#9x19mm

Gun guru and MVD agent KardeN gets to play with all the best toys – this time, it’s the 9mm Kalashnikov-based submachine gun, the PP-19-01 “Vityaz”. Designed to handle high pressure 9x19mm Russian ammunition, the Vityaz is a more elegant weapon than its predecessor, the PP-19 “Bizon”. In KardeN’s photos below you can see the steel-cased and steel-cored 9x19mm 7N31 ammunition with polymer coated cases. This ammunition is extremely high pressure and powerful, flinging its 63gr armor-piercing bullet to nearly 2,000 ft/s, while the cartridges themselves are about a third lighter than standard 9x19mm ball rounds.

The weekend after the Big 3 Media Event at Daytona Beach, FL, I was invited to visit Definitive Arms (DA) in Saint Petersburg, Florida. DA started as a custom builder of doing magazine well conversion for Kalashnikov pattern rifles. Their patented mag-well design allows the use of Magpul PMag and USGI aluminum AR-15 style magazines on their converted 5.56mm caliber AK rifle. Since then, Definitive Arms had expanded to making other custom works and even started production of completed AKs.

Today knowledge of Operation Red Wings is fairly widespread as a result of the movie Lone Survivor, which followed on the heels of the book by the same name. Of course, many movie-goers did not and still do not realize they were watching a tragic story play out that was not manufactured by Hollywood but actually took place in the shale-strewn mountains of the Hindu Kush. It’s been a decade since those four Navy SEALs were inserted into Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, a decade since Lieutenant Michael Murphy, Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, and Petty Officer Second Class Matt Axelson lost their lives in a ferocious fight to the death against known terrorists. A decade since the one survivor, Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell, fell down a mountain, crawled to a stream, and was quite literally saved by a Pashtun by the name of Gulab. Ten years later, families continue to mourn the loss of their husbands, brothers, and sons. But in the case of the family of SEAL Matt Axelson, they’ve found a way to help his memory live on by founding Axelson Tactical.

Sino Defense Manufacturing has announced a new 9mm police submachine gun, which is similar in concept to the venerable HK MP5 which has seen extensive use in direct action and SWAT teams worldwide. Pierangelo Tendas of All4Shooters reports:

Heckler & Koch’s recently released P30SK is the subcompact version of their hammer-fired mid-sized P30 9mm handgun. The P30SK shares its basic design features with the P30, but has a shorter 3.27″ barrel and shorter grip with a 10-round double stack magazine. Roughly comparable to a Glock 26, the P30SK features the same ambidextrous safety as the P30S model, as well as a decocking button at the rear of the slide. The P30SK comes in six models with three different kinds of trigger groups (any of the three available with or without night sights), including P30SK LEM “V1” light DAO, P30SK “V3” DA/SA without safety but with decocker, and P30SKS “V3” DA/SA with safety and decocker. The model I received for T&E was the P30SKS V3 model with night sights.

The Taiwanese small arms industry has been showing off its most recent developments at press events and expos recently, including the new XT104 9mm submachine gun. From Two Birds Flying:

The US Army released its second draft of the request for proposal (RFP) for its Modular Handgun System earlier this week. The draft gives the designation for whichever handgun is selected as “XM17”. From the draft RFP:

Cutaway firearms are a weakness of mine, so I can’t help but share Chuck’s cutaway of a CZ 75 handgun. The CZ 75 is my favorite of the older metal-framed Wondernines, and I have fond memories of shooting an example that I used to own previously.

2015 brings the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 S1 Pistol to the US market. Easy to shoot, accurate and reliable, its only drawback is how fast it encourages you to pull the trigger. It’ll eat through your ammo stash in no time flat.