The Firearm Blog

With the poor condition that captured AK-47s are found, you could be forgiven for thinking the Afghans do not pay much attention to their rifles. Apparently they are very much into the “latest” gear and AK-74 are very much in demand, despite that they cost 2.5x as much as a Chinese AK-47 clone. The Guardian reports:

“The fortunes are to be made in weapons,” he said. “Prices are doing very well. If you bring in $20,000-worth over a month, you can make a profit of $5,000.”

Kalashnikovs, I presumed.

“No, Kalashnikovs are very cheap. They cost only $400. Sometimes the Tajiks buy them from us and we get them from the Chinese. But it’s the Kalakov everyone wants.” Kalakov is the Afghan name for a new model of Kalashnikov that is lighter and uses smaller bullets.

They seem to be under the impression that the 5.42×39mm round has some magical armor piercing capability! While the bullet the Russian currently use has improved penetration, compared to the original, I doubt it is any better than the 5.56mm NATO. I very much doubt that the Taliban are getting recently manufactured ammunition or the AP version of the 5.45mm.

“The Taliban like it because it pierces body armour.” Hekmat tapped at his chest to demonstrate and showed me a small bullet. “They cost $700 in Dushanbe and we sell them for $1,100. There is an extra charge of $150 if you want the weapons delivered in the south.”

This is good news for the coalition forces, better that they spend their money on weapons that they think will give them armor piercing capabilities, rather than weapons that could do real damage. I hope they do not catch on that the Dragunov SVD rifles they seem to love are not near accurate enough to be considered a real sniper rifle, nor can the 20 year old surplus Chinese 7.62×54mm be considered an accurate round for a sniper.

Hat Tip: Danger Room

UPDATE: I was emailed to say that vets report that AK-74 are not uncommon in Afghanistan. The Guardian’s source is a random smuggler that a reporter happened to talk to. I think this is pretty much a non-story.

After waiting three days on a roof top with his spotter, Corporal Christopher Reynolds fired on a Taliban drug lord. The 1,500 meter shot is the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan.

But Cpl Reynolds, of Dalgety Bay, in Fife, together with his spotter Lance Corporal David Hatton, worked out different factors such as wind speed and the trajectory of the bullet to hit the target. Musa, who was more than 1,500 metres away, was taken out with a single shot to the chest.

Cpl Reynolds, who has killed 32 Taliban fighters, said: “I was quite proud of that shot. It is the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan. I am going to use that fact as a chat-up line in the pub when I get back home.”

An incredible feat! I wonder if his “chat-up” lines are as deadly on the ladies as his sniper skills are on Taliban.

UPDATE: The UK newspapers are incorrectly stating that it is the longest kill in Afghanistan. I think it should read “the longest British Army kill in Afghanistan”. The longest confirmed kill of all time was made by Canadian Rob Furlong at a distance of 2430 metres in Afghanistan. Thanks to Rob and Eric for the corrections.

Many thanks to Sven for the link.

James found this photos of a pair of homemade pistols that appear to be chambered in .303 British! Apparently they, along with the cartridges, were confiscated from some students. Can you imagine the blast of burning power that must shoot out of these!

I found the following photos of a Martini-Henry .303 1870 rifle which has been converted into a pistol. It was captured by Marines in Afghanistan.

The pistol has an original Martini-Henry barrel which was cut down to 2.5″ and sights carved out of it. Other than the addition of the pistol grip and sling swivels, the pistol is made entirely from original parts.

These pistols, converted from rifles in the Khyber Pass, are said to be common in that part of the world. It is designed to for one purpose: to kill an enemy in order to take his weapons … that is of course if the death-trap of a gun does not kill the operator first!

More information about this pistol is at gunboards.com.

…. literally

Post at MP.net

Okay, so we were out on a mission yesterday to provide security/overwatch for a team to do an audit/inspection of a civilian demining company clearing land mines in the Stan.

We get there and are in our vehicles covering the roads for about a half hour. I am sending messages back and forth with my bro who is the TC (Truck Commander) of the vehicle to my rear.

He said he had to poo. I told him he is ****ed because we will be here for another few hours, and he cant get out of the truck because of the mines.

He said he was going to look around in the back for an ammo can.

I thought he was joking.

I told him his truck crew was going to hate him for life…

heh heh

The US troops deployed in Afghanistan have to carry a serious load on high altitude rugged terrain and it is taking its toll. The Washington Post reports:

Army leaders and experts say the injuries — linked to the stress of bearing heavy loads during repeated 12- or 15-month combat tours — have increased the number of soldiers categorized as “non-deployable.” Army personnel reported 257,000 acute orthopedic injuries in 2007, up from 247,000 the previous year.

…

Individual Marine combat loads — including protective gear, weapons, ammunition, water, food and communications gear — range from 97 to 135 pounds, well over the recommended 50 pounds, a 2007 Navy study found.

In Afghanistan, soldiers routinely carry loads of 130 to 150 pounds for three-day missions, said Jim Stone, acting director of the soldier requirements division at the Army Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Ga. In Iraq, where patrols are more likely to use vehicles, loads range from 60 to nearly 100 pounds, he said.

Emphasis mine. I will be thinking twice before complaining next time I am out on a hunt carrying a 9 lbs rifle. The below photo is a village at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountain Range in Laghman Province, Afghanistan. That is some nasty terrain.

There is a discussion about the article at ar15.com.

Thanks to Jay for the links.

StrategyPage has a article about the resurgence of Lee-Enfield rifles in Afghanistan and use against NATO troops:

Afghan traditionalists are changing the way the Taliban fight. This can be seen by the increase in the use of sniping by the Taliban. In the last year, NATO units in southern Afghanistan estimate there has been a 25 percent increase in sniping incidents.

