Eagle Industries Unlimited had a good display of police products, and also had the maritime combat integrated release anchor system, the MAR-CIRAS. It is designed to allow the end user to be capable of rapidly jettisoning the body armor platform. (www.eagleindustries.com)

Schmidt & Bender Police and Military line scopes from left to right; PM2 in 3-12x50, Short Dot in 1.1-4x20, PM2-2 5-25x56, and PM2 in 4-16x50. (www.schmidt-bender.de) (www.schmidt-bender.com)

Long time B&T business partner DSA, Inc. was set up with their new semiautomatic AR-15 variant; a semiautomatic, 16-inch heavy barrel rifle (not shown). The SA58 SPR 7.62mm sniper rifle drew lots of interest from the attendees. DSA starts out with a Type 1 forged 4140 steel receiver, uses a 19-inch, fully fluted premium barrel, rail interface hand guard, side-folding adjustable stock, an adjustable cheek piece and an adjustable mono rear support for a three-point set. SA58 SPR has a match grade set trigger, or can be offered with a speed trigger. It has a backup individual sight. Weight with a suppressor and an empty magazine is 13.8 pounds (6.3 kilograms). The finish is done in an urban camo. The scope on the example here is a Leupold Tactical. DSA’s flagship piece is the SA58 OSW, which is an operational specialist weapon. It’s the world’s standard for a short rifle in .30 caliber performance. SA58 OSW is offered as a 7.62x51mm NATO, semi-auto only rifle, or it can be purchased as a selective-fire weapon, depending on the need. Barrel lengths are 11- or 13-inches, (27.9 cm or 33 cm). Weight unloaded, with a magazine, is 8.4 pounds, (3.8 kilograms). Overall length, 32.5 inches with the stock extended. With the stock folded, 23.25 inches. The side-folding butt stock is made out of 7075-T6 alloy and the lower receiver is 7075-T6 alloy also. (Upper receiver is 4140 steel). The system can use either 20- or 30-round metric-type FAL magazines. In this display, the SA58 OSW has a standard EOTech sight mounted on its rail system. DSA spent most of the day out at the range with their customers with their various rifles. (www.dsarms.com)

Carl Zeiss Optronics introduced a new ballistic computer system called SAM (Sniper Auxiliary Module), mounting into the base. In this case, Zeiss used a Henzolt 6-24x72 with 50mm. There are up to four sets of ballistic data that are USB cable connected a computer to do the initial programming, and the operator is provided with ballistic firing tables and settings, as well as training on the programmed computer. (www.zeiss.de/optronics)

Ruag had their full line of military and law enforcement ammunition on display, featuring the SWISS P Sniper’s Choice Ammunition. Much attention was paid to the .338 Magnum series; Ruag’s engineers have worked very hard to ensure that the projectiles have similar trajectories, so that there isn’t too much variation in what the marksman has to do to set it up. (Operators will always need to be cognizant of what variations there are.) There was a block of ballistic soap set up showing the results of a new .308 Winchester 200 grain SWISS P subsonic ammunition, fired at 100 meters. The cavity is about 16 cm of penetration. (www.ruag.com)

Swiss company MB-Microtec works in a number of different industries, but at this show they were featuring self-activated illumination on weapon sights. Their Lynx System is in two basic offerings that are self-activated illumination; the larger one in the photo receives the light source from the rear. The one on the left is called the Lynx Light, and they’re looking for a partner to work with on adapting this technology to firearms. Luminox watches utilizes MB-Microtec’s TRASER system, and a wristwatch line used by the Navy SEALS, with a letter from SEAL Team 5. They’ve just introduced a new offering of four watches that are set up with new technology for the Navy SEALS’ use. (www.mbmicrotec.com) (www.luminox.com)

Jochen Heinbach from MK Technology is wearing special body armor set up for prison guards or controlled situations, where threat weapons include bats, truncheons, and bludgeons. Jochen took a serious hit from an aluminum baseball bat against the back of the individual wearing the armor with no effect whatsoever other than pressure. MK Technology is working in mostly the police market, and they are also working in cooperation with BSST on ballistic armor. (www.mktechnology.de)

Lindnerhof Taktik is a new gear company that draws from Josef Sixt’s 12 years in the German military in various places including combat. This company is another example of an end user adapting to civilian business because he has an idea for something better. Lindnerhof’s adjustable tactical vests are designed to be used in a combat zone. Their quick-release system for body armor and load bearing gear is designed for situations where someone’s injured and their armor has had to be removed quickly for medical work. The quick release allows for faster access to the wounded, thus helping to cut short the timeline and hopefully saving lives. (www.lindnerhof-taktik-shop.de)

5.11 Tactical had their usual products on display and were quite popular with the attendees. Several items of interest included the new Select Carry Pack, which is a discreet carrying pack allowing the operator to carry a concealed sidearm to the front, and a submachine gun discreetly on the back. The SMG is in a triangular backpack kit that is swung around to the front as needed, and the inside has POLICE to identify the operator as he deploys the SMG. There’s room for spare magazines. A butt cap sling mount is utilized to provide a one-point tactical support on the submachine gun. 5.11 is also bringing out the Light for Life, which uses no batteries, charges in 90 seconds, has three power modes, 270 lumen peak, 90 lumen standard and a strobe. The operator can use either a 110 or 220 volt outlet, or a car 12-volt battery adapter system. (www.511tactical.com)

Brügger & Thomet AG, our hosts, had an impressive display of military and police gear. Karl Brügger has many projects going at once, and has paid much attention to making the products as perfect as possible for the end users. Here is a selection of what was at their booth. (www.brugger-thomet.ch)

One item among many stood out as something very relevant to today’s combat theatre, and that is the successful integration of optics and forend rails to the PKM and PKB series machine guns. Allowing for the addition of optics, lasers, as well as a forend grip, it is a great advantage on the reliable PKM series of machine guns. Since many of the coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as indigenous military and contractors, are using the Russian workhorse, B&T has an open market. Working from their large reference collection of firearms, B&T was able to standardize their design to fit any of the countries of manufacture on the PKM series. The top cover rail allows for full opening and barrel changing, with a very reliable optic platform with a solid return to zero. (www.brugger-thomet.ch) (www.dsarms.com)

B&T SPR-300 integrally-suppressed sniper rifle. (www.brugger-thomet.ch)

B&T made most of their advances in the early years of the company with their offering of silencers (sound suppressors). As the company evolved in doing large military surplus sales, and providing LE and Military requirements from a variety of vendors, Karl started making high quality rail forends for many firearms: a few are shown here.