The Firearm Blog

Backyard Safari has a collection of images showing the AEK-919 K Submachine gun being used in training by the Vityaz (counter-terrorism Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs special forces unit).

Click to expand.

A surprisingly aesthetically pleasing gun. The Russians tend to ignore appearances.

The AEK-191 was designed during the mid 90’s and fires the marginal 9×18mm Makarov cartridge. It takes 20 or 30 round magazines, has a 6.5″ barrel, weights 4 lbs unloaded and has a rate of fire of 900 rpm.

Many more photo here.

I blogged about the new AR57 earlier this year. The AR Five Seven is a one piece 5.7×28mm upper that attaches to a AR-15 lower and uses the 50 round FN P90 magazines. 57 Center posted a few photos of their new SBR suppressed submachine gun/PDW:

How cool is that!

UPDATE: After writing a three paragraphs about integrally suppressed firearms it turns out this is not integrally suppressed! The suppressor fits inside the handguard. I got this via. email from the 57 Center:

This particular AR57 PDW Upper in Full-Auto with 6″ Barrel, with 6.5″ Gemtech Suppressor, is currently being produced for a couple LE Agencies.

We currently have our 11″ Pistol/SBR Upper available as well as our standard 16.125″

So they are now directly competing with the full-auto FN P90. Personally, if I had a choice between this and the P90 I would go with the AR platform.

I think the pistol configuration could be a lot of fun.

UPDATE: I asked if the 6″ barrel gave adequate performance. From 57 Center:

We have excellent results with both 6″ and 11″ Pistol/SBR Barrels, this would be peoples choice, LE prefers 6″ with the 6.5″ Suppressor, this unit also works in Sub Sonic,

It is very impressive that the action can cycle subsonic rounds (a light 30-50 grain 5.7mm bullet traveling below the speed of round is comparable to a 40 grain .22 LR Standard subsonic round).

For a while I have been waiting for Colt to a announce a ultra-reliable ultra-high capacity magazine that will accompany the Colt Infantry Automatic Rifle. One of the requirements for the Marine IAR is a ultra-high capacity magazine.

At the Pakistan IDEAS-2008 expo an M16/M203 was on display with a MWG 90 Rounder High Capacity Magazine, sitting directly above a Colt IAR poster (Photo by skybolt @ Defence.pk).

The tan colored weapon on the poster is the Colt IAR. Click to expand.

I think it would be safe to assume that Colt is going with the MWG 90.

MWG 90 Rounder High Capacity Magazine

If you look closely at the first image it appears that the MWG 90 magazine is attached to the M16 upper receiver. Something is attached to the receiver which extends towards the magazine. Anyone know what this is? It does not appear visible on MWG promotional photos, such as this one:

Colt may have customized the MWG 90 to increase reliability/durability.

Over the past few months Colt has been unveiling a variety of new AR-15 firearms. If a replacement for the M16 or M4 is chosen they want it to be a Colt. To ensure this designed a range of weapons that should cover all bases. David @ Defense Review has been relentlessly covering the new firearms.

Many of the improvements Colt have developed have been applied to all these guns, I won’t list them all, click the links to read the full details.

Colt Sub-Compact Weapon (SCW)

A 5.56mm 10.3″ barreled sub-carbine/PDW featuring the new Colt side-folding stock. It is able to use an upgraded gas impingement system or the Colt Piston System (CPS)

Side Folding Stock. Photo by SMGLee.

Colt ACC-M (Advanced Colt Carbine-Monolithic)

This is basically an upgraded M4. It features many small improvements over the M4A1 and Colt’s new monolithic rail system. If it was adopted it I think it would probably be named the M4A2.

Colt Advanced Piston Carbine (APC)

David calls this the HK416 killer. It utilizes the Colt Articulating-Link Piston (ALP) system.

Colt Advanced Hybrid Carbine (AHC)

This carbine features a hybrid gas impingement and gas piston system. I am very interested to see how that works.

Colt Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR)

I covered this a few weeks ago on the blog. It is a light machine gun and Colt’s entry into the Marine Infantry Automatic Rifle competition.

Colt IAR. Photo by SMGLee

I have previously discussed the Ultimax 100 Mk4. This is the latest iteration of the Ultimax 100 design and is being entered into the IAR competition by General Dynamics, although it designed by Singapore Technologies Kinetics (STK).

Photos by SMGLee. Click to expand:

Quick Change Barrel

I like the design of the ambidextrous fire selector.

Compared to the Mk4 the Mk5 takes unmodified STANAG (M16) magazine, has quad rails and a bipod/foregrip rather than a separate bipod and foregrip.

I am not sure if the Ultimax 100 Mk4 100 round drum magazine will be made compatible with the Mk5. The Mk4 took modified STANAG magazines.

Ultimax 100 Mk 4


Ultimax 100 Mk 5

UPDATE: Defense Review has more info.

Marine Corps Times has an interesting article on the IAR competition. It seems the Army is not interested in a lightweight automatic rifle.

That’s why the Army, which also uses the M249, has ruled out a soldier version of the Marine IAR.

“We are not considering adopting an auto rifle for the infantry squad,” said Col. Robert Radcliffe, director of the Infantry Center’s Directorate of Combat Developments at Fort Benning, Ga.

…

The plan is to buy 4,100 IARs and reduce the number of SAWs in the Corps from 10,000 to 8,000, Cantwell said.

“We are still going to maintain SAWs in the company,” he said. “Only 2,000 SAWs will be replaced. The reminder will be kept as an organizational weapon for when commanders need them.”

The Africa Aerospace and Defense 2008 held in Cape Town, South Africa has just finished. Denel Land Systems, a South African firm, launched the new SS77 Compact.

The only photo I could find.

UPDATE: prion @ MP.net posted this photo:

The compact version of the 7.62mm NATO machine gun features a telescopic stock, foregrip with bipod, picatinny rail and gas regulator. The gun is 150mm (6″) shorter and 2 kg (4.4 lbs) lighter than the full sized SS77.

The full size SS77 can be converted to the 5.56mm Mini SS and presumably the compact version can be as well.

Developed in the 1970s during the arms embargo which forced the South Africa to develop its own arms industry. The machine gun is used by South Africa, Philippines, Malaysia and Jordan. It was pulled from Service by the South African Defense Force during the 90s due to reliability problems. The problems were fixed in part by reducing the rate of fire from 900 rpm to 800 rpm and the gun reentered service in 2003.

Mini SS 5.56mm. Click to expand.

Earlier this year at the Singapore Airshow, Singapore Technologies Kinetics, otherwise known as ST Kinetics or STK, the Singaporean firm who make the Ultimax 100 machine gun, announced their a new PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) type sub machine gun called the CPW (Compact Personal Weapon).

I think that is a kids hand. Photo from textfiend.net.

According to the STK brochure and the pieces of info I picked up on the internet:

• Can be holstered
• Lighweight
• 7″ Barrel
• Multi-caliber. Currently available in 9mm (30 round magazines)
• Translucent pistol grip to check rounds in the magazine
• Comes standard with reflex sight. Iron sights are an optional extra.
• Retractable stock
• Low recoil
• Low cost

Specs:

Length: 350mm
Barrel Length: 180mm (7″)
Mounting system: 2 sets of picatinny rails
Weight without accessories: 1.5kg (3.3 lbs).
Firing modes: semi and auto (selector can be seen on above photo)
Method of operation: delayed blow back
Rate of fire: 900 to 1100 rpm.

Click to expand.

I would assume they will also offer a typical PDW round such as the MP7’s 4.6×30mm or the P90’s 5.7×28mm.

The gun looks very similar to the MP7 and I think would be in direct competition with it. It weights less (MP7 weights 4.19 lbs/1.9kg), is slightly shorter in length and has a similar rate of fire. I think the CPW’s main selling point is cost.

A couple more photos:

This looks like a prototype. It has a slightly
different trigger to the one above.

More info at STK

Photos of the Skorpion submachine gun were posted at MP.net. I thought I would post some of them here.

It is interesting to see the short 10 round magazine being used in the field. I had always assumed they were only used by police when using the Skorpion as a “pistol”. 10 rounds of .32 ACP or 9mm does not seem like much these days when ultra compact .32 ACP pistols like the Kel-Tec P-32 hold 7+1.

Click to expand the photos.

Naughty trigger finger

James reported on this last week, but I thought I should mention it:

From Strategypage.com:

The world’s first light machine-gun, the Danish Madsen has finally been retired from service after over a century of use. The State Police of the Brazilian state of Rio De Janerio were the last users of the twenty pound weapon…

The Madsen required some precise machining, but it was not exceptionally costly to make. It was reliable, although it used an awkward top loaded magazine, carrying 25, 30 or 40 rounds. Over its long career, it was equipped to fire ammunition from 6.5mm to 8mm. The Brazilian Madsens fired NATO 7.62mm (.30 caliber) ammo. It’s rate of fire was 450 rounds per minute.

Firearms last a long time!

These photos of of a replica of the 8mm model which can be bought here. They are the best photos I could find and are probably close to the original.

Click to expand the images.

The U.S. Army and Special Operations Command are stepping up efforts to procure a lighter, modernized .50-caliber machine gun more easily transported than the standard 85-pound M2.

