Rifles

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:SWHC) has recently filled orders for its Military & Police (M&P) tactical rifles.

MOLINE, Ill. — The Rock Island Auction Company has announced the firearms and estate of Wilbur Henry Hoffeld will be auctioned on December 6, 7, and 8, 2008 here. Proceeds from a portion of this auction will benefit the NRA Foundation. The auction will include more than 1,000 Colts, 8 Patersons, 2 Walkers, more than 350 Colt Percussions, more than 80 Colt Brevetes, more than 100 Colt First Generation Single Actions, dozens of 1877s and 78s, more than 300 Winchesters, 5 Henry Rifles, Civil War items, and more.

PIERRE, S.D. — Have gun, will travel -- even if the economy's shot.

Barack Obama would be the most anti-gun president in American history. But according to the Brady Campaign, the NRA failed to deliver its “supposed block of single-issue voters” in Tuesday’s election. According to exit polls, the economy took precedence for many voters.

Buckeye Firearms Association: Much has been said on www.buckeyefirearms.org about the shortcomings of John McCain on the gun issue, and it is clear that his weaknesses among this voting block had an effect on this election. Around 52% of American voters have selected a man the NRA has described as the most anti-gun candidate in history to be our next President.

In Oregon magazine, Sandy Froman, former president of the National Rifle Association of America, writes of the election of Barack Obama as president: 'Senator Barack Obama says he will respect gun owners, but campaign talk is cheap. What gun owners must know … is that Obama promises to appoint a U.S. Supreme Court that will eradicate the Second Amendment from the Constitution.

The U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly endorsed the idea of an unprecedented treaty regulating the global arms trade. Only the U.S. and Zimbabwe voted against it. U.S.-based gun groups point out that an Obama administration would likely not oppose such a treaty for the first time.

Sturm, Ruger & Company has announced an “Inaugural Special” for Mini-14 20-round magazines that runs through Inauguration Day.

WASHINGTON — A story on USA Today's website by Ken Dilanian leads with an anecdote that might surprise many gun-rights proponents:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Para USA has announced plans to consolidate its manufacturing, assembly and warehousing in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.

The first thing we noticed was this was a very light rifle. Without scope it weighed under 5 pounds. The second thing we noted was the recoil pad was excellent, a model for the rest of the industry. The straight Kevlar/carbon fiber stock was dark gray in color and had enough of a pebble-like surface that checkering wasn’t needed, even when wet. There were no visible parting lines on the stock, and the barrel, though free floated, was so close to the stock it was not easy to see the separation.The action was like a small pre-’64 Model 70 Winchester compete with cone-shaped breech, controlled feed, and positive ejection.

Semi-automatic carbines have become enormously popular. Applications range from law enforcement and home defense to competitive target shooting and hunting. The most popular platform is the AR15-based weapon chambered for 223 Remington. But if you visit your local shooting range, you will find AR-style carbines, circa the 1960s, shooting alongside historical battle-rifle actions made popular in the 1940s. For this evaluation we acquired three different solutions to the self-defense rifle equation, mixing midrange and top-of-category power choices with 6.8s and 308s. In the AR15 platform, we started with a 308 Winchester-chambered Armalite AR10 A4C carbine, $1502. Against that bigger, but still familiar, design, we pitted a similarly-familiar M1A variant in the form of Springfield Armorys $2090 Socom II AA9627 with black fiberglass stock. To this mix we added a midrange-power 6.8mm Remington SPC Ruger KMini-6.8/5P, $894.