Great Gun Stuff Blog

Shotgun News magazine has published an AR-15 magazine torture test. The author, David M. Fortier, summarized the article on AR15.com ...

85 8.5 foot drop test. The Tango Down, PMAG and TAPCO all split down the spine.

Many more tests than these were performed. For the full write-up check out the Shotgun News article.

My thoughts:

PMAGs are very good, but not as indestructible as some think.

Aluminum mags are not as bad as some think.

You should consider checking out Lancer's mag.....they surprised me.

If MSARs mag dropped free they would be an interesting option.

Dropping mags onto cement is A LOT tougher on them then running them over with a SUV....

but all those videos from the various mag companies sure did work wonders for advertising didn't they.....

Many thanks to jdun1911 for emailing me the link.

UPDATE: The drop test was 8.5 feet, not 85 feet.

Guest author Wayne Watson who wrote the recent blog post The Walker Colt – by A. Uberti has written a book. It, of course, features a gun on the cover Just $2 in electronic format.

That gun is a Webley Revolver

The Automag was a revolutionary pistol when it was invented. It is recoil operated and uses rotating bolt similar to the AR-15. Despite the gun being a commercial failure (it cost far more to make than the sale price), it was the inspiration for the Desert Eagle and the Wildey autoloader pistols.

The original Automag which chambered the .44 AMP. From Gunbroker.

Jeff Cooper attributed the design to gunsmith Max Gera, although his name did not appear on the final patent. After a falling out with the boss he sold his share of the company and, after a brief stint at Charter Arms, fell off the face of the Earth. Even his daughter had no idea where he was until earlier this year, after three decades in obscurity, when he contacted the author of a book about the AutoMag. Max was interview in April and it is a fascinating read ...

First, who is Max Gera ? In the March 1970 issue of Guns & Ammo magazine, Jeff Cooper twice credits Max Gera as the designer of the Auto Mag and refers to him as Auto Mag Corp.'s Design and Engineering Manager. Max was also named as co-inventor of the Auto Mag on the first patent application which was later abandoned. Max's name didn't appear on the final patent.

In October of 1970, Max sold off his interests in the Auto Mag and left Harry Sanford.

After Auto Mag Corp. declared bankruptcy in May of 1972, Max was blamed by some for causing Auto Mag to fail. These were mostly just rumors. However in a letter to Deputy Ed Lippert in July of 1972, Jeff Cooper of Guns & Ammo explained why Auto Mag Corp. went bankrupt. The letter blamed Max and typified the type of rumors that were flying around at the time. Max has asked me to remove this letter from this work as it is inflammatory, libelous and damaging to my reputation.

The above photo is of an AutoMag that was auctioned off earlier this year by the son of Harry Sanford, who owned the company that made the pistol. He claimed to be the brains behind the operation and that Max was just the machinist. His son obviously also thinks so. From the auction ...

You guys that have been watching these AutoMag auctions and have probably been wondering when will it end. Well, it does with this one...with the exception of one gun which we are trying to get from a family member that may never show up. This is the last AutoMag from the Harry W. Sanford estate.

The guy that read Col. Coopers article in 1958 about a .44 magnum rimless cartridge. In the 60's, as I was a kid, I hung out with Max Gera. He had some thoughts on my Dad's idea of an M-16 rotating bolt magazine pistol in .44 Mag. He started some machining on a crude milling machine and I was there when he shot his first shot in a hole in the back of my Dad's gun shop. They were on there way.

Max had different ideas. He was bought out and my Dad brought some partners in. It was some wild times. Every gun guru in the world was flying in to see this new pistol. The first AutoMag rolled off the production line about two years behind schedule. They were beautiful -- all hand-machined and fitted. They were the best AutoMags ever to be made.

So who really designed it? I think we will never really know. There seems to be much evidence that Max was the designer, but in business rarely does the brains really get the credit, usually it is the guy who paid the bills ... or at least that is my experience.

By the way, that pistol was auctioned off for over $6000! Some more photos of it ...

Many thanks to Ken for the link.

Business Week has published an article about the intrigue behind one of the most iconic handgun manufacturers of recent history. It is only a matter of time before the story of Glock hits the silver screen.

On the afternoon of a meeting scheduled at Ewert's office near the tony Rue Royale in central Luxembourg, Glock was attacked in an underground garage. The hit man, a former professional wrestler and French Legionnaire named Jacques Pecheur, bashed the businessman on the head with a rubber mallet, a technique apparently aimed at making it look like the victim had fallen down and fatally injured himself. Glock, physically fit from daily swimming—often in the frigid lake abutting his home near Klagenfurt, Austria—fought back. When police arrived, they found Glock bleeding from gashes to his skull. Pecheur, 67, was unconscious.

The assassination attempt on Mr. Glock is well documented, but it remains to be seen how much of the tax evasion, extreme right wing connection and money laundering is fact and what is fiction.

I was interested to learn the estimated profit margin on the manufacture of Glock pistols.

the Glock costs relatively little to make. In a 1994 patent lawsuit in the U.S., Glock estimated its profit margin per pistol at 68%. The guns typically sell for $450 to $600 in U.S. retail gun stores.

The Glock 17 RTF: The Latest in the Glock line.

Glock is like the Apple Computers of the gun world. They have a less is more philosophy towards their product design and yet maintain high profit margins and market share.

The author of the above article actually spent from time behind a Glock pistol, as part of his research, with blogger Massad Ayoob (Hat Tip: SayUncle). I wish more journalists would try that.

Many thanks to Daniel Watters and LeisureGuy for the link.

UPDATE:

Forbes wrote two articles about the Glock saga back in 2003:

• Top Gun
• Follow-Through

Thanks to Daniel Watters for the link.