#.30

At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association conference on small arms, US Army ARDEC presented a brief on new technologies for enhancing the longevity of machine gun barrels, using 3D printing techniques. The project’s goals as stated in the presentation were to eliminate the need for spare barrels to be carried by reducing barrel temperature (especially chamber temperature) and increasing the cookoff limit of the barrel (the point at which a barrel gets so hot that rounds will fire from heat alone, without the primer being struck by the firing pin), without a decrease in accuracy or an increase in barrel weight. The team investigated two different 3D printing methods for manufacturing advanced barrel units:

The paradigm was established by the 1870s: Future infantry combat would focus on a combination of entrenchment, and long-range concentrated fire from well-drilled units to defeat the enemy beyond his own effective range. The arms race for a smaller-caliber, lighter-weight cartridge accelerated, but it was the Americans and the British that would discover a need for an even higher performance round that could outmatch any fielded by their enemies. Two key conflicts were the Second Boer War, fought between the British Empire on one side and the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State on the other, and the Spanish-American War, fought by the United States versus the Kingdom of Spain, most importantly in Cuba and the Philippines. These two conflicts shared one common feature: The opposing sides of each were chiefly armed with advanced quick-loading 7x57mm caliber Mauser rifles, firing high-sectional density 173gr round-nosed bullets at a nearly 350 ft/s muzzle velocity advantage versus the .303 and .30 caliber rounds fired by the British and Americans.

Inland Manufacturing, known for their new reproduction manufacturing of historical rifles, has announced the release of their M1 “Scout” carbine. The new Scout adds modern features to the M1 carbine that allow the use of modern accessories and bring the rifle in line with Jeff Cooper’s true “Scout” rifle concept that was popular in the 1980’s and enjoys support today.

“Big bore” and “air rifle” are not two combinations I see in a sentence very often, but new releases in the air rifle world are pushing bores and performance higher and higher. Hatsan of Turkey is part of that crowd, having recently released the “Carnivore” line of big-bore air rifles in .30 and .357 (9mm) sizes. When asked if we wanted to review one, we simply could turn down the chance to see if .22LR would finally be knocked off its perch.

[ Written by Dr. Jim and Mary Clary ]

Auto-Ordnance has a new “Tactical Folding Stock Model” M1 Carbine out later this year.