The goal is not to replace the M2, a combat fixture for 70 years, but to augment the inventory with a .50-caliber weapon that brings the same firepower at less than half the weight, Army officials said here at the Feb. 27-29 winter convention of the Association of the U.S. Army. Early models of the Light Weight .50-caliber (LW50) are expected to be delivered this year.

More info at Murdoc Online

The mythbusters use a 7.62mm Dillon M134D minigun to chop down a tree in 45 seconds.

From Dillon Aero

The Dillon M134D Gatling Gun is the finest small caliber, defense suppression weapon available. It is a six barreled, electrically driven machine gun chambered in 7.62mm NATO and fires at a fixed rate of 3,000 shots per minute. Gatling Guns typically feed from a 3,000 or 4,400 round magazine. They are capable of long periods of continuous fire without threat or damage to the weapon making them an excellent choice for defensive suppression.

Dillon Guns are reliable. The M134D has system life in excess of one million rounds and an average time between stoppage of 30,000 rounds. In the unlikely event of a stoppage the weapon can be serviced and made operational again in under a minute. The multi barrel design means that each barrel only experiences a 500 round per minute rate of fire. This allows for repeated long bursts of fire and a barrel group life of 100,000 rounds.

Hat Tip: Gizmodo

VLTOR are now mass producing their full and semi-auto PKM receivers. They selling PKMs built with their receiver and imported parts kits. Apparently their receivers are better than the original PKM receiver. Obviously the full auto receiver will not be sold to the public.
From VLTOR:

Compared to conventional PKM receivers, Vltor’s receiver is more robust, rigid and wear resistant. Vltor has researched the PKMs history and found the weaknesses of the existing chassis and moved forward to improve upon its design.

For example, the PKM receiver was notorious for cracking around the rear trunnion rivet holes. This was cured through increased strengthening around the said holes. Another downside to the original PKM receiver was the excessive wear on the receiver’s rails. Vltor has remedied the problem by the eliminating the conventional “stamped” rails by replacing them with fully machined, heat-treated tool steel rails. Finally, with the installation of the tool steel rails, the Vltor PKM receiver is less likely to flex or twist during operation, when compared to the original.

Vltor Production Models

Complete Kit of the Vltor PKM

Production Model Hungarian PKMs

Production Receivers

Each kit contains:

1 complete gun (made from an un-issued Hungarian PKMS Parts Kit)*
1 Spare Barrel (matching serial number)
1 Tripod
2 100 round assault ammo cans, with belts**
2 200 round box ammo cans, with belts**
1 spare parts kit (parts that break or wear down)
1 blank firing adapter
1 cleaning kit
1 spare barrel carry bag.
1 tripod carry bag
1 weapon carry bag
1 bag of misc. slings*

*Most of the kits have matching number, including barrels. Tripod serial number does not match the numbers found on the parts kit. **Ammo Cans and accessories may vary in condition.

Marcolmar Firearms are selling the semi auto VLTOR PKMs:

MarColMar Firearms LLC and our manufacturing partner Wise-Lite Arms are pleased to bring you the exclusive semi-auto belt-fed PKM. Incorporating a state of the art PKM receiver manufactured by Vltor, and our ATF approved and exclusive Patent Pending semi-auto striker-fired PK/PKM design, this firearm has been extensively fired, torture–tested, and continuously refined to provide you with years of trouble-free shooting from arguably the greatest GPMG in existence today. Matched with Wise-Lite’s Limited One-Year Warranty and the quality of a brand new Hungarian PKM parts kit, this system will undoubtedly be the highlight of any military weapon collection.

Lucky kid with a VLTOR semi PKM

The semi PKM will sell for US$6075.
More information here and here.

The PKM machine gun according to Wikipedia:

The PKM is a modernized, product-improved version of the PK machine gun. It is just 7.5 kg empty and PKMS version on the light Stepanov’s tripod weights only 12 kg. The PKM and other variants (such as the PKMT or PKTM, its tank version) are in production in Russia and currently are exported to many nations. Additionally, various models are manufactured locally around the globe. Zastava Arms produces the PK under license as the M84 (along with the PKT as the M86), and it remains in use with many of the former Yugoslav successor states. The Chinese-built Type 67 also features notable design similarities. The most recent modification is the Russian Pecheneg, which features a forced air cooling barrel that, unusually for a modern machine gun, cannot be removed in the field for quick replacement. The PK and its descendants will continue to see service throughout the world for some time.

Now this looks like fun A machine gunner at the Northern Arizona Machine Gun Shoot 2003 shoots down an RC plane.