In 2019 the International Precision Rifle (IPRF) was founded with the goal to unify the sport of precision rifle worldwide and set international standards for competition enabling a level playing field at Regional and World Championship levels. It’s with great pleasure I write this article to announce that there will be a Precision Rifle World Championships in 2022. The location will be somewhere in Europe, most likely Spain by the looks of things at the moment. Hopefully, this new World Championship will attract and gather the best Precision Rifle shooters on a global level.

When it comes to firearms training schools, Thunder Ranch is among the foremost in the business. For almost 30 years, this premier institution now based in Oregon has served to provide top-level instruction for a variety of gun/shooting types and the full spectrum of students. Courses are offered for everyone from individual citizens looking to protect themselves and their families, to military/law enforcement personnel who may have to shoot competently in the line of duty. Thunder Ranch‘s founder and president/director is the inimitable Clint Smith, a veritable icon in the industry.

New for 2021 from Stoeger is a special winter optimized hunting shotgun with an eye towards snow geese hunting.  With the addition of their 10 round magazine tube from their M3K 3Gun Freedom series model, plus other loading and operation features optimized for heavy gloved use, the M3500 becomes a snow goose harvesting machine. Just don’t forget an extra long dowel when using it for certain other game birds.

The beleaguered gun rights organization, The National Rifle Association, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to restructure in the state of Texas. Over the past few years, the NRA has come under fire for alleged financial mismanagement and the target of lawsuits and other civil actions. In August, the New York Attorney General announced intentions to dissolve the NRA under a fraud and abuse investigation. The NRA bankruptcy petition is part of a plan to reorganize outside the state of New York.

TFB has long followed the progress of the US Marine Corps effort to field suppressors across the board. At the end of December 2020, the Corps finally announced that they had begun the process of fielding thousands of rifle caliber suppressors to Marines for use with the M27, M38, M4 and M4A1 rifles and carbines.

Daniel Defense is a firearms manufacturer that needs no introduction. Since the company’s humble beginnings making small parts in the early 2000s, to their David-and-Goliath style successes in providing rail systems to SOCOM shortly after that, to the introduction of their first complete firearm (the DDM4, later referred to as the V1) in 2009, Daniel Defense has become one of the gun world’s household names. You would be hard-pressed to find a legitimate firearms enthusiast today who wasn’t familiar with the brand. Their AR-series rifles are highly sought after and well-regarded by many. Similarly, Daniel Defense’s recent foray into precision bolt guns, with the original Delta 5’s announcement at SHOT Show 2019, was received with excitement. They have learned from that first run and listened to customer feedback, and as a result have introduced a new upgraded version of their bolt gun: the Delta 5 Pro, which they were kind enough to bring and show off at TFB and TFBTV’s GunFest 2021.

After the crushing news that the NSSF ( National Shooting Sports Foundation) had cancelled SHOT Show 2021 ( Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show), Smith & Wesson decided to step up in a big way by donating $500,000 to their organization. While SHOT Show is obviously a huge event for the NSSF, they are still working year-round to support firearm efforts on behalf of gun owners. Smith & Wesson understands this as well and that is what motivated their end-of-the-year generosity. They elaborate on the donation in the press release statement below:

Texas-based F-1 Firearms has emerged in recent years as a manufacturer looking to be different. Most notably, to this end, the signature feature on most of their guns and components tends to be significant skeletonizing. Although they’re not the only company putting out skeletonized parts, no one else seems to be making it their primary distinguishing hallmark, or to be using this style so prolifically. The practice is not without its doubters and detractors, but nonetheless, it has gone a long way toward putting F-1 Firearms on the map. Now this bold young company is looking to make a name in another sector of the market. As they advertised at SHOT Show 2020, F-1’s new line of suppressors is now out, and Silencer Shop has announced that three models are currently available through them.

Knowing the speed of your bullet is an important factor in hitting distant targets. If you know the ballistic coefficient (BC), the speed of your bullet and combine it with the environment you’re shooting in (i.e. wind, pressure and temperature) you’ve got a lot of knowledge to enter into your ballistic app. And accurate knowledge is power in long range shooting. Now the access to that knowledge is about to gather under one roof, as Kestrel‘s parent company just bought MagnetoSpeed.

In what may go down as a Christmas miracle, the ATF has rescinded the notice pertaining to weapons with stabilizing braces. The potential rulemaking would have had a massive effect on both individual owners as well as the firearms industry, redefining pistols as rifles using a new set of criteria. The withdrawal comes after tens of thousands of comments were posted to the official notice and dozens of representatives signed on to a letter to the ATF in opposition to the proposal.

From December 18, 2020 to January 4, 2021 the ATF is accepting formal comments on the proposed rulemaking entitled Objective Factors for Classifying Weapons wit Stabilizing Braces. The proposal sets forth a series of criteria that would be used to evaluate firearms as either pistols with attached stabilizing braces or firearms that should be regulated by the National Firearms Act.

When it comes to 2020 and firearms regulations 2020 has been quite the roller coaster ride. Actually, that is not accurate; a roller coaster is fun and ATF regulations are not. A few weeks ago, we discussed the ATF  contradicting previous determinations of SB Tactical braces, and most recently the Buy Build Shoot kits from  Polymer 80. Well, in recent news, the ATF seems to be formalizing plans for a pistol brace ruling. A few days ago they released a draft detailing a proposed “re-imagination” of pistol braces on firearms.

There might be a small ray of sunshine peeking through for 2021 and gun event attendees as the NRA has just announced new dates for their NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits. The event will still be held in Texas but the dates which were originally scheduled for mid-May of 2020 have been moved to September 3-5 of 2021. Full Details in the NRA press release below:

Announced about a week ago, the new Nosler Reloading Guide 9 is now available for purchase. According to Nosler, the 9th edition manual has been in the making for five years and within its 800 pages, it contains comprehensive reloading data generated from thousands of hours of testing conducted in the Nosler Ballistic Lab. Let’s see what one should expect to find in the latest Nosler reloading guide.

Preliminary ATF documents published by the Prince Law Blog may show a move to classify firearms outfitted with pistol braces as items controlled under the National Firearms Act (NFA). If the move is formalized, it could potentially affect hundreds of thousands or even millions of gun owners in the United States, forcing them to make a choice: remove their pistol braces and destroy them, register their guns as NFA items or change the barrel length to anything over 16 inches. The revised look at the way pistol stabilizing braces are categorized is not necessarily a surprise. For years the ATF has scrutinized the configurations of certain braces, announced that a brace cannot be legal shouldered and most recently issued a cease and desist letter to Q, LLC regarding the brace on the honey badger pistol.

We have been following the development of the Bundeswehr’s ongoing efforts to procure a rifle for some time, now it has emerged that C.G. Haenel’s headquarters in Suhl have been visited by investigators on the orders of the Dusseldorf Regional Court. Investigators have reportedly moved to secure evidence for the patent infringement case between Haenel and Heckler & Koch.

According to documents sent to TFB from an anonymous source, the ATF investigation into the Polymer80 and the Buy Build Shoot kits appears to focus on three main elements. First, the ATF states that the Buy Build Shoot kits are firearms, not just parts. Second, because these kits are considered firearms, Polymer80 did not follow the regulations guiding the transfer of handguns from an FFL to individuals. And third, a number of the Polymer80 Buy Build Shoot kits were shipped from Polymer80 to prohibited persons. The affidavit in support of the Polymer80 warrant application to search for and seize evidence related to the investigation is detailed, in part, below.

Earlier in September of this year, Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. went into an agreement to pay $30 million for the Marlin assets that were being sold off from the Remington brand. The acquisition officially took place on November 24th with Ruger reportedly paying nearly $2 million less for the acquisition than initially planned. Finally, on December 7th, 2020 Ruger announced that it would be expanding its Mayodan, North Carolina Firearms Manufacturing plant by an additional 60 members.

Earlier today TFB reported on a story in the Wall Street Journal stating that the ATF had apparently conducted a search warrant at Polymer80 Inc, a company known for producing 80% firearm kits and related parts. These 80% builds, often referred to as “Ghost Guns” by media outlets, presumably because they can be built into firearms without needing to visit an FFL, have long been a topic of debate. This morning, an anonymous TFB reader provided additional information pointing to the ATF visiting end users and requesting the forfeiture of certain Polymer80 kits.

There is a common trope in the night vision world: 1 < 2 < 4. These numbers refer to the quantity of tubes used in different sets of NODs (Night-vision Optical Devices). Monoculars like the PVS-14 or Photonis Vyper-14 are inherently more limited than binocular devices like DTNVGs, and “ panoramic” quad-tube NODs like GPNVGs are heralded by many as the holy grail of seeing in the dark – hence, one tube isn’t as good as two tubes, which aren’t as good as four. Although in practicality, the four vs. two debate is a bit more complex than this somewhat trite representation, with factors like weight entering the mix, the fact remains that quads are a big deal (and come with the big price tag to match). Doubtlessly, there is something to be said for panos’ offering of a wider field of view and resultant better situational awareness.

Nevada-based firearm company Polymer80 was raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE or ATF) yesterday in an apparent move against so-called “Ghost Guns”. Polymer 80 builds kits, with tools and a bit of skill, can be turned into a firearm receiver. Traditionally termed 80% receivers because they are missing a critical 20% of the features needed to be a working firearm, media outlets and others unfamiliar with guns and manufacturing technology have given these kits the name “Ghost Guns”. The headline Polymer80 Raided by ATF is not really a surprise at the end of 2020 – the incoming administration has signaled a crackdown on “Ghost Guns” as part of new policy changes

With their founding roots stretching back to Europe in the late nineteenth century, Krieghoff endeavors to carry on the spirit of old-world hand craftsmanship in the line of fine shotguns they offer today. One of the features that many of their high-end hunting and competition guns are best known for is beautiful, intricate, artistic engraving. The Krieghoff engraving catalog includes dozens of options for baroque scrollwork or elaborate wildlife scenes to adorn your K-80. If none of the catalog options suit you, you can also commission a custom one-off engraving for your fancy new firearm.

People that enjoy travelling, visiting exhibitions and shooting competitions (I’m one of them) are having a hard time. Not to mention airlines, hotels, taxis and everyone who caters for all the travellers. Just imagine the mountain of sausages and the lake of beer that gets served during one of the large exhibitions in Germany.

When it comes to red dot sights for fighting rifles, Aimpoint optics typically sit on the top tier. And when it comes to Aimpoint’s red dot models, the T-2 sits atop their Micro series‘ tiers. The T-2 enjoys the highest specs and most robust set of features of this small form factor product line and is a favorite for many shooters, including some high-level professionals. This red dot’s small size and weight, exceptional durability and reliability, and long battery life make it an excellent choice in a wide variety of shooting applications for which built-in magnification is not needed. That said, Aimpoint does also make separate magnifier units that can be installed behind their red dots in flip mounts, for greater flexibility and versatility. Longtime industry expert and former Delta operator Larry Vickers is also a proponent of this excellent little optic and has now partnered with the Swedish-based manufacturer to release a Vickers Tactical limited-edition version of the T-2.

New Hampshire based firearms manufacturer and industry powerhouse has just announced that the acquisition of Marlin assets from the Remington bankruptcy sale is complete. The deal closed on November 23 and the $28.3 million purchase price was paid in full. Ruger is said to be moving Marlin rifle production in house and expects to see lever action models available later in 2021. Additional details can be found below.

SIG Sauer has just announced a safety recall for all Cross bolt action rifles. The SIG Cross recall is related to a delayed discharge observed in a single rifle and confirmed after it was returned to SIG for further evaluation. SIG advises owners to stop using their rifles, immediately unload them and contact customer service for guidance. Additional details can be found below.

Situated on the southern outskirts of North Texas’ bustling Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area, the small suburban city of Mansfield, Texas is home to optics manufacturer Sightmark, with its 33,000 square-foot headquarters. Since this facility was completed in 2011, just four years after their 2007 founding, the company has been busy producing a sizable catalogue of red dot sights, scopes, binoculars, magnifiers, sighting lasers, and more. Although some of these products are priced into the mid-range sectors of their respective categories, the vast majority of them are aimed at budget-conscious customers. Out of the more than three dozen models of riflescope options currently sold, for example, less than one-quarter of the lineup carries an MSRP in excess of $500, and only one of these breaks the $1000 mark.

A recent bill put forward by the Ohio Senate has recently passed with a 21 to 10 vote. Senate Bill 317 would allow school personnel like teachers to be armed while inside school if it is authorized by the local school board.

Nearly a year ago, at SHOT Show 2020, TFB and TFB TV reported on the Laugo Alien pistol. During the Vegas convention, Lancer Systems hosted a range event to showcase these 9mm handguns, which they were working on importing from the Czech Republic at that time. Lancer indicated that they were expecting a late Spring 2020 delivery timeframe, but of course, the ‘Rona then swooped in and disrupted everyone’s business – including global supply chains. The Laugo import timeframe then shifted, and we had no choice but to wait. Particularly given that the Alien comes from the same company behind the wildly successful Scorpion design that was sold to CZ, this delay came as a great disappointment to many shooters.

When you think of the suppressor market, there are some manufacturer names that immediately come to mind. There usually aren’t too many surprises or obscure brands on “ best of” or “ reader’s choice” lists. The New Mexico-based CGS Group, also known as Chaos Gear Supply, has historically not been one of those more famous names. However, with the November 18th release of a new suppressor model in two configurations, we may see the potential for that to change in the future. CGS Group’s new Hyperion and its little brother, the K version, are now available for pre-order through Silencer Shop and other NFA dealers. Though early runs of these suppressors have seen some limited testing, this new announcement signifies the start of full-scale consumer distribution.