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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: matt@thefirearmblog.com
Back in October 2022, the Australian Defence Force selected the SIG Sauer P320 XCarry Pro as their next sidearm. The P320 XCarry Pro will replace the venerable Browning Hi-Power under Australia’s Lethality System Project LAND 159. The Australian Defence Department [Read More…]
US SOCOM is set to award SIG Sauer another 5 year contract to provide Suppressed Upper Receiver Groups (SURG). SIG Sauer were initially awarded the SURG contract back in July 2018. The SURG kit includes a piston-driven MCX upper receiver with detachable, rather than [Read More…]
Faxon Firearms have announced the introduction of a new ultra-light rifle, the ION-X Hyperlite 5.56 Rifle. The rifle weighs in at 4.93 lbs and uses a skeletonized lower receiver which is 2 ounces lighter than their standard lower. The rifle comes with a 16-inch pencil [Read More…]
Israel’s Ministry of Defense has contracted with Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) for an unspecified number of X95 bullpup rifles. The announcement from IWI explains that the contract will see ‘additional thousands’ of Micro Tavors supplied for the [Read More…]
The British Army has announced the selection of the SmartShooter SMASH Smart Weapon Sight Fire Control System for countering drones/UAVs. An initial order for 225 SMASH Smart Weapon Sights has been placed with the contract valued at $4.6 million or $5.8 million. [Read More…]
The Marlin 1894 returns! Ruger have reintroduced the classic Marlin 1894. Chambered in .44 Rem Mag, the new 1894 Classic sports a beautifully-finished American black walnut straight stock and forend. The rifle is made from alloy steel and has a 20 inch cold [Read More…]
In October 2022, the Canadian government announced that the SIG Sauer P320 will be replacing the iconic Browning HiPower which have been in service for nearly 80 years. The Canadian government will procure an initial batch of 7,000 pistols and holster systems for the [Read More…]
FN Herstal have announced that their optronics subsidiary, based in Oulu, Finland, has expanded its production capacity with a $1.2 million investment. Noptel is the subsidiary responsible for the development of FN’s fire control unit for 40mm grenade launchers [Read More…]
True Velocity, Inc., designers of lightweight composite-cased ammunition, have announced a new partnership with FN America. The partnership will look to test True Velocity’s conversion kit which can chamber the M240 in the proprietary 6.8TVCM composite-cased [Read More…]
Armax: the Journal of Contemporary Arms has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the reprinting of the original volumes of the journal. The project is looking to fund new full-colour editions of the original six volumes of the journal which will be remastered to a [Read More…]
Hot on the heels of the steel framed M&P9 M2.0 and the new M&P 5.7, Smith & Wesson have announced the new Performance Center M&P 10mm M2.0. The new pistol has a ported 5.6-inch barrel, a slide cut ready for optics and ships with two 15-round magazines. [Read More…]
Last year Diemaco/Colt Canada C7A1 rifles began to appear in Ukraine. Initially, these were thought to have originated from Canada. However, after speaking with numerous sources the rifles have been confirmed to have come from the Netherlands. I’ve spoken with Dutch [Read More…]
In a surprising move, it appears that Singapore’s Army may have selected the Colt IAR as its new squad/section automatic weapon, replacing the ST Kinetics Ultimax 100. The news comes from a 10-minute video shared on the Singapore Army’s [Read More…]
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will equip its armed forces with the HK416 A7. Luxembourg will replace the Steyr AUGs currently in service with weapons from Heckler & Koch through a contract worth 8.4 million Euros ($9.2 million). HK416 @ TFB: German Army One Step [Read More…]
Hot on the heels of FN America’s announcement that they will be opening a new, second facility at Liberty, South Carolina, the company has now announced their plans to expand their current site at Columbia. FN America will invest $18 million in the Columbia site [Read More…]
The Estonian Defence Forces have selected their new 8.6mm (.338) precision rifle. Following the recent news of Finland and Sweden’s selection of a raft of Sako firearms, Estonia has signed agreements to procure the M10 as their new precision rifle. Sako @ TFB: [Read More…]
The British Army has selected several Aimpoint optics solutions for various heavy weapons. According to Aimpoint, the FCS13-RE Fire Control System with TH-60 thermal clip-on has been selected to fulfill the SWESS-Heavy Mature Project requirement for optics for support [Read More…]
Speer Ammunition have announced that they have been awarded a new contract to provide ammunition to the New York Police Department. Speer will supply their 9x19mm 124-grain Gold Dot which will be the department’s service and training ammunition for the next five [Read More…]
On 11 April, Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, announced that Canada would provided Ukraine with “21,000 5.56mm assault rifles” and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition. This latest round of security assistance brings the value of Canada’s aid to Ukraine to [Read More…]
Since around September 2022, there have been a small but steady stream of sightings of M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper Systems in use with combatants in Ukraine. The rifles began appearing on the southern Kherson front before the city was recaptured. While the Ukrainian [Read More…]
Back in 1963, the British Army adopted the M2 Carl Gustaf 84mm recoilless rifle. It served with various units right through into the 1990s when it was replaced by lighter, single-use munitions. The British Army replaced the M2 with the LAW 80 which has since been [Read More…]
German optics company Hensoldt have announced they are building a new factory at Oberkochen in southern Germany. Hensoldt plan for the new plant to be self sustaining with power provided by the company’s own renewable sources. The Company hope to move into their [Read More…]
Taylor’s & Company have announced the introduction of a 9x19mm version of their 1875 Outlaw revolver. Combining the classic look of an old west revolver, the 1875 Remington, with a modern cartridge. The 9mm 1875 Outlaw will be available in two barrel lengths [Read More…]
On 15 March a report from Russia’s Federal News Agency featured an interesting semi-automatic sniper rifle that hasn’t regularly been seen in use during the conflict – the MTs-566. The report shows a sniper team from Wagner, Russia’s largest private [Read More…]
Earlier this month Thales Australia announced the completion of construction on a new advanced manufacturing building at Lithgow Arms. The new facility features state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and is intended to foster ‘collaboration across research [Read More…]
SIG Sauer have announced that they have acquired General Robotics, an Israel-based technology defense company that develops robots and remote weapon systems. This is part of SIG Sauer’s effort to become a one-stop shop for land systems: weapons, ammunition, [Read More…]
According to a press release from Kalashnikov Concern, the Lebedev pistol has entered serial production. In the press release, the Russian arms company’s president Alan Lushnikov confirmed production of the pistol had begun in 2023 and announced that the company [Read More…]
Lithuania’s Defence Materiel Agency has selected FN’s 7.62x51mm Minimi Mk3 to replace the KSP-58 (and other FN MAG variants) and MG3s currently in service. The same announcement stated that a new order for Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle ammunition had been [Read More…]
The iconic Steyr AUG has been in service with Austria’s Bundesheer since 1977, and now the Austrian Ministry of Defense has announced a major upgrade for the rifles. In a statement, Austria’s Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner said that [Read More…]
Winchester have been awarded several new contracts to produce ammunition for the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons – the XM7 rifle and XM250 machine gun. The contracts will be undertaken at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) in Independence, [Read More…]
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