The United States House of Representatives has just passed their version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and included within it is a provision that will mandate the release of all M1911 handguns currently in US Army inventory to the Civilian [Read More…]
If you are looking for the toughest pump action shotgun out there, chances are you have already strongly considered the Mossberg 590A1. In this episode of TFBTV, Patrick takes one of his favorite shotguns out to the range to show you guys the military grade Mossberg 590A1. The 500 series of shotguns [Read More…]
According to a recent article on Soldier Systems, the US Army is considering an “interim” switch back to the 7.62mm caliber in standard infantry rifles. Eric Graves of the site lays out a reasonable overview of the situation on the ground, and what sort of [Read More…]
The US Army RDECOM published a YouTube video on the Picatinny Arsenal YouTube Page about Additive Manufacturing, which includes 3D printing, and the Rapid Additively Manufactured Ballistics Ordnance or RAMBO Launcher. RAMBO, in this case, is fundamentally a 3D printed [Read More…]
With Sig Sauer officially winning the XM17 US Army pistol contract, and Glock protesting the outcome of the trials, somebody has to supply the military ammunition. That is where Winchester comes into the picture. They have been selected as the ammunition supplier for [Read More…]
SIG Sauer is not quite out of the woods yet regarding their recent Modular Handgun System contract win. Finalist Glock – who for many was the favorite to win – has protested the XM17 contract award. SIG won the MHS contract earlier this year with a variant [Read More…]
History certainly does repeat itself, at least where Army procurement is concerned. US Senator from Iowa Joni Ernst has, in an address to Vice Chief of Staff Daniel Allyn on Capitol Hill earlier last week, called for a new upgrade program for the US Army’s [Read More…]
Picatinny Arsenal is currently conducting trials and experiments on a prototype system named the “Ballistically Optimized Sniper Scope” (BOSS). Essentially it is the Army’s entry into what Barrett has been accomplishing with the BORS for a number of [Read More…]
The Sig Sauer P320 was selected as the winner of the Modular Handgun System contract on January 19th, 2017. This was the largest weapons contract that the Department of Defense has awarded in the last 32 years for a small arms replacement program. You can read the full details over at The Firearm [Read More…]
Six 8″ plate targets, from draw and 7 meters, in less then 10 seconds with a 9 mm handgun was the mission. Doesn’t sound too hard, even for me! But Max Michel – IPSC Handgun World Champion – had a much lower time in mind. His target was below 2.5 [Read More…]
In a move that will define Army small arm procurement for decades, the Department of Defense has just announced that they have selected Sig Sauer to produce a “Modular Handgun System” for Army warfighters. The new handgun will replace the current M9 sidearm [Read More…]
Today, the news broke that SIG USA has become the winner of the United States Army’s Modular Handgun System contract, making its P320 handgun the next standard issue sidearm for the United States armed forces. The new pistol, to be designated “M17”, is [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…]
Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments is a U.S Army test and development program that takes test products from government research agencies and private industry, works with them over a two year period, culminating in a final report that could possibly lead to adoption [Read More…]
Still in use today with the US military, albeit at a reduced capacity, the M60 machine gun is a well-known force to be reckoned with. With its ability to controllably lay down suppressive fire, “The Pig” (as it was affectionately known), was the back-bone of [Read More…]
Almost two years ago, Beretta announced a new striker-fired, polymer framed handgun, which they called the APX. Now, the APX has finally hit gun stores… In Argentina. User mithrils of The Beretta Forum uploaded photos and a short range review of his new pistol, [Read More…]
In the Middle East it is typical to reach around 120°F during the summer time. Regardless of the frequency, it's nothing you're able to adjust to, and is always going to be bitched about. However on July 22, In Kuwait, the temperature had rose to a record 129.2°F [Read More…]
The wards over in Iraq and Afghanistan have taught the military some major valuable lessons on the strategic front including how to deal with insurgency, dismounted operations on a large scale across rugged terrain, and a myriad of other lessons. To each of those is a [Read More…]
What was the first military .22 caliber high velocity infantry rifle round ever developed? Many would name the 5.56mm round designed in the 1950s to that title, but that would be incorrect. In truth, it’s probably impossible to know for sure due to the large [Read More…]
The US Army’s plan to wrap new technologies and commercial off the shelf (COTS) improvements into the M4A1 rifle has apparently been canned. The program, called M4A1+, was originally intended to upgrade the M4A1 fleet with new COTS rails, back up sights, flash [Read More…]
The US Army’s Modular Handgun System is slated to move forward, downselecting in August of this year from a reported 12 submitted proposals to only three, in preparation for the final competition. The program solicitation was released in September with a deadline [Read More…]
This subject has come up in my comments recently, and I thought I would explore it in a post proper. To adopt the 6.5 Grendel (or, as we’ll see, something like it), the US Army would need to develop and procure new complete upper receivers, magazines, buffers, and [Read More…]
The National Defense Industry Association has released the PowerPoint presentations from 2016 Armament Systems Forum, including Kori Phillips’ update on the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program, which is the successor to the well-known Lightweight [Read More…]
This photo was posted in a SCAR Owners Group. It is short barreled MK17 caliber converted to shoot 5.56×45. The weapon is used by US Army Rangers and was seen at a Rangers Open House. The selector switch looks quite different to the MK17 and MK16 that [Read More…]
The US trials that led to the adoption of the first standard issue military selfloading rifle are together one of my favorite parts of small arms history. Recently, Forgotten Weapons’ van Dyked and ponytailed founder and host Ian McCollum got a chance to handle [Read More…]
After criticizing the Army’s Modular Handgun System program last week, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley spoke again about the program, further refining his desire to select not just any new pistol, but specifically to piggyback Army purchases of new handguns [Read More…]
Released to much excitement, the US Army’s new Modular Handgun system is, in my opinion, a train-wreck going full-bore in a screwup of massive proportions. Upon my read of the RFP, it showcases Big Army’s failure to do a thorough and comprehensive review of [Read More…]
The National Firearms Museum in Fairfax Virginia is one of the most important collections of small arms in the world, but their representatives also leave the museum and travel to places where they can find firearms that they don’t have in their collection. As [Read More…]
In the second half of June, we reported that the Army had released a new second draft of the request for proposal (RFP) for the new MHS handgun, now called “XM17”, slated to replace the M9 handgun made by Beretta that has been in use since the 1980s. The [Read More…]
This is the zeroeth part of a series of posts seeking to describe and analyze the 7.62mm Light Rifle concept promoted by the Americans, and subsequently adopted by NATO in various forms. This series will cover development from before World War II to the present day, [Read More…]
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