The story of how Hungary came to equip its armed forces with Swiss machine guns, like many origins in WWII, goes back to WWI.  The treaty of Versailles prohibited or significantly inhibited arms production by any former Central Powers countries, Hungary being one of them.  Many small arms designers impacted by the same regulations turned to outside countries to circumvent these regulations, Switzerland being a favorite choice of the Germans.  Therefore Louis Stange (whose resumé also includes the FG42, MG39Rh, MG 81, MG 15, and the MG 34) of Rheinmetall took his MG 30 design to Switzerland to be produced by Solothurn Waffenfabrik (A company which was in itself a bit of a Rheinmetall creation).

In the past, I’ve seen this debate all over, whether it’s online or in a gun store. There is a common misconception that you are only allowed to shoot paper or steel and one MUST be better than the other. The truth is both paper and steel targets have advantages. Both can be beneficial for new and experienced shooters so we will walk through the Pros and Cons with each.

For the month of April, we challenged our readers with a pretty broad category for the Reader’s Choice by asking you what is the “ BEST Overall Accessory for a Rifle, Shotgun, or Pistol.” We received appropriate criticism that the category is indeed very broad which we will not disagree with. We at TFB slightly enjoy pushing your buttons and challenging you as much as you enjoy busting our chops. This month, we will have to admit, that you got the best of us. While the winner of the SB Tactical SBA3 Pistol Stabilizing Brace might not come as a surprise (which we will explain later) take a good hard look at the #3 position that is a direct result of you guys and gals; our readers. So without further ado, the final results for April’s “ Reader’s Choice: BEST Overall Accessory for a Rifle, Shotgun or Pistol” are…

Now don’t get me wrong. The AR-15 is an amazing platform and I own several. I love how ergonomic and modular the rifles are along with the availability of parts in the market. I have been trying to get away from the AR-15 control system and look at new options because it’s never bad to look at your options.

In this episode of TFBTV’s NRAAM 2019 coverage, James Reeves visits with Desantis to talk about new holster designs from the company, which has been in business for nearly 40 years, hand making holsters in leather and synthetic materials for Glocks, 1911s, and many, many other pistols.

I have been shooting different models of Steyr SBS rifles for over 10 years and have enjoyed each one. They have smooth and robust actions, good triggers, reliable magazines, and a well-designed safety/bolt release.  On top of all that they have all shot very well. I attribute that fact in large part to their cold hammer forged barrels. (Check out this article to learn more about the process). I mention all of this to explain my interest whenever Steyr comes out with a new offering. I still hold the belief that one of the coolest rifles of SHOT 2019 was the Steyr Monobloc.  Also displayed at the 2019 SHOT Show, albeit to much less fanfare, was the THB precision rifle in the Manners Composite Stock.

Below are pictures of a homemade submachine gun seized last month by the Municipal Civil Guard of Limeira in Sao Paulo along with cocaine base paste and marijuana. This illicit craft produced SMG model has been seized as far back as at least 2014 and has appeared more regularly in recent months. These weapons are certainly the product of a large criminal distribution network being supplied by an efficiently run and well equipped illicit workshop.

Last year was the year of the 6mm BR (and its offspring; BRA, BRX, Dasher, etc) in both the PRS and NRL.  A survey conducted by Cal Zant with the Precision Rifle Blog showed 48% of shooters were using a BR in some form.  This is a swing that has been a few years in the making. Initially, when practical precision rifle shooting was becoming popular, .308 Winchester ruled the roost.  It was what military snipers had been using for decades, so how could you go wrong with that?  A few guys who understood external ballistics would venture out and shoot 7-08 Remington, .260 Remington, .243 Winchester and various wildcats in those bore sizes instead of the .308 because of their superior Ballistic Coefficient (BC) and reduced recoil.  As the sport progressed 6mm and 6.5mm bore sizes became the norm with Creedmoors and the x47 Lapua variants holding the lions share. Now for the same reasons 6mm and 6.5mm beat out the .308, the 6mm BR is coming into its own.

