The Firearm Blog

Another new gun on display at DSEi was this H&K HK416 sub-carbine / PDW. What is very interesting about this gun is the buttstock and upper receiver design.

It has a much shortened buffer tube and a collapsible stock in the H&K G3 / MP5 style.

This firearm appears to be positioned in direct competition to the Sub-Compact Weapon (SCW) that Colt is developing. The SCW features a similarly shortened buffer tube.

I think the H&K design is much more elegant. The H&K stock pull straight out, while the Colt stock must be unfolded out and then down before it can be adjusted for length.

Now if H&K would just stop hating us and start selling this nifty upper to us civilians!

Big thank you to Lusaka for the information and photo.

UPDATE:

REMOV has kindly provided me with these photos that he took of the new H&K. The gun has a 9.3" barrel.

Many thanks REMOV!

If the suave gentlemen in the above photo had a beautiful woman beside him, I think the scene could hardly be distinguished from a Bond movie. Style, sophistication and an incredible amount of high explosive firepower!

Quite frankly, this is an awesome piece of hardware. I can't say much else than that. I hope to be writing more about this weapon in the near future.

A big thanks to Groot Mamba for the photos.

This Glock 17 pistol, with thumb safety, was designed by Glock for use by the British Army. It was on display at DSEi '09.

This is not the first Glock designed with a manual safety. Glock has previously designed a Glock 17 for the Tasmanian Police force that featured a standard 1911-style thumb safety.

This safety works differently. In order to engage the safety, it is pushed through the frame with the thumb, much like the magazine release. Disengaging the safety is done with the trigger finger.

At first I thought what a ridiculous mechanism this was until it was explained to me that the SA-80, the British Army service rifle, has a very similar safety which is manipulated in the same way. Glock designed this safety so that it would be familiar to British troops. Very clever!

One problem I do see is an operator going for the magazine release and accidentally engaging the safety. At best it would make the magazine change take longer, at worst the operator could forget to disengage the safety and pull the trigger at a bad guy only to find nothing happens.

I do not know if the British Army are considering replacing their current service pistols or if Glock is just making sure they have a model ready if they do in the future.

Big thank you to Lusaka for the information and photos.

On display at the DSEi 2009 defense expo was this cut down Benelli Super Nova pump action shotgun. Apparently it is popular with South American Law Enforcement.

In this short and stock-less configuration it is more like a pistol than it is a shotgun.

The information and photo were kindly provided by Lusaka who took the time to hunt for, and photograph, new and interesting arms on display at the expo. Thanks Lusaka, your efforts are appreciated. More cool guns from the show will be posted tomorrow.