#Uzi

IWI US showed off their new UZI Pro SB Pistol at the 2015 SHOT Show and finally released it earlier this month. Well they just recently made available their 9mm steel magazines for the Uzi Pro pistols as well. They’re made in Israel and are available in 20, 25 and 32 round capacities. Older Uzi mags won’t work with the new Uzi Pro Pistols (without modding them) but these new Uzi Pro mags should work fine with older Uzi firearms. The 20 round mags retail for $17.49, the 25 rounders retail for $19.99 and the 32 roundrs retail for $22.99. Check them out at IWI.us.

The submachine gun is falling quickly into obsolescence, but they still fill a few important roles and are incredibly fun to shoot. In this episode of TFBTV, we look at the top 5 best sub-guns factoring in historical significance and effectiveness. We also had to have some honorable mentions as it would be sinful to leave them out.

Finally, the long awaited UZI PRO was at SHOT range day and we were all very happy. Shooting it put a big smile on my face!

The Galil rifle has become famous as the rugged but heavy Israeli Kalashnikov (by way of Finland). Less well known is the Galil’s competitor designed by Uziel Gal, who lent his name to the famous Uzi submachinegun he also designed. The Gal rifle was a clean-sheet design, similar to the Kalashnikov in that it shamelessly borrowed what its designer thought were the best parts of existing designs. Mechanically, it is a 5.56mm or 7.62mm, five-lug rotary bolt locked, cutoff expanding gas operated rifle with a sheet steel upper receiver and a quick-detach barrel with an AR-15 style extension. It feeds from 30 round detachable box magazines of its own pattern. The gas system is taken almost directly from the M14 rifle (early pistons were in fact modified M14 pistons), and the five-lug bolt features a novel anti pre-engagement mechanism, reducing friction during feeding.

Firearms are dangerous machines, and it is unfortunate that for many it takes a tragic incident to remind us of that. In Arizona recently, a girl of only 9 years accidentally shot a firearms instructor in the head with a gun she should not have been handling. The young lady and her family are from New Jersey and wanted to visit a firing range to experience our favorite pastime. The instructor, Charles Vacca, handed a Mini-Uzi to the child to fire and was killed when she failed to maintain control over the weapon. The recoil caused the gun rise and a bullet struck Mr. Vacca in the head and he was killed despite being airlifted to a local hospital.

UPDATE: I was sure I had seen that gun before … I must have inspected ~50 different guns, but for some reason I forgot to look up Czech guns, so now I look like an idiot who cannot identify a relatively popular 20th century subgun. The gun is a Czech CZ Model 25 (Sa vz. 23). Epic fail. Will leave this post up anyway.

Recently my friend Chris with Campbell Defense has become a Bowers retailer. He asked if I wanted to review a few of the Bowers suppressors, and it took me about a tenth of a second to respond with a yes!

IWI US, the United States-based subsidiary of Israel Weapon Industries, is now selling the UZI PRO pistol.  The UZI PRO is based on the original UZI submachinegun and is chambered in 9mm.

Since I got into machine guns one of the most unusual things I have noticed is that an astounding amount of people who shoot most commonly available submachine guns will get ready, anchor their feet into the ground, cock the bolt to the rear, and then look at me confused and say “it won’t cock” or “the bolt won’t close”. I used to simply say “oh, it fires from an open bolt,” but that typically led to more confusion, even among people you would assume would be familiar with that type of action (including military folk and police officers). Hell, I have been to competitions where the range officer was insistent upon me walking around the range with the gun’s bolt open in the ready to fire position, even though I explained how the bolt closed with no mag in it is correct and that to render the gun completely safe I would have to remove the magazine and walk the bolt forward. Nowadays instead of explaining how an open bolt gun works I just say “it’s fine, just pull the trigger” and people will shrug it off and dump a magazine.

Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) has announced their new US subsidiary IWI USA Inc. The new company has leased a 21,000 sq. ft. facility in Harrisburg, PA. They plan on selling the TAVOR SAR rifle in a number of different configurations as well as the UZI Pro pistol. These guns will be on display at SHOT Show next month.

There seem to be a growing number of people killed by “negligent” handling of a gun in a public place where a gun should never have been handled, let alone be discharged. CNN reports on a Thai Senator who killed his secretary during dinner at a restaurant when he “negligently” fired his 9mm Uzi submachine gun …

This promotional video from IWI shows off their updated UZI Pro.

Umarex USA are importing .22 pistols and rifles patterned on the famous UZI machine gun. The guns are manufactured by Carl Walther in Germany but are branded IWI (the official UZI manufacturer). There are two models. The rifle model modeled after the UZI carbine and includes a folding stock and faux suppressor. The pistol model is modeled after the Micro UZI machine pistol.

ArmyRecognition.com published a photo of an IWI UZI Pro on display at DSEi ’11 (London’s Defense Expo) featuring a new stock design and slightly different forend. The new stock is polymer with an adjustable cheek piece. I cannot make out if the stock is foldable. The previous stock was the standard UZI steel side folder. The newer forend now incorporates a collapsable foregrip and a slightly different trigger guard.

The NRA Publications team took National Review journalist Jim Geraghty shooting for the first time. The lucky Geraghty got to shoot a fully automatic Uzi on his very first trip to a gun range!