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TheFirearmBlog.com – Managing Editor
OvertDefense.com – Managing Editor
Matt is a British historian specialising in small arms development and military history. He has written several books and for a variety of publications in both the US and UK. He also runs Historical Firearms, a blog that explores the history, development and use of firearms. Matt is also co-founder of The Armourer’s Bench, a video series on historically significant small arms.
Here on TFB he covers product and current military small arms news.
Reach Matt at: [email protected]
Ever wanted to combine your love for card games, guns and the Cold War? Well, at last, you can with Helios House Press’s Covert Cards: Weapons of the Cold War. The project is the brainchild of Justin Baird, the talented designer behind the new Armax journal, [Read More…]
Australia’s Lithgow Arms have established a new research and development hub for Australian defense industry companies with a new small arms collaboration and cooperation center. C3, as the hub is called, is housed inside the Thales-operated Lithgow Arms small arms [Read More…]
Winchester Ammunition have been awarded a contract modification by the US Department of Defense for continued production of 5.56x45mm, 7.62x51mm and .50 caliber ammunition. The work is set to be carried out at Winchester’s Oxford, Mississippi facility. Oxford is [Read More…]
FN America have announced the introduction of a new addition to their FN 509 series of polymer-framed pistols. The FN 509 Midsize Tactical comes in black and FDE with FN’s ‘Low-Profile Optics-Mounting System’ and weighs in at 27.9 oz. FN America @ TFB: [Read More…]
Back in January 2022, B&T USA announced the arrival of the SPC9 – Special Purpose Carbine. Well, now they’ve introduced the SPC9 PDW SD. The new SPC9 PDW SD is a 9x19mm pistol caliber carbine. Essentially a short-barrelled rifle (SBR) with an integrally [Read More…]
FN America have announced the introduction of their new FN 15 DMR3 rifles. Chambered in 5.56x45mm, the new DMR3 has an 18-inch hybrid profile barrel with a 1:8 twist and is available in matte black anodized, factory Cerakote flat dark earth (FDE) or tungsten gray [Read More…]
New Ultralight Arms, LLC, manufacturers of lightweight bolt action hunting rifles, will be joining Wilson Combat’s family of companies. The transition will see the production of New Ultralight Arms rifles move from West Virginia to the Wilson Combat plant in [Read More…]
Lone Star Future Weapons have lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (the GAO) against the US Army’s selection of SIG Sauer’s Next Generation Squad Weapons submission. On 19 April the US Army announced the selection [Read More…]
SIG Sauer is set to be awarded a contract to fulfil US Special Operations Command’s requirement for a commercial, off-the-shelf, personal defense weapon (CPDW). A notice of intent from SOCOM to award a five-year Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract was shared on 19 [Read More…]
Henry Repeating Arms are well known for their special edition rifles and raising money for great causes. Their latest is a fundraising drive, in partnership with Baron Engraving and Davidson’s Inc. for the Cody Firearms Museum in Cody, Wyoming. The Cody Firearms [Read More…]
Florida-based SCCY Firearms have announced new frame color options for their DVG-1 series pistols. At SHOT 2022 we reported on the new options coming to SCCY’s line including optics plate cut slides and a plethora of frame colours. For anyone looking to display [Read More…]
Two bullpup rifles have been frequently seen during the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian designed and produced IPI Vulcan, a bullpup based on the AK platform and Fort-22 series Tavor. The Fort-22 series Tavors originates from Israel’s IWI. Introduced in the early 2000s [Read More…]
Beretta have unveiled their newest pistol, the APX A1 FS, evolving their APX platform and making some important improvements including new slide serrations, new trigger and springs, an MRDS optics cut and improved ergonomics. The APX A1 full size follows the APX A1 [Read More…]
On 19 April the US Army announced the selection of SIG Sauer’s entries into the Next Generation Squad Weapons program. Despite an official announcement and a media event to unveil the weapons to the press, details on weight, loadout and capabilities have been [Read More…]
