Federal Ammunition have announced that they have been awarded a 3-year contract with the Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium. The contract will cover the development of new ammunition and ammunition technology with enhanced lethality.

With the ongoing and continually increasing proliferation of sound suppressor usage in many areas of the firearms industry, new manufacturers with new innovations have been frequently cropping up for quite some time now. One company that has gained some notoriety in recent years is OSS Suppressors. This Utah-based operation’s principal claim to fame comes in the form of their patented “Flow-Through” silencer design. Cans with this unique engineering system are advertised as having the ability to eliminate gas blowback by redirecting the gases forward, through a helical system of internal chambers and out of a series of edge-positioned ports at the front of the silencer. Now this noted silencer maker has announced a new partnership with another noteworthy entity from a different segment of the firearms industry, Centrifuge Training.

If you’re a DIY type in the firearms space, odds are strong that you’re already familiar with Real Avid. These Minnesota-based toolsmiths have been putting out helpful gun cleaning and gunsmithing products for years. Their offerings are relied upon by a vast number of firearms tinkerers, of both the professional and home-based amateur varieties. Now there are yet more of these tools you may want to consider adding to your workbench. Real Avid has just announced a new line of torque wrench kits, dubbed the MASTER-FIT series.

Smith & Wesson’s line of M&P handguns have sold phenomenally well since the first model was released in 2005. Over its sixteen-year history to date, the collection has expanded to include a vast array of variants and options covering a half-dozen calibers. It has spawned offshoot versions like the Shield and Shield EZ offerings (and now the new Spec Series model), been adopted by hundreds of government/law enforcement agencies and departments globally, and millions have been purchased commercially.

As of the time of this writing, twenty US states officially recognize their residents’ inherent right to bear arms without the imposition of governmental permitting hurdles. Vermont led by example in this area, thanks to the particularly narrow wording of its state Constitution. Vermont’s legal language has never allowed for state-level restrictions on methods of firearms carry, so it is considered the first of America’s fifty states to recognize that the Constitution essentially serves as Americans’ permit – more by intrinsic prevention than by the retroactive action that other states have had to employ subsequently. For decades, Vermont stood alone in this distinction. TFB has covered some Constitutional Carry-related news from time to time, and a sampling of those past articles is listed below.

Winchester Ammunition is one of the top names in the ammo game. They manufacture a wide variety of cartridge and shotshell varieties from their plants based in Oxford, Mississippi and East Alton, Illinois. Last year they took over the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, and produce ammo for the US military as well as their commercial market offerings. From standard rifle cartridges and shotgun shells to rimfire offerings and handloading components, there isn’t much in the world of ammo that they haven’t touched. Now this noted American ammunition maker has announced a special new series, this time with a focus on supporting US military veterans. The new USA Valor series of ammunition has been introduced with the promise that a portion of the proceeds from each sale of this special-edition ammo will be donated to Folds of Honor.

Firearms fans and movie buffs often share a good deal of overlap. With so many excellent guns and gun-related scenes in such a plethora of films over the years, it’s easy to understand why. Many shooters will have a list of their favorite gun movies, scenes, or specific silver screen firearms. If you were to take a survey, it’s likely that you’d find the 1995 heist classic “Heat” on a significant number of those best-of lists. Now we have a new piece of cinematic ballistic history to discuss. KeepShooting.com sells an interesting smorgasbord of gun-related gear, and they’ve announced that they have acquired a unique prop gun from the above-named film classic.

According to a Mexican news outlet, over 7 million rounds of ammunition were stolen from Industrias Tecnos (Aguila Ammunition) – a Mexican-based manufacturer of ammunition for small arms. The company, which is based in the city of Cuernavaca, had two tractor-trailers stolen while they were in the Guanajuato which contained a total of 7,114,150 rounds of various types of ammunition. The theft was reported on June 10th, 2021 and at the time of writing, there is no current indication that the trailers have been found.

By now, SIG SAUER‘s handguns need little introduction. In addition to their stable of highly-regarded prior models, their newest additions with the P320 and P365 models have achieved significant success as well. TFB has previously covered and reviewed numerous iterations of both designs, largely with overwhelmingly positive overtones. In addition to the standard versions of their pistols, SIG’s Custom Works program produces some upgraded and special-edition variants, and is now adding a new Spectre series to the mix.

Walther has become something of an old name made new again. This venerable brand was founded in Germany way back in 1886, and began making pistols in 1908. Over the last 113 years, they’ve produced some exceedingly recognizable designs, including the P38 from WWII and the PP/PPK series made famous by the James Bond films.

Despite the growing list of banned firearms in Canada, the firearms community continues to grow. Canadians can now gain access to Big Horn Armory’s models of lever action rifles. Lever action rifles are legal in Canada and don’t share the same ammunition capacity restrictions that centerfire semi-automatic guns do. In addition to the standard lineup of models, Big Horn Armory is also offering custom-order rifles to Canada’s sportsmen and hunters.

The ATF took another step toward regulating firearms with attached stabilizing braces today by proposing an amendment to the definition of a rifle in the Code of Federal Regulations and creating a worksheet that uses a point system to determine if a firearm is a “rifled barrel weapon”. The move comes after years of the agency attempting to classify certain pistol braces as stocks.

The United States Concealed Carry Association, or USCCA, is an organization focused on providing resources and benefits to responsibly armed Americans. They offer a variety of informational initiatives from training and education, legal guidance, digital tutorials and checklists, and more. They also offer self-defense liability insurance coverage for their members. Now the Association has announced a new partner, one of the firearms industry’s top gun manufacturers: SIG SAUER.

Tyrant Designs is a CNC-machining specialty shop producing firearms parts and accessories from their home base in Chicago, Illinois. They claim to be the inventors of the original skeletonized AR-15 grips, and today they sell multiple versions of this product as well as many other parts. TFB has covered many of their prior offerings, and some examples of those are listed below. Typically, our own reviewers as well as the industry and customers at large have reacted mostly favorably, and generally regarded these products well. Now Tyrant has announced a new product coming soon: machined aluminum Glock sights. The sights appear to employ a white front blade and blackout rear configuration with their chevron-style serrated surface texturing, although it’s indicated that additional options including night sights and suppressor height versions will be added at an as-yet-unknown later date.

The FGC-9 is a 3D-printed firearm designed by JStark1809 of Deterrence Dispensed that is easily made even in countries where firearms gun control is extreme. A recent “crackdown” from New South Wales (NSW) Police resulted in two Australian FGC-9 guns being seized along with a smattering of other items that were reportedly stolen.

With the ebb and flow (or back and forth) of ATF regulations come a lot of confusing and baffling opinions. With their recent push to go after “ghost guns” and unserialized weapons, some members of the 3D-printing community have expressed concern that every child with a Nerf gun could potentially become a criminal. Online crafter and 3D printer 00MEAT recently displayed his concern by easily converting a Nerf Strongarm foam dart pistol into a makeshift DIY 22LR pistol.

Silencer Shop, the largest suppressor distributor in the U.S., is launching the 4473 Cloud service for FFLs. Before your eyes glass over and you jump to your other daily news sources – for example:  live shark tracker, or naked yoga on YouTube (find it yourself) – anything that brings the firearms industry from the stone tablet age into the digital world is a great thing.

Readers of this blog are surely aware that CZ Group, or Česká Zbrojovka Group, were about to acquire Colt Holding Company LLC. Since all of the necessary regulatory approvals from U.S. and Canadian authorities have now been secured, the acquisition is fully closed and in a recent announcement, CZ welcomed Colt and Colt Canada to the group.

Stealth Project is a Minnesota-based suppressor manufacturer that has a pretty unique lineup of suppressors. Stealth Project Suppressors markets their silencers as being free from point of impact shift, hearing safe, and free from the risk of baffle strikes. Nathan Stieren, the CEO of Alliance Outdoor Group announced that Stealth Project would be added to the family of brands on May 21st.

For all shooters, increased levels of lead in our bloodstream are a constant concern. Anytime you discharge a firearm, you’re potentially inhaling a lot of unhealthy chemicals including atomized lead. Army soldiers that shoot for a living are particularly susceptible to potentially toxic levels of lead in their blood due to their training regimen. In a recent assessment conducted at a training facility in Germany, it was found that recent changes to the range regulations had dramatically reduced the blood lead levels found in tested soldiers.

As TFB recently reported, on May 11th, 2021, SIG SAUER filed a lawsuit against Springfield Armory. This lawsuit alleges that Springfield infringed upon SIG’s intellectual property in the form of patents on their pistol magazines, specific to the P365 and Hellcat model mags. Clearly, there is a great deal of overlap in terms of the sector of the market that each company is targeting with these handguns. Springfield has now fired back with their own statement, asserting that they believe this is the real cause for SIG’s lawsuit, and that their Hellcat magazines do not actually breach any of the rules surrounding US patent law. Springfield’s press release to this effect reads as follows.

