by David Crane david@defensereview.com Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. has a pretty neat tactical-config AR-15/M16-based rifle/carbine in .308 (7.62x51mm) caliber that deserves mention, called (appropriately enough) the Bushmaster .308 Rifle. Charles Cutshaw’s written an excellent article on it for the January 2005 issue of "Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement" (GWLE). The Bushmaster .308 Rifle/Carbine was designed to take metric FAL magazines, …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The brand new, hot-off-the-presses Taurus PT 24/7 pistol is getting, well…a lot of press these days. The author can’t seem to pick up a firearms print publication lately without reading about the "24/7". For example, "Guns" Magazine (Nov. 2004) and "American Handgunner" Magazine (Nov./Dec. 2004), are both featuring articles on the 24/7 pistol, this month. Basically, …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. just introduced their new P345 .45ACP polymer-framed pistol. The Ruger P345 pistol is designed for comfortable concealed carry by police detectives. The polymer Ruger uses for the P345’s frame/grip is called Isoplast. The Ruger P345 pistol is double-action/single-action (DA/SA), features a brushed stainless steel slide, ambidextrous slide-mounted sweep-up safety, fixed sights …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The 6.8x43mm SPC, according to DefenseReview sources, has been performing extremely well in the field against enemy combatants. Special Operations end users are thus, reportedly, very pleased with it. Unfortunately, it’s also been reported to us that the 6.8x43mm SPC has been running into a considerable amount of resistance from some U.S. Army brass, who are …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Anyone who knows anything about combat shotguns for serious social purposes has heard either the name Hans Vang or his company’s name, Vang Comp Systems. Hans Vang is a combat shotgun/tactical shotgun specialist smith/builder of the highest order. His work in this field is well known by tactical professionals around the world. Well, Vang Comp Systems …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Rock River Arms (RRA) recently sent DefenseReview a copy of their press release on DEA contract for their DEA/FBI AR-15 Tactical Carbine (CAR-15), dated 12/05/03, along with some pics. We thought our readers would find it both interesting and informative. Back in February, DefRev published an article on the DEA/FBI AR-15 titled "Rock River Arms (RRA) …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Military.com has a feature on their site that I recently discovered while I was searching the web for links I could include with my recent article on the Nikonov AN-94 "Abakan" assault rifle, titled "Nikonov AN-94 ‘Abakan’ Assault Rifle: Advanced Russian Small Arms Tech". The feature I discovered is called "SoldierTech: Military Gear and Gadgets". It …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com While we’re on the subject of Russian assault rifles, we might as well mention a couple of their Polish cousins, the Z.M. Lucznik, Radom-made 5.56x45mm kbs wz. 96 Beryl assault rifle and kbk wz. 96 Mini-Beryl carbine/subcarbine. Basically just updated and improved versions of the Radom wz. 88 Tantal assault rifle and wz. 89 Onyks subcarbine, …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Safety Harbor Firearms is currently manufacturing and marketing a side-mounted magazine-fed bolt-action .50 BMG rifle, called the Ultra Mag 50, that DefenseReview would like to learn more about. Developed by Dennis Cheney and Dave Finnie, the Ultra Mag 50 .50 Cal. rifle utilizes an AR-15-based lower receiver and lightweight upper. The Ultra Mag 50 .50BMG rifle …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com If you like the idea of a .45ACP caliber carry gun, but prefer revolvers over 1911 semi-auto pistols, Smith & Wesson has THE carry gun for you. It’s a member of S&W’s AirLite series, and it’s called the Model 325PD. I’m actually a big fan of Smith & Wesson’s AirLite Scandium alloy carry revolvers. They’re the …