The United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is considering a caliber change for their future semiautomatic sniper weapons systems. Although traditionally these medium range precision weapons have been chambered for the 7.62x51mm caliber common to NATO, it seems [Read More…]
The Firearm Blog would like to extend its thanks to reader and contributor Giorgio, who lent his journalistic services to us at this years IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi in February. Thanks, Giorgio! The Kalashnikov Concern booth at IDEX 2017 was reportedly packed with [Read More…]
At EnforceTac and IWA in Germany, we had a look at the new Steiner 6000 meter laser with Bluetooth. We know you’re going to ask, so expect around 7000 USD/EUR for the LRF, but this is to be confirmed. It comes with 8x magnifications and weighs about 1 300 gram (46 [Read More…]
At the 2017 SHOT Show, Sako/Tikka was showing off their products, especially their newest entry into the T3 family: The T3x TAC A1, a dedicated from-the-factory precision rifle offering built from off a T3x base rifle. The TAC A1 is, unlike the rest of the T3 family, [Read More…]
U.S. Optics brought three new rifle scope options to the SHOT Show this year. The new B-Series rifle scopes are packed with quality features that separate high-end glass from ordinary rifle scopes. I was able to talk with U.S. Optics marketing representative Maggie, and [Read More…]
Inland Manufacturing showed off their new T30 .30 Caliber Carbine Sniper at the 2017 SHOT Show. It’s based on the T3 sniper rifle that was developed back in 1944 by Inland. Inland Manufacturing has come out with a few other WWII era reproductions including [Read More…]
At the 2017 SHOT Show, Heckler & Koch was proudly displaying their victorious CSASS entrant, now designated the M110A1 by the US Army. The Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System competition was created to find a lighter weight, more compact sniper weapon system to [Read More…]
In the first two parts of this article on a new long range infantry rifle paradigm, we painted a picture of what sort of weapons would be needed to maximize the infantry’s long-range capability, in theory allowing them to achieve “overmatch” versus [Read More…]
More and more, it seems like we are on the cusp of a break in the small arms “plateau”, and that major changes may be coming both in the technology and use of infantry small arms and ammunition. The biggest harbinger of this coming paradigm shift has been [Read More…]
East Asia and the Middle East are full of garage gunsmiths and homemade firearms. With the current conflict in Syria and Iraq it seems like lots of homemade guns are being found on the battlefield. Some of them seem decently well made, and some just seem odd. The one [Read More…]
TFB’s Pete recently wrote about the European Sniper Competition, hosted by the U.S. Army in Germany. The competition included competitors from Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United [Read More…]
The U.S. Army hosted the annual Best Squad Competition in Grafenwoehr, Germany with teams going head-to-head in 30 different challenges. This years competition, which emphasizes joint readiness and on bringing NATO partners together, focused on sniper team [Read More…]
The war in Eastern Ukraine has brought international attention to the Ukrainian firearms/defense market and local industry. Companies from Guns & Safety exhibition was attended by many companies from around the world. Most of the exhibitors were focused on getting Army [Read More…]
Russian company, Lobaev Arms, has developed a fully suppressed sniper rifle called the DVL Lobaev 10 Saboteur. The rifle is designed for short ranges (0 – 650 yards) but optimized for the lowest possible sound signature. To achieve this they also designed [Read More…]
My friend Chuck B. got an interesting visit last Monday. …and just had two LAPD SWAT officers walk through my yard and borrowed my ladder to climb onto my neighbors roof to get a better vantage point for a “shooter” on 26th street. Chuck took the photo [Read More…]
A funny meme of a car accident at some Target retail store sign. The spotter instructions gave me a good chuckle. Hope this brightens your day.
A measure of intelligence is being able to make complex matters simple and easy to understand. FK-Brno, Czech manufacturers of the 7.5mm FK Field Pistol, aim to do such a thing with their recently unveiled 6.5×55 “Blind Sniper System”. The System itself weighs 9.5 Lbs, and [Read More…]
The Barrett Multi Role Adaptive Design (MRAD) has been making waves since its inception for the PSR contract competition. Developed from the Barrett Model 98B, it won the NRA’s Rifle of the Year Award in 2012 and is now currently in service with the Israeli and [Read More…]
In order to be a successful long-range shooter you must take a number of factors into consideration. From windage to optics to understanding the capabilities and limitations of your caliber of choice and everything in between, you’d better have it all covered. Of [Read More…]
It’s not April Fools’ (we already did that, thanks for playing along!), German gunmaker Heckler & Koch has apparently won the US Army’s Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System competition with its G28E incorporating a baffle-less OSS suppressor. This [Read More…]
Tracking Point and Chris Kyle Frog Foundation are setting a $1 Million dollar challenge. They are equipping Taya Kyle, widow of Sniper Chris Kyle, with a TrackingPoint Rifle. Her opponent will be professional shooter, Bruce Piatt. Who just won the NRA’s 2015 World [Read More…]
Well known gun writer Ronaldo Olive writes … This duo of rifles is in current use by Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police BOPE – Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (Special Police Operations Battalion). The 7.52x51mm ArmaLite AR-10 Super SASS is [Read More…]
Gun writer Ronaldo Olive sends us photos of a .50 cal sniper/anti-materiel rifle captured in a drug raid. He says: This .50BMG rifle has just been seized in Rio de Janeiro by crack BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais) Military Police troops in he [Read More…]
A video was released by Patrulha Policial (Police Patrol) on YouTube. The video appears to be from the body camera of a Brazilian officer, in a helicopter, observing a runaway suspect involved in a high speed pursuit with other Brazilian officers. The sniper next to him [Read More…]
Bolt-action rifles are generally regarded as slower than semi-automatics, but Sniper’s Hide Cup 2015 competitor Marcus Blanchard proves that is more a matter of shooter skill than it is of mechanisms with his performance three days ago on the 540 yard Moving [Read More…]
FAB Defense is marketing several of their products as useful specifically for improving accuracy on long-range shots. The company correctly points out the importance of stability, saying even tiny movements can ruin a long-range shot, especially when you’re [Read More…]
DARPA’s program to make a guided large-caliber round has met with some initial success. The video below demonstrates the technology which, while in its infancy, looks very promising: Time Magazine has a short article on the new round: The U.S. military has [Read More…]
This photo of Belorussian Soviet Snipers was taken in Germany on May 4, 1945. These woman had 775 confirmed kills between themselves, out of the 12,000 confirmed kills credited to female snipers in the Soviet Army. Female snipers of the 3rd Shock Army, 1st Belorussian [Read More…]
American Sniper, the Clint Eastwood biography of late Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, roused a lot of attention among Iraqi audiences, despite the subject matter of US-occupied Iraq. According to the New York Post, the film drew Iraqi cinema patrons in a big way: [Read More…]
Here is a video of a Marine who was lucky and his helmet protected him when an enemy sniper shot at him. 40 seconds into the video you hear a pop and the Marine in front of the guy with the camera tilts his head back from the hit. No injuries other than his ears [Read More…]