While today the Italian company Franchi is not a heavy-hitting military small arms manufacturer, in the mid-1950s the company did produce some very interesting rifles, carbines, and submachine guns for the military market. The most recognizable of these is the LF-57 [Read More…]
The German K98k served Nazi Germany from the mid 1930s until the end of World War II, and was by far the most prolific German small arm during the conflict. The rifle is essentially a shorter, lighter, and handier version of the old Gewehr 98 rifles with some tweaks and modifications to make it more [Read More…]
Previously in Operating Systems 101, we covered the simple, inexpensive principle of blowback, and the reliable principle of short-recoil. Both of these mechanisms together form the foundations of almost all automatic handguns in common use today, but what about rifles? [Read More…]
Thanks to my friend Jan Lučanský of Laugo Arms for telling me about this company. Originally he was remarking on the Hungarian Steiner Bark that I posted earlier. The Bark9 is actually a Slovakian firearm. It uses a Scorpion EVO3 fire control group and mag well. Well [Read More…]
I have sold few firearms that I own, but I only regret selling one, a Bushmaster M17s bullpup rifle. As such, Military Arms Channel decided it best to hit me where it hurts and highlight his own rifle (just kidding, I don’t think MAC would do that to me). The [Read More…]
For those of us who have been around guns most of our lives we no doubt have stories of those we’ve seen handling guns in an unsafe manner. Heck you may have even seen a ND at one time or another I know I have. I’ve seen people from all walks of life [Read More…]
Found this cool cut away. It looks like a CG render rather than a real firearm. I am not that familiar with this gun and its operation to know if the CG model is accurate or not. Any of our readers know this gun inside and out? Phil Note: Hey Alex have you got one?
Moving on in the Rainier Arms Country Rifle atlas, it’s time for a large central European country. Germany is represented by Noveske Rifleworks and their Generation III Infidel rifle, available via Rainier Arms. All the Cerakote artwork was done by Michael from [Read More…]
Spike’s Tactical quietly released a brand new 9mm carbine, the Brown Recluse, on Silencer Shop’s website. Being fresh off the press and with no advertising pushing it, Silencer Shop appears to be the only source for this firearm. At the moment, it is not [Read More…]
Israel Weapon Industries announced the introduction of the 300 BLK caliber into its X95 line of assault rifles. The new military weapons will be shown at the Eurosatory 2016 show in France this month. Until now, the X95 has been available only in 5.56 NATO, 5.45×39 [Read More…]
Two basic mechanisms dominate the field of handguns today: The aforementioned straight blowback system, and short-recoil operation. The latter of two is a mechanism as clever as it is old; the first short-recoil weapons date back to the latter half of the 19th Century! [Read More…]
The first entry in our coverage of automatic weapon operating mechanisms will be the humble straight blowback method. Conceptually simple, it is one of the most common systems, being applied almost universally to .22 caliber rimfire autoloaders the world over, as well [Read More…]
The US Army’s plan to wrap new technologies and commercial off the shelf (COTS) improvements into the M4A1 rifle has apparently been canned. The program, called M4A1+, was originally intended to upgrade the M4A1 fleet with new COTS rails, back up sights, flash [Read More…]
What makes an automatic (or semiautomatic) weapon work? How do these weapons accomplish being able to fire round after round through a single barrel with no interference from the operator? That’s what I aim to explain in this series, which hopefully will give my [Read More…]
We live in a world today that is completely inundated with AR-15 pattern rifles. In 2016, for just five Benjamins – sometimes even less! – you can purchase your very own fantactical black rifle and rely on it to work when you need to and shoot where you [Read More…]
There have been a few people to use this method of announcing a baby’s gender to their families. A little binary explosive and some blue or pink powdered chalk is all you need alongside your favorite rifle of choice. Here is one done with shotguns. Not sure [Read More…]
What could make a chamber flag cooler? By adding a small fan to it to blow ambient air down inside your barrel to cool it down. BarrelCool is exactly what it says. It cools your barrel while having the functionality of a chamber flag. This is that sort of device where [Read More…]
Rumors of a new Magpul magazine for the AK-74 platform are confirmed: The company has just released the PMAG 30 AK74 MOE magazine, designed to hold 30 rounds of 5.45x39mm ammunition and compatible with all 5.45mm caliber AK rifles that take traditional AK-74 pattern [Read More…]
Quick: What’s the most advanced infantry rifle that was ever designed, but never got the chance it deserved? I’m thinking about a futuristic weapon from Central Europe that fired advanced, lightweight ammunition and featured a high rate of fire [Read More…]
An image of a mysterious new Russian machine gun was leaked to the public recently, during a visit to the Kalashnikov factory by Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov. The weapon is an intriguing dual-feed magazine/belt loading gun that features distinctly un-AK-like [Read More…]
Thanks to John Uram for sending us this our way. A some of you may know I am partial to the CZ Scorpion Evo 3. They made a short video about a new Hungarian 9mm Carbine. It uses a CZ Scorpion Evo 3 lower. The rifle is called the Steiner Bark. One aspect I am […] [Read More…]
MKE – Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu – from Ankara in Turkey has roots going back to the 15:th century. Turkey has a massive army, the Armed Forces number more than 600.000 active people. MKE is one of the main suppliers to the Turkish Armed Forces, but [Read More…]
In the second installment of Ballistics 101, we took a look at the concept of a “ballistic coefficient”, or a drag model based on an empirically tested projectile, against which other projectiles can be measured and compared. Mentioned in that post – [Read More…]
In this POTD, Marc Krebs, of Krebs Custom Guns, is holding the very first firearm he built back in gun smithing school. It is the K-84 and it is a 9mm Carbine. “K” is for Krebs and “84” is for 1984 when he built it.
The Walther Gewehr 41 is a mechanically interesting rifle that was adopted by the German military during WWII. Over 100,000 were made, and it uses an interesting operating method known as the “bang” system that traps gas after the muzzle and uses it to self load. This system is known for [Read More…]
Whether online or in person, we have all met that one shooter who claims their super special rifle (and finger) can shoot “1/4 MOA all day long”. First, ask them to explain the definition of MOA. After they stumble through some strange combination of [Read More…]
After getting a chance to shoot my friend’s suppressed bolt action Savage .22LR I saw the light. So I picked up a Ruger American Rimfire with threaded barrel. Then I put it up against a 10/22 with Yankee Hill Machine integrally suppressed barrel. The Ruger [Read More…]
Gun Review posted up five great examples of marksmanship. Click here to read their article. The first shot was by a police sniper. According to the narrator, this shot was over 50 yards and the sniper shot the handgun out of the hand of the suspect. Is it just me or [Read More…]
Yes, I am a gun writer – or an outdoor writer, to use the proper term. If you assume this means I read quite a bit, you’d be right, but not every gun writer out there is also a reader. For me, reading is paramount. The only thing capable of fighting my [Read More…]
Washington County Tactical Range is located in Southwest Pennsylvania. They are just over 40 miles south west of Pittsburgh, near the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border. I discovered them through a Facebook group: TGTC – The Shooter’s Group. TGTC (The Green [Read More…]