One of the more sordid corporate firearms-related stories revolving around the Internets has to do with how the Charles Daly / KBI firm was ultimately bankrupted when an Israeli manufacturer, Bul Transmark, decided to screw them in favor of Magnum Research.
The story is interesting, and perhaps not well-remembered today, so I thought I’d write about it.
Continue reading Importer Politics: Magnum Research, Charles Daly / KBI, and BUL
Magnum Research has announced the new Baby Desert Eagle III line of pistols. It took me a few seconds to realize it, but this appears to be the BUL Cherokee with a full length dust cover and a slide safety. It’s not so obvious with the steel version pictured above, but take a look at these two guns:
There are clearly some changes to the frame and slide (probably to more closely mimic the old BDE II), but I’m unaware of any other existing Tanfoglio clone that has a similar frame. The steel version is also using a frame that looks suspiciously like that of the old BUL Storm.
UPDATE 4/3/2015: all4shooters confirmed a couple months ago at SHOT that the BDE III is being made by BUL Transmark. Given the changes over the Cherokee, which appear substantial, I think this qualifies as a completely new model of Israeli-manufactured handgun.
IWI-US has released the new 2015 catalog of their products. While there are no surprises in there, there are still some nice pictures to leaf through. I will admit to being mildly disturbed by the concept of trying to sell the Negev (a belt-fed light machinegun) to law enforcement, though.
If you want more Israeli gun porn, there’s also BUL Transmark’s catalog. Not quite as epic, but still some nice 1911s and Tanfoglios to look at.
The Hebrew Hammer 