Archive for the ‘International’ Category

Phone Gun Surfaces Again

November 29th, 2008

Italian Police arrest man with phone gun

.22 Caliber 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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Those 20,000 M9 pistols are for Iraq Police

November 24th, 2008

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.

Let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to sing

November 14th, 2008

Friday Night Video
Wind of Change — Scorpions

Hard to believe the hope for change that we felt when this song came out.

South Korean K11

November 14th, 2008

I hadn’t heard about this beast:

Im chung-bin the the chief of staff of ROKA examines new South korean double barreled rifle K-11 in ground weapon conference.2008.11.11 Daejeun South korea This rifle uses 20mm airburst ammunition and 5.56mm NATO. 20mm launcher operates as bolt action and use 5 round mag. This weapon will be fielded in next year.

Im chung-bin the the chief of staff of ROKA examines new South korean double barreled rifle K-11 in ground weapon conference.2008.11.11 Daejeun South korea This rifle uses 20mm airburst ammunition and 5.56mm NATO. 20mm launcher operates as bolt action and use 5 round mag. This weapon will be fielded in next year.

The K11 has more than a passing resemblance to the shelved XM-29 OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon). And the general’s right hand is on what appears to be the grenade magazine, not the pistol grip.

Who’s taking bets about whether it’s “fielded in the next year”?

‘Sex and the City’ meets Camo

November 13th, 2008

Girls just want to have guns

The girls going hunting story isn’t limited to the United States:

Alarmed by the decline of hunting’s popularity across North America, hunting organizations in Canada are wooing new species of sportsman rarely encountered in the bush: kids, women and the elusive city slicker.

The recruitment effort surfaced in Quebec last week.

The province’s hunting and fishing federation has launched a $150,000 campaign to encourage urbanites to step out of their condos, pick up a weapon and head for the wilderness.

The story also talks about the marketing angle a bit, pointing out that the hunting sector hasn’t really done a whole lot to help itself in that regard. This isn’t surprising, as hunters and pro-gun types might think that since what they do is fun and makes sense, it should sell itself. The problem is that the anti-hunting and anti-gun groups spend an awful lot of time and money on marketing the anti storyline, and it has a very negative effect on the sport. I think this lopsided situation in the public perception is behind at least part of the hunting decline and it’s nice to see a bit of an effort to establish a bit of positive buzz.

Of course, not all Canadian women are enthusiastic about it. Here’s a comment on the story left by someone named Patricia:

This sickens me. We are possessed of a war mentality and here is the proof. We must hunt defenseless sentient beings for fun. People living in modern society, who are several centuries removed from being hunter-gatherers, have absolutely no reason for hunting other than to unconsciously feed the sadistic and cruel side of ourselves. Wilderness habitats are shrinking and species are going extinct all because of human activity. Until deer, bear and dove can shoot back with their own equally powerful guns, hunting should be banned except for those small and remote communities whose existence depends on it.

Blah blah blah. That sounds exactly like someone spouting anti-hunting talking points.

That’s a lot of guns

November 10th, 2008

It’s not the SHOT Show. It’s weapons seized recently by the Mexican army.

Now what they need to do is identify the fully-automatic weapons that were purchased in the US and then “flowed” over the border to arm the drug lords. Because that’s what we keep hearing is happening.

More on the Mehmetçik-1

November 8th, 2008

A couple days ago I mentioned that the Turkish army has decided to go with a standard rifle based on the HK 416. Steve Johnson has more info and some pictures, plus the goods on a new sniper weapon. Go look.

Turkish military going with HK416

November 5th, 2008

Turks Adopt Rejected U.S. Army Rifle

Their version will be called the Mehmetçik-1. This should provide a bit of a boost for piston-driven ARs.

AR Graveyard

October 14th, 2008

The Firearm Blog has a photo of the fate of some seized US-made weapons taken during the Russian invasion of Georgia. Ouch.

Lone 16-year-old deters pirates with a geranium and a smile

October 10th, 2008

Sailor Zac Sunderland endures first pirate scare

Goes to show what a friendly wave, a positive attitude, and a potted plant can accomplish.

(Just kidding. He used a gun.)

Via Sebastian.

GunPundit.com