The US Army will be holding a second Industry Day for its Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program, which seeks to replace the M249 light machine gun with a new longer-ranged, lower signature automatic rifle. The Industry Day will be held at Picatinny Arsenal on [Read More…]
If we can make a round that is significantly better than the existing 5.56mm or 7.62mm ammunition, shouldn’t the military just bite the bullet and switch, to the benefit of the servicemen and women in harm’s way? What’s stopping the powers that be from [Read More…]
Rounding out our coverage of Machinegunapalooza 2017 – by which I mean the numerous machine guns of the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting – we have the IWI Negev (5.56mm) and Negev NG-7 light machine guns. These Israeli belt feds are, [Read More…]
Very few service machine guns can compare in pure unique points to the Czech 7.62x54mmR UK vz 59 General Purpose Machine Gun, adopted in 1959 as the squad and platoon level belt fed machine gun of the Czech Infantry in the Warsaw Pact at the time. The weapon is still soldiering on today among the [Read More…]
US Army, what on earth are you doing? The US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley promised that the new Next Generation Individual/Squad Weapon (NGSW/NGIW) program will give a “10 times improvement” in individual small arms capability “over any [Read More…]
The Russian PKM: Arguably the best general purpose machine gun in the world, it combines a robust reliability with best-in-class light weight. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons recently released two video overviews of the weapon, giving us a good enough excuse as any to [Read More…]
The United States Marine Corps is looking for new advanced optics for rifles and IARs that are capable of switching between a low magnification mode and a high (6-8x) magnification mode, according to a recent request for information (RFI) released through FedBizOpps at [Read More…]
Mikhail Degtyaryov of Kalashnikov Gun Magazine published a couple of images of an ongoing Molot project of making a dual-feed (fed both from a magazine and belt) light machine gun. You can immediately tell that the firearm shown in the images is in the prototyping [Read More…]
As always, it’s important for you, dear reader, to understand that we are all aware that blanket statements like that in the title have exceptions. Yes, there are cops and Soldiers who do know a thing or two. The point here is that we often run into a conversation [Read More…]
FightLite has released the new version of their squad automatic weapon, the MCR (Mission Configurable Rifle). The MCR is based upon the older ARES-16 AMG-2 ™ that has been on the Military/LE market for almost a decade and is an AR based solution to the M249 SAW. [Read More…]
FightLite has released the new version of their squad automatic weapon, the MCR (Mission Configurable Rifle). The MCR is based upon the older ARES-16 AMG-2 ™ that has been on the Military/LE market for almost a decade and is an AR based solution to the M249 SAW. [Read More…]
FightLite has released the new version of their squad automatic weapon, the MCR (Mission Configurable Rifle). The MCR is based upon the older ARES-16 AMG-2 ™ that has been on the Military/LE market for almost a decade and is an AR based solution to the M249 SAW. [Read More…]
The elusive Tokar-2 5.45mm belt-fed machine gun made an appearance at the recent Rosgvardia Open House event late last month. The event demonstrated weapons and equipment being used by the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), and was open to the public. Russian media [Read More…]
Last Saturday marked the very first FN SCAR Owners Group Shoot. The FN SCAR Owners Group is a Facebook Group of SCAR owners. This event was organized by Lester Gillis and hosted at Low Country Preserve in Tabor City, NC. Plus it was sponsored by FN America. The event [Read More…]
In recent testimony to Congress, USMC leadership Lieutenant General Robert Walsh and Brigadier General Joseph Shrader officially acknowledged that the USMC’s M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, made by Heckler & Koch, encounters durability issues when used with the [Read More…]
According to a report by Mönch Publishing Group, French Special Operations units and Danish Armed Forces are currently testing Knight’s Armament Corporation’s Stoner 5.56x45mm NATO LMG. Specifically the French Commandement des Forces Speciales Terre, and [Read More…]
Aimpoint was very recently awarded a 10 million dollar contract for the delivery of 30,000 M68 Close Combat Optic reflex sights to the U.S. Army. The commercial variant of this sight is the Aimpoint CompM4. These sights have already been in use with the U.S. Army for [Read More…]
Note- This article is the second portion of an earlier article that contiues the discussion of the dynamics of being a member of a Marine Scout Sniper platoon. To read that article, please click here. The training, weapons, and gear that takes place in Sniper platoons [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
Today, a variant of the Heckler & Koch HK416 rifle is the standard squad infantry automatic rifle (IAR) of the United States Marine Corps, as the M27. At one time in the mid-2000s, though, companies from Colt to LWRC competed against each other in a competition to [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
The reserve component of the U.S. Army will begin receiving the XM153 Common Remotely Operated Weapon System (CROWS) this year in bulk issue. Last year ten Army Reserve units received the remotely controlled mounted weapon system, but due to supply and logistical [Read More…]
Last week we reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), adopted the SIG P320C as their next service handgun. By law public officials must allow companies to bid on government contracts, but [Read More…]
My experience with firing a SAW from the standing position is very limited – like one time limited. And even when everything goes completely right, the adrenaline rush of squeezing off bursts from a light machine gun while compensating for gravity and inertia can [Read More…]
Earlier today, the United States Marine Corps Systems Command released a request for information (RFI) to manufacturers regarding the industry’s capability to fill an order for 11,000 new IAR-type rifles. You can read the RFI over at this link at FedBizOpps. [Read More…]
Slide Fire debuted its own belt fed AR-15 at Shot Show 2017. It is a modified AR15 with a detachable belt receiver. The belt fed into the side of the AR with the help of the feed system. The feed system is attached to the side of the modified AR receivers and can be [Read More…]
An update from the USMC has been released today authorizing the purchase of Gen M3 PMags with unit funds for Marine Corps combat units. The update reads: GENTEXT/RMKS/1. PURPOSE. THIS MESSAGE PROVIDES UPDATED GUIDANCE REGARDING THE USE OF MAGAZINES FOR THE M4/M16 SERIES [Read More…]
The phrase, “In my opinion, the M1 Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised” is possibly one of the more enduring and iconic of all quotes to emerge out of the Second World War in relation to American small arms. The quote itself stems from a [Read More…]
Along with the IAR finalists consisting of Heckler & Koch’s 416, FN’s HAMR, Colt submitted an entry to the Marine Corps Infantry Automatic Rifle competition. Of course, this is ancient history, and H&K won the competition with M27 IAR. However, [Read More…]
In the first two parts of this article on a new long range infantry rifle paradigm, we painted a picture of what sort of weapons would be needed to maximize the infantry’s long-range capability, in theory allowing them to achieve “overmatch” versus [Read More…]
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