BBC Two did a short documentary on BOPE. The special force police group in Rio de Janeiro. Lots of FN FALs in this video.
Taurus has released statements through Shooting Sports Retailer regarding their recent settlement of a class-action lawsuit regarding several its pistol models, all of which were susceptible to discharge when dropped. Anthony Acitelli is the CEO of Taurus USA, the US [Read More…]
If you own a Taurus handgun, you will want to read this post. Recently, Iowa deputy sheriff Chris Carter brought suit against Brazilian firearms manufacturer Taurus International Manufacturing, Inc. for a defect in their handguns whereby the weapons could potentially [Read More…]
A recent police raid on an illegal weapons factory in Sao Paulo netted some interesting items. The group involved were producing bombs, submachine guns, pistols, shotguns as well as .50 cal rifles. An odd little open-bolt automatic rifle: Submachine gun with suppressor: [Read More…]
Brazil is a beautiful country, but man does it seem like a lot of crazy stuff happens there. From cops shooting at bad guys from a helicopter and soccer refs pulling guns on players to interesting customized guns and even guns that shoot on their own! Check out this [Read More…]
The Imbel IA2, a 5.56mm caliber distant relative of the FAL which has been in development since 2008, has officially been standardized by the Brazilian Army. From IHS Jane’s: The Brazilian Army approved the IA2 5.56×45 mm assault rifle, developed by [Read More…]
Pictured is an interesting improvised 9mm firearm being sold within criminal circles in Brazil. The entire trigger group / lower is from a standard paintball marker, allowing for a more useful semi-automatic (open-bolt) operation. A clever feature is the use of standard [Read More…]
Well known gun writer Ronaldo Olive writes … This duo of rifles is in current use by Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police BOPE – Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (Special Police Operations Battalion). The 7.52x51mm ArmaLite AR-10 Super SASS is [Read More…]
Gun writer Ronaldo Olive sends along these photos of an ammunition cache sunk in the waters of Paranoá Lake in Brasília. Ronaldo writes: Guess what, my friends! Some people fishing in the Paranoá Lake, in Brasília, last week started catching, probably in their [Read More…]
Gun writer Ronaldo Olive sends us photos of a .50 cal sniper/anti-materiel rifle captured in a drug raid. He says: This .50BMG rifle has just been seized in Rio de Janeiro by crack BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais) Military Police troops in he [Read More…]
A video was released by Patrulha Policial (Police Patrol) on YouTube. The video appears to be from the body camera of a Brazilian officer, in a helicopter, observing a runaway suspect involved in a high speed pursuit with other Brazilian officers. The sniper next to him [Read More…]
At my request the famous South American gun writer Ronaldo Olive kindly sent me this photo of himself with a PGM Hécate II .50 BMG anti-materiel rifle. This particular rifle is in service with the SpecOps Battalion (Batalhão Tonelero) of Brazil’s Corpo de [Read More…]
Eddie sent us this photo he took of a PGM Hecate II anti-material rifle chambered in .50 BMG. This particular rifle belongs to the Brazilian Special Operations Brigade. The optic is a Schmidt & Bender 3-12X50mm. The Hecate II is manufactured by French rifle [Read More…]
I thought some of these examples were particularly … rustic. The last example appears to be trying to channel a S&W Model 3 top-break.
As previously delved into, a seemingly endless variety of these are regularly emerging, some of factory quality, others of bedroom quality. A very crudely made model recently trending in numbers, sometimes fitted with a barrel made from a section of brass hex [Read More…]
Simmering quietly in the background of the upcoming World Cup, Brazil has been attempting to tackle the Cartels in Rio de Jianero’s Favelas (slums). Brazil, and more specifically, the city of Rio are making a big push to keep the city safe, clean, and attractive [Read More…]
The IMBEL IA2, the new service rifle of the Brazilian Army, is the answer to the question “What would a modern 5.56mm FN FAL look like”. It has a scaled down and lighter receiver to suit the 5.56mm cartridge and [Read More…]
Jane’s reports that Ceska Zbrojovka (CZ) has partnered with the Brazilian firm RT Trading to form CZ-Brasil, a gun manufacturer in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. The factory will employ 150 people to manufacture CZ P-07 pistols for the military and law [Read More…]
A reader from Brazil sent us these photos of the 10.5″ barreled H&K416 used by the Brazilian Federal Police Special Forces (C.O.T). It looks like they are using EO Tech holographic sights and a laser/light designator (which I can’t identify). [Read More…]
Nicknamed the “The Ballerina”, the GL 310 is a new CS tear gas grenade from Brazilian firm Condor that rolls around on a random path after it hits the ground. The idea behind it is that its targets will have a hard time anticipating the movement and [Read More…]
Our friend Ronaldo Olive was kind enough to share another piece of firearm history with us. The Brazilian LAPA FA-03 was a prototype rifle built in the 1980s. It had a surprisingly modern design that reminds me of the VHS Bullpup (minus the picatinny rails which had [Read More…]
TFB’s resident South American gun expert Ronaldo Olive sent us these photos of a Colt M16A2 Commando (Model RO735B) owned by the Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (the Rio de Janeiro State Military Police). The upper receiver has been blown apart, the [Read More…]
Ronaldo came across a negative of a photo of an AR-18 he photographed at the Brazilian Army’s Fábrica de Itajubá back in October 1982. The gun is unusual for having a rifle-length handguard, carbine-length barrel and rifle-style flash suppressor. It also [Read More…]
A reader from Brazil sent us this photo of a rifle captured by Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police. It looks like a well made production rifle, and yet I don’t recognise it. Can anyone identify this gun? [ Many thanks to Ronaldo for the photo. ]
There are not a lot of photos of Brazil’s new service on the internet, so I was pleased when a reader emailed me a photo in a photo of the IMBEL IA2. The rifle is based on the FN FAL, but uses a rotating bolt rather than a tilting bolt. It looks like they have [Read More…]
A Brazilian drug dealer was captured earlier this month along with his gigantic homemade 11 lbs revolver. The revolver chambers five 2.75″ 12 gauge cartridges. This dealer went with a traditional revolver look, rather than the tacti-cool styling of the infamous [Read More…]
At LAAD ’11 Taurus introduced a new assault rifle called the ART556. The rifle, as its name suggests, is chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO. Externally, the rifle appears to have borrowed features from the FN SCAR and the Bushmaster ACR. It has a forward charging handle [Read More…]
The IMBEL IA2, potentially the next service rifle for the Brazilian Army, can be seen going through dust, ice and over-the-beach (or in this case river) tests in the below video. Skip to 3:50 minutes. The IMBEL IA2 comes in 5.56mm and 7.62mm versions. [ Many thanks to [Read More…]
This video, probably filmed by a police officer, shows police officers in Rio clearing a favela (slum). There are many shots of a officer using a Madsen machine gun. At 20 lbs (unloaded, I think) it is heavy gun for a magazine fed weapon. On the other hand the weight [Read More…]
Brazil has chosen the IMBEL IA2 as its new service rifle. The rifle is based on the MD-97 and was previously named the IMBEL MD-97A2. Like its predecessor, it is based on the FN FAL but uses a rotating bolt instead of a tilting bolt. There will two versions, one [Read More…]
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