The Firearm Blog

There photos are of a Sig Sauer Pro that was left in an electric oven at 210°c / 400°f for 20 minutes by a French police officer. After cleaning it he put it in to dry but was distracted by a phone call.

I propose this as a candidate Xavier’s Ugly Gun Sunday.

Hat Tip: Galileo @ MP.net

Reader Tarkan emailed me a couple of interesting news article about the assassination of a former Chechen commander in Turkey last week. Sabah reports:

According to police investigations the gunshots hit the victim from a diagonal angle and the weapons used were especially made for the KGB. Known as ’small special guns’ and used in assassinations, both the SP3 and SM4 models only let off minimal noise when shot. Police are stating that the previous Chechen commander that was murdered, Gazhi Edilsultanov was also killed by a 7.62 gun and the same weapon might have been used in both murders.

As usual, the media got the facts incorrect. The SP-3 is a cartridge. The S4M is a pistol.

SP-3 Cartridge (Photo from guns.ru)

S4M pistol (Photo from guns.ru)

The round is one of many Russia piston silenced rounds. The gas from the primer propels a piston (I doubt they contain any powder) which in turn propels a 123 grain bullet at 490 fps generating 66 lbs of muzzle energy. This is significantly less energy than a High Velocity .22 Long Rifle (130+ lbs). The piston then locks in the gas preventing muzzle noise.

The bullet itself is similar to the 7.62×39mm (AK) bullet. In theory this is supposed to fool investigators into thinking the victim was shot by a conventional rifle. This may have worked when the cartridge was classified but any modern forensic expert would not be fooled by a rifle bullet that clearly left the muzzle slowly and had very poor penetration.

A combination of very low power and a relatively large caliber bullet means the round is not capable of much apart from gangland style executions as demonstrated in the recent assassination.

JamesTown.org reports that in September another Chechen was assassinated in Turkey:

On September 6 Gazhi Edilsultanov, a former Chechen colonel, was gunned down in Istanbul reportedly during a dispute over financial aid being collected in Turkey for Chechen separatists. Edilsultanov was the head of the Chechen refugee camp in Istanbul

It is suspected that the killing was not a robbery but an assassination:

Perhaps, however, the story of killing Edilsultanov for the €50,000 was not true, and the suspects invented the money story to cover up the fact that the murder was committed by Russian intelligence.

The Times reports the Mumbai police are now complaining about having to use WWI rifles (probably not quite true) and WWII helmets. Can you believe the audacity of these cowards!

The contrast between them was vividly illustrated yesterday by CCTV footage of two militants attacking Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Mumbai’s main railway station, last Wednesday.

It shows the gunmen spraying automatic fire while two constables cower behind pillars, one armed with a .303 rifle similar to the Lee-Enfield weapons used by British troops in the First World War.

Lee-Enfield Rifle No 4 Mk I

In other words: locally produced .303 Lee-Enfield Rifle No 4 Mk I. rifles (Used by the Allies in WWII) or Ishapore .308 Lee-Enfields. Now you may think its an unfair fight with the terrorist rate of fire far higher than the police but consider this:

Terrorists: 16
Mumbai police force: 16,308 (based on India’s ratio of 126 officers per 100,000 population)
Approx. ratio of terrorists to officers: 1:1000

AK Rate of fire: 600 rounds per minutes (effective rate of fire of fire when taking into account reloading is much less)
Lee Enfield rate of fire: 20+ aimed rounds per minute (a well trained operator).

Terrorist rate of fire: 9600 rounds per minute.
Police rate of fire: 327,600 rounds per minute.

The majority of the force would not be front line officers nor would they have 16,000 rifles, but you see the point I am trying to make.

“The helmets used last week were World War Two-era, not designed for combat,” he said.

I need not comment on this ridiculous statement.

Y. P. Singh, who retired after 20 years in the Maharashtra police in 2005, said that he knew of two batches of body armour that had failed tests in 2001 and 2004. “They couldn’t take rounds from AK47 or AK56,” he said. “The bullets pierced the jackets.”

(No doubt they are referring to the Chinese Type 56 AK clone. There is no AK-56)

Most police forces around the world likely use Type II armor. I don’t think anyone expected the cops to charge the terrorist with fixed bayonets.

Most of the police involved were carrying .303s or self-loading rifles like those adopted by the British Army in the 1950s.

Some officers said that they were not given enough weapons training because of a shortage of ammunition and shooting ranges. In theory, all officers shoot 50 rounds a year in training. In practice, senior officers get their full quota with small arms.

They then admit that their arsenal also includes the [likely semi-] automatic 7.62mm NATO FN FAL. From their performance I would have guessed they never trained with arms.

Type 56 (Top)

I would be criticizing any police force, from any country or city, if they performed this badly.

mattling posted this comment on the poor police response on the previous post where I discussed the attacks:

Numerous reasons:

1. Everyone’s gotten used to bomb blasts in Mumbai and Delhi.
2. Police forces still carry equipment from WWII (not that old but the factories all make replicas)
3. Even after years of dealing with the mob and terrorism, police hierarchy is simply not equipped to deal with these kinds of threats.
4. Private citizens can’t import modern guns, make do with homemade and unreliable pistols.
5. No intelligence on the ground and lack of inter-agency coordination.
6. Corruption plays a part as well.
Pretty much the same reasons that led to 9/11 and that lead to general police incompetence in any american city, except here the police vans don’t have kevlar lining in their doors and ambulances are cramped 10 year old suvs converted for private use. All these factors (and more) led to a domino effect which resulted in a days long siege where it would’ve ended in a matter of an evening in America.
You know there’s something wrong when police are setting up cordons with bungee cords. How do you expect them to contain these attackers on the move? Senior officers were killed within the early hours leading to even more chaos on the ground. The joker couldn’t have schemed it better. (And he’s the ultimate schemer of them all, despite all appearances and catchphrases).
Horrible analogy, but this was Heat turned into “The Kingdom”.

In unrelated new: I am kicking myself for recently turning down a Lee Enfield mk. 5 Jungle Carbine (a real one) for a very good price.

[ Photos from Wikipedia ]

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.

Last month the Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant-General Mikhail Suhodolskogo, announced that Russian police (the MVD) would be moving away from the AKS-74U (5.45mm 8″ barreled sub-carbine) and the famous Makarov pistol.

Reasons cited are increased gang violence (seems police use this line all over the world) and the potential for ricochets and over penetration of the 5.45mm cartridge.

The police are too replace the AKS-74U with two submachine guns: The Knight and the PP-2000.

The Knight / Vityaz / PP-19-01. Photo from Lenta.ru

I know very little about the Knight. I know it is made by Izhmash and I would guess by looking at the photo that it will fire 9×19mm Luger/Parabellum and will be able to handle the +P+ Russian 7N31 armor piercing round. The receiver also looks shorter than the AK carbines and rifles. I can’t make out if it is gas operated or not.

The Knight could be possibly be a redesign of the 9A-91 compact rifle that fired the 9×39mm cartridge.

UPDATE: —-
Thanks to jdun and R.A.W in the comments I have more information on the Knight. It looks like it was originally known as the AK-9, but this may just be a name given to it in the west. The russian name in the Arabic alphabet, according to guns.ru, appears to be Vityaz with one model called the Vityaz-SN. The word Vityaz means ancient warrior, hence the translation as Knight. It is not clear if the westernized name is used officially. According to guns.ru the official product name is PP-19-01 but I am not sure if that is accurate.
—-

PP-2000

The PP-2000 is a cool looking submachine gun. It fires the 9×19mm Luger/Parabellum and can handle both AP (7N31) and armor piercing (7N21) loads. It operates with a telescoping bolt, thereby reducing size, and although it looks like it may be gas operated in the photo, it is not. It uses 20 and 44 round magazines. A spare 44 round magazine can be inserted into the back of the receiver and used as a stock if the wire folding stock it not attached.

The Baikal Yarygin PYa / MP-443 “Grach” pistol, which I dubbed the “Ugliest modern pistol“, will be replacing the Makarov PM. The reasons for this are obvious. Twice the magazine capacity and a much more powerful round. The 9×18mm Makarov cartridge is closer to the .380 ACP rather than the 9×19mm Luger/Parabellum.

Baikal Yarygin PYa / MP-443 “Grach” pistol

In Moscow’s Shadows analyzed what this announcement means. Like US police departments the Russian police have been buying cheap military surplus firearms, but unlike US law enforcement this is all they have been buying.

Also unlike US police departments, and like much of the world, the MVD are employed, financed and administered by the central government. I think this arms upgrade, which will cost a fortune, demonstrates Russia’s new found wealth.

Hat Tip: Backyard Safari

Gunpundit has spotted photos of the Veritas Mark IV in Denver. The Veritas Mark IV is a paintball/airgun gun that shoots .68 Caliber paintballs filled with a pepper spray type substance. The gun is patterned after and the same size as the M and accepts most AR-15 accessories.

More info about the gun here. More photos here.

They have got the prerequisite Glocks, now they just need MP5s. Click to expand the photos.

Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team members storm a bus during a demonstration drill held during a handover ceremony in Diwaniyah, 181 kms south of Baghdad, on July 16, 2008. Iraq took control of security in the Shiite province of Diwaniyah today and said it hoped to regain control of the entire country from US-led forces by end of the year.

H/T: MP.net

I just really like the design. Simple and functional. It looks like it should fire something more powerful than the 7.62×25mm Tokarev.

SinoDefense:

The Type 79 submachine gun is more or less patterned after the Type 56 (AK-47) assault rifle. It uses gas-operated, rotary bolt action with short stroke gas piston located above barrel. The bolt group and fire mode/safety switch are similar to those of the Type 56 rifle. The barrel, receiver, pistol grip, magazine and shoulder stock are all made from stamped steel. The weapon fires 7.62 X 25mm pistol cartridge in either single or fully automatic mode. Ammunitions are fed from a straight box magazine that holds 20 rounds. Shoulder stock folds up and forward when not in use.

Hat Tip: MP.net

Snow Wolf Commando Unit (Beijing Special Police) are premier Chinese SWAT unit and will be the behind the scenes at the Olympics.

The QBZ-95 rifle

Type 79 SMG (7.62×25mm)

If is interesting to see the Type 79. Gun.ru:

Type 79 submachine gun is rather unusual for its class as it is very lightweight and uses locked breech, gas operated action instead of more traditional (for SMG) blowback action. This weapon was (and probably still is) widely used by PAP (Chinese police).

If the SAS can do it …

No doubt these guys will be quelling the protests against Chinese policy that could break out.

A lot more photos here.

Taser recently announced a deal to sell 3000 M26 Tasers, an older model, to an undisclosed country. After a 30 second google search I guess it is Australia.

From CourierMail (dated January 29 2008):

POLICE will not say how many Tasers will be issued across the state after Police Minister Judy Spence brokered a deal with the controversial police union to provide one to every front-line officer.

I say three thousand. I don’t know they bother hiding these details in the information age.

According to the Motley Fool Taser increased is value on the stockmarket by $43 million on this deal which is worth only 1.2 million. The market sure likes Taser.

The older M26 model

A guy, likely drunk, thinks pointing a machine gun shaped liquor bottle at a cop during a traffic stop would be a good idea.

Edmonton police say they’ve arrested a 24-year-old suspect after a man pointed what turned out to be a machine gun-shaped liquor bottle at an officer conducting a traffic stop Friday night.
…
Around 11 p.m., police say a second officer noticed a man in a nearby house pointing what looked like a long barreled gun at the officer doing the traffic stop.

Tommy Guns Vodka

For the sake of all Canadians I hope he is barred from ever owning or using a firearm.
More at CTV.ca

Hat Tip: MilitaryPhotos

… and their use, or lack of use, of iron sights amazes me.

From MilitaryPhotos.com

Palestinian police officers loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas violently dispersed a demonstration against the Annapolis peace conference, and medical workers said one protester was killed in Hebron, a West Bank city, according to The Associated Press. A Palestinian police officer pointed his weapon at protesters during clashes in Hebron.

In case you did not notice, the above ‘police’ officer is holding the rifle sidewards ‘gangster’ style. Why these soldiers/’police’ officers cannot be taught to aim their full auto AKs is beyond me. I know some people think iron sights are hard but I started shooting with them and to this day still do most of my shooting with iron sights. I think they are easier to use than scopes once you know what to do (obviously depending on the application).

Here are some of those classic Liberian rebel photos

More of the above photos here.

Walking into the Colur Tyme Tattoo Parlor is a lot like walking into a head shop. One wall is lined with gang monikers and symbols, the other with bongs for smoking marijuana and other drugs — one even shaped like a skull

Only this head shop was a setup. It was a police front in a sting operation to bust gangs in this Georgia river city that most people associate with the Masters Tournament — not violent thugs with high-powered weapons….

Sixty-eight suspects were arrested on charges ranging from trafficking of illegal weapons to serious drug offenses. Authorities seized more than 300 weapons, including high-powered assault rifles.

From CNN.

ha! They say “high-powered assault rifles” then show a photo of a bunch of .22’s!

Look at the below photo of some of the confiscated firearms.

I see a Ruger 10/22, a Savage .22, a Marlin .22 (?).

Some more photos from the ATF.

The president of the republic of Georgia declared a state of emergency Wednesday night, after riot police officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to clear thousands of demonstrators from the streets.

Check out these ‘riot police officers’:

If the photo didn’t come from the NY Times I would have thought it was a photoshop. I have seen movies portraying aliens who look less ‘alien’ than these guys!

The camo, armor and 40mm / 37mm multi-launcher in combination with the weird mask makes for a chilling effect.

More here.