Good news: your agency has just ordered a long-awaited batch of rifles and pistols to complement and eventually replace the current inventory in use. Bad news: you are given the Herculean task of keeping a detailed track and record of the weapons’ use, both in training and in actual operations, so that an adequate maintenance program can be established and followed. Good news, again: enter the WeaponLogic Ecosystem, from Israel, that the Secubit company presented for the first time at the recent LAAD 2019 Defence and Security Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro.

In the last few years, there has been a massive increase in vehicle-based shootings. These shootings include police attacks, where officers are ambushed in their cruisers. Let’s be honest though getting into a gunfight at all is a bad day, and getting in a gunfight while in a vehicle just plain sucks.

In the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of people who carry “truck guns” or vehicle-based guns in everyday life. It can be tricky navigating certain laws when it comes to truck guns but we won’t get into the legality. Maybe I’ll dive deeper into the legality in a later blog, but for now, let’s focus on the overall concept.

Almost a year ago, Connecticut FFL The Freedom Shoppe got hung up on making firearms with folding braces. Read all about it here. Due to this issue I learned that Connecticut allows for a sort of loophole firearm. It doesn’t have a stock so it can’t be a rifle. And it has a vertical grip with a barrel longer than 12″ so it can’t be a pistol. So it will be classified as “Other Firearm”. Well did you know Troy is the first to make a factory Troy firearm just for this classification?

Out of all the topics to discuss about the gun industry, I don’t see many people talking about the maintenance of their firearms over time. Now don’t get me wrong, some shooters go out every weekend and put a ton of rounds down range each year. Those guys typically keep their guns maintained out of necessity, so they don’t have to deal with malfunctions. I’m writing to the people who conceal carry but don’t always have time to hit the range as much as they’d like, but still carry daily. This happens a lot and it’s not a bad thing, but firearm maintenance is even more important for people who carry daily but can’t go to the range as often as possible. Let’s face it, you don’t want to be the guy who’s gun looks like the lint trap of a dryer in the rundown part of town.

It’s been a recurring dream of myself and I’m sure most of you readers. Just picture it. You’re renovating your house, tearing up the floor or taking down a wall. Suddenly you find that the previous owners left you a nice surprise of the weapons cache variety.

The Italian Firearms Group (IFG) is an Amarillo (TX) based importer established in 2010 and specialized, you guessed it, in Italian made firearms. Their main brands are F.A.I.R., Pedersoli, Sabatti, and Ft. Italia. The latter manufacturer, unlike the others, can sound like a new name to those already familiar with Italian firearms. It turns out that Ft means Fratelli Tanfoglio, making IFG the second American importer of Tanfoglio products under a different name.

If you have ever felt uncomfortable racking the slide of your favorite pistol or feeling the appropriate dexterity was not quite there, then a company called  ArachniGRIP has a product for you. They make adhesive grips that can be placed over the top of a pistol’s slide to increase your dexterity while grabbing the already present slide serrations. ArachniGRIP goes on to offer this summary statement:

There’s a lot you can tell about a person by their firearm choices. For example, if a guy carries an Interarms import Walther PPK or an H&K P7, he’s probably a well-heeled shooter and maybe a little of a Bond or Hans Gruber fan. If he carries a revolver, he’s likely an older gent who doesn’t trust those “newfangled” autoloaders. If he’s a Taurus owner, then you know to not leave him unattended with lengths of copper wire or other valuable scrap metals. And, with this build, I can tell that TFB reader and Discord* user “Stubbs,” also known as the “Destroyer of Warranties” in the TFBTV chat room, is an unhinged man, barely able to participate in a modern, civilized society. I’m not Sherlock Holmes, but when you realize that someone actually owns this gun:

FosTecH Inc. has created the Echo Sport trigger, their second pull and release trigger system for AR-15 rifles. The Echo Sport is different from Fostech’s first version in that there’s an added paddle switch to change firing modes from binary to standard semi-automatic firing instead of using the safety selector like the Echo AR-II.

For a few years now, there has been an increasing trend of attempts to smuggle arms into Nigeria through the ports, hidden in sealed containers, and in false bottoms of trucks crossing the almost inexistent borders from the Benin Republic and from the North of Nigeria, too. Nigeria is currently one of the most restricted nations in terms of firearms ownership, and it is obvious that the system is being challenged. There has been an increase in seizures at Nigerian Ports and on Nigerian Highways. And the question is, for every container intercepted, for every truck stopped on the highway – just how many got through?

It seems like a bunch of companies debuted their own version of a Pistol Caliber Carbine (PCC) at SHOT Show 2019. Check out our Top 5 new SMG / PCC list from SHOT 2019. There was seriously a lot of them this year. Well the folks over at Tippmann Armory didn’t debut a new PCC, they showed off something even better then some tacticool operator toy.

It was probably halfway through the second magazine that the new gun butterflies started to wear off.  The jarring over gassed recoil, combined with the massive concussion that comes with having a short 12.5in barrel, was enough to make me want to put the gun back in the bag and go home.  For the past three years I’d been shooting almost all of my rifles suppressed. Combine this with a cramped indoor range and shooting this rifle was borderline intolerable. I’d also gone a step further on my AR pattern rifles and added adjustable gas carriers.  All of that customization lead to easy to shoot suppressed rifles. Something I was desperately missing.

In this episode of TFBTV’s ongoing coverage of SHOT Show 2019, Brannon visits with Gabe from Rosco Manufacturing about their new barrel offerings, the #barrelgang event, their other parts, and upcoming projects.

Yeah, I just combined those headings. It’s the wild west out here. OpsGear is apparently liquidating their warehouse inventory, which means tons of goodies for you. So what is on sale? All kinds of gear and gadgets and clothing. There’s a Condor Gunner Plate Carrier in Multicam being sold for $72 or just under 40% off. There are Danner Striker Boots in men’s size 10.5 being sold for $112.50 or just under $90 off. There’s a whole mess of Blackhawk gear and even some 5.11 stuff that’s almost all 40% off or better (I’ve seen up to 90% off).

In this episode of TFBTV’s continuing SHOT Show 2019 coverage, Brannon LeBouef speaks with AJ from Kinetic Development group about their new SCAR rails. Things get lighter and smaller and \now with MOAR M-LOK!

In this episode of TFBTV’s continued coverage of SHOT Show 2019, Brannon visits with Alex from Lyman about their new offerings among their reloading, grip, and shooting mat lines.

In this episode of TFBTV’s continuing coverage of SHOT Show 2019, Brannon LeBouef deviates from the normal product highlights and speaks with Officer Tyler Finch of the Anderson PD out of California who has first hand experience with US Armor’s concealable body armor. We hear about his ordeal that day and how he prevailed quite spectacularly with the help of US Armor’s vest. Tyler said he did not even realize he had been hit while in the fight and suffered no bruising, broken bones, or other injury from the hits.

In TFBTV’s continual coverage of SHOT Show 2019, Brannon visits with Tim from KRISS at Range Day, to talk about their new folding adaptor, some upgrades to the Vector series, and some new EXTENDO magazines for their 9mm and 10mm guns.

I, like many others I suspect, am always on the lookout for that one rifle that can do it all.  Of course, this is just a fantasy.  First, we are limited by weight.  A good mountain hunting rifle would be light and easy to pack, while a good competition rifle would have enough heft to smooth out some of the shooters wobble and soak up a bit of the recoil.  Second, we are limited by cartridge.  Anything ideal for killing big game would be overkill for shooting varmints or plinking steel.  That being said, Duplessis Rifle Co. has created a modular rifle system that might just bring that fantasy a little closer to reality.

Zero Compromise Optic as a company is brand new to optics world, their owner and employees, however, are not.   With lineage from both Nightforce and Kahles, the minds behind Zcomp have a lot of real-world experience.  When I released one of their first product videos last year it had over 15,000 views in the first 48 hours, so obviously the precision rifle community had room in their minds for one more scope manufacturer, especially one that vowed not to cut any corners.  Now, one year later Zero Compromise has 2 products ready for market, the ZC527 and the ZC420.

Mesa Tactical is known for their tactical shotgun accessories for both range enthusiasts and law enforcement, and they expanded on that at SHOT Show 2019. They are now offering an M-LOK forend for the highly popular Benelli M4. This definitely fills a void by allowing shooters to more easily add accessories such as grips and flashlights to their duty or defense shotgun.