The Brazilian Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Military State Police) have adopted the semi-auto only CTT40C carbines, made by Taurus. Below is an embedded video of the PMERJ’s introduction to the new short barreled carbines:

The decision to procure the carbines was apparently made in December of last year, when PMERJ secretary José Mariano Beltrame announced in testimony to the Comissão de Segurança da Assembléia Legislativa (Legislative Security Assembly) that the CTT40C would replace the M16A2 carbines* and FAL rifles in service with the force. The CTT40C is in .40 S&W caliber, which is a dramatic reduction in performance from the previous 5.56mm and 7.62mm calibers of those two weapons.

The Taurus carbines were apparently procured – after some confusion as to what, exactly would be done – in January of this year. Tecnodefesa reports:

The subject began to circulate in the media in December last year, when the Public Security Secretary of Rio de Janeiro, José Mariano Beltrame, in testimony of the Legislative Assembly Security Committee, said he would take the rifles (supposedly Colt M16A2 Commando caliber 5,56x45mm, and FAL, 7,62x51mm) from the hands of police in the crowded Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) and, within about a month, a thousand rifles caliber .40 S & W would be delivered to the troops. This has had some negative repercussions in various domestic sectors of the Military Police (PMERJ), as well as sites specializing in weapons and public safety, and comments of the same content in the so-called social networking.

Soon after, according to news published by Veja magazine on the Internet, the secretary would have gone back to the disclosure, in cold and short note, that “There is no recession forecast of other officers of the weapons disposal.” Various sources of PMERJ, consulted informally by T & D, have come up with answers like “We have no idea what is being planned.” And the issue seemed to have died.

Now, in mid-January, came to T & D reports that, indeed, has already signed a contract for the acquisition of a thousand rifles Taurus CTT40C, caliber .40 S & W, and a small batch will be allocated initially to the Special Operations Command (COE), which should be responsible for giving instructions to the troops on the new weapons. The final destination seems to be, in fact, the UPP. There are indications that all deliveries will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2016. Order urgent official confirmation of the contract, sent by email to Forges Taurus and Communication Department of SESEG / RJ, did not generate any response to the closing of this note.

The Taurus CTT40C is the semi-automatic only variant of the SMT40 submachine gun, but unlike the Taurus CT9 carbines available on the US civilian market, the CTT40C features an SMG-length 7.87″ (200mm) barrel. The carbines have full-length 1913 rails and folding stocks, and weigh 6.75 lbs (3.06 kg) unloaded. Unusually, the Taurus carbine series sports an extended magazine well that doubles as a vertical foregrip, giving the weapons a distinctive look.

*These rifles appear from photos to be either Colt 727 or 723 A2 carbines, some with short “Commando” barrels.