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.
SureFire has announced a new .30 caliber quick-detach suppressor, which they are advertising as “the quietest suppressor ever built” for the caliber. From the press release: Fountain Valley, CA — SureFire, LLC, manufacturer of high-performance illumination [Read More…]
Tim of the Military Arms Channel recently took a trip to Beretta USA’s Accokeek Maryland facility. Beretta is the oldest major firearms manufacturer in the world with over 500 years experience making guns, but has only had a presence in the United States for 35 [Read More…]
Project SALVO’s experiments with multiple projectile ammunition did, surprisingly, result in the production of service ammunition. The 7.62mm M198 Duplex round was an attempt to improve the short-range combat effectiveness of the M14 rifle (so far as this author [Read More…]
DARPA’s program to make a guided large-caliber round has met with some initial success. The video below demonstrates the technology which, while in its infancy, looks very promising: Time Magazine has a short article on the new round: The U.S. military has [Read More…]
The 2007 Dust Tests have come and gone. The IC Competition has completed. The M4 has remained the standard infantry rifle, and been upgraded to the heavy-barreled M4A1 standard. More upgrades are on the horizon, as part of the US Army’s effort to improve [Read More…]
The still below captures the use of a weapon that some of our readers will immediately recognize, but that might be new to others: The rifle is an MKb.42(H), Haenel’s prototype for what would later become the famous MP-44 Sturmgewehr. The Maschinenkarabiner [Read More…]
Defense Distributed’s project to produce and sell machines that can create firearms receivers for individual hobbyists is now being realized. “Ghost Gunner” miniature CNC machines are, after several delays, finally shipping. From WeaponsMan: Cody [Read More…]
When you travel abroad, there’s no telling what you might find. Tim of the Military Arms Channel was visiting the MKE factory in Turkey, when he stumbled upon an extremely rare original Stoner 63 rifle sitting in an arms locker. The very short video he made to [Read More…]
Good news for those looking for a micro-action custom hunting rifle; CZ USA has just announced they are making available 7.62×39 CZ 527 unbarreled actions to the US consumer market. From Jerking the Trigger: CZ USA has announced that they will be making their CZ [Read More…]
The AK-12 rifle, slated to be adopted by the Russian Army in some capacity late this year, has been delayed in production until 2016. According to Russian news media sources, the rifle will undergo a series of improvements of an unspecified type. From [Read More…]
The Firearms History blog has posted an anthology of sorts of different videos dealing with modern cartridge manufacture. The manufacture of ammunition is the critical characteristic of modern small arms – huge advances in technology would today be possible, such [Read More…]
The fate of the trouble G36 rifle has been revealed: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday that the Bundeswehr would seek immediate replacement for the rifle. From DW.de: Germany’s military will have to find a replacement for the [Read More…]
Over at WeaponsMan, Hognose broaches the subject of “OTMs” and “JHPs” and that they are not the same thing. He writes: Okay, this is a post about ammunition, and especially, military ammunition, but it also has applicability to police and [Read More…]
The .300 Blackout market continues to steam ahead with Ruger’s latest offering, the Mini-14 Tactical in that caliber. From Ruger’s press release: Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE-RGR) is proud to announce that the Mini-14® Tactical rifle is now [Read More…]
In response to the recent EMI/WTD 91 audit report on the G36 rifle’s thermal issues, Heckler and Koch has issued a statement rebuking the claims made by the Ernst Mach Institute about the rifle. The statement has been machine translated into English and replicated [Read More…]
We previously covered a James D. Julia auction for a Winchester 1894 lever-action rifle mounting a Maxim .30 caliber silencer. This unique firearm was sold as part of the March auction, but Guns & Ammo has answered the question many may have been asking while [Read More…]
Fifty-four years ago plus five days, nearly thirteen hundred troops of the paramilitary Cuban exile group Brigade 2506 landed in Cuba, in an attempt to overthrow the Communist Cuban government, led by Fidel Castro. Sponsored by the CIA, the Brigade was armed with a [Read More…]
Back in February, I wrote an article about Rob Ski’s unboxing video on the Century Arms RAS-47 stamped American-made AK rifle, as an example of the excellent unboxing videos Rob has been producing for the AK Operators Union. Of course, Rob intended to do more than [Read More…]
Smith and Wesson is famous for two things: Well-made service revolvers, and mind-boggling model numbers. LuckGunner’s Chris Baker has set out to clarify a small portion of the later. From his article on Smith .38/.357 post-1957 revolver offerings: We got some good [Read More…]
Some of our readers may be familiar with the Russian APS rifle, an underwater assault rifle designed to fire spear-like projectiles that have a much further lethal range under water than conventional projectiles. Much more obscure, though, is the Chinese equivalent, the [Read More…]
Larry Vickers’ TacTV YouTube channel has released a series of videos showcasing 40mm underbarrel grenade launchers, including uncommon footage of firing actual high explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) grenades. The videos are embedded below: The underbarrel grenade [Read More…]
There has been a lot of news about the Russian AK-12 rifle to come out this past Winter, and we at TFB have stayed on top of our coverage of the design’s evolution. However, since late January, there are a few things we have learned, so now it’s about [Read More…]
German news media have been on fire over the past couple of days over a report that is expected to be released to the public soon. It is apparent that the audit report of the G36 rifle, conducted by the Ernst Mach Institute and Bundeswehr’s Technical Center for [Read More…]
The Czech Republic has always been a nation that hits above its weight in the small arms field. Despite being a relatively small country with a somewhat checkered history, it has consistently put out high quality, innovative firearms that compete very well with those [Read More…]
For much of the 20th Century, squad drill was the bugbear of visionary firearms designers. Great emphasis was placed by the using services on the training maneuvers and positions that had been developed in the previous century, but which were rapidly becoming [Read More…]
I’ve written a lot about the AR-15 and M1 Garand rifles, and after a time I will have written nearly as much about the EM-2, M14, and FAL. One rifle, though, hasn’t been the subject of very much of my writing, in part because reliable historical information [Read More…]
Good news from the 2015 NRA Show for those looking to buy their first mil-spec AR-15. Fabrique Nationale has announced AR-15 rifles replicating in semi-automatic their M16A4 and M4 military rifles, coming in Fall of 2015. From the press release: (McLean, VA – April 9, [Read More…]
Last week the AK Operators Union released a teaser video on the new Atlantic Firearms/Definitive Arms AKX-9 9mm blowback-operated rifle. Soon after we ran an article on it, two more videos went up; a new AKOU video and a MAC review, both embedded below: While I [Read More…]
My favorite firearms designer of all time is James Paris Lee, because of his sheer inventiveness and forward-thinking edge that was still grounded in what was practical at the time. My second-favorite firearms designer is David Marshall Williams, because he was totally [Read More…]
Česká Zbrojovka is doubling down on its earlier commitment to bringing unadulterated Skorpion EVO IIIs to the US market, with its recent announcement that they will be importing a 922r-Compliant Skorpion Evo III SBR kit. Guns.com has more: CZ-USA has announced plans [Read More…]
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