Over 30 countries produced AK rifles. And even if you’re an expert, sometimes the only way to tell them apart is to look at the markings on the receiver. But thankfully that is not the case with Hungarian AKs, most variants from that country look like nothing else, and even more plain-looking newer models have some small features that allow nerds like me to easily identify them.

In a groundbreaking twist on traditional armament designs, firearms manufacturer DTV Arms prepares to bring a significantly revamped minigun to the market. Operating on the foundational architecture of the M134 model, the redesigned minigun features tailored, brand-specific components, marking an ambitious bid to deliver a lighter, stronger weapon system to the sector.

Arizona-based High Ground Defense is on target to reshape the firearms market with their latest product – the prototype ‘Advantage’ 3-barrel minigun. Chambered in 7.62x51mm, the gun maintains certain compatible parts with the legacy M134 Minigun but slashes its weight by approximately half to an estimated 40-45 lbs. The firing rate is an impressive 3,000 rounds per minute.

In part one of this series, I wrote about the history of DDR AKs which by many are regarded as the best in the world. In this part of the article, I will describe some experiences I had when I repaired those guns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AK rifle is often thought of as something crude and easy to produce with shabby craftsmanship performed by slave laborers in dystopian socialist factories. So many times I heard: “Oh, what do you expect, it is an AK”. That is why it is ever more interesting to look at East German AKs, produced in a country that for the last 100 years has been thought of as the synonym of quality products.

Today on Photo Of The Day we have at least one very unusual firearm, namely the Pindad SS2 assault rifle chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO. The SS1 and SS2 are made under a license from Fabrique Nationale in Belgium in the PT Pindad factory in Indonesia. I was trained on an FN FNC service rifle, but it still took me a while to see the resemblance as I was too focused on the upper part.

The National Association for Gun Rights won a major victory in their case defending forced reset triggers (FRTs). A district court in Texas just granted a preliminary injunction against the ATF that prevents them from treating FRTs as machine guns. However, this is not the end of the forced reset trigger fight.

Back in March, Lithuania announced that it had signed a contract with FN Herstal to procure an unspecified number of FN Minimi 7.62 MK 3s through a contract is worth $34 million Euros or $35 million. The first of Lithuania’s new FN Minimi 7.62s has arrived according to a recent update on the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense’s social media.

IWI have delivered the first batch of Negev NG7 machine guns to Estonia. The contract for the new 7.62x51mm Negev NG7s was signed in March 2023, the new guns will be issued to both the Estonian Defense Forces and the Estonian Defense League. The guns will replace the MG3s and KSP 58s (Swedish FN MAGs) which are currently in Estonian service.

For the past few days, Heckler & Koch Germany has been teasing their new HK 421, a newly developed compact and lightweight machine gun. At DSEI 2023 in London (12-15 September 2023), an exhibition with over 2,800 defence and security suppliers, it was finally unveiled in various configurations.

Photo Of The Day and today we go full auto in a rare rare caliber and firearm. Rare is of course a relative term, as over 43,000 units of this light machine gun were produced. For practical reasons, I think I’d prefer my BREN in 7.62×51mm NATO, how about you?

True Velocity, manufacturer of lightweight polymer-cased ammunition and weapons developer, have announced the acquisition of Oregon-based suppressor developer Delta P. Delta P specialise in 3D printed suppressor technology and previously partnered with True Velocity as part of their bid for the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program.

Join James Reeves on an exhilarating journey to the heart of Serbia’s legendary Zastava Oružje factory. In this captivating video, James engages in a conversation with a Zastava engineer, delving into the intricacies of the iconic Serbian M87 Machine Gun, an unparalleled masterpiece of firepower. The Heavy Machine Gun M87 is a licensed product based on the Soviet NSV, the best heavy machine gun ever made.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves is at Rifle Dynamics to talk about the “Thumper” – a gun that started life as an RPK light machine gun and somehow ended up in the hands of Rifle Dynamics. The boys at Rifle Dynamics converted this former LMG into an AKM-type carbine and tweaked it to be supremely reliable and extremely shootable. Watch today’s video for the deets.

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 cartridge with the change of a barrel.

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 ‘OurSingaporeArmy’ YouTube channel, an official social media outlet for Singapore’s Army.

I met up with the guys at Rifle Dynamics to help film some of their guns in slow motion. They wanted some engineering studies done to better understand their products and needed a slow-motion camera. One of the guns they wanted to look at more closely was their Sturmgewehr 44. In this SlowMo STG44 study we can see gun has a few problems.

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 made.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves visits with Miroslav, Sellier & Bellot Ammunition armorer, and Tom, an IWI trainer, to discuss (and shoot!) the IWI Negev light/general purpose machine gun. The IWI Negev NG-5 (“Next Generation”) is a 5.56×45mm NATO light machine gun (“LMG”) developed by Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), formerly Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI). In 2012, IWI introduced the Negev NG-7 7.62×51mm NATO general-purpose machine gun. In this video, Tom of IWI gives James a rundown of the Negev NG-5 and NG-7, and James gets to shoot a Negev NG-7 belt-fed in the Czech Republic with Sellier & Bellot.

Photo Of The Day and we join the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Okinawa, Japan. We see U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Damien Layton, left, and Cpl. Carlos Ambrosio, field artillery cannoneers with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, sighting in an M240B machine gun while conducting a tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel mission.

In this writer’s opinion, one of the coolest firearms of SHOT Show 2023 was the XR338 rotary machine gun which was displayed at the Radical Firearms booth. This machine gun is designed by Kris Paulson and Matthew Steinhauser of DTV Tactical Innovations (Radical Firearms is their manufacturing partner). It is chambered in .338 Norma Magnum and at a minimal weight increase over the M134 Minigun, it is a huge force multiplier with about twice the effective range and much higher energy of the projectiles at any given distance.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves visits the Radical Firearms booth to see the new caliber convertible XR338 minigun manufactured by DTV Arms. James speaks with Matt, one of DTV’s engineers, about this amazing and powerful system.

The Ohio Ordnance Works SHOT Show 2023 booth had a range of their civilian semi-auto weapons out on display including the HCAR. Alongside the HBAR was the Ohio Ordnance Works manufactured M240 fitted with one of their 240 Patrol-SLR Conversion Kit. The kit is something they have offered to the military and law enforcement for a number of years but recently, in November of last year, they made the kit available commercially to the M240-owning public.

One of the best parts of the SHOT Show is being able to get hands on with some really interesting firearms. This year was no different with Heckler & Koch, to my surprise, displaying their belt-fed machine guns: the MG4 and MG5. While I don’t think we’ll be seeing these on the commercial market any time soon, it was great to get to handle them in person.

Welcome back to another Friday Night Lights. Last week I posted about some hidden night vision related gems at SHOT Show 2023. TFB in the Dark returns with full auto M16s, night vision and other machine gun night vision shoots during SHOT Show. There were four night shoots last week including the TFB staff shoot. Let’s see what people played with in the dark.

Ahead of this year’s SHOT Show SIG Sauer held an independent range day at the Clark County Shooting Complex putting on some impressive defense capability demonstration and showcasing their current range of firearms, optics and accessories.

In this episode of TFBTV, JamesReeves is at the Sellier & Bellot testing lab in the Czech Republic to pit two of the best machine pistols of all time against each other: It’s the CZ-75 Full Auto versus the Glock 18. The CZ-75 came out in 1975, but the full auto version wasn’t released until the 1990s, meaning that they are very rare; there are only 2 in the Czech Republic. The CZ-75 Full Auto is a heavy 40 ounces with a 1,000 rounds per minute cyclical rate. The Glock 18 is the full auto version of the Glock 17. The Glock 18 is reliable, inexpensive, and has a lightning fast 1100 rounds per minute cyclical rate while being a very trim 22 ounces – faster and lighter than the CZ-75 Full Auto. So which one is better? The answer, today on TFBTV.

The must for any M240 owner looking to lighten the load the 240 Patrol-SLR Conversion Kit from Ohio Ordnance Works has what you need. Perhaps best known for their semi-auto M1918A2 BAR and the modernized HCAR, Ohio Ordnance Works also offer a semi-automatic Browning M2 and a semi-auto M240. The new 240 Patrol-SLR Conversion Kit has a shorter, lightened barrel with a lightweight bipod and a new railed forend for accessory mounting. The barrel has been shortened down to about 14 inches and an M240 converted with the kit will weigh in at around 22.3 lbs or 10.1 kg.  The kit has an MSRP of $2,650.

After seeing a considerable number of Colt Canada C7 rifles and C8 carbines being used in Ukraine, I decided to investigate their origins reaching out to various Ministries of Defense to enquire if they had provided the rifles. The Canadian Ministry of National Defence not only confirmed that they had provided various small arms but their spokesperson was also kind enough to confirm some of the types of small arms and light weapons which Canada has transferred to Ukraine since February. 

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, we’ve seen a number of FN MAG variants appear in use with Ukrainian forces. By far the most common appears to be the US M240 series. However, in recent months we’ve also seen a number of Swedish KSP-58 machine guns appear in imagery from the field.