Infantry Marine, based in the Midwest. Specifically interested in small arms history, development, and usage within the MENA region and Central Asia. To that end, I run Silah Report, a website dedicated to analyzing small arms history and news out of MENA and Central Asia.
Please feel free to get in touch with me about something I can add to a post, an error I’ve made, or if you just want to talk guns. I can be reached at miles@tfb.tv
Although not a new development, the recent Palestinian protests against Israel have once again showcased one of the IDF’s unique developments when it comes to crowd control and less-lethal armaments. In use by both the IDF and Israeli law enforcement elements on [Read More…]
Viewers of TFB TV will be especially aware of a number of episodes that I completed with a local reenactor that represents elements of the 82nd Airborne Division all over the Midwest. To date we’ve filmed episodes about the BAR in the First World War, the M1A1 [Read More…]
In a Pennsylvania town not too far from Gettysburg there is a local outfit that has previously worked fascinating wonders when it comes to recreating historically significant muzzleloaders of the 18th and 19th Centuries. Great War Militaria, Custom Metal and Wood [Read More…]
A short video clip has recently emerged depicting an Indian soldier in contact with a distant enemy. It appears the soldier is suppressing the enemy positions more than his own bunker is receiving any fire throughout the video. The video was initially posted on an Indian Facebook page but was sent [Read More…]
Recent images have shown that the Regional Operational Support Unit teams of the Kosovo LE service are currently fielding .50 BMG M107A1 Barrett anti-materiel rifles and Brügger & Thomet 7.62x51mm NATO APRs in their precision rifle inventories. The rifles were [Read More…]
Insofar as Kalashinov derivatives and clones go, the Albanian variants don’t offer much when it comes to being unique or improving the system. If anything they are one of the much more mundane and uninteresting of the Kalashnikov variants. However, when it comes [Read More…]
This photograph was recently posted to the Facebook page of the Alabama National Guard. It features an Army Guardsman Sniper during a stalking course while in training. It appears that a combat cameraman (Staff Sgt. William Frye) was present during the stalking exercise [Read More…]
The Pakistani commercial firearms company Daudsons Armory or DSA is much more known for their handguns and historical reproduction shotguns sold in the United States through Cimarron. However, the company also has a 40x53mm High-Velocity Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL) [Read More…]
Recent images have emerged of CCTV video cameras mounted to Nigerian Army tactical vehicles operating in the country. At first glance it would almost appear to be an attempt at configuring a remotely operated turret but upon closer inspection, this doesn’t appear [Read More…]
The Afghan Long Rifle, or more commonly known in the West as a “Jezail” struck free into General Elphinstone’s combined British and Indian Army of 1841 and 1842 as soldiers were shot down from hundreds of meters beyond the effective range of their own smoothbore muskets. The [Read More…]
To be quite honest, the old Kabul Arsenal never needed to be “relocated” as it had never been lost, destroyed, or otherwise essentially altered. What this post is adding to the conversation is that someone who had a very legitimate interest in the arsenal [Read More…]
A recent image posted on Egypt Defense Review has shown perhaps one of the more detailed images publicly available of Beretta GLX160 40x46mm Low-Velocity UBGL/Stand Alone configuration grenade launchers in use by Egyptian special operations forces (also in use are CZ [Read More…]
Recent photographs have suggested that the Iranian Army (not the Revolutionary Guard Corps) might be introducing a Designated Marksman Rifle variant of the internally manufactured, H&K license produced Defense Industries Organization G3 currently in service with the [Read More…]
Exhibition rifle drill is a relatively new sport, starting to becoming popular in the 1970s and 1980s among JROTC and ROTC drill competitions. Today it occupies a vast amount of programs across the United States and continues to expand every year from the High School to the collegiate and even [Read More…]
After field trials and subsequent purchasing of the “Trichy” Assault Rifle (TAR) by the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), it is being reported that other Indian Law Enforcement entities are taking an interest in the rifle as well. The 7.62x39mm [Read More…]
Damien Spleeters of Conflict Armament Research recently posted this photograph on his Twitter feed of a 7.62x39mm Chinese Type 81 LMG that was recovered among an entire cache of Type 81s after the battle for Mosul. We had some Easter eggs in the @conflictarm ISIS report [Read More…]
The 9x19mm NATO MPi 69 and its improved variant the MPi 81 certainly don’t take many points for revolutionizing submachine gun design. But nonetheless, they are interesting designs of their own accord, essentially based on the Uzi from Israel and taking some elements from the Steyr AUG rifle [Read More…]
In what some would say might be one of the best prototype versions put forth of the Ultimax yet, the 2000 model initially came into the United States for U.S. Military trials, specifically the Marine Corps. It is almost an “Americanized” version of the Singaporean invention (designed by [Read More…]
An Israeli startup company by the name of Smart Shooter has been in the process of developing an Israeli solution to what is very similarly seen in the United States through Tracking Point. However, unlike Tracking Point, the companies SMASH system can apparently be [Read More…]
An Armenian Armed Forces Facebook morale page (not associated with the military) shared photographs in January of what appear to be Armenian Special Operations troops at a training range in the country with precision rifles. Despite attempts to censor the photographs [Read More…]
Anthony J. has recently completed this post on Chinese pistol caliber carbine conversion kits. This is his first post for TFB. Pistol carbine conversion kits have been all over the place, but they are rarely adopted by any law enforcement agency. Except in the case of [Read More…]
A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) based handgun company appears to have successfully been able to replicate a select fire Glock 19 with the rear selector switch. Khan Afzal Manufacturer Arms recently shared videos on their Facebook page showing various company employees test [Read More…]
In June of last year, we published a short post on the odd story behind the current Diplomatic Security Service’s qualification target known as the DSQ-1A, or colloquially as an “Izzy” target. The long and short of it was that the figure holding an [Read More…]
Although exceedingly rare in service with any element of the Afghan National Security Forces, there are a very small number of 5.56x45mm NATO bullpup rifles in service with either the Afghan ANA Commandos or the National Directorate of Intelligence, or more commonly [Read More…]
An Instagram account and an Iranian defense media site have brought to light some new photographs of the Iranian MASAF (اسلحه مصاف) M4 clone that we first reported on in 2016. Along with some detailed photos of the clone are some other small arms on display, [Read More…]
A confidential source at Dam Neck Naval Base has recently shared photographs of the newest addition to the armory of the infamous direct action element within SEAL Team Six. Due to urgent operational requirements to work covertly in extremely hostile environments, [Read More…]
The Charted Industries of Singapore Ultimax is one of the most renowned light machine guns in the world, yet has never really been adopted to the full extent of what it was capable of. The only real military it served was the Singaporean Armed Forces. It was used by multiple other countries and [Read More…]
Although there is much to be said about Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, counterfeits, and the illicit small arms trade in Afghanistan, in this video we are specifically looking at the legal shotgun sellers in Kabul. These shotguns are legal to purchase and own, essentially being [Read More…]
According to a recently published interview with the current director of Česká Zbrojovka in a Czech media platform, the small arms company is currently in the process of launching a small arms plant in Egypt. The director Lubomír Kovařík mentioned in the interview [Read More…]
The Stoner 86/ ARES LMG-1 unfortunately never received much fanfare in the time that it was produced. Originally intended as Eugene Stoner’s concept idea for the SAW trials in what would later become the FN Herstal M249, it never reached full production potential. Truly a shame considering the [Read More…]
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