#Misc

In our final installment of looking at the handmade wonders of the gunmaking village of Darra Adam Khel, we finish it off with an in-depth examination of the Krinkov patterned Kalashnikovs produced in the village. Some of them display an excellent resemblance to the original AKS74Us, however others leave much to be desired. As is shown with the final Krinkov that was very ornately designed in regards to the plastic furniture and the finish on the outside metal, the primary importance of these very short Kalashnikovs is that they serve as a status symbol among Afghans, Pakistanis and numerous other countries in Central Asia and the MENA region. We’ll be covering this, in addition to the actual history behind the name “Krinkov” in a future TFB TV episode, in much detail.

Daniel Shea, founder of the firearms research magazines Small Arms Review, Small Arms Defense Journal, and the training/supply company Pheonix Defense (formerly Long Mountain Outfitters) has become a recipient of the much respected Chinn Award, thereby honoring “a government or industry individual who, in the opinion of the Small Arms Committee Executive Board, has made significant contributions to the field of small arms and/or infantry weapons systems”.The award is only given out once a year and the recipients almost read like a who’s who of Infantry small arms design and innovation or contributing research. Previous award recipients have been Reed Knight (Knight’s Armament), Salvatore Fanelli (associated with H&K), Phil Dater (Gemtech), Ronnie Barrett (Barrett Firearms), James Sullivan (AR10 designer).

Special Operations Command recently posted a solicitation on the government ran Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) resource in regards to a need for a domestic U.S. manufacturer to produce exact copies of the Soviet 7.62x54r mm PKM medium machine gun, and the 12.7x108mm KSV heavy machine gun (Entry is fourth from bottom on web page). With these U.S. made machine guns, SOCOM intends to supply foreign forces the command is advising with higher quality machine guns. Explicitly mentioned in the solicitation is that secret squirrels are having issues with leading and mentoring indigenous forces but lack the capability of quality weapon systems or replacement parts. The plan calls for a completely U.S. made product, on U.S. soil, using domestic labor to create a “facsimile” of these machine guns

In a rare break with rigid tradition and military bearing, a recent video series has been released in which Chief Warrant Officer 5 Wade discusses suppressor usage within the Marine infantry, in order to dispel some myths that troops might have when it comes to the practical application of mounted suppressors on their weapon systems. In particular, he focuses on the supposed loss of velocity when it comes to 5.56x45mm rifles and associated cans by shooting them through a chronograph. He also showed just how hot a suppressor could get after several magazines of rounds through it. Gunner Wade did this by completing the iconic Youtube bacon cooking by wrapping the suppressor with raw bacon.

Previously we looked at examples of long guns out of the Pashtun gun-making village of Darra Adam Khel in the FATA region in Pakistan. In this episode, Miles looks at some of the handgun copies that have emerged from the cottage industries there. We compare Makarov and Beretta copies side by side, in addition to an odd Martini Henry contraption that has since been deactivated. Many of these copies are so well made that it would make most small arms enthusiasts think twice about which one is legitimate and which one was handmade. But most of all, the conditions that these are made in are sure to be admired as the gun-makers lack any of the amenities that most firearms manufacturers or even Western gunsmiths possess.

Coming across this video of female Indian Army soldiers making excellent time with disassembling their INSAS rifles better with one hand than I could with two was very exciting to watch. I’m not a stranger to seeing or attempting a one-handed weapon disassembly, probably the most impressive demonstration I’ve seen was with a Marine Machine Gun Instructor who took apart a Browning M2 single-handedly to show that it could be done with some practice. Looking up on Youtube you’ll find a number of videos of the practice, many of which I’ll share below.

The Firearm Blog has learned that German Sport Guns will be shipping out at least 1,100 of their 9x19mm NATO MP40 pistols to a wholesale dealer in the U.S. Looking at American Tactical’s website, it shows the 9mm pistol available for $649.95, ready for shipping to an FFL. However, we also learned that the MP40s will no longer be coming with their wooden chests, and instead will be in cardboard boxes, unlike their GSG .22 LR brethren that came with the chests. So far we haven’t gotten any word about the SBR version with the under-folding stock. Based on the success of the pistol version, ATI and GSG might release the SBR variant, in addition to kits wherein someone could convert their pistol MP40 once their ATF paperwork came through. In fact, ATI is currently working on trying to get these kits out to the public, pending ATF approval.

Russian presenter Sergey Badyuk has partaken in a very informative discussion on Kalashnikov rifles in use by various Syrian groups within Assad controlled portions of Syria. He is a prior Russian serviceman himself and certainly knows his rifles. Now obviously, we can’t accept the information portrayed here as complete truth when it comes to small arms in use by Assad’s SAA. However, this is a somewhat legitimate open source outlet that allows us to peer into Assad’s forces.

In preparation for the 29th South East Asia (SEA) Games being held in Kuala Lumpur, Royal Malaysian Police held Exercise Rimau 2017, a public counter-terror exercise designed to prepare law enforcement for worst case scenarios that could take place during the SEA games. Some of the situations appear to have been a VIP armed escort out of a hostile environment, an NBC or bomb attack, and assaulting an enemy hardpoint. Three Malay LE units in particular were pointed out by a TFB reader that were training in the event, the General Operation Force, VAT 69 (69 Commando), and Unit Tindak Khas (UTK). A mixture of small arms were in use, mostly various AR variants and some handguns. We’ll try to outline of the tactics, techniques, and procedures in use throughout the exercise, in addition to the small arms. Earlier we reported on Sultan Muhammad V of Malaysia being into competition shooting. The question begs to be asked if his shooting hobby allows a larger budget to be set aside for Malay Military/LE forces to be better armed than their counterparts in neighboring Indonesia or Thailand.

Command Arms Accessories is currently showing a 10 part Facebook Live series narrated by Lieutenant  Colonel (Ret) Mikey Hartman, discussing Israeli Defense Force combat marksmanship programs, of which Hartman himself was professionally involved in throughout his entire career in the IDF. The first episode was filmed and released on Friday, May 26th at 1 PM, and the rest of the episodes will be released in the upcoming months, with each episode being released on the last week of each ensuing month. The episodes are titled as follows- Seven Laws of Shooting, Ballistics, and Zeroing, Standing Position, Kneeling Position and Sitting Position, Charging the weapon, Scenario, Dealing with Stoppages, Night Shooting, and Sharpshooting the IDF Way. The first episode and ensuing episodes can be viewed on CAA’s Facebook page. If readers have been tracking Hartman’s “Train The Trainer” classes, the Facebook Live series appears to be very similar when it comes to material.

DS Arms, Inc. was present at SITDEF 2017 this year with a number of the companies FAL modernization upgrades, continuing to offer their legacy upgrade packages to various South American Military/LE forces that are still armed with FN FALs or Brazilian Imbel license made versions. Although there were a number of DSA rifles on display, the company president Dave Selvaggio specifically showed the upgrades of what appears to the companies U.S. civilian legal 7.62x51mm NATO SA58 Compact Tactical Carbine (CTC), except in a tan finish for the show. The CTC version introduces Magpul front and rear sights, a folding DS Arms Para Stock ( very similar to KDG’s SCAR stock), an upgraded upper receiver that incorporates modern aluminum construction and traditional picatinny rail options in addition to a number of other upgraded features.

The Iranian Ministry of Defense has revealed a new locally produced semi-automatic, magazine fed, 12.7mm anti-material rifle to the public, dubbed the “Nasr”(نصر). In addition to the Nasr, what appears to be a locally produced 7.62x39mm Kalashnikov “Century Series” clone has also been announced, bearing polymer furniture and with an AK74 muzzle brake. According to some sources, both of these rifles are destined for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Sten machine carbine was one of the most hastily completed and most expediently made submachine gun of the Second World War. Although it was reliable, a number of users didn’t like it simply because they saw it as a cheap pipe gun created as a last ditch effort. Nonetheless, there were a number of suppressed versions of it, two of the most prominent featured here, the Mk. II(S) and the Mk.VI with the wooden stock and furniture. Initially, the first suppressed version created for SOE was a Mk. II with a suppressor that was 22 inches in length, horribly heavy and unwieldy for the operations that the British clandestine service found themselves in most of the time.

Two Arabic news sources ( Military-Zones, Middle East Panamera) have published independent posts about a remote control vehicle currently at least in the developmental phase of design within the highly contested Aleppo province in Syria. The designers are in areas still in control by Assad’s Syrian Arab Army, and have been working with the SAA in the hopes of a purchase. Originally it was constructed due to Syrian troops taking casualties in the current fight against numerous rebel and terrorist groups operating throughout Syria and especially in Aleppo province. The group mentioned backing the project is the Aleppo Chamber of Industry, however, this is from the Google Translation and is most likely a translation error instead of any actual organization.

In the latest twist of events to do with the 25mm XM25 “Punisher”, it appears the program is coming to a grinding halt after Military.com recently reported that the U.S. Army has completely canceled the program with Orbital ATK after almost two decades of development work. On top of numerous bureaucratic delays and issues that we’ve covered in an earlier post, the program was suffering from the delay of H&K’s delivery of 20 XM25s to ATK, of which the company sued H&K earlier for over 27 million dollars. Because H&K didn’t or couldn’t deliver the product to ATK, the U.S. Government canceled the procurement program completely about a month ago, with the news just surfacing now. Negotiations ensued between the government and ATK but these apparently could not yield an acceptable replacement in time or to satisfy operational requirements.