Industry Notes

(GunReports.com) -– Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today released a report, “The Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents.” The report includes testimony from four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents offering firsthand accounts about the controversial Operation Fast and Furious that allowed suspects to walk away with illegally purchased guns. Two of the approximately 2,000 guns that ATF let criminals walk away with were found at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

(GunReports.com) -- Shotgunners have skeet, trap and sporting clays. Now a Utah shooting range has brought a new game to town for long-distance riflemen. Spirit Ridge Rifle Golf, located a short drive north of Salt Lake City, Utah, offers more than 30 realistic wildlife targets set at distances ranging from 175 to 1,300 yards for the intrepid marksman.

(GunReports.com) -- Springfield Armory has announced a Father's Day sale on the company's online web store. For a limited time, everything in the online store will be 30% off.

(GunReports.com) -- Airgun maker Crosman is worried that pending regulations in California may actually increase police/citizen mishaps and accidental shootings. According to a letter from Laura Evans, Marketing Coordinator at Crosman, 'Some of you may already be aware, but the State of California is prepared to vote on a new law that will affect the future of the airgun and airsoft industries. It could also jeopardize the safety of the public and especially, police officers.'

(GunReports.com) — An analysis conducted by Southwick Associates and Andrew Loftus Consulting for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies found that federal excise taxes collected on the sale of hunting and shooting equipment represented an approximate 1,100 percent annual return on investment (ROI) to manufacturers between 1970 to 2006 and taxes collected on sport fishing equipment generated a striking annual ROI of 2,157 percent between 1955 and 2006.

(GunReports.com) -- One of the things I stress to gun owners is to save the broken part so a gunsmith will at least have something to physically measure and copy, even if it is in pieces. I was fortunate in this instance as I had the same pistol and could remove and measure the part so that I could reproduce it.

(GunReports.com) -- Announcement From Kel-Tec halting shipments on the PMR-30: As time has progressed, so has the PMR-30. Since the start of the year the PMR-30 has been shipping in full quantities to all of our distributors on a rotating basis (to make it fair for all distributors). Recently we have been made aware of a potential issue that we feel our customers should definitely be made aware of.

(GunReports.com) – Rossi is now chambering the Rio Grande lever-action rifle line for .410-bore shotshell or .45-70 Government ammunition. Both new rifles offer a side-loading gate, tubular magazine, buckhorn sights, and a Brazilian hardwood stock.

(GunReports.com) – CMP and Hornady have teamed up to bring a new match to the 2011 CMP Eastern and Western games, and Camp Perry -- the Vintage Sniper Rifle Match. The match was proposed several years ago by Dave Emary of Hornady Manufacturing as a way to include many of the vintage sniper rifles that are in circulation, yet lack an official shooting format.

(GunReports.com) -- The Soldier Systems blog recently ran through several well-informed guesses on what actual firearm might have fired the fatal shot into the head of OBL, aka UBL. Here's the latest speculation from them, with earlier guesses in [ ]:

Kevin Winkle of GunReports.com gets the lowdown on Springfield Armory's XDM 3.8 Compact pistol.

(GunReports.com) -- The National Rifle Association is funding and supporting a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of Illinois’ complete and total ban on carrying firearms for self-defense outside the home. The case, filed last week in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, is Shepard v. Madigan. The lead plaintiff is church treasurer Mary Shepard; joining her is the Illinois State Rifle Association, the NRA’s state affiliate.