TROY Industries has just announced that they will be moving both their headquarters and manufacturing plant to Clarksville, Tennessee. You may be familiar with TROY Industries from their popular line of sporting rifles including the unique TROY Pump Action Rifle (PAR). The move, which is taking place to “ensure the success of the company” citing the “changing climate for firearms manufacturers” as the impetus for the relocation. The 5-year plan will begin in June costing $7.2 million and creating 75 new jobs.

Smith & Wesson has produced ARs for many years now. Their M&P 15 series has expanded to dozens of models, ranging from .22 rimfire plinkers, to standard .223 AR-15s, to large-frame camo-coated .308 versions, and more. Most of their offerings live more on the budget-friendly end of the price range as well, which has helped them become hugely popular with customers. S&W has sold a ton of these rifles over the years. Now they’re adding a new option to the list, offered exclusively to the military veterans, law enforcement personnel and other first responders who qualify for S&W’s “America’s Guardians” program. This newest M&P15 is an SBR, and thus will require a $200 tax stamp from the ATF on top of the purchase price. Davidson’s, who will be distributing many of these mil/LEO program guns to retailers and end users, issued the following announcement about the new item.

The firearms industry is certainly not one unfamiliar with the occasional lawsuit. A good deal of proprietary information goes into gun design and production, so most companies are understandably protective of their patents and other intellectual property. From time to time, this can lead manufacturers of firearms and accessories to sue each other over infringements on their protected work. Some examples (among many others) of previous lawsuits upon which TFB has reported are below.

Swampfox Optics is a young company, having been founded less than three years ago on July 4th, 2018. In that short time, they have come to market with a wide variety of optics types. They offer several scope options, two prism models, pistol MRDS options, and some rifle-mounted red dots like the first-gen Liberator. They also sell some non-optic products, including branded pistol mag extensions and their Wolverine Glock slides. TFB has done several articles on Swampfox offerings, including:

I don’t have to remind most of you that gun manufacturers and merchants are under a lot of pressure these days in regard to their relationships with various financial organizations. Many banks and credit card processing companies have either severely hampered or completely severed all of their dealings with the firearms industry and this has left both sellers and buyers high and dry when sometimes making transactions. Stryk Pay is now offering a new pro-gun friendly means of credit card processing that is further backed up by a network of second amendment-friendly banks.

Thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades launchers together with dozens of advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles were found and interdicted on a stateless dhow in the North Arabian Sea. The guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey, part of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, intercepted the boat and discovered the cargo during a routine boarding.

About six months ago, in November 2020, TFB reported that SIG SAUER was making moves to add some additional space to their facilities in Epping, New Hampshire. The new building was described as a “showpiece” by the civil engineering firm working on it, and was reputed to be a sizeable addition that would cost somewhere around $13.5 million. This plan is now coming to fruition, as the ground has now officially been broken on the project. Once completed, this building will add more than 40,000 square feet of space for everything from a SIG museum, a retail component, indoor shooting, and more. Dubbed the “Experience Center”, this two-story building will greet visitors upon their arrival to SIG’s 140-acre complex located roughly 1.5 hours’ drive north of Boston, Massachusetts. It is expected to give people more reason to visit the area, as well as to create some additional jobs for local residents. SIG has issued the following press release to announce the recent ground-breaking ceremony.

When the Ruger-57 burst onto the scene in late 2019, it made quite a splash. For around two decades, there were very few models of firearms using the 5.7x28mm cartridge – chiefly just FN’s own P90 and Five-seveN variants, which were developed starting in the late ’90s in conjunction with the round. Though a handful of other manufacturers have added support over the years, the pickings have remained relatively slim. It makes sense, then, that Ruger‘s release of a 5.7-caliber handgun priced significantly lower than FN’s option (a $799 MSRP versus $1199) got people excited. It was well-received, and both TFB’s and TFBTV’s reviewers had positive things to say about it. For those readers who have them, we hope you enjoy them, but be warned: a safety issue has been discovered. See the following bulletin from Ruger regarding a potential problem with the manual safety lever.

Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. is a publicly traded company listed on the USA’s second-largest stock exchange, the Nasdaq, under the ticker symbol SWBI. After they announced their split from American Outdoor Brands in 2020, and following the massive uptick in firearms sales over the last year or so, the company appears to be doing well. They employ more than 2000 people, and last reports put their revenue at $678.39MM. At the time of this writing, shares of SWBI are up a staggering amount from one year ago – over 160%! In addition to the storied Smith & Wesson firearms brand, the company owns a number of subsidiary entities. One of these, since Smith & Wesson’s purchase of them in 2007, has been Thompson/Center Arms.