Table of contents for January/February 2017 in Recoil

In the late ’60s the guys at Steyr gazed upon the firearms landscape and said, “You know what? Star Wars isn’t even going to be thought of for another decade, but let’s build a space gun anyway.” And they did. And it was good. One of the first successful bullpups to be fielded by a modern army, the AUG or Armee Universal Gewehr to give it its full title, is surprisingly conventional beneath its attentiongrabbing plastic exterior. Unlike the HK G11, there are no telescoped, caseless wunderpatrone fed by a Swisswatch-like hyperburst mechanism. Instead, a detachable box mag offers plain vanilla 5.56 NATO into a hammer-forged barrel, where they’re locked into place by a multi-lugged bolt popularized by Stoner’s system. A short-stroke gas system dating to the 1920s acts…

Some industries have made an entire industry out of celebrating their own industry. Tinseltown, for example, has elevated self-aggrandizement to an art form with an unending array of awards and awards shows, from the Academy Awards to the Tony Awards to the Emmy Awards. Consumers eat it up, artists genuinely appreciate the recognition, and companies love the exposure. The firearms industry, however, has never been quite so organized and ambitious. But there’s an effort afoot to change that, and we were there to witness its unveiling — at the inaugural Firearms Industry Choice Awards in Park City, Kentucky. Nathan and Nick Noble of Rockcastle Shooting Center, David Powers of Oneida Molded Plastics, and many others worked tirelessly to execute an event honoring innovation and excellence in the firearm industry. THE…

If you close your eyes and try to imagine a sniper rifle, you’ll probably come up with something like the M40A1. Though there were precursors, this heavily customized Remington Model 700 was the longest-serving standard-issue Marine Corps sniper rifle. It was fielded from the early 1970s all the way until the early 2000s, though some still saw limited use later. It could safely be called the prototypical sniper rifle, and the only one of its kind for quite a long time. Every precision bolt-action rifle would be compared to the M40A1 from that point on, for better or for worse. The grandson alongside is the M40A5. Both of these rifles featured were expertly hand-crafted at C&H PWS (CHPWS) by Dave Clark. Clark was in the Marine Corps for more than…

No doubt you’ve seen 80-percent AR-15 lowers. They’ve taken many forms over the years from simple forgings to billet pieces in various states of completion. If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) has a special calculation as to the difference between an 80-percent lower and an 81- or 82-percent lower, they haven’t shared it with us. By and large, what the BATFE considers a firearm seems mostly to be a subjective measure. There’ve been incidents in the past where a lower was deemed kosher by the BATFE — until it wasn’t. A notable example of this in the AR-15 world was the EP Armory 80-percent lower that utilized two different colors of polymer: one that needed to be drilled and milled out, and the other that didn’t.…

We’re all familiar with the ubiquitous Remington 700 action, with its vast array of aftermarket accessories that allow a motivated individual to build up bolt guns ranging from mild to wild. Thanks to Brownells, there’s now an alternative that starts a little higher up the spec sheet, while offering one option that Big Green overlooks. Interested? We thought you might be. Howa rifles have a long track record and an excellent reputation among the cognoscenti, while, for the most part, staying under the radar of most American gun buyers. That might change in the coming years, as Legacy Sports from Reno, Nevada, has committed long-term to importing them from Japan, which has encouraged many accessory companies to offer products and support for the base models. In addition, they’ve taken the…

2015 TOYOTA 4RUNNER TRD PRO 4L V-6 FIVE-SPEED AUTOMATIC WWW.LAWNDARTDESIGN.COM Vision. It’d be easy to say in hindsight there was a clear, start-to-finish vision for this truck. But, like many project builds, getting from stock to upgraded was an ever-evolving path. For me, a professional filmmaker and pixel pusher, it was about treading the line between daily driver and overlanding. I wanted something that could serve as a utility vehicle for carrying precious cargo comfortably and safely into remote locations. The project began with an infernocolored 2015 4Runner TRD Pro and the balance of its on-road performance and off-road handling. The 4Runner is based on the tough-as-nails, body-onframe, Toyota Prado 150 platform with a manual transfer case and bombproof reliability because ... Toyota. The TRD Pro from the factory was…

It’s hard to believe that the Steyr AUG is turning 40 next year. What’s more remarkable is that it’s still used to this day to represent a futuristic weapon or the latest in firearms technology. That’s the beauty of the bullpup. Its shorter overall length makes it great to keep in confined spaces such as troops in an APC or a tank crew, and this compact size is perfect for troops to use in MOUT operations for shooting from cover. Initially called the Stg-77 (Sturmgewehr 77) and adopted by the Austrian Army in 1988, we saw it for the first time in a James Bond movie (Octopussy). Being 12 or 13 years old at the time, I assumed it was some futuristic rifle invented by a Hollywood prop master, until…

