#Terminator

Well hello there. Are you looking for Sarah Connor? Well, she isn’t here. Just us firearm enthusiasts. Earlier this year I came across an AMT Hardballer at my local gun store. I bought it and transformed it into the iconic “.45 long slide with laser sighting”.

Remote-controlled guns have been a controversial topic, and are outlawed in some places in the United States with some exceptions for disabled hunters. Redditor and YouTuber Jan Arkadiusz Kowalski aka Brzydki Burak from Poland wasn’t worried about getting reported to the ATF when he and one of his talented subscribers set out to make two remote-controlled guns out of discarded materials, some bits from a salvage yard, an AKM rifle and a Glock. After watching some of Burak’s videos, it’s clear that he likes to have fun, and watching his remote-controlled guns in action, I’d say he and others were pleasantly entertained. Burak lightheartedly likened his builds to the T-800 model soldier robots from the Terminator movies, however without the artificial intelligence aspect, these seem more reminiscent of the remote-controlled gun from The Jackal movie starring Bruce Willis.

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Korean optics maker DI Optical was showing off many of their familiar products, but also had on display an interesting looking rifle attachment from a company called Jammer Korea. The attachment, named the “DRONE SNIPER”, is a familiar multi-frequency radio jammer, but in a slick underbarrel package that weighs much less than current standalone launchers.

It’s no secret that the field of war is changing, and that fact is just as true for the infantryman as it is the F-35 Lightning II pilot. Increasingly, small, inexpensive, expendable drones are being used as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets, as well as delivery platforms for light ordnance as well as kamikaze weapons. Today, the use of drones in this manner is in its infancy, but the next generation of purpose-built light combat drones is being designed and built right now. Israeli firms like Duke Robotics and UVision have already created armed and kamikaze (respectively) drone systems, and combatants in the Iraqi and Syrian Civil Wars famously used drones as delivery platforms for 40mm grenades. The use of civilian light drones as “snooping” devices has already spurred the development of anti-drone weapons for security forces, including both electromagnetic “rifles” that zap drones to take control of them, as well as more crude (but still effective) anti-drone shotgun payloads.

The Israeli Defense Forces are looking at acquiring a drone with a punch, according to news outlet Defense One. Per an article of their website, the IDF is looking at the TIKAD from Duke Robotics; a lightweight aerial drone that is able to be equipped with a variety of small weapons, from the familiar AR-15, to machine guns or grenade launchers. What makes the TIKAD most notable is its size: Much closer to the handheld drones of hobbyists than the high-flying Predators of the military, the TIKAD is one of a slew of innovative new unmanned systems that are small and light enough for motorized or light infantry to take with them to the battlefield.

It is the summer of 1989 and I’m a kid on a family vacation traveling through Silverthorne, Colorado. Being huge Indiana Jones fans, we decide to beat the heat and and catch a matinee showing of ‘The Last Crusade’ for a second time. It was that afternoon that I decided I wanted a leather whip, a satchel and a Webley WG Army revolver. Now fast forward to “adulthood” – if you are like me and have made gun purchases based on some of your favorite movies, you have the chance to buy some actual firearm props at the most recent installment of eBay’s Hollywood auction series.

Jim of Burst Review got a Cobray Terminator to shoot from his friend Lee Cap. For those not familiar with the Cobray Terminator, it has been touted as the world’s worst shotgun. At first glance it looks like a modified Sterling SMG. However it is chambered in 12ga.  The Sterling SMG is an open bolt design and so is the Terminator. However they are nothing alike. The Sterling SMG open bolt is a traditional open bolt design. The bolt is locked to the rear and pulling the trigger releases the bolt forward and fixed firing pin at the end of the bolt is what sets off the round. In the Cobray Terminator there is no bolt. The receiver end cap houses the fixed firing pin. So when you chamber a 12 ga shell and pull the trigger, the entire barrel travels rearwards pushing the shell back into the firing pin. This adds additional force to the recoil of the gun making it worse to shoot than standard single shot shotgun.

In a new twist to the ongoing story of the US Army’s XM25 CTDE “Punisher” airburst infantry grenade launcher, Orbital ATK, a technology partner on the program, has sued fellow partner Heckler & Koch for failure to deliver 20 units of the new weapon. Orbital ATK is seeking more than $27 million in damages from H&K, and transfer of some intellectual property to another contractor. Orbital ATK says that Heckler & Koch’s failure to deliver the weapons has jeopardized its contract with the US government, raising the chance of program termination, and at least causing a substantial delay.

So the Internet seem to have gone mental with the release of the HERA Arms CQB stock and front grip.

How much firepower can you hold in your hands? Quite a lot, according to Kiev-based Precision Systems, who has developed a handheld automatic 30mm grenade launcher capable of dispensing five 30x29mm grenades quickly when used by just a single individual. News of this assault-rifle-sized automatic grenade gun was first published in the Anglosphere by ISH Jane’s:

The US Army’s “Punisher” XM25 Counter-Defilade Target Engagement (CTDE) weapon program is in danger, says a report released earlier this week by the Department of Defense Inspector General’s office. The program has been riddled with delays and cost spirals, as well as three accidents in 2013, but beyond that the Army has failed to outline a plan for procurement and basic issuance of the weapon, putting the program in jeopardy. From the (heavily redacted) report:

South African defense firm Denel Praetoria Metal Pressings (PMP) have announced a new project for a derivative of their radical 20mm PAW handheld semiautomatic cannon. The new weapon will reportedly be tripod-mounted, fully automatic, and compatible with the same 20x42mmB (belted) explosive ammunition used by the handheld version. Denel PMP is advertising a rate of fire for the new machine cannon of about 200 rounds per minute; via defenceweb.co.za:

The US Army is soon to conduct qualification and acceptance testing for the radical XM25 Counter-Defilate Target Engagement System, informally dubbed “the Punisher” during operational trials in Afghanistan.  DefenseNews reports:

Every now and again, a manufacturer decides to market a weapon that seemingly speeds right past all sense of aesthetics and functionality, to happily embrace a level of crudity and expedience normally reserved only for improvised or homebuilt guns. The Cobray Terminator is one such gun: an open barrel, backward recoiling single shot shotgun that makes one wonder what was wrong with an NEF Pardner. Ian of Forgotten Weapons has a hands-on video of one of three Terminators available at the current Rock Island Auction:

My friend Steve is that guy in my group of friends who is always rolling up with something new, which is great because it means we get to reap the benefits of his impulse buys and spending sprees. The other night my gang and I were sitting around my shop having a few adult beverages as we often do (fireworks, firearms, and firewater would be an appropriate credo for us) and Steve came in with his characteristic grin and an odd scabbard on his shoulder. He made some room on the table and plunked this little number down and immediately it took me back in time to the 90s when I remember watching Terminator 2 on VHS tape and being blown away as Arnold did that incredibly awesome shotgun flip.