Ronaldo is a long-time (starting in the 1960s) Brazilian writer on aviation, military, LE, and gun subjects, with articles published in local and international (UK, Switzerland, and U.S.) periodicals. His vast experience has made him a frequent guest lecturer and instructor in Brazil’s armed and police forces.
Rio’s police authorities have been establishing growing records as far as the seizure of illegal weapons is concerned. The vast majority of this being credited to the very active PMERJ – Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Military [Read More…]
When one walks around any large gun/defense/security exhibition, the variety of weaponry on display usually causes a mind-boggling effect, particularly when a camera is being carried by the person mentioned. You turn away from a particular stand or booth and have a [Read More…]
Good news: your agency has just ordered a long-awaited batch of rifles and pistols to complement and eventually replace the current inventory in use. Bad news: you are given the Herculean task of keeping a detailed track and record of the weapons’ use, both in [Read More…]
During the recent LAAD 20019 Defence and Security exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, State-owned IMBEL – Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil announced that the company’s Fábrica de Itajubá (Itajubá Factory), in Minas Gerais State, is currently getting ready to [Read More…]
Rumors that Israel Weapon Industries have discretely been developing a new 5.56x45mm assault rifle/carbine have circulated for a couple of years now, culminating with a brief (since taken out) TFB post on leaked material in July 2018. For the last nine months or so, [Read More…]
The recent arrest of Brazil’s former President Michel Temer on corruption charges – for the record, he was released some days later- by DPF – Departamento de Polícia Federal (Federal Police Department), while being driven from his home in São Paulo, was a [Read More…]
Following a particularly long (about one year) investigation on the assassination of a Rio de Janeiro city counselor and her driver, civil police agents recently came up with the arrest of two suspects of having committed the crime. Complementary investigative work [Read More…]
The acquisition of 10,000 9x19mm Taurus Striker TS-9 pistols by the PNP – Philippine National Police has finally been confirmed by the Brazilian manufacturer, with deliveries in three batches: 2,000 units in 2018 and the remaining 8,000 examples in 2019. The testing [Read More…]
Argentine authorities have just busted what appeared to be a large-scale scheme of illegally importing and exporting firearms. The recent (November 3) action primarily involved the local GNA – Gendarmeria Nacional Argentina (the nationwide, military-organized [Read More…]
Here we go again, my friends. Illegal firearms keep on falling to police hands in this neck of the world, and, as you may guess, these are likely to represent only a fraction of those which are actually in use by criminals. The purpose of articles like this is to give [Read More…]
TFB has been given access (Courtesy: Alexandre Beraldi) to a whole series of videos showing the range of tests that the recently acquired .40 S&W Glock G22 Gen5 pistols were submitted to by PMESP – Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State [Read More…]
Following the capture of several .50 BMG-chambered rifles from Brazilian criminals in the last few years, the time has come that the armament involved has become even more, eh, aggressive. TFB has just reported [Read More…]
I just can’t help it, folks (and Pete!). Whenever news like this here in Brazil come to my attention, I immediately wonder if TFB readers might be interested in also taking a look. The rate of recurrence at which such facts take place in this neck of the woods, as [Read More…]
Although most Brazilian law enforcement agencies have for long been limited – mostly, forced by legal restraints – to acquiring service guns in the local market (e.g. Taurus, IMBEL, CBC), this trend is now gradually changing. To set the record straight, it should be [Read More…]
Our unofficial series of articles showing illegal guns seized in Brazil by LE agencies will continue today with emphasis on the country’s Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state. You’ll see that most of the illustrated weapons resulted from the work of the Civil Police’s [Read More…]
In addition to the many firearms often falling into police hands subsequent to actual confrontations with criminals in Brazil, many weapons are seized on the way to their final, unlawful destinations. Much of this is credited to the PRF – Polícia Rodoviária Federal [Read More…]
Every once in a while, TFB has been showing images of the huge variety of firearms used by criminals in Brazil, seized by authorities or otherwise. Unlike the country’s law abiding and tax paying citizens, to whom firearms of even in the “permitted” calibers are [Read More…]
Brazil was recently (late-May 2018) involved in a nationwide truckers strike, the economic and political implications of which are, obviously, outside the scope of TFB. But occasional and unavoidable conflicts from blocked roads tensions did emerge, which in turn had to [Read More…]
Announced with great fanfare in 2016 (https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/11/29/caracal-wants-make-guns-brazil/), the plans of the United Arab Emirates’ Caracal company to establish a factory in Goiás State, Brazil, now seem to have all but gone. The concern, in [Read More…]
World War II, as well known, marked the actual in-combat debut of semi-automatic rifles by the main nations involved, such as the United States (with the .30-06 M1 Garand), the Soviet Union (the 7.62x54Rmm SVT-40), and Germany (the 7.92x57mm G43/K43). The deep influence [Read More…]
IMBEL – Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil may soon be producing and marketing a new 7.62x51mm sniper rifle. This comes as a follow-up of the company’s previous venture into the precision rifle market, which started in the early 1990s with the AGLC, named [Read More…]
In what appears to be a never-ending TFB series on weapons used by criminals in Rio de Janeiro, I’ve brought some recent pictures covering that, mainly motivated by the featured image, above. This photo has circulated in the social media, reportedly by a gang [Read More…]
As TFB readers may probably have noticed through some of my posts in the past, firearms regularly seized from criminal hands in Brazil range from DIY models of all shapes and quality standards to a very large variety of AK and AR-15 platforms, plus an also habitual [Read More…]
In the Portuguese language, the noun “Xodó” is a popular expression to indicate one on whom we have a very special romantic crush or long-lasting love relationship. It’s no small wonder, then, that IMBEL – Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil has chosen it [Read More…]
Some days ago, while taking a look at some boxes of “unconventionally-filed” (messed, really) material in search of something, I came across a small brochure surviving from items collected at the 2013 LAAD Defence and Security Show in Rio de Janeiro describing a [Read More…]
Shortly after completing the previously-described (https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/02/28/brazils-ina-submachine-gun-reloaded-part-2/) .45 ACP-to-9x19mm INA conversion at Brazilian Army’s Arsenal de Guerra General Câmara, in the Rio Grande do Sul State, the [Read More…]
After more than two decades of active service with the Brazilian Armed and LE Forces, the .45 ACP M.B.50 and M.953 sub guns manufactured by Indústria Nacional de Armas S/A during about the same time period, began to be gradually phased out from service as a result of [Read More…]
Following the recent arrival in Brazil of test samples of the .40 S&W Glock Gen5 pistol that emerged as the winner of a competition to supply 5,000 units to PMESP – Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State Military Police), it has been disclosed [Read More…]
While still under the effect of the strong wake created by the flood of new, eye-catching SHOT 2018 products, this old scribe was somehow motivated to once again write on older, lesser-known stuff. The chosen subject was the INA submachine gun. Very well known in [Read More…]
After long decades of mainly using pistols locally made by Forjas Taurus, Brazilian LE agencies have been turning their attention to products from overseas manufacturers, mainly in the wake of multiple reports of technical/safety issues with the “bull brand” [Read More…]