One of the more captivating and fascinating designs to come out of Russia in the past several decades, the 5.45x39mm AN-94 has recently been covered in great detail by Ian of Forgotten Weapons, in conjunction with Armament Research Services on The Hoplite Blog. If you have a chance, go over to The [Read More…]
Recent photographs out of the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib show a thorough manufacture of improvised anti-material rifles, all in 14.5mm. Local gunsmiths in the rebel-held city appear to be using the discarded barrels of 14.5mm KPV heavy machine guns, of an [Read More…]
According to a report by Mönch Publishing Group, French Special Operations units and Danish Armed Forces are currently testing Knight’s Armament Corporation’s Stoner 5.56x45mm NATO LMG. Specifically the French Commandement des Forces Speciales Terre, and [Read More…]
The Indian Army has released an RFI that is requesting interested companies to submit a proposal for 1500 Anti-Material Rifles (AMR as per Indian Army). The rifles must be in a 12.7mm caliber (x108mm or .50 BMG wasn’t specified) and must weigh lighter than the [Read More…]
The State Department and Department of Defense have announced a planned sale of almost $300 million of defense materials through the Republic of Iraq to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Peshmerga. The article specifically states that the deal is to [Read More…]
In a recent announcement, the U.S. Government has released a 7 million dollar award modification notice for Colt Defense’s over 35 million dollar contract to provide M4 and M4A1s in the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. This modification notice specifically [Read More…]
Recent news reports have revealed that an arms cache in use by the Muslim Brotherhood was recently uncovered by Egyptian Security Forces in the vicinity of Alexandria. A number of small arms and explosive devices were uncovered, several of which will be noted below due to their peculiarity. However [Read More…]
The mostly Kurdish composed Syrian Democratic Forces were recently pictured in combat against the so-called Islamic State with a modified Zastava M93 Black Arrow anti-material rifle. The M93 is chambered in either .50 BMG or the Russian 12.7x108mm cartridge. The M93s in [Read More…]
The Iranian Ground Forces introduced a new .50 caliber self-loading rifle named the Heidar. The Heidar is a .50 caliber five round magazine side-fed, gas operated anti-material rifle with an effective range of 1,600 meters, maximum effective of 2,000 meters, and [Read More…]
Turkish defense technological company Aselsan will demonstrate a product originally introduced in January of this year (not covered on TFB yet) at IDEF 2017 in Turkey (late May). The Van Kedisi dual thermal/IR sight is similar in size to products that FLIR usually puts [Read More…]
James D. Julia auction is one of those places where most rare, unique and uncommon firearms appear. Their annual spring auction took place from April 11 to 13, during which they sold firearms worth of $16 million! So in this post, we’ll see what were the 10 most [Read More…]
Defense Blog has published evidence that Iraqi security forces are using a counter drone gun to aid in the fight against the so-called Islamic State’s many hobby drones that are either acting as forward observers for the terrorist group or weaponized themselves [Read More…]
Soon after the release of the so-called Islamic State’s marksmen shots video (discussed in-depth here), the terrorist organization released another video but this montage focused on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt. The largest difference between the two is the enemy [Read More…]
A number of AR15s that have been turning up in Iraq appear to be counterfeit products but are in the markets and treated as legitimate production versions of the rifle companies the producers are seeking to counterfeit. Some of them are very small differences, only [Read More…]
The De Lisle Commando Carbine has fascinated small arms enthusiasts since knowledge of it became widespread after the Second World War. Almost entering myth like lore, it is claimed to have been the quietest weapon ever issued and used by Allied forces both in the European and Pacific theaters of [Read More…]
In what appears to be LWRC cornering the Swedish special operations and SWAT issue rifle market, we have yet more evidence of LWRC’s piston operated IC-A5 rifles in usage by the Särskilda operationsgruppen (SOG, Military SOF), the Förstärkt Regional [Read More…]
Turkish company Harp ARGE has exported its first anti-drone jamming device to the Azeri military recently, in an unmentioned quantity for delivery. Already in service with numerous Turkish military and security entities, the anti-drone device is being used to combat the usage of drones by enemies [Read More…]
French Counter-Terrorism group National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) recently announced at SOFINS 2017 that it would be adopting CZ’s 806 Bren 2 in 7.62x39mm with a 9 inch barrel. So far 68 carbines have been ordered for the roughly 400 man [Read More…]
A recent solicitation originating from Quantico has come out and is specifically requesting Geissele products. Although the solicitation RFQ is worded as open to the public, it lists Geissele items and nothing else. These are the commercially available “Super [Read More…]
The Ruger .22 LR 10/22 rifle probably has the record for the most “drop in” imitation firearms ever. There are 10/22 platforms that will allow it to look like a Garand, a P90, even an AK74! The majority of these are of course mostly aesthetic and don’t [Read More…]
During the adoption of the Thales EF88 rifle by the Australian Defense Force, one of the operational requirements for the EF88 was to produce a tiered system for combatants. There is nothing new about this “system” when it comes to small arms throughout [Read More…]
Aimpoint was very recently awarded a 10 million dollar contract for the delivery of 30,000 M68 Close Combat Optic reflex sights to the U.S. Army. The commercial variant of this sight is the Aimpoint CompM4. These sights have already been in use with the U.S. Army for [Read More…]
Within the Leeds based Royal Armouries small arms collection in the United Kingdom there is a particular Soviet AK47 that is kept amongst the collection of other AKs. The serial number is ГЛ4027, in addition to a date stamp of 1953 with an Izhmash arms plant logo. [Read More…]
Recent media have highlighted the presence of Russian Special Operations forces in Syria, and particularly around the area of the highly contested battlefield of Palmyra. According to sources, the SF soldiers pictured aren’t the famed Spetsnaz, but instead are of [Read More…]
The VSK-94 is a rarely seen Russian semi-automatic precision rifle firing a 9x39mm cartridge from a heavily modified Kalashnikov receiver with an integral suppressor. The rifle was an attempt to make a cheaper version of the VSS Vintorez chambered in the same 9x39mm [Read More…]
The Czech Ministry of Defense has announced the purchase of 30 Desert Tech precision rifles chambered in .50 BMG and .375 Chey Tac. These rifles are the commercial Hard Target Interdiction series. As reported by Jane’s Defense– The Czech Ministry of Defence [Read More…]
Note- This article is the second portion of an earlier article that contiues the discussion of the dynamics of being a member of a Marine Scout Sniper platoon. To read that article, please click here. The training, weapons, and gear that takes place in Sniper platoons [Read More…]
Earlier I covered the topic of the failure rates at the Marine Corps Scout Sniper Basic Course and what the Marines wanted to do to mitigate the failures. I disagreed with the solution to the problem for a number of reasons. In this article I would like to provide some [Read More…]
Note-This post is a continuation of the earlier post that began, talking about some of the issues that are inherent with chopping the current Scout Sniper Basic Course in two. To read part one, please click here. Back to the supply and demand. Who are you going to send? [Read More…]
iVUE is an eyewear company that produces sunglasses that have an integrated camera system in the bridge of the frame and can record 1080p footage at the press of a button. The company has been around for several years now and customer videos using their products have been on Youtube in that time as [Read More…]
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