Matt recently comment on this post about the Australian AUG A4 (ADI Austeyr F88 A4):
To clear up “125″ issues and confusion the A3 varient is to be upgraded to allow the firing of GLA and underslung shot gun attachment with the trigger finger. There is much speculation on INF 2012 weapon systems and the steyr will look marketly different. What is concrete is that what changes happen to the weapons system the it must have the same range or better and must not be any heavier than current weight with modifications. There is a photo around of an ugly australian modified A3, this is not the new rifle and was a test bed system and was a demo only. The ADF rumour mill is leaning more to the AUG A4 design as now Australia owns the rights of all world wide styer production and also pattened designs from Austria.
I had not idea that the A4 existed. I did some Googling and found some photos in a brochure from ADI, the Australian arms and ammunition manufacturer. They may be the “test” A4 that Matt mentioned in Matt’s comment.
I think it’s a pretty ugly design. It looks like someone attacked an AUG with a hacksaw, screwdriver and a few picatinny rails. Especially in contrast to the AUG A3 (from steyr-arms.at):
Where is the grenade launcher trigger?
I would be surprised if the Australians upgrade their A1/A2 AUGs to use the M203 when the M320 will go into production later this year (according to Wikipedia).
M4 with M320
The blogger who blogs at THEATRUM BELLI, a french blog, has put together a very good flicker photoset with over 600 photos. Well worth checking out.
There are a few interesting photos of the Abkhazians militia. Checkout the camo.
Abkhazian paramilitaries are seen at a position near the village of Azhara, in Kodori Gorge, in the Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. Russian troops on Friday allowed some humanitarian supplies into the strategic city of Gori but continued their blockade, raising doubts about Russian intentions in the war-battered country. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was heading for Georgia for talks with the president. (AP Photo/Vladimir Popov)
Its like a Red Dawn in reverse (the paramilitary are the invaders).
The photo below shows a couple of South Ossetia militia. The guy on the right is carrying a Sako TRG.
It is unlikely Finland would allow arms exports to South Ossetia. It was probably bought on the civilian market and then exported. I cannot imagine that South Ossetia would have many snipers so this is feasible.
Their squad sharpshooters (or whatever they call them in that part of the world) are probably using the SVD.
I cannot make out if it is a TRG-21 / 22 (.308 Win) or TRG-41 / 42 (.338 Lapua or .300 Win Magnum). I have never seen a photo of a 41/42 without a muzzle break, but I think the 21/22 can have the Sako TRG muzzle break attached, please correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand the image
H/T: MP.net
New Scientist has reported on a company that is developing a “Variable Velocity Weapon System” that works by
mixing a liquid or gaseous fuel with air in a combustion chamber behind the bullet. This determines the explosive capability of the propellant and consequently the velocity of the bullet as it leaves the gun. “Projectile velocity varies from non-lethal at 10 metres, to lethal at 100 metres or more, as desired,” says Lund.
The concept of a variable amount of gas is not new, pump air guns have had this feature for a long time but, at least according to the article, the gas is ignited making it a true firearm.
Interesting concept. Although I wonder about how useful it is compared to existing systems: a non lethal gun and a lethal side arm.
Another company filed a patent in 1997 for a “Variable Velocity Weapon System”. The system they describe ports gas from behind the projectile to in front of it creating pressure and slowing it down. Sounds like a great idea to create huge amounts of pressure and blowing up the barrel.
From the patent:
The present invention relates to weapon systems that accelerate projectiles using gases generated by the rapid combustion of a solid propellant, in particular, such a weapon system is able to vary the barrel exiting velocity of the projectile through a barrel venting means. In one embodiment, a front venting means exhausts gas generated by combusting propellant from behind the accelerating projectile and redirects a portion of the exhausted gas either to at least one fixed volume, to the front of the projectile, or to a combination of at least one fixed volume and to the front of the projectile. Redirecting some of the exhausted gas to the front of the projectile restrains the projectile, thereby slowing the projectile, and thus further decreasing the muzzle velocity of the projectile. In another embodiment, gas from behind the projectile is exhausted into a fixed volume, thereby decreasing projectile acceleration, and thus, the muzzle velocity of the projectile.
Cross section of the ported barrel.
Hat Tip: Slashdot
Aviation Week reports that last week the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, Brig. Gen. Mark Brown weighed in on the M4/.223 issue:
“I don’t think we need an unhealthy, discordant debate over the current carbine because I don’t think the current carbine is a long-lived solution anyway. However, the M4 carbine has been continuously improved. It has 68 substantial engineering design changes and about 380 total engineering design changes, so it’s become a modular system. It’s very accurate, it’s the most accurate of the carbines, it’s the lightest of the carbines, and it’s the shortest of the carbines. We’re very pleased with it, and we expect it to be the Army’s carbine of record, for a little while.”
While reading the BBC a few days I came across a photo showing captured FARC firearms. Among them appears to be wooden training ‘AK-47s’
Captured firearms from Columbian raid into Ecuador.
I added the red arrows.
I would have thought with the proliferation of AKs they would train with the real deal. Apparently not.
The photo was found here.
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 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
I didn’t know they used shot line adapters. When I saw the photo I thought he was using a suppressor.
PACIFIC OCEAN (March 24, 2008) Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Aan J. Doscher, assigned to the dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49), fires an M-14 with a shot line adapter toward the Military Sealift Command combat stores ship USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7) during a refueling-at-sea. Harpers Ferry is assigned to the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua J. Wahl (Released)
Full sized photo here.
Hat Tip: Navy.mil via. MP.net
I cam across this interesting M14 made by Harrington & Richardson on gunbroker. It features a folding stock and a lightened receiver. The rifle was made in 1961 for military trials into a folding stock rifle for use by paratroopers, vehicle drivers, and tank crews.
The price: $29,995.00 (it is a class III)
Click to expand the photos.
Over the past 10 years the Swiss conscript army have had 4300 firearms lost or stolen from their homes (the army issues firearms to citizens to keep at home). Although it should be pointed out that an estimated 1.5 million army firearms are in circulation.
In that year 82 rifles were stolen from an army depot in Marly in French-speaking Switzerland, bringing the 2006 total to 84 rifles plus 15 pistols.
Endrich told the Swiss news agency that the army did not keep statistics that made a distinction between lost or stolen weapons. Those that simply disappear are categorised as lost, he said.
Under Swiss law, all able-bodied men aged 20-30 are conscripted for about three months and are issued with a rifle. They are required to do up to four weeks of army service a year until they have served 260 days or are aged 34.
Throughout this time they keep the rifles – but no ammunition - at home. According to some estimates there could be as many as 1.5 million army weapons in circulation.
SIG SG 550: Swiss standard service rifle
More here.
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
I came across these stunning photos of the Czech 601st Special Forces Group in Afghanistan at MP.net (Click through for these photos in high resolution).
I did not realize the Czech special forces use an AR/M16 variant.
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