Red-dot sights make everything better. Just think how accurately you could brush your teeth or how fast you could answer your smartphone with a red-dot mounted. They can do all that and more. I’d put a red-dot on all my appliances if possible. I must admit a bit of a jaded perspective as most of my competitive shooting career has been with a red-dot. A red-dot is simpler to use than iron sights. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. I think back to the first time I dropped the hammer on a pistola with a dot. It was magical. Just put the red dot on the target, and that’s where the bullet goes. The gun almost shoots by itself. Insert rude awakening. I believe the bullet hit the back berm, but…

The AR-15 has truly become “America’s Rifle,” modern-day muskets that are integral to the fabric of life for American gun owners. Whether wielded by warfighters and law enforcement, or in the hands of civilians for home defense, hunting, competition, or target shooting, ARs are literally everywhere. It’s reported that one of every four rifles made in the U.S. is an AR. And it’s a uniquely American story — with ingenuity and innovation, missteps, continuous improvements and refinements, and its eventual ascendance to firearms behemoth. Today, one might think of Hollywood, California, with some amount of disdain when it comes to firearms. But back in the late 1950s, Armalite’s small workshop in that very town gave birth to the most adaptable and longest-lasting standard U.S. service rifle of all time. The…

There’s a certain pride associated with being one of “those people.” You know, the ones who are able to actually do stuff, rather than either wait for the market to react to a need they never thought they had, or have to take their busted appliance, vehicle, or firearm to a pro to be fixed. Yet the transition from consumer to doer has never been easier, due in large part to the democratization of information, and the wide availability of parts and accessories. If you’ve always wondered whether or not a particular project is within your abilities, then if you’re like most of us, the default answer is probably “yes.” Take pistol modifications, for example. In this issue of Brownells Gunnery, Dave Merrill takes two of the most popular handguns…

With vivacious curves and seductive rings, karambits are like the sexy foreign exchange student you know nothing about, but would love to get your hands on. Originally used as a utility tool by farmers and fishermen in Indonesia, this ancient knife (also spelled “kerambit”) was patterned after a tiger’s claw and eventually morphed into a self-defense weapon. It’s become all the rage in recent years among Western knife nuts. The karambit has haters, though. Some complain the curvature makes it a horrible everyday-carry (EDC) knife, while the lack of a straight tip makes it a poor fighting knife. But those who practice Indonesian silat, Filipino kali, and other Southeast Asian systems know better. A karambit is brutally effective at ripping tendons, redirecting limbs, leveraging takedowns, and (cue the groans)…

According to Wired, this guy is the fifth most dangerous person on the internet. He and his company, Defense Distributed, caused Uncle Sam some heartburn back in May 2013 when it released the Liberator project. The Defense Distributed Liberator grew out of Wilson’s wiki weapons project. It’s named after the .45-caliber, WWII-era, FP-45 Liberator. The original gun was more a tool of psychological rather than actual warfare. It was a small, inexpensive pistol meant to be air dropped en masse into Axis occupied territory. The idea was to sink Jerry’s morale by making him wonder if every civilian might be an armed, insurgent threat. Wilson’s Liberator differs from the original in a few ways, the most important being DD’s Liberator isn’t a gun. It’s an idea. Sure, the end…

ENTER THE CONTEST! WIN A LIMITED-EDITION BFG/RECOIL VICKERS SLINGTM www.recoilweb.com/getyourslingon Sometimes it’s easy to look at something simple and assume that no improvements can be made. In the world of firearms, particularly in military applications, accepting design flaws as the baseline standard just doesn’t cut it. And when you throw Blue Force Gear and Larry Vickers into the mix, you’re going to get some forehead-slapping moments and say, “Why didn’t anyone think of that sooner?” Vickers’ time in the U.S. Army’s Delta Force wasn’t without a learning curve in regard to what gear worked and what didn’t. Having a sling melt on a rifle barrel and experiencing the other headaches that came with using the standard two-point sling left him with a desire to give the version he’d used in…

People often question the differences between men and women in terms of their ability to handle firearms, how they take to firearms training, and their motivation for seeking training. We’ll break it down with examples of both as they apply to precision rifle shooting. Note: This article is based on a sampling of multiple interviews conducted with male and female instructors around the United States and is by no means a scientific study. However, the results might make you a bit more objective about your own decision making or desires to criticize others. Fred is a typical male. He was excited about attending a long-range shooting class. He didn’t regret spending the money on an Accuracy International .300 Winchester Magnum. Fred didn’t want to be handicapped by a cheapo rifle.…

When the Smith & Wesson M&P was first released, the comparisons to Glock immediately started rolling out. While there have been other so-called “plastic fantastics,” the M&P was the first that actually seemed capable of dethroning Glock from the top of the pile. Adding to the noise of Glock versus 1911 and .45 ACP versus 9mm, soon came Glock versus M&P. This isn’t your typical A versus B piece. Sure, we’ll look at the raw handguns themselves, as it provides a solid baseline, but we’ll also have a gander at the aftermarket for some solid solutions to potential drawbacks and possible deal breakers. Today we’ll cover three different levels of modifications for each type of pistol: OEM, enhanced, and advanced. To that end, we obtained an example of each handgun,…