Airborne Combat Engineer

Pimp your M9 with a rail system

After nearly two years of effort, and constant revisions based on feedback from military and law enforcement users, an inventor based in Florida has devised a new rail system that can be retrofitted to the M9 Beretta standard milspec pistol.

[Defense Tech] [Survival Consultants]

Next design task for Mr. Woroner: A workable hoster for it.

Air Force "may specify" .45 handgun

The Air Force Future Handgun program has just entered the market survey phase. The air force says it "may specify" a .45-caliber round, which is larger than the 9mm and the same size used on the M1911 phased-out in the late-1980s.

The air force program comes several months after the army and Special Operations Command cancelled the Joint Combat Pistol program, which also sought to bring back the .45-calibre sidearm.

[ST, Defense Tech]

Name the firearm, 06MAR07

Every firearm enthusiast should know this one.

She doesn't look like she's serious about using that thing, does she?

UPDATE: Now that CH77 has ID'd it correctly, see the close-up image in the continuation for the answer, right there on the side of the pistol.

Rare Continental Army flintlock pistol ($170K)

As the 13 colonies prepared to go to war for independence from Britain, craftsmen and laborers at James Hunter's Rappahannock Forge in Falmouth were turning out weapons and other gear to supply George Washington's Continental Army.

Two-hundred and thirty years later, officials from the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center discovered that one of the flintlock pistols made at that forge was going on public auction in San Francisco on Feb. 5.

Only 15 of these pistols, marked with the "Rap a. Forge" stamp, are known to still exist, and according to Mary Helen Dellinger, the museum's senior vice president for collections and exhibitions, it had been 40 years since the last one came up for sale publicly.

An anonymous "friend" of the museum stepped in to front the $170,250 it took to buy the gun at the San Francisco auction, and it returned to Fredericksburg earlier this month in a Federal Express truck.

[Fredericksburg]

Kahr offers 3 calibers, 3 barrel lengths, 3 finishes

Kahr now offers 9mm, 40 S&W, and .45 ACP variants. 

The company is also endeavoring to offer some models at more competitive prices.

See a number of product reviews.

In 1999, Kahr introduced the "micro" MK40, which is a true pocket rocket! The MK40 is the fraternal twin of the MK9 and measures a mere 5.35 inches in length, 4.0 inches in height, and has a slide width of 0.94 of an inch. The MK40 weighs in at 23.1 ounces, which is a plus when shooting hot .40 loads. Magazine capacity has been reduced by one round from the K40. It is smaller in weight and size than the famed ASP.  [G&WforLE, MAY2000]

HK USP Compact

The HK USP Compact is a small frame pistol which can be ordered in 9mm, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, and .45 ACP. It's a scaled-down USP (covered in an earlier A-C-E post) first introduced in 1994.

Unlike some subcompact semiautomatic pistols that use a difficult to shoot “ two-finger grip” frame, the USP  Compact uses a narrow, full-hand grip frame with a choice of interchangeable extended or flush-fitting magazine floorplates. This makes the pistol easy to shoot without sacrificing concealability.

The 1.47 lb. pistol is 5" high, 6.81" long (7.09 for the .45), with a 3.58" barrel.

The design is a scale-down of the respected full-sized USP, which is shown in X-ray view in the continuation. The modified browning operation is softened by a captive recoil spring and polymer absorbing bushing, which absorbs energy at the end of the slide's travel rearward (not quite as effective as the recoil system in the full-size USP).The Law Enforcement Modification (LEM) version provides Double Action Only (DOA) for consistent trigger pull (at two optional weight ranges), as preferred by some goverment agencies and police departments.

The reviews at Gun Directory are overwhelmingly positive.

The .45 CT (Compact Tactical or Counter Terrorist) is a modified USP Compact for special forces (with threaded barrel extension for a flash hider or suppressor):

more images in the continuation