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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
On the 26 June the US Army posted a pre-solicitation notice stating that they are looking for an optic for mounted machine guns. The US Army Contracting Command notice calls for an optic which can be mounted on both the 7.62x51mm M240B, the .50 calibre M2/M2A1 Machine [Read More…]
The Australian Defence Force has announced it will trial the Israeli SMASH computer aided sighting system from Smart Shooter. Smart Shooter, based in Yagur, Israel, offer a range of rifle mounted electro-optical fire control systems. The company claims that by [Read More…]
Over the last few weeks TFB have been keeping abreast of the US Army’s Sub Compact Weapon program. The program to arm Personal Security Details with a new compact, concealable submachine gun saw contracts awarded to as many as 13 companies to supply weapons for [Read More…]
Police in Alvarado, Mexico have been stripped of their firearms and issued slingshots and stones after most of the department failed competency tests. Of the department’s 130 officers only 30 passed the tests. Alvarado’s mayor Bogar Ruiz Rosas argues that [Read More…]
The US Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, posted a sources sought notice for a ‘Modular Combat Shotgun’ based upon the Remington 870 on 23 May. The Army Contracting Command shared the notice on behalf of the Armament Research, Development and Engineering [Read More…]
On 27 June during a visit to a branch of the Swedish furniture store IKEA, a child found a handgun tucked down the cushion of a couch and pulled the trigger. A 6 year old child fired the gun at the IKEA store in Fishers, Indiana. The pistol belonged to Francis T. [Read More…]
Trijicon, best known for the ACOG and their range of firearm optics, has moved to acquire AmeriGlo, the Georgia based manufacturer of high visibility pistol sights. AmeriGlo will remain a stand alone brand within Trijicon, with the company continuing to manufacture [Read More…]
Since 2016, TFB has been closely following the Pakistani Army’s search for a new service rifle to replace its indigenously produced G3 rifles and the Type 56s currently in service. It has now emerged that the Pakistani military may also be interested in FB [Read More…]
Back in April, we reported that the Danish Armed Forces had selected the SIG Sauer P320 X-Carry. Trials of new pistols to replace the venerable SIG P210 began in late 2017. The Glock 17 Gen 5, Beretta APX, Canik TP 9 SF, and the SIG P320 X-Carry were tested with the [Read More…]
At the 2018 NDIA Armaments Forum the US Air Force detailed some of their current major small arms programmes. One of these was for a new ultra compact Aircrew Self Defense Weapon. This is a compact conversion of standard M4 carbines into a package small enough to be [Read More…]
In the first part of this series, we looked at the numerous pistol calibre AR-pattern entries and the promising B&T designs submitted to the US Army’s Sub Compact Weapon program. If you missed it you can check it out here. Attack of the Clones: The MP5s While [Read More…]
On the 22nd June Julien’s Auctions will auction property from the estate of the late comedian Jerry Lewis. Lewis, a comedian, actor and entertainer for over 60 years, died in August 2017, aged 91. Items from his estate will be auctioned at the Planet Hollywood [Read More…]
We have been closely following the developments of the US Army’s new Sub Compact Weapon Program since the release of an extremely broad Request For Information back in May. With the recent award of no less than 13 sole source evaluation contracts for submachine [Read More…]
Hot on the heels of the news that Florida’s Tampa PD have adopted the SIG Sauer P320, two more law enforcement agencies have followed suit. Arkansas’ Jacksonville PD and the Texas Department for Public Safety have also selected the P320 as their new service pistols. [Read More…]
Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has seized over 500 firearms from a resident in Agua Dulce, north of Los Angeles. The firearms seized include a large number of surplus military bolt actions, shotguns, and hunting rifles. More modern AR-15s and a large number of [Read More…]
PepperBall has announced that they have won a substantial contract to equip the US Army with their non-lethal Variable Kinetic System launcher. The contract is worth $650,000 and the PepperBall VKS is destined to equip troops in Afghanistan. The PepperBall VKS uses [Read More…]
At a recent Close Combat Lethality Tech Day at the Pentagon, Program Executive Office Soldier showed off some of the new Multifunction Aiming Light, or MFALs, they have been testing. The new MFALs are designed to help soldiers acquire and hit targets quickly and [Read More…]
Taofledermaus, perhaps best known for their experiments with various types of shotgun slugs and their great high-speed footage of those slugs slamming into things, have shared something much rarer. Shooting footage of not just a Gyrojet pistol but a Gyrojet Rocket [Read More…]
The US Army has expanded its upcoming Sub Compact Weapon evaluations adding three more weapons to the trials. Back in May PEO Soldier – Project Manager Soldier Weapons issued a Request for Information to industry for a Compact, concealable 9x19mm submachine gun. [Read More…]
Back in February we reported on Elon Musk’s The Boring Company launching a flamethrower. Well Musk’s flamethrowers are beginning to make it into the wild. The first 1,000 ‘Not A Flamethrower’ flamethrowers were handed over to customers this week. [Read More…]
The concept of stacking projectiles on top of each other inside a self-contained cartridge dates back to the 19th century. It has subsequently been revisited dozens of times by arms designers from all over the world. In the 1950s the US Military experimented with duplex [Read More…]
Last week we reported that an FBI agent accidentally opened fire when he hit the dance floor in Denver. The agent negligently discharged his firearm wounding a member of the public in the leg while doing a back flip on a dance floor of a Denver club. The 29 year old FBI agent, since identified [Read More…]
According to a press release from SIG Sauer, published on 11 June, Tampa PD have opted to replace their current Smith & Wesson M&P duty pistols with the P320. Tampa PD will purchase 1,375 P320s to equip officers, although no calibre was specified, the department [Read More…]
The US Army has confirmed that the M110A1 Compact Semi-Auto Sniper System (CSASS) is due to undergo production qualification testing and should be approved for limited user testing in early 2019. Production qualification testing is carried out prior to full-rate [Read More…]
Back in 2009, Chesapeake Police Department seized a fully-automatic, undocumented Sturmgewehr 44. Now they want to donate it to the US Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command. The antique World War Two assault rifle came into police possession in April 2009, [Read More…]
Representatives from the Army’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier have recently discussed their work to replace conventional brass ammunition casings in an effort to reduce the load on soldiers in the field. Todd Townsend, Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition [Read More…]
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Vincent Hancock has won his third consecutive ISSF Shotgun World Cup gold medal during the 2018 ISSF Shotgun World Cup leg at the Malta National Shooting Ranges at Ta’ Kandja. Hancock, who won Olympic Skeet gold for the US in 2008 and [Read More…]
The US Army’s new Squad Designated Marksman Rifle, or SDM-R, is set to be fielded at the brigade level starting in September 2018, according to the Program Executive Office Soldier. The new rifle is based on the Heckler and Koch G28E / M110A1 Compact [Read More…]
The French military has signed a contract for more than 90,000 of Hornady’s Rapid Racks for use with their new HK416Fs. The Rapid Rack, which TFB reviewed back in 2016, is an empty chamber indicator / load-assist device, it allows operators to charge the weapon [Read More…]
The US Army is set to evaluate 10 off the shelf submachine guns to fill its recently identified Sub Compact Weapon role. Last month (May 2018) the US Army’s PEO Soldier – Project Manager Soldier Weapons issued a Request for Information (RFI) to obtain industry [Read More…]
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