…

Then some of the young guys remembered grandpa decrying the decline in marksmanship years ago. Back before the Russians showed up, in the 1980s, the best an Afghan could hope to have was a World War II, or World War I, era bolt action rifle. These weapons were eclipsed in the 1980s by full automatic AK-47s and the RPG rocket launcher. The young guys took to the AK, and the thrill of emptying a 30 round magazine on full automatic. Not bad for a brief firefight, and suddenly hardly anyone, except a few old timers, wanted to use the old bolt action rifle.

Read the entire article here.

Lee-Enfield rifle No. 4 Mk I (From Wikipedia)

According to the book Charlie Wilson’s War, supplying .303 ammunition was initially a priority of the CIA during the 1980s. The Afghans were already armed with Lee-Enfield rifles of WWI and WWI vintage and there was greater deniability supplying then obsolete ammunition. Once the CIA gained more funding and political support they shifted thier startergy to supplying AK-47, heavy weapons and ultimately the Singer surface-to-air missile system.

This war is often incorrectly compared to the Soviet invasion. The Taliban do not represent the Afghan people nor are they as well supplied as the Afghan freedom fighter were by the US, Pakistan and Arab countries. The Taliban, while presumably well supplied, are fighting with less advanced weapons than they did back in the 1980’s. NATO forces on the other hand have come a long way. It is not surprise that sniping is on the increase. Force on force confrontations with NATO troops almost always end with high Taliban casualties.

“0497″ spotted these photos at defense.gov.au. The rifles pictured appear to be the Blaser Tactical 2. The photos are of the Australian Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Click to expand:

The Tactical 2 is available chambered in .223 Rem., .308 Win., .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Lapua Mag. and features the Blaser straight pull bolt system.

Blaser Tactical 2. Click to expand.

Australia recently purchased AU$161,716.66 worth of Blaser Tactical 2 rifles:

Defense Industry daily reports that the Marines have procured 7750 LAWs (M72A7) from Nammo Talley Defense for a total of $15.5 million (which works out to be $2000/unit).

Nammo Talley Defense, Inc. in Mesa, AZ received a $15.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 7,750 LAW M72A7 portable rockets from Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA, in order to replenish stockpiles.

The short (unextended length of 0.67 m) low cost and low weight (5.5 lbs) 66mm one-shot rocket system is useful in urban environments against buildings and lightly armored vehicles, such as those found in Iraq/Afghanistan.

M72 LAW

Human Events has an interesting article about the use of Chinese armor-piercing bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan by insurgents.

China’s robust arms industry has been able to duplicate U.S.-made, armor-piercing rounds, and the bullets are being found with the enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two government sources tell HUMAN EVENTS the sniper ammunition is sending alarm bells through the Pentagon as it hurries to keep pace by producing improved body armor for soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors.

The sources said the Chinese munitions are not thought capable of defeating the super-hard ceramic plates that now protect service members against smalls-arms fire, including armor-piercing bullets.

I know very little about AP ammunition. Does anyone know if M948 (7.62mm Saboted Light Armor Penetrator) or M993 (7.62mm AP) can penetrate Type IV ballistic vests and a ceramic plate insert?

AP bullets. Click to expand. Image from DTIC.mil.

Defense Review discusses the implications of this and its potential impact on the mythical XSAPI armor plates that are in development.

Hat Tip: Defense Review

KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghan national security forces will receive a huge capability and mobility boost throughout the next year with more than 6,000 up-armored vehicles and more than 75,000 M-16 rifles from Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan.

…

“Accuracy will always be more important than lots of shots,” McPhail said. “They wanted a weapon that doesn’t waste shots. That’s the reason the Afghan government asked for the M-16.”

Do you want fries ammo with that?

More @ Defense Talk

Gun Pundit has some good shots of the German Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan sporting the G36 rifle.

Lots of photos here.

The NY Times (emphasis mine):

But to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead this fight, the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur.

With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces.

Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging, according to an examination of the munitions by The New York Times and interviews with American and Afghan officials. Much of the ammunition comes from the aging stockpiles of the old Communist bloc, including stockpiles that the State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete, and have spent millions of dollars to have destroyed.

In purchasing munitions, the contractor has also worked with middlemen and a shell company on a federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking.

Moreover, tens of millions of the rifle and machine-gun cartridges were manufactured in China, making their procurement a possible violation of American law.

It is a long article. Somewhat sensationalist. Looks like some kids (18, 22 and 25 years old) found a source of soviet ammo and sold it. This is the kind of story that they will make into a move.

Read it here.

UPDATE:

This photo from the US Army shows the state of the boxes of ammo they were receiving

Hat Tip: Danger Room

It seems the Afghans are moving to the AR platform, along with the Georgians.

After a frustratingly long three-year wait, the fledging Afghan National Army finally has a new weapon in its arsenal: the Canadian C7 rifle.

Some 42 boxes of surplus weapons arrived at the ANA base just up the road from Kandahar Airfield last week, Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa said Wednesday in an interview with The Canadian Press. And training is already underway. Aimed at replacing the Afghan army’s old Soviet-era AK-47s in order to bring the force’s fire power capabilities in line with that of NATO countries, the Canadian rifles are a welcome addition, Aqa said. “They’re very modern and new weapons and the C7 is a real necessity for the ANA,” he said through a translator. He said the AK-47s often jam, leaving soldiers vulnerable to enemy fire. “It’s the difference between old and new.”

It’s a project that’s been in the works for several years.

The C7 rifle

Hat Tip: The Western Star