With Level IV armor rising in availability, calls for “overmatch”, and the increased presence of urban warfare, will designers be able to meet the requirements for future small arms? Forumgoer Poliorcetes raised this question in a discussion at the Military [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…]
From the entire TFB Team, we wish to thank service men and women of all nations who have stepped up and answered the call to national defense, especially in times of war. We owe all of you an extreme level of gratitude and appreciation. Although we have Veterans Day in [Read More…]
Mike takes a look at the Swiss 7.5mm M82 cartridge, which served from the 1880’s until the 1970’s, production ending in the 1960’s. But you’ll be amazed by the most shoking bit of info about this rather weedy little number! Guns in this video: Swiss M82 revolver Swiss M82/29 [Read More…]
Over recent weeks Kalashnikov Media, of Kalashnikov Concern’s media department, have been treating us to videos looking at some very interesting and historically significant firearms including Mikhail Kalashnikov’s automatic pistol prototype and the PP-71 [Read More…]
Carpet sellers in Afghanistan call it a “Tup-e-Tung” in Dari, or what we know of in the United States as the “Afghan War Rug” in popular conception. This style of carpet initially became prevalent among tribal Baluchi women who weaved low profile [Read More…]
In the mid-2000s, India began looking for a carbine to replace their 9mm L2A3 Sterling submachine guns which they inherited from the United Kingdom. Two weapons were developed, one by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), and another by the Armament Research and Development [Read More…]
In the mid-2000s, India began looking for a carbine to replace their 9mm L2A3 Sterling submachine guns which they inherited from the United Kingdom. Two weapons were developed, one by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), and another by the Armament Research and Development [Read More…]
The roller-locked* Heckler & Koch G3 rifles and MP5 submachine guns have become iconic weapons of the Cold War era, being used in conflicts everywhere from civil wars in Africa, to hostage rescues and counter terror operations in Europe, to anti-cartel operations in [Read More…]
In examining the future of infantry capability, we must not only be aware of potential technological solutions, but of the need to re-think and re-work what it means to train and prepare troops for future battlefields. At the core of this is the simple matter of man and [Read More…]
An interesting 19th century revolver turned up during a Police raid in Liverpool, UK. The revolver has a tip up break action and appears to be styled similarly to the Webley-Pryse cartridge revolvers of the 1870s-80s with an octagonal barrel. Sadly, no [Read More…]
Marcolmar makes semi-automatic, legal copies of the Czech Uk.59, and similar copies of the Soviet PKM General Purpose Machine Gun. So why not clone the two together and bring the resulting creation into the 21st Century, with polymer furniture, an updated design, and Picatinny rails? Meet the UKM, [Read More…]
This guest post has been submitted to TFB on behalf of Marawan M, an Egyptian firearms designer currently working in Turkey for a civilian Turkish firearms company. Recently he visited the Istanbul Military Museum and wrote up a summary of his visit along with [Read More…]
Britishmuzzleloaders is one of my favourite historical shooting youtube channels so I am always pleased to see a new video from Rob. In his latest he explains some of the differences between the MkI Lee-Enfield and the earlier MkI Lee-Metford. The Lee family of rifles [Read More…]
At a recent firearms amnesty in Australia, a Lewis Hythe Mk III Gun Camera was recently turned in, and appeared to be mistaken for an actual firearm. Although the Hythe MkIII does share the receiver, grip and drum magazine attachment point, it is very far from ever [Read More…]
The following is an article that was originally written in Russian by TFB contributor Maxim Popenker, and Andrey Ulanov, and translated to English by Peter Samsonov. With their permission, I have replicated the text here, and edited it, for the enrichment of you, our [Read More…]
Mike Beliveau has uploaded an interesting guest video on his Duelist1954 channel. Alexander Spiridonov, a Russian engineer and black powder scholar, explains how Europe’s earliest firearms worked in battle. Gunpowder reached Europe via Genghis Khan’s [Read More…]
Fortunately night vision has come a very long way in terms of thermal and Infrared optics choices that today’s grunts have. However, once upon a time, 6 pound passive starlight PVS 2s were considered state of the art when it came to the capabilities of U.S. troops fighting at night. The scope [Read More…]
A father and son from Somerset, UK made a surprising discovery while dredging a local river for scrap with a magnet. They pulled up parts from dozens of rifles, pistols, machine guns and shotguns. Neil Hopkins and his son Billy’s rusted haul included parts from [Read More…]
Created during the Iran-Iraq War, the Tabuk Sniper is one of those oddballs of historical firearms. Although referred to as a “Sniper” rifle, it really never was one to begin with. Chambered in 7.62x39mm, the rifle was intended as a squad or platoon support weapon to compliment the RPK [Read More…]
Long before the MHS, the M1911, and even before the Colt Single Action Army the U.S. adopted its first sidearm. After the Revolutionary War Connecticut gunmaker Simeon North won a contract to manufacture the fledgling nation’s first officially adopted pistol. The [Read More…]
We recently received an excellent opportunity to tour Apex Gun Parts, which you can read about on a recent TFB post here. During the tour we got a chance to sit down with Jeff Salvig and really ask him some in-depth questions about the surplus industry and how he got [Read More…]
Apex Gun Parts is a surplus importer and distributor based in Colorado Springs, that stocks a large amount of inventory for the surplus parts and parts kits manufacturing industries in the United States. The owner, Jeff Selvig was kind enough to give TFB a personal tour [Read More…]
With the soldier’s load growing beyond the bounds of reason, and the Army set to replace the M4 Carbine in some units with the new Interim Combat Service Rifle, questions have arisen about how the soldier’s burden has changed over time. In the comments [Read More…]
DARPA’s Squad X program has recently taken a major step forward with the U.S. Army awarding the preliminary team contract to Lockheed Martin to develop the technological projects within the program, at a value of $12.9 million. The program is an experiment by [Read More…]
Dat Viet, a Vietnamese language news website has reported that the production of Vietnamese made bolt-action, five round magazine-fed12.7x108mm KSVK anti-material rifles has commenced at the Israeli IWI built, Vietnamese MoD owned factory Z111 in Vietnam. The factory [Read More…]
A recent photograph has been posted on the Kurdish forum Kurdistan Sky Scrapers depicting a Peshmerga fighter with a Beretta Defense Technology 5.56x45mm NATO ARX 160A2 with a 12 inch barrel instead of a standard 16 inch. The rifle sports factory sights, and has an [Read More…]
Red Oktober is a competition very unique in the regard that it caters specifically to the Kalashnikov platform. Debuted in 2016 at a range in southern Utah, it attracted a significant number of collectors, shooters, and builders throughout the country, even coming so far as Alaska or jumping through [Read More…]
The multi-lug rotating bolt as used in a number of semi-automatic firearms today has a significant number of advantages over numerous other designs, to include tilt locking or blowback operated mechanisms. Ability to unlock becomes easier than a standard two lug design, the forces on the lugs are [Read More…]
We previously discussed the small arms capabilities of the so-called Islamic State-affiliated Maute group, we will proceed to cover the opposing Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that have been successful in crushing the rebel uprising. Despite this success, there [Read More…]
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