Wednesday’s post on Charter Arms’ New Rimless Revolver seems to have attracted a bit of attention from a wide range of sources. Opinions are varied, but check it out if you missed it.

Italian Police arrest man with phone gun

.22 Caliber Phone Gun

These things have cropped up every once in a while for that past several years.

The stories always say the antenna is the barrel, but I’ve seen a video that shows pressing four buttons on the keypad each fires the bullet it is above. I’m thinking it’s more likely that each round has its own barrel (such as it is) an is really four single shots.

UPDATE: Here’s the video. Definitely not some sort of semi-auto:
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Charter Arms announces the Charter Arms Rimless Revolver (CARR) a revolutionary new rimless revolver for popular semi-auto cartridges.

From the press release:

Available Calibers: Charter Arms will first offer the .40 S&W chambering, followed quickly by the .45ACP and 9×19 mm Parabellum (the 9mm Parabellum revolver will also chamber factory .380ACP). All three of Charter Arms’ Rimless Revolvers (9mm, .40 and .45) are rated for higher velocity +P loadings.

The advantage is now the average gun owner can own an affordable, trouble-free revolver chambered in these popular semi-auto rounds without the need for specialized ammunition clips and a specialized gun.

Back up and self-defense: For law enforcement work the always ready-to-fire, fiddle-factor-free revolver is the back up to have; especially if is the same caliber as the officer’s carry gun. As a primary self-defense carry gun, these three calibers mean reliable protection in popular semi-auto self defense-calibers.

If more power is needed, step up to +P ammo. The advantage with Charter Arms Rimless Revolvers is they will fire any mix of cartridges while maintaining 100% reliability. For plinking with .45ACP or 9mm surplus and discounted military type ammo, the affordable Charter Arms Rimless Revolver will prove to be very economical and it’s also a .380 revolver. Now that is fun!

The secret is the patent-pending Charter Arms Rimless Revolver Round System. Basically, when a round is loaded into the chamber a specialized spring engages the cartridge’s ejector groove. When the cylinder is opened and the ejector rod operated, it extracts and ejects the fired cases.

Models: Initially snubbarrels (2″ 9mm and 2.2″ .40 and .45ACP) as these revolvers are designed for self- defense and back up. The 9mm is built on Charter Arms’ compact and lightweight undercover platform featuring an aluminum frame and weighing only 12 ounces. The .40 and .45ACP built on the popular and robust Bulldog frame due to the larger diameter of these cartridges while maintaining a compact profile.

Availability: First quarter of 2009.

MSRP Prices: 9mm $399.00, .40 $449.00, .45ACP $449.00

That .40 looks pretty good to me. Particularly for carry. I expect that these will sell well to a wide range of shooters.

BullNav has a buddy who is thinking about getting himself a handgun and wondered if they could try a few out at the local range. BullNav was more than happy to oblige.

Last week I noted a Strategy Page post on an order for 20,000 more M9 pistols for the US Army. The weapons are actually intended for the Iraqi police force, not our army. From the contract:

MARK FOR: IRAQ MINISTRY OF INTERIOR
BAGHDAD POLICE COLLEGE
WEAPONS AND AMMO WAREHOUSE
PALESTINE RD TEL DSN 318-239-8299
BAGHDAD IRAQ

Thanks to the commenters who pointed this out.

Ruger Single Six
StuF Photo

Spent some time recently checking out one of these .22LR single action only revolvers that StuF inherited. Fun to shoot, and the included .22 WMR cylinder pumped up the volume a bit.

If you’ll look closely at the plastic bin lid we used as a target, you’ll see that some of the rounds didn’t quite keep their tight spin:

This was from a range of about 10 yards. I’ve read that the Single Sixes were pretty accurate, but this doesn’t look terribly good. We didn’t have a lot of time to look into it. Has anyone had similar issues?

This is an older “three screw” model and doesn’t appear to have the transfer bar ‘upgrade’ made, though I wasn’t looking for (or even aware of) it while shooting. We had to have the hammer at half-cock to load, which I read indicates and unmodified older model. Leave the hammer on an empty chamber if you have an older model without the transfer bar.

Ruger will not sell parts for an unmodified Single Six.

It has what appear to be Pachmayr rubber presentation grips. I’m not sure if those are original, but I suspect not.

It also has a plastic block glued to the top of the barrel. I’m told this may have been to offer a similar sight picture to the .45 the previous owner also had.

M9 9mm Pistol

Strategy Page:

U.S. Army TACOM (Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command) has ordered another 20,000 Beretta 92FS 9mm pistols. These will cost $410 each. The M9 is a 34 ounce, 8.5 inch (217mm) long weapon that has a 4.9 inch (125mm) barrel and a magazine that holds 15 rounds. It replaced the M1911 .45 (11.4mm) caliber ACP. This was a 39 ounce, 8.25 inch (210mm) long weapon with a 5 inch (127mm) barrel and a 7 round magazine. Both pistols were only accurate at up to about 50 meters. The M1911 had more hitting power, while the M9 was a bit more accurate.

The post points out that many military personnel who carry a pistol for combat use, rather than as an emergency survival tool, elect to carry a .45 instead of a 9mm. I will add that often this is done by using personal funds to buy the weapon rather than carrying an issued sidearm, and that it is frequently against unit regulations. Holsters with flaps that conceal the identity of the weapon are popular for this very reason.

Soldiers and Marines don’t do that unless they’re pretty sure it’s the right thing.

Xavier put a HiViz on the ol’ MkII.

Murdoc was just checking out the HiViz on Monday for his own MkII.

Second Annual Pistol Challenge for Charity

SIG P6 from The Archangel if yo win.

Rummell on the .25 Police Issue