Month: May 2023
Yevgeny Khaldei/Corbis / Yevgeny Khaldei/Corbis
by Judy Dutton
At 1:10 a.m. on May 9, 1945, night owls in the USSR heard a radio report that Nazi Germany had officially surrendered to the Soviet Union. Rather than wait until morning to celebrate, citizens took to the streets in their pajamas. The revelry reached such a fever pitch that by the time Joseph Stalin addressed the nation 22 hours later, the Soviets faced a new crisis: The entire country had run out of vodka!
It turns out a nation-wide hangover was small price to pay for peace in Europe. As one reporter put it, “I was lucky to buy a liter of vodka at the train station when I arrived, because it was impossible to buy any later … There was no vodka in Moscow on May 10; we drank it all.”
The sales of firearms, especially AR-15-style rifles, unexpectedly turned up last month, apparently driven by efforts in several states to impose gun bans.
Industry officials reviewing the latest FBI background check information said that states planning gun bans or moving to change the rules governing firearms purchases saw massive jumps in April sales.
In Washington state, where the governor just signed a law banning the sale or transfer of AR-style rifles, background checks for April sales surged to 71,272 compared to 49,641 in April 2022, a 43.6% increase, said Mark Oliva, the spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The industry trade group found a surge in Illinois, where it recently won a federal court decision to block a ban on modern sporting rifles. There, Oliva said, sales background checks increased 11.7% in April.
(Image via the NSSF)
Ditto in Oregon, he said: “Oregon, a state with a legislature and governor’s office hostile to lawful firearm ownership, totaled 43,574 adjusted background checks in April 2023, compared to 27,921 a year ago, representing a 56.1% increase.”
Even states that moved to change the rules to buy guns saw a big sales uptick before any new regulations began to take effect.
“Notably, North Carolina’s legislature overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill that repealed the state’s antiquated Jim Crow-era permit-to-purchase a handgun scheme which immediately reverted the state to using the FBI NICS system to verify all handgun sales,” Oliva said. “North Carolina came in with 68,181 background checks in April 2023, compared to 18,967 in April 2022, a 238.4% increase.”
In recent months, concerns about safety drove sales highs, and that is continuing to add to the records. But Oliva said the difference in April was the threats from the government to take away gun rights.
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“April’s uptick of 1,369,296 FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verifications shows that there continues to be a steady appetite for lawful firearm ownership even as certain state governors and legislators are taking radical measures to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to possess firearms, especially the Modern Sporting Rifle,” Oliva said in a reference to AR- and AK-style rifles.
“These figures show that when Americans are concerned that government authorities will deny them the full spectrum of their Second Amendment rights, they will respond by exercising those rights. It also shows that when barriers to lawful firearm ownership are torn down, law-abiding citizens will exercise their right to lawfully purchase firearms,” he said.
Categories
Luxembourg Army Adopts HK416
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will equip its armed forces with the HK416 A7. Luxembourg will replace the Steyr AUGs currently in service with weapons from Heckler & Koch through a contract worth 8.4 million Euros ($9.2 million).
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The procurement will also include Heckler & Koch HK269s which will replace older HK69A1s. The 5.56x45mm HK416s will be procured in two barrel lengths: 11 and 14.5 inches. The contract also includes 7.62x51mm HK417 A2 rifles which will likely provide a designated marksman rifle.
Luxembourg troops with Steyr AUGs (Luxembourg Army)
The Luxembourg Army is a battalion-sized formation and the latest available figures put Luxembourg’s full-time standing military at just around 1,000 personnel. While Luxembourg’s standing army is small it has provided personnel and equipment to UN, NATO and EU peacekeeping missions since the early 1990s.
The Luxembourg Army has not yet commented on the procurement but HK expects to deliver the rifles by 2024.
HK416A7 (Heckler & Koch)
Here’s Heckler & Koch’s announcement of the contract:
On 18 April 2023, the Luxembourg army commissioned Heckler & Koch to supply the future standard assault rifle to its armed forces.
In advance to the contract, Heckler & Koch was able to clearly win an intensive comparative test against a well-known European competitor. For about 8.4 million Euros, the army of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will receive an HK416 A7 assault rifle variant in 5.56 mm x 45 NATO calibre in two different barrel lengths – 11 and 14.5 inches.
The defence package is completed by 40 mm HK269 grenade launcher modules as well as HK417 A2 assault rifles in the NATO calibre 7.62 mm X 51. With this decision, the Luxembourg alliance partner is parting with its Steyr AUG used up to now and, with the HK416, the Luxembourg army is relying on a mission-proven quality product from Heckler & Koch for its soldiers which is widely used in the NATO.
The delivery of the new standard weapon to the Grand Duchy will take place within a year and is scheduled for completion in 2024.
Find out more at www.heckler-koch.com
Matthew Moss
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TheFirearmBlog.com – Managing Editor
OvertDefense.com – Managing Editor
Matt is a British historian specialising in small arms development and military history. He has written several books and for a variety of publications in both the US and UK. He also runs Historical Firearms, a blog that explores the history, development and use of firearms. Matt is also co-founder of The Armourer’s Bench, a video series on historically significant small arms.
Here on TFB he covers product and current military small arms news.
First introduced as the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum in 1955, the Model 29 was the original .44 Mag. revolver—and it would go on to attain nearly unparalleled levels of fame in the wheelgun industry.
A one-time holder of the title of “Most Powerful Handgun in the World,” the Model 29 still remains the most powerful handgun that some shooters will dare try. Its fame and legendary status, of course, has been bolstered by its starring presence in Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” films—though you may be able to argue that the gun did just as much for Clint as he did for it.
A true legend in the industry, the Model 29 remains a revolver that every firearm enthusiast should at the very least try—and it’s an easy addition to the Gun of the Week series.
Technical Specifications:
Caliber: .44 Mag., .44 Spl.
Barrel Length: 4″ to 10 5/8″
Total Length: Varies
Capacity: 6 Rounds
Action: Double-Action
Weight Loaded: 3-dot, adjustable rear
MSRP: $1,019 and up
Multimedia: