ABOVE: Accuracy International AXMC338 Accuracy International Accuracy International AX50 Designed to withstand constant military deployment, the AX50 long range anti matériel rifle from Accuracy International…
SADJ was recently in Sweden on a tour of defense industry contractors including Saab, Nammo, and Aimpoint, and we had the opportunity to stop in…
Europe Discovers the Virtues of Personal Self-Defense While European Politicians Seek to Disarm the Continent. Gun control pundits have long extolled the virtues of an…
ABOVE: Korean made K2 tank driving demo. Armed with 120mm smoothbore cannon and up-to-date electronics, this 55t tank is one of the best main battle…
STI™ INTERNATIONAL INTRODUCES THE NEW GUARDIAN 2011 PISTOL New for 2016, the ever popular STI™ Guardian is now available in a 2011 platform with a…
New Sanctions on North Korea Following the February 7, 2016 missile launch by North Korea, additional sanctions have been imposed by the US Government. The…
ABOVE: M9A3 pistol equipped with a SilencerCo Octane 9mm sound suppressor. In 1985 a legend was retired. The highly regarded M1911A1 pistol was replaced with…
ABOVE: Compact, lighter than one might think, the MGA SAW in 6.8 SPC brings serious firepower to the engagement. In almost all modern militaries, the…
ABOVE: A crude Chinese made copy of the Mauser C96 pistol with detachable buttstock. During World War I, the primary weapon issued was the full-power,…
ABOVE: Shown is a UAE sniper using the Caracal bolt action 7.62x51mm CS308 rifle. SADJ first visited the at the time brand new Caracal firearms…
The 9th edition Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD), the continent’s Premier Exhibition and show of Air, Sea and Land will be taking place from 14-…
ABOVE: The new IWI US UZI Pro Pistol offers a civilian legal pistol version of the UZI Pro submachine gun. The UZI 9mm submachine gun…
Every so often a product comes along that is completely, unequivocally “new.” Not just a new variation on an old design, or a new design…
ABOVE: Cased Telescoped. A useful comparison of the initial 5.56mm CT Squad Auto Weapon and a mockup of the 7.62mm Medium Machine Gun in the…
Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldiers from the Yahalom (“Diamond”) special unit, recovered hundreds of weapons as well as quantities of ammunition and explosives during a…
ABOVE: GLOCK offers users a choice in handguns chambered in 10MM Auto in the form of G29, G20, G40 MOS. Full stable of 10MMs with…
The ACE Secure Data Portal – Bringing International Transactions into the 21st Century. For many years, the import/export community has relied upon a combination of…
ABOVE: The P220 chambered in 10mm was tested with many different types of ammunition including Hornady Critical Duty, Hornady Custom, Buffalo Bore as well as