Having worn it before and knowing many who have lived because of it, body armor – specifically hard plates – have become indispensable life-saving tools for police and military. Designed specifically to defeat high velocity ballistic threats such as the AK [Read More…]
In recent years, “compact” .308 AR-style rifles have come onto the scene. I say “AR-style” rather than AR10/SR25 being that the rifles I’m referring to are a blend of both, or in the case of the Colt 901, a system unto itself. The most [Read More…]
The following is a guest article written for TFB by reader Tim about his efforts with his friend Paul to recreate the historical .280 British (7x43mm) round developed for the EM-2 and FAL rifles during the early pre-NATO rifle trials of the late 1940s. Enjoy! [Read More…]
Since its introduction in 2009, the Marine Corps’ M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle has proven itself as an effective support weapon that offers more firepower and range than the Corps’ other squad level weapons, the M4 Carbine and M16A4 Rifle. This good [Read More…]
Continuing our march towards “normalizing” silencers within the gun industry, rimfire powerhouse Ruger is manufacturing the Silent-SR ISB – an integrally suppressed barrel assembly for the 10/22 and Charger platforms. Although I will avoid Hearing [Read More…]
I know that I am not going to make any friends by writing this, but that never stopped me before, so why not? Here goes: Pistol caliber carbines don’t make a whole lot of sense for the American rifle buyer, or at least not most of the offerings on the market right [Read More…]
So far in the Modern PDW Calibers series we’ve talked about small caliber, high velocity PDW rounds like the 5.7mm FN and 4.6mm HK, and we’ve tackled larger, punchier calibers like the 10mm Norma Auto and the 7.5mm FK. However, we still have not tackled the [Read More…]
Quick: What’s the definition of “assault rifle”? I’ll give you a moment to think about it. Now, a good definition for “assault rifle” in my opinion comes from Anthony G. Williams, a British author, ammunition collector, and military [Read More…]
It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these Modern PDW Calibers installments, but we’re back, and today we’re looking at a very new round on the market, one that is currently making some pretty big waves in the pistol world. I am talking of [Read More…]
Indonesia’s state owned defense company Pindad has been perfecting a battle rifle since the platform was first introduced in 2014. The rifle is called the SSx, short for Senapan Serbu, Indonesian for Assault Rifle. The SS series of rifles has been around for some [Read More…]
D.I Optical is a South Korean company that has dealt mainly in optics mounts to heavy machine guns such as the .50 BMG M2, and automatic grenade launchers such as the 40x46mm High Velocity Mk.19. Recently at SHOT the company unveiled their new DILAD02, a laser aiming [Read More…]
Combining German engineering and Swiss precision, the new Hexagon ammunition from Geco is high-performance match grade for the highest levels of sport shooting. The improved aerodynamic shape delivers a straight trajectory while reducing velocity loss on the way to the [Read More…]
The word Uirapuru is the name of both an actual Amazonian bird and a mythical creature. In the rain forest, the bird Uirapuru sings once a year when it builds its nest. Even then, only from five to ten minutes early in the morning. According to the legend, [Read More…]
Typically, firearms companies tend to shy away from air rifles and likewise, air rifle companies don’t take up explosive projectiles. The reasoning varies from completely different markets, legal implications, to the actual significant technical differences [Read More…]
Variety is the spice of life. In the firearm industry, there is a hell of a lot of variety when it comes to cartridge selection, particularly out of the nowadays ubiquitous AR15 platform. One of the newer cartridge choices for medium game hunting out [Read More…]
More and more, it seems like we are on the cusp of a break in the small arms “plateau”, and that major changes may be coming both in the technology and use of infantry small arms and ammunition. The biggest harbinger of this coming paradigm shift has been [Read More…]
The history of modern small arms is in part so fascinating because of how many firearms have been developed even in obscure circumstances, and how many of those obscure small arms still exist in museums and private collections around the world. Even though I make [Read More…]
In the last installment, we talked about the trade-offs involved in increasing or decreasing the projectile’s diameter (and, thereby in convention systems, the bore’s diameter as well). One of the major pieces of the equation that we left out was how [Read More…]
If you looked at this photograph and thought to yourself, “This looks like a 40x46mm Low Velocity grenade launcher, but it is unlike any launcher currently used by any Military/LE force”, then you’d be halfway to a solid conclusion. However if you are [Read More…]
Arne Brennan, arguably the real “brains” behind the 6.5 Grendel cartridge, has announced the release of his latest caliber, the 375 RAPTOR. Building on the knowledge gained from the 45 RAPTOR (an improvement over .458 SOCOM), the 375 RAPTOR is, in-short, is [Read More…]
Admitidlty, I am just now returning from a five-year hiatus away from the AK world, but I still think this is awesome news. K-Var is now selling AK-47 patterned rifles built at the Molot factory in Russia. Obviously due to legal issues, these rifles can’t be [Read More…]
Pistol caliber carbines certainly are a divisive category of firearms. On one side of the fence you have their proponents who cherish them for a myriad of different (and valid) reasons, and on the opposing side you have the bunch who question their very existence. In this video we talk a little bit [Read More…]
Beware, this is not your average TFB article. This post is over 3,000 words long, but it is well worth the read if you care the slightest about long range shooting and the gear being used. Please take your time. I’m not a long range shooter (yet), but I got very [Read More…]
Though I’ve been involved with shooting sports for a long time, Chronographs never really interested me before. When people were setting them up on crowded range days, it could be a big time-killer for everybody else while the user tried to get the shades right, [Read More…]
Today on an extra special episode of Historical Intermediate Calibers, we’ll be taking a look at one of the most controversial experimental military rounds, one that many believe should have become the standard for the Western World at the beginning of the Cold [Read More…]
This past January an opportunity fell in my lap to attend the first Precision Hunter Course held in Texas by Magpul. The Precision Hunter course is unique because it is geared toward the average hunter. In the words of the instructor, Caylen Wojcik, “The aim of the [Read More…]
Today I want to address something that has come up in small arms ammunition development several times in the past 150 years: The small caliber bullet problem. For the sake of this article, I’ll characterize this problem as a perceived trend recognized on several [Read More…]
Since we know that gunshot wounds follow physical laws – Newtonian mechanics, specifically – we can use physical quantities to describe what happens to a bullet when it enters a fleshy target. In a previous post, we were introduced to three physical [Read More…]
We have been covering the US Army’s latest M855A1 and M80A1 “Enhanced Performance Rounds” (EPRs) here at TFB for the past few years. We’ve seen how in independent tests both M855A1 and M80A1 fragment early, thanks to their yaw-independent [Read More…]
6.5mm bullet development continues apace, this time courtesy of Weatherby, which has championed the SAAMI acceptance of a new loading, the 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum. SAAMI acceptance is a major step towards the general acceptance of a loading outside of [Read More…]
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