X-Vision Optics have announced the introduction of their TR1 Thermal Reflex Sight. The sight has a range of around 1,000 yards and X-Vision say it “captures sharp thermal images and smoothly tracks rapid motion in the distance.” The TR1 has 1-4x [Read More…]
Nevada-based Mesa Tactical have introduced their latest shell carrier combined with an RMR mount. Machined from 6061-T6 aluminum, which is then anodized, the carrier can hold four or six shells and comes mounted with a Trijicon RMR. The mount is available [Read More…]
Century Arms have announced a partial recall of BFT47 rifles after the discovery of some ‘durability issues’ which might ‘affect proper feeding and or chambering of ammunition’. Check out Century Arms’ notice below for further details and a [Read More…]
The announcement of the winner of the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program means the Army can now ramp up preparation for mass production of the ammunition to feed the new weapon systems. Lake City has previously provided the 6.8mm GP projectiles for [Read More…]
The Department of Defense has announced that Massachusetts-based FLIR Systems and Florida-based Leonardo DRS have been awarded firm fixed price contracts worth over $500 million to provide Family of Weapons Sights-Individual thermal imaging systems. FLIR have been [Read More…]
On 19 April, the US Army announced that SIG Sauer had won the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) competition with its 6.8mm hybrid ammunition, MCX Spear and LMG-6.8 selected to equip the US Army’s close combat forces. The Department of Defense held a Media Round [Read More…]
Yesterday, the US Army announced the selection of SIG Sauer’s weapons and 6.8 hybrid metallic cased ammunition as the Next Generation Squad Weapons System (NGSW). Read the US Army’s selection announcement and our round-up of the NGSW program in full here. [Read More…]
Ohio-based HM Defense have introduced their Stealth MS5, an integrally suppressed AR-15 with a patented monobloc barrel. Chambered in 5.56×45/.223, the Stealth MS5 weighs in at 7lbs 14oz (without a magazine). The rifle features HM Defense’s ‘Battle [Read More…]
We, here at TFB, have been closely following the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program since it began back in 2018. Today, it has been announced that SIG Sauer have won the contract to provide both the NGSW-Rifle and NGSW-Automatic Rifle. An initial [Read More…]
Back in January B&T USA announced the arrival of the SPC9 – Special Purpose Carbine, well now they’ve introduced a 16-inch barrel version. The new SPC9-16 is aimed primarily at the PCC competitor market while also offering a barrel which can get the best [Read More…]
Norma Precision Ammunition, a subsidiary of Swedish company RUAG Ammotec, will be setting up their headquarters, factory and distribution hubs in Chatham County, Georgia. The state’s governor, Brian Kemp, released a statement announcing the news on 11 April. The [Read More…]
Ukraine is converting salvaged Russian PKT machine guns for ground use. There appears to be a car repair shop in Kyiv which is taking in captured and salvaged Russian tank machine guns and adapting them for ground use with an ad-hoc stock and pistol grip assembly. [Read More…]
The US Army is yet to officially announce the winner(s) of the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program but we know how many weapons they’ll be ordering between October 2022 and September 2023. The US Army’s weapon system program acquisition costs for [Read More…]
It’s now three weeks since Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine. We have seen the Ukrainian Armed Forces put up an impressive fight while Russia’s forces have stalled since their initial attempts at a lightning advance failed. While images of burnt-out or [Read More…]
Utah-based BONE-DRI sell a range of rifle and pistol carry cases and slips as well as bags and cases designed for electronics. They aim to use patented technology and materials to prevent moisture from getting to guns, ammunition, and other valuable hard goods in order [Read More…]
The US Army has released a sources sought notice for a 6.8mm conversion kit for the M240B and M240L machine guns. The kit will convert the weapons from 7.62x51mm to the 6.8mm round which wins the Next Generation Squad Weapon program. The move is essentially market [Read More…]