Recently in Pistols Category

Say Uncle comments on the pistol used at the big Blackwater event.

I meant to link this earlier but forgot: Choosing Your First 1911

A great read and lots of pictures.

Uncle points out an image from Guns Magazine of an Any Other Weapon created by adding a vertical grip to a Kel-Tec PLR-16 for a photo shoot. It's that easy to violate federal law.

Sebastian adds:

We're often told that gun control doesn't affect ordinary gun owners, only criminals and nutjobs. Well, sorry, that's bullshit.

Besides simple things like adding a standard vertical grip to the wrong weapon, you can get it if your weapon malfunctions.

But it's all about stopping crime.

Picked up my engraved FNP-40 this afternoon. Not sure if I'll get to shoot it this weekend, but picked up some ammo just in case.

I got a call today that the engraved FNP-40 I received for participating in FN USA's SHOT Show shoot back in February arrived. So I headed over to the shop to pick it up.

Never having been given a gun for free before, I didn't realize I needed a Michigan License to Purchase a Pistol even if I'm not purchasing a pistol.

Reading up a bit more, I see that you need a License to Purchase a Pistol "even though the applicant may already have possession of a pistol, such as through an inheritance."

It's all about controlling crime, it is.

To pick up my license, I need to visit my local police department 12:00 - 3:00 on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. This, even though it is illegal by Michigan law to limit the hours of operation. MCL 28.422 (12) says:

A licensing authority shall implement this section during all of the licensing authority's normal business hours and shall set hours for implementation that allow an applicant to use the license within the time period set forth in subsection (6).

Subsection (6) stipulates that a license to purchase must be used within 10 days and the pistol (if one i s purchased) must be presented for a "safety inspection." Yet the Wyoming Police Department is not in compliance.

Yep. All about controlling crime.

If you have your Concealed Pistol License you don't need a License to Purchase a Pistol, but you still have to get the "safety inspection." Michigan House Bill 4491 would repeal the "safety inspection" requirement and mandate the destruction of all records. It passed the Michigan House last month and is currently in the Senate's Judiciary Committee.

Now what sort of crazy weapon have the Rooskies cooked up?

I posted this over on Murdoc Online as part of a post on a proposed three-engined interceptor variant of the A-5 Vigilante bomber, but I think GunPundit types who don't frequent MO will like it, too.

18 RA-5Cs were lost in combat during the war, giving it the highest loss rate of any Navy aircraft in the conflict. 13 Vigilantes were shot down by flak, two were shot down by SAMs, one was shot down by a MiG-21, and the other two were lost to unknown causes over enemy territory.

The loss rate was high because the missions were unusually hazardous. Vigilantes were used for both pre-strike and post-strike reconnaissance. Pre-strike missions were relatively safe, but the North Vietnamese quickly realized after a target was bombed a reconnaissance aircraft would soon arrive to evaluate the damage, and so post-strike missions were generally conducted in the face of an enemy that was thoroughly alert and waiting. Vigilantes flying post-strike reconnaissance missions tried to follow the strike elements in just after the last bombs fell to reduce the risk.

Only 9 of the 36 of the aircrew shot down were rescued, with others either killed or taken prisoner. In one case, the rescue was a grim adventure like something out of an action movie. Lieutenant JG Francis Prendergast was the back-seat RAN on an RA-5C that was shot down over North Vietnam on 9 March 1967. According to one version of the story (there are other versions that differ slightly in details), he was captured near the seashore by North Vietnamese militiamen, with two of them assigned to guard him. One was armed with a rifle, the other with Prendergast's own 0.38-caliber revolver, standard equipment for aircrew and carried externally in a shoulder holster.

Prendergast carried the revolver with the first two chambers unloaded as a safety measure, and as a backup also had a small 0.22 caliber automatic pistol hidden inside his flight suit. When a rescue helicopter and support aircraft showed up, strafing drove off all the North Vietnamese except the guards, who felt safer staying with Prendergast than running for cover.

This proved a fatal mistake. While the two North Vietnamese were distracted by the noise and confusion, Prendergast pulled out the little automatic, cocked it, and shot the militiaman with the rifle in the head. The other militiaman tried to shoot Prendergast with the revolver, only to find that the hammer fell on an empty cylinder, and was shot himself an instant later. Prendergast swam out to the rescue helicopter and was retrieved.

The .22 you carry is better than the .44 you don't.

Rummell's dug up some old (1920s old) catalog pages from the Pacific Arms Corporation, and one of the more interesting items is what they call a "Poison Gas Pistol."

Looks like three barrels for three shots. And it sounds like the "poison gas" is really some sort of tear gas, as Rummell points out.

More pages, and links to the rest, here.

See A Keyboard and a .45 and The Firearm Blog for more on this 23" weapon that weighs nearly six pounds and has a 10.5" barrel. Oh, and a 50-round drum magazine of .45ACP.

I remember seeing this before, but I particularly like this write up in today's UK Daily Mail:

The SwissMiniGun is the size of a key fob but fires tiny 270mph bullets powerful enough to kill at close range.

Wow. 270mph. That sounds really fast, doesn't it? It's just under 400 feet per second, though.

Jonathan Spencer, consultant forensic scientist and firearms expert, said that although the gun, which fires bullets at a speed of 399 feet a second, was tiny, it could still prove fatal and in the eyes of the law was as dangerous as a machine gun. [emphasis Murdoc's]

Funny.

Retired Russian TP-82 Survival Pistol

The fact that Russian cosmonauts are packing heat is suddenly big news. It's nothing new.

It's part of their survival kit. Soviet/Russian spacecraft parachute down to land, and their accuracy isn't terribly great. They've apparently replaced a specialized survival weapon with a standard pistol due to expired ammunition for the specialty gun, but I don't see any reason to get all uptight about it. A few years back I was wondering if they were still carrying them up to the International Space Station. I wouldn't expect them not to.

This is much ado about nothing.

Good discussion in the comments at Say Uncle.

UPDATE: Image and link via Armed and Gregarious.

UPDATE 2: More on the TP-82, including some good pictures, at Steve Johnson's Firearm Blog.

Includes this tidbit:

The removable stock can be used as a machete.

Kit Up discusses this question.

During a firefight, a US Marine Corps (USMC) troop from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, California returns enemy fire with his M9 9mm Beretta Pistol from a protected position, in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Camera Operator: SGT KEVIN R. REED, USMC Date Shot: 8 Apr 2003