times by YouTube itself. Just before right around the time SHOT Show 2023 started, YouTube started seemingly giving channel strikes. These strikes were taking place sometimes so close together that entire YouTube channels were shut down overnight with very little that their owners could do to react to the situation. One of this week’s podcasts focuses on YouTube’s inconsistent and frankly annoying procedure when it comes to moderating silencer content on their platform. If you’ve had enough of that, we’ve also got a great and light-hearted episode of The Armourer’s Bench podcast featuring one of my favorite films, Tropic Thunder. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s roundup of gun podcast content.

Hello and welcome back to another Edition of  The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and its many guns, ammunition choices, and shooting sports. Last time we took a look at one of my 22LR revolvers in The Rimfire Report: J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal 22LR Review. This week I am at the helm again and filling in for your usual host  Luke C. This time I found myself twiddling my thumbs trying to think of a rimfire gun I or anyone else has not yet talked about on this particular stage. Alas, all that I own has been spent. Luckily, once upon a time I received a bag of some very old ammunition, and deep down inside was some 30 Rimfire!  Let’s dive into the 30 Rimfire cartridge!

Welcome everyone to the  TFB Armorer’s Bench! As mentioned in the little blurb below, this series will focus on a lot of home armorer and gunsmith activities. In this article, I decided to give my Mauser C96 a bit of maintenance and a fresh change with new Mauser C96 parts since it has been getting a lot of attention lately. For the past few weeks, it has been featured fairly heavily as the hero gun in my Curious Relics series over at our sister site AllOutdoor.com. With that comes the price of hands-on wear and tear at the range. By no means do I mistreat my old school firearms but shooting them and working with them, in general, can be sort of “stressful” on them for lack of a better word. One recommendation I have to anyone out there who is interested in owning and shooting older guns is to make sure you buy spare firing pins and extractors if you can without breaking the bank. Then swap those out with the originals and keep the originals on standby. That is what I did and that is what lies below. Let’s dive right into installing new Mauser C96 parts!

Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new YHM Turbo T3 5.56 rifle suppressor. Last week I made my pitch that everyone should own a 5.56mm bolt action rifle and suppressor combination (the Ruger American Ranch in particular). This week we dive into a classic pairing that is becoming more and more prevalent every year in the United States – H&K and B&T. Specifically, the B&T SQD RBS – Super Quick Disconnect and Reduced Backpressure System 9mm suppressor – on the H&K MP5 and MP5K sub-machine guns. Yes it’s awesome, but we should look at the details before typing in our billing information. Let’s dig in.

That’s all until next year.

Welcome back to another Friday Night Lights. I have been meaning to write about these films for a while now so late is better than never. In this fifth installment of Hollywood Night Vision Myths, we take a close look at some old movies like True Lies and Sicario. We also take a look at a relatively new foreign film called Troll on Netflix. So let’s take a look at these Hollywood Night Vision Myths.

One of my favorite stories to write each SHOT is a summary of all things throwback. The Retro Roundup gives me an excuse to snoop around the show looking for anything new in the world of the old. This year’s offerings were so plentiful that I split the article into two parts. This is the non-AR portion. Here are a few of the standouts from SHOT Show 2023.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, I took a look at various pistol types and talked about how reliable those systems are over time. If you missed last week’s article, I’ll leave a link to that article here so jump in there and let me know your thoughts. A reoccurring question I get fairly often is if I buy specific self-defense ammo for every carry gun or if I have a general round I use across the board. It’s an interesting discussion since there are some out there who believe self-defense ammunition isn’t necessary for a carry gun. Let’s take a closer look at the facts when it comes to important ammo choices.

On 12 January, a unit of the Ukrainian Army’s 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade (47 OMBr) was seen equipped with US M16A4s for the first time. The rifles were seen equipped with Trijicon ACOG optics and some, a considerable percentage, were seen with M203 40mm under-barrel grenade launchers, and of course rail covers.

It is hard to find a place on Earth where people wouldn’t know what Kalashnikov is. Some know it through movies, some through video games, but a good portion of the world’s population have some firsthand experience with this rifle, since a Soviet, East European, or Chinese AK can be found almost anywhere.

At a local firearm auction last year, I acquired a Harrington & Richardson Auto Ejecting revolver chambered for the .32 S&W cartridge for the lowest winning bid of the day. These top-break revolvers never really caught my eye, but I was willing to scratch that itch, and who knows, maybe even have some fun with it and make some noise. Let’s see how this H&R Auto Ejecting top-break revolver fared on this week’s TFB Wheelgun Wednesday.

At the start of SHOT Show 2023, the news broke that Australian defense company NIOA had purchased Barrett Firearms.  Rob Nioa, the new owner of Barrett Firearms was in attendance at this year’s SHOT Show.  I was given the rare opportunity to interview Mr. Nioa about his history in the firearms industry, and about the future of Barrett Firearms under his leadership.  Without further ado, the interview with the new Barrett owner, Rob Nioa.

Welcome everyone to the 176th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only has a Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

Hello and welcome to TFB podcast roundup 73! We’re back from our annual hiatus when virtually the entire TFB/TFBTV crew is at SHOT Show 2023 and we should be getting back to our regular podcast roundup schedule as well as some fresh episodes of the TFB Behind The Gun Podcast. Since I wear multiple hats at SHOT, we’re also bringing back our Editor in Chief and host of the TFB Behind The Gun Podcast, Pete, to help out with some great episodes recorded right at SHOT Show, in person. Other than that, we’ll be getting back on track with our weekly podcast roundups as well and this week I’m catching up on everything that I’ve missed so we’ve got more of a grab bag of episodes and subjects this week compared to previous weeks. As always, sit back, relax and enjoy this week’s selection of gun podcast listening!

Welcome everyone to the  TFB Armorer’s Bench! As mentioned in the little blurb below, this series will focus on a lot of home armorer and gunsmith activities. In this article, I decided to try something I have not done before. This article will be pretty uneventful as far as earth-shattering content BUT!!! I could not find much content out there as far as replacing Magpul MBUS sight pieces so I figured I’d share my little adventure and hopefully reveal some helpful things along the way. That being said, let’s dive right into installing XS Sights on the MBUS.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new YHM Turbo T3 5.56mm rifle suppressor. Last week we reviewed the FN RUSH 9Ti on the FN 509 Compact Tactical. This week we move into what some might consider FUDD territory with some arguments for owning a 5.56 bolt action rifle. Do you have one? You probably should.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last time, we talked about consumable carry items and when to replace certain items you use daily to carry your firearm. To check out that article, be sure to click on the link here. In the world of carrying a concealed firearm, the market is shifting in strange directions and is even starting to move back into the world of single-action type 2011s and 1911s over something like a striker-fired handgun. With the gradual shift from small micro-style guns to larger framed firearms, it’s important to look at the reliability of certain firearms as time goes on. Let’s take a closer look at pistol type reliability over time.

TFB Visits Varusteleka Finland – Europe’s Largest Army, Surplus & Outdoor Shop (according to them). Go to Suomi (Finland) they said. It will be fun, they said. Well, there I was in the middle of the Winter. Of course, it snowed, and it was freezing cold. Luckily I got a ride from a local friend in a posh car, with four-wheel drive and heated seats.

This week on Wheelgun Wednesday, we will give a quick roundup of some of the interesting wheelguns we were able to get hands and eyes on at SHOT 2023.  Keep in mind, SHOT is hectic, but we tried to get our eyes on as many new and interesting revolvers as we could.  We regret to report that not much was new from either Colt, S&W, Chiappa, or Taylor’s & Co. in the wheelgun department (besides the King Cobra Target .22LR being given a rough date of summer 2023), but here are a few revolvers that caught our attention for 2023:

There was a time, more than two decades ago, when 5.11 gear was only associated with “fishing” vests and baggy BDU pants. Back then I was both the giver and the recipient of tactical fashion shaming. Thankfully, those days are but tiny specks in the rearview mirror of life. 5.11 Tactical has developed tasteful, fashion-forward designs that blend utility with style for everyone from urban NOLA James Reeves to Northwest rainforest Hop. Some of the TFB and TFBTV crew were outfitted with new 5.11 boots – the A/T Mid Waterproof Boot  to be specific – for two industry range events and a week on the SHOT Show floor. How did the boots and other 5.11 gear perform? Let’s ask the team.

Good evening everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new YHM Turbo T3 rifle suppressor. Last week we recapped the silencer coverage from the 2023 SHOT Show. Hours before I hopped on the plane to Vegas for the show, the new FN RUSH 9Ti pistol suppressor arrived for a review. Since this is FN’s first entry into the suppressor market, you might be wondering how it stacks up? Let’s take a look.

Good evening everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new Fat Cat 5.56mm suppressor. We just wrapped up a busy week in Las Vegas (our coverage will continue into this coming week) so let’s take a look at the suppressed SHOT Show of 2023. This was a pretty big year for silencers; did your next can debut at the show?

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we looked at the new tools available for dry fire practice. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to check it out here. When it comes to carry gear, most people don’t think about the overall life of certain items. Whether it’s your favorite holster, carry ammo or other tools, it’s important to know when it’s time to refresh certain items and how often you should consider each item. It’s easy to overlook these items but for the best performance out of your gear, it’s a good idea to refresh everything. Let’s take a closer look at consumable carry items.

With SHOT Show 2023 just around the corner, we here at The Firearm Blog will be on the lookout for all the new guns and gear, and some that we may have overlooked over the previous years.  We will be covering both manufacturers of modern, new designs of revolvers (like the Silver Creek 4110 seen above), as well as the reproduction sector (Taylor’s, Pietta, Pedersoli, et al).