Tag Archives: storm

Research

Magazine Compatibility

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A reader recently asked me to give the low-down on magazine compatibility vis a vis the Jericho. I’ll go a step further for you, and finally put a bunch of Internet misconceptions to bed based on personal experience.

The Israelis mostly made two types of guns:

Tanfoglio full-size, small frame: BUL Cherokee (gen 1 and gen 2), BUL Storm, all full-size and semi-compact Jerichos

Tanfoglio compact-size, small frame: BUL Storm Compact, Jericho Compact

Read on for my findings, plus some information about BUL M5 magazine compatibility.

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Reviews

The BUL Storm Compact

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One of the guns that I always assumed was a bit of a unicorn was the BUL Storm Compact. According to some information I had read on a previous auction of one, only 300 were ever produced. However, as I posted on the blog, about a dozen of the guns went on sale on Gunbroker over a short time period last year, and I was lucky enough to snag one.

Unfortunately, my state of residence takes forever to put a gun on our handgun roster. And what’s worse, the Storm Compact that I bought had an undiscovered broken magazine release, so it had to take two trips through that process. So, despite having bought the gun quite a long time ago, I’ve only really had it in my hands for a month or so, and I wasn’t even able to get the magazine that came with it.

That’s been enough time for me to formulate some thoughts on the gun, though. Read on for more.

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Research

Sometimes, mag catches break

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Rating high in the “realm of things I’ve never seen before”, my police surplus BUL Storm Compact came to my FFL with a broken mag catch. Ordinarily, I would not consider this to be a big deal, but since I needed to submit it to the Maryland Handgun Roster Board for approval in a working state, this was less than ideal, as the gun was punted back from the board for fixes… meaning another 4-5 month round trip for approval The magazine would fall out if any real pressure was put on it from the top… such as stripping a round from the magazine.

I wound up using a new EAA Witness mag catch from the Ben Stoeger Pro Shop. He shipped it the same day I ordered, and it came very quickly. This was the newer-style (post-2004) magazine catch, so it’s also a bit of an upgrade. Installing it wasn’t hard, but did require three hands.

Deals

Deal Alert: BUL Storm Compact on Gunbroker

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A relatively new seller on Gunbroker has offered up a pair of BUL Storm Compact handguns. I bought one of them, but there’s still at least one more up for sale. The seller appears to be affiliated with Century in some fashion. (Pro-tip: if you see Fairfax, VT as the seller’s location on Gunbroker, the seller is probably some sort of Century Arms affiliate).

There were supposedly only 300 of these guns made, and it is even less clear how many made it to the USA, since they appear to have been imported piecemeal by Century Arms. The Storm Compact is essentially a TA-90 “Combat Compact” clone (technically, it’s just “Compact”, but I add “Combat” because it has a frame safety). This gets you a small frame and a 3.75″ barrel – about the same as a compact Jericho, but a quarter inch longer. This is nothing terribly special from a design standpoint, but the rarity factor makes it worthy of consideration. (Remember that the Mossad Compact was not made in Israel!)

I assume the BUL Storm Compact will have the same magazine incompatibility issues that plagued the BUL Storm that I reviewed, but I’ll keep you posted once I’ve had a chance to look over mine.

Reviews

The BUL Storm

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Historically, BUL Transmark’s third pistol line was the BUL Storm. Arguably, it’s the least known line of their pistols in the US, excepting perhaps the new SAS line (which hasn’t gotten very much play in the US yet). The Storm is a straight-out Tanfoglio TZ-75 clone, which is a slightly modified clone of the CZ-75.

Clever readers will note that this is pretty much the same situation as the Jericho, which is a clone of the Tanfoglio as well. What do I think of the Storm versus the Jericho? Read on.

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