#7.62mm

After World War II, US Army analysts determined that the effectiveness of the infantryman was not as closely related to their marksmanship discipline as had been previously thought. It seemed that instead, the random environmental circumstances and effects, plus the concealment and movement of the target, had much more of an influence on the probability of a hit than the ability of the shooter to fire his weapon with precision. With this knowledge in hand, arms designers in the West set out to improve the chances of the soldier to hit his target, and the most obvious solution was to simply send more lead downrange. The simplest way to do that was, of course, to create ammunition that fired more than one projectile per round.

In the latest installment of the Indian next generation rifle procurement saga, the nation-subcontinent has decided to forgo their “Excalibur” rifle development program, which consisted of essentially a product-improved INSAS rifle, in favor of a new 7.62x51mm infantry rifle. The new larger-caliber weapon is reportedly going to be chosen after the country conducts a Request for Information (RFI), soliciting material from manufacturers around the world regarding their latest 7.62x51mm caliber rifle products. IHS Jane’s reports:

When dealing with conventional automatic or semiautomatic man portable firearms, a failure to fire usually results in one having to manually clear the misfired round and chamber a new one.  What if there were a firearm that would automatically eject the misfired round and chamber a new round with another pull of the trigger (or in full auto by just keeping the trigger depressed), with enhanced reliability and higher mean rounds between failure than conventional firearms?  What if this same firearm also vented almost all gases forward for suppressed use in a semiautomatic or automatic format?  What if this same firearm also offered a programmable/variable rate of fire, a shorter receiver length than conventional arms, and is capable of forward ejection for ambidextrous use?  The technology exists.  Chain guns (the term “Chain Gun” is a registered trademark of Orbital ATK)  offer this capability.

Unknown belt-fed pistol. Anyone read Cyrillic? Looks like it is a 7.62mm and possibly 20rd belt? I think the hook protruding out the back might be the charging handle? Is this pistol semi auto or manually actuated? Perhaps it is like a revolver and the trigger advances the belt as well as firing the round.

Previously, we looked at the incredible damage and penetration caused by the US Army’s new M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR), thanks to a video published by William of the Wound Channel. What happens, though, when that kind of performance is scaled up to .30 cal size and fired from a .308 Winchester? William has us covered there, too:

A trend towards ever more powerful and longer-ranged ammunition was cut short by the realities of the First World War: Technologies not previously invented or accounted for, such as the man-reaping machine gun and the portable infantry mortar, made the existing infantry tactics of long-range volley fire not just obsolete, but quaint. Further, new essential small arms projectile designs like tracers, armor piercing bullets, and exploding observation rounds demanded more space in the projectile envelope, putting the previously cutting-edge small-caliber 6.5mm rounds at a disadvantage. The advantages of these small-caliber rounds were virtually negated, too, by the advent in 1905 of the German S-Patrone, a flat-based, pointed projectile that was vastly more efficient in supersonic flight than previous round-nosed designs. Although French engineers preceded this design with the superior (and top secret) Balle D round, it was the German bullet that became the pattern for military rifle projectiles worldwide.

Recently, the New Zealand Defence Force selected Lewis Machine & Tool Company to be the supplier of rifles to replace their aging Austrian-designed Steyr AUG bullpups. The exact model of rifle was not revealed in the press release regarding LMT’s selection, but those who speculated that it would be that company’s CQB16 model were soon proven correct. However, we have not seen the exact configuration of these rifles… Until the NZDF released the video below, that is:

A week ago, Alex C. and Miles Vining pitted the Russian Mosin-Nagant against the German Mauser Gewehr 98 in a battle royale shootout to see which was the best rifle. Unsurprising to some, and outrageous to others, Paul Mauser’s masterpiece took home the gold and handily beat the Three Line Rifle, scoring more hits more quickly in all the shooting sessions.

At this point, I’ve written relatively few articles about small arms design in general, due to my time going to a certain other writing project. However, small arms design and theory has always captivated me, since the beginning of my interest in firearms. Ian McCollum’s recent Forgotten Weapons video about the CMG-3 has really excited my interest, as the Colt machine gun design is a virtual incarnation of “best design practices”. The video, which includes disassembly and shooting segments, is embedded below:

On Saturday, I reported that the Bundeswehr has purchased 600 HK417/G27P rifles and 600 MG4 machine guns to replace/supplement G36 rifles on the front lines. The initial run of German language-articles, especially when translated, appeared to say that these purchases were the initial buy in a program to replace the G36, which is not the case. Unfortunately, my reporting did nothing to clarify that these purchases are supplementary to the G36 fleet – similar to the purchase of the HK417 by the Australian Army, and 7.62mm LMT MWS rifles by nations like the UK and New Zealand – not the Bundeswehr’s first steps towards an all-7.62 fleet of rifles.

In a surprising move, the German Defense Ministry has accepted an order of 600 new rifles and 600 machine guns to replace the troubled HK G36 that was savaged by scandal earlier this year. Their choice? The 7.62x51mm HK 417 rifle. The Local reports:

Some of the .45 ACP rounds found had a curious green lacquer coating the bullet and mouth of the case. A little independent research revealed that this green lacquer is used by Compania Brasileiro de Cartrouchoes (CBC) to denote “military only” ammunition:

The New Zealand Army has been looking to replace their aging Steyr AUG rifles for some time. The New Zealand Ministry of Defense held trials to select a successor, competing in which were Beretta, CZ, Colt Canada, FNH, Steyr, SIG, H&K, and LMT. It was recently announced by the NZ MoD that Lewis Machine & Tool was selected as the winner – though what rifle they submitted was not mentioned:

Two weeks ago, Janes reported that production of the Turkish MPT-76 rifle had begun. The rifle is a 7.62mm caliber derivative of the German HK417 rifle, itself a derivative of the AR-15 series of rifles. The MPT-76 inherits the operating rod mechanism of the G36 through its German parents, but differs from the HK417 in some details of the handguard mounting system and the receiver.

At the NDIA conference, Nammo gave a presentation on their new lineup of armor-piercing ammunition. Nammo produces both the tungsten cored AP rounds in use with the US Armed Forces: The 7.62mm M993 and 5.56mm M995. Aside from data on these previously enigmatic round types, the Nammo presentation also covers new round types they have introduced, such as the “Power Ball” tungsten-tipped ball ammunition for 5.56mm and 7.62mm: