Monthly Archives: June 2020

Is a shotgun a rifle? It's a seemingly innocuous question that can be answered simply, but is also a question and answer worth exploring. The simple answer is, no, a shotgun is not a rifle. That's where the simplicity ends, though. 

A stripped lower receiver is a lower receiver that has been completely machined by the manufacturer. It has a serial number and is considered a firearm under Federal Law. While there are other options for AR-15 lowers to purchase for your AR-15 build, such as a blank or 80% receiver, the stripped lower receiver is considered a firearm because it will function immediately upon the installation of a parts kit and trigger without any more machining or modifications. It's really up to the person to choose which lower receiver option is best for them and their AR build; an 80 Percent lower receiver, a stripped receiver, or a completed receiver.

My first real centerfire rifle was a Romanian WASR-10 rifle. This bare-bones AKM proved to be a very reliable and robust rifle that served me well for over a decade without malfunction, parts breakage, or issue. My experience with the AK series of guns is not unique in any way, and I'm betting most AK owners will testify to the same. If you're not an AK owner, you may be wondering what makes the AK so good as a rifle, and why is it so popular for both the civilian market and the worldwide military market? 

Guns make a lot of noise, probably more than we realize. A decibel(dB) is a unit of measurement used to describe the intensity of a sound or the power level of a signal. Basically, a decibel is a degree of loudness.  You can permanently damage your hearing by being exposed to noise greater than 140dB. Almost every firearm can create noise that is over that. A .22-caliber rifle produces a noise around 140dB. To give you an idea of how loud that is, an air raid siren or a jet engine taking off produces around 130dB. 140dB falls into the decibel category of serious injury. Even the small crisp crack of a plinker can cause serious damage to the unprotected ear. There isn't a safe amount of exposure to volumes in this range (115dB-140dB). Exposure to sounds above 115dB for any length of time without any protection, or even with improper ear protection, can cause permanent hearing loss. 

We have established that body armor offers substantial protection from various threats. You have a right to know what threat levels your body armor can protect at. For that, the National Institute of Justice has developed a performance standard tier for body armor that allows the user to know what they are protected from. The NIJ classification is the single most important feature that you should look for when shopping for body armor. The NIJ classifies body armor into five different threat levels. The levels are Level IIA, Level II, Level IIIA, Level III, and Level IV. The levels are designated based on the product's ability to stop specified rounds at specified velocities. 

Body armor is a critical piece of protection equipment. Bullet-resistant equipment can come in the form of clothing, helmets, gloves, vests, shields, and accessories like backpacks. In these forms, you have non-plated body armor, as well as hard-plate reinforced body armor. Non-plated armor will offer moderate to substantial protection, whereas hard-plate body armor will offer maximum protection in situations that need it, for example; combat soldiers and law enforcement officers. 

Pistol caliber carbines are a great topic for discussion. There are three schools of thought, which usually evolve into three different arguments. Let's work through those arguments. I am going to give you a point of view for each. Although many will disagree, it is important to understand that a pistol caliber carbine is not a rifle. The reason why it’s not a rifle has nothing to do with its platform or "looks", it has to do with performance. Even the most powerful pistol-caliber round does not perform like a rifle round does. Pistol calibers have less power and range by design and capacity.

Franklin Armory has pridefully set itself apart from other firearm manufacturers by creating firearms and firearms products specifically to address the restrictive laws in some states. This appeals to potential gun owners in states that would otherwise not allow the purchase of certain firearms and firearms components. Franklin Armory has a stable of innovative engineers that find solutions to states with restrictive gun laws. These solutions provide citizens of those states the right to purchase and own firearms that they otherwise would not have access to. Franklin Armory believes in offering customers products that allow them to exercise their Second Amendment rights to the most legally and allowable extent of the law. 

My mind automatically goes to the Barrett shoulder-fired rifle when conversations turn to the .50 BMG caliber. The appropriately named .50 BMG was developed back in the early 1900s for the .50 caliber Browning Machine Gun, hence the designation of BMG. It is not a new round by any means, as it has been around for 100 years. Mostly used by the military, there are however variants of the .50 BMG that have been approved for civilian use. Why would any civilian want such a round? Well, it goes far and it makes big holes! In the civilian world .50 BMG rounds are generally used by long-range marksmen. There are even .50 BMG Shooting Clubs specifically for this caliber and the folks who love to shoot this round. I am not going to bore you with the history of the round, other than to simply tell you that it has been proven in action on many occasions to be one of the best war rounds. I do, however, want to give you some examples of its incredible capabilities.

Maybe it’s not a watercooler conversation at work, but in the realm of firearms royalty, the mere mention of the name Barrett will make even the most negative and judgemental firearms critic stand up and salute. And I can pretty much guarantee the conversation will sound a little like this: "Barrett? Yes Sir!", "Barrett? Heck Yeah!", or simply "Barrett? Oorah!", short and sweet, and that’s all that needs to be said about the universal understanding of the Barrett brand.