Bul Armory announced several new and improved handgun variants at IWA 2023, and today we’ll take a look at those from their SAS II series. There are three, all optics-ready: the SAS II Radical 5.4″, Air, and Saw models. Each is a 1911-based design offered in [Read More…]
It’s Photo Of The Day o’clock and we are looking straight into the barrel of a Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) gunner assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, as he pulls security. The vehicle [Read More…]
![[SHOT 2022] Get My Belt! The FN M249S Returns For All Your Crew-Served Needs](https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BB8D1EF4-E8F2-4F86-9DD0-688D4976097E-660x260.jpeg)
At the last four SHOT Shows I have longingly fondled the FN 249S semiautomatic belt-fed rifles. I have made wishes while blowing out birthday candles, on shooting stars, and on pulled wishbones. In 2020 I even asked Santa (publicly) for an FDE Para version and the [Read More…]
Archipelago Endeavor is an annual, bilateral integrated field-training exercise, conducted to promote interoperability, strengthen partnerships, and enhance strategic and tactical cooperation between the U.S. and Swedish Marines. Photo Of The Day, and we take a closer [Read More…]
In fact, it isn’t an M249 SAW at all. It looks like a SAW, probably sounds like a SAW when fired, operates similarly to a SAW, but it isn’t one. What you are actually looking at is an RPD derivative that has been externally modified to fit the overall [Read More…]
FN America has confirmed in a Press Release that they have been chosen to produce two prototypes for the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program (NGSAR). TFB’s Matthew touched on the subject recently, where the US Army said they has identified five potential [Read More…]
Norway’s Armed Forces are using the FN Minimi Light Machine Gun (5,56×45 NATO) since the late 80s. As late as 2011 they bought another 1,900 of them. They are in use with forces like the HJK/FSK, KJK, and MJK. The name FN Minimi is short for Mini [Read More…]
The AMELI light machine gun was Spain’s answer to what the Ministry of Defense needed in a squad automatic weapon, as a base of fire for the Spanish Infantry fire team. It was based on the late war German MG45 design, or as we see here, possibly just another version of the Mauser-CETME Light [Read More…]
In the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, top Army officers talked about their plans to modernize the force, and, as part of that, replace both the M249 SAW and the M4 Carbine, the latter of which has been in service since the early 1990s. The [Read More…]
Despite the suggestion being raised more than once in Congress, the United States Army will not be buying M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles from Heckler & Koch, but instead is devoting its small arms resources towards the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program, [Read More…]
So far the only U.S. civilian legal semi-automatic version of the venerable M249 Squad Automatic Weapon was from the same company that makes the actual machine gun, FN Herstal. However, we recently learned about another semi-automatic M249, from Utah based Machine Gun [Read More…]
At the 2018 SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range, Florida gunmaker FightLite Industries, best known for their SCR “ban state” lower receiver that allows “compliant” rifles to be made using AR-15 components. FightLite also is the manufacturer of [Read More…]
Is the US Army pushing for a new high-powered 6.Xmm caliber with their new NGSAR program? Recently, the listing for the NGSAR industry day in December was updated with a document describing in part the agenda of the second conference. Scheduled for 9:45 in the morning [Read More…]
Whatever the next infantry small arms configuration is, I hope it does away with the failure that is the belt-fed Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Why? Let’s talk about it. On the surface, the idea of augmenting the firepower of a rifle squad with a belt-fed machine [Read More…]
The US Army will be holding a second Industry Day for its Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program, which seeks to replace the M249 light machine gun with a new longer-ranged, lower signature automatic rifle. The Industry Day will be held at Picatinny Arsenal on [Read More…]
We have already seen the 6.5mm CT Carbine prototype brought out by Textron for the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, but TFB also got an up close and personal look at Textron’s cased telescoped machine guns. Textron has two different cased [Read More…]
On the heels of the re-naming of their Stoner LMG as the Lightweight Assault Machine Gun (LAMG), Knight’s Armament company has introduced a scaled-up version of the same weapon in the 7.62x51mm caliber, with provision for other calibers should they be requested. [Read More…]
At the 2017 Association of the US Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting, Textron System displayed for the very first time their firing 6.5mm CT Carbine prototype. Previously, only non-firing mockups had been shown to the public, but after successful tests this summer the real [Read More…]
Knight’s Armament Company has announced a new very light weight belt fed light machine gun – which they have appropriately termed the Stoner X-LMG (for “Extra Light Machine Gun). The new weapon is based on the previous Knight’s LMG, itself a [Read More…]
The United States Marine Corps has issued a new acquisition notice for up to 50,814 M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles (IAR), to be sole sourced from Heckler & Koch. The notice is technically not a solicitation in and of itself, but a pre-solicitation notice, intended to [Read More…]
The elusive Tokar-2 5.45mm belt-fed machine gun made an appearance at the recent Rosgvardia Open House event late last month. The event demonstrated weapons and equipment being used by the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), and was open to the public. Russian media [Read More…]
After over 30 years of using the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, it seems the US Army may be moving away from the concept of squad-level belt-fed automatic firepower in favor of a lower-capacity but more precise (and probably magazine-fed) weapon. In a recent Special [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
My experience with firing a SAW from the standing position is very limited – like one time limited. And even when everything goes completely right, the adrenaline rush of squeezing off bursts from a light machine gun while compensating for gravity and inertia can [Read More…]
In the fourth part of the series of articles I am writing on the Lightweight Rifle program of the 1940s and ’50s, we looked at some of the experimental rifles that were being tested and evaluated during and just after World War II as potential replacements for or [Read More…]
In this installment, we’ll be looking at a very unique round. The 6mm SAW was probably the first small arms round ever designed using computer-calculated parametric analysis, and it was also probably the first American rifle round designed from the outset for [Read More…]
The much-hyped M249S (S for “Semi-Automatic”) is finally starting to make it out to the wild after being the showpiece for many a tradeshow. One of the first to get one in their hands is Copper Customs, Military Arms Channel’s sister company, which [Read More…]
An image of a mysterious new Russian machine gun was leaked to the public recently, during a visit to the Kalashnikov factory by Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov. The weapon is an intriguing dual-feed magazine/belt loading gun that features distinctly un-AK-like [Read More…]
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