Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
Expos like the 2016 NRA Annual Meeting or the SHOT Show are usually places to find the latest and greatest in the firearms world. Sometimes, however, exhibitors bring along relics of the past, forgotten firearms that haven’t seen the public spotlight in decades [Read More…]
The Firearm Blog is walking the halls of the showroom floor here at the National Rifle Association’s 2016 Annual Meeting. In addition to spotlights on exhibitors, we will also be publishing collection posts covering the show more broadly to give folks a sense of [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
US Army infantry platoons will be getting a little more “boom” very soon. Jane’s, among other news outlets, report that the US Army has finally approved the M3 Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle for general issue to the infantry platoon. From IHS [Read More…]
The Russian Army will be upgrading its automatic infantry support weapons soon. The legacy 7.65x54mmR PKM belt-fed general purpose machine gun will be supplanted in the dismounted role by the PKP “Pecheneg” automatic rifle designed at the end of the 20th [Read More…]
This subject has come up in my comments recently, and I thought I would explore it in a post proper. To adopt the 6.5 Grendel (or, as we’ll see, something like it), the US Army would need to develop and procure new complete upper receivers, magazines, buffers, and [Read More…]
A trend towards ever more powerful and longer-ranged ammunition was cut short by the realities of the First World War: Technologies not previously invented or accounted for, such as the man-reaping machine gun and the portable infantry mortar, made the existing infantry [Read More…]
The paradigm was established by the 1870s: Future infantry combat would focus on a combination of entrenchment, and long-range concentrated fire from well-drilled units to defeat the enemy beyond his own effective range. The arms race for a smaller-caliber, [Read More…]
Almost four decades before the invention of smokeless powder, the advent of the Minié ball bullet made practical the standard infantry rifle, and with it the elongated projectile. This changed the fundamental physics of infantry weapon ammunition design, allowing [Read More…]
On my recent article “Ballistics 101: What Is Ballistic Coefficient?”, commenter Anthony asked for clarification on some points: Thanks for the info, but I don’t feel I know what ballistic coefficient is after reading the article. You state, “A [Read More…]
One thing that seems apparent from the ARDEC presentation on the CTSAS program is the excessive capability and weight of the 6.5mm CT ammunition, as well as its use of lead-cored projectiles as opposed to more modern (and less dense) EPR-type projectiles. Further, the [Read More…]
Recently, I wrote an editorial regarding the LSAT/CTSAS team’s NDIA presentation on their 6.5mm cased telescoped carbine and machine gun concepts. There was a lot to say about the history of Army programs and the pitfalls facing that team, but today I want to get [Read More…]
What’s the coolest firearm you’ve ever shot? A fine, antique shotgun? An old war horse oozing with history? A rapid-firing machine gun? Whatever you’re thinking of, it’s not as cool as an M2 Flamethrower: In what is probably definitely the [Read More…]
When a bullet flies through the air, forces called “drag” are exerted upon it. These forces slow down the bullet as it flies, but they don’t act the same way on every bullet. While the subject of aerodynamics is extremely complex, one way to account [Read More…]
Beginning in the last decade of the 19th Century, the French government began work on the next great advancement in infantry small arms technology: The selfloading rifle. By 1916, after the outbreak of World War I, they had produced what many consider the most advanced [Read More…]
The National Defense Industry Association has released the PowerPoint presentations from 2016 Armament Systems Forum, including Kori Phillips’ update on the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program, which is the successor to the well-known Lightweight [Read More…]
I normally try to keep the worlds of guns and games separate, but sometimes, when everybody’s talking about it… Matt of Historical Firearms and Othais of C&Rsenal both have taken a look at the new trailer for Battlefield 1, the cheekily named WWI era [Read More…]
Three years ago, we broke the news that Heckler & Koch was introducing a new 9mm pistol based on the MP5K short submachine gun. Now, word has broken from Kentucky Gun Co. on their Facebook page that the pistols are headed to the States in July! This is a pistol [Read More…]
When we last left my CMP M1 Garand, it was having some problems with operating rod dismount. At first, I assumed that the cause of this was chance and operator error, because it didn’t seem like my operating rod was out of spec, but when the oprod dismounted twice [Read More…]
The question – raised by AR15.com poster AJBello – of whether the X95 has an issue with wider-than-expected dispersion from a rest with match ammo, has hit the next note. Tim of the Military Arms Channel, a long time Tavor and new X95 owner, put the X95 to [Read More…]
The gear of the US infantryman during World War I was some of the best in the period, from the ammunition pouches, to the uniform, and the rifles. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons has taken a reproduction uniform and an original M1917 rifle and M1911 handgun out to the [Read More…]
In a recent post, I discussed four ballistics myths that I’ve heard over the years, and why they are just that – myths. One of these was the myth that the momentum of a projectile is equivalent or otherwise indicative of the stopping power of that [Read More…]
“Caliber”. It can mean a lot of different things, but when we use it, what does it really mean, and what’s its significance? Title image: From left to right are the 7.65 Parabellum, 7.63 Mauser, .300 Blackout, 7.62×45 Czech, .30 Remington, 7.62 [Read More…]
Got enough of toggles yet? Of course you haven’t! Forgotten Weapons’ exhaustive coverage of the most interesting and significant auction pieces continues with a very interesting design from a German gun designer who should get more recognition, that being [Read More…]
The mid-late 1950s… Could there be a more optimistic time in United States history? I feel there’s no better rifle to illustrate the industry, innovation, and unbridled optimism of that time than the Armalite AR-10 7.62x51mm select-fire military rifle. Made [Read More…]
The X95 has just hit the US market after a firestorm of buzz surrounding the rifle’s launch in January at the 2016 SHOT Show. However, reports from AR15.com indicate that the initial batch of rifles may be experiencing some accuracy-related issues. User AJBello on [Read More…]
Arcane Teutonic space magicks gave Imperial German assault troops the advantage in trench warfare during the first Great War, as the Kaiser’s sturmtruppen made deadly use of Arch-Industriemage Georg Luger’s fearsome Lange Pistole 08 “long [Read More…]
When the Heizer Defense .223 Remington Pocket AR and 7.62x39mm Pocket AK single shot rifle caliber pistols were released to the market, the question on many people’s minds was: Out of such a short barrel, will those calibers really be very powerful or effective at [Read More…]
The US Army has begun a program to create a lightweight .50 caliber machine gun to replace the venerable M2 Browning. The program will, like the M240L machine gun, use titanium to reduce weight by 20-30 percent. Scout.com and NationalInterest.org both have stories on [Read More…]
The .45 ACP Luger created for the US pistol trials in the first decade of the 20th Century is one of the most infamously rare and desirable handguns of all time. Combining the excellent engineering and classic looks and ergonomics of the Luger with the American .45 ACP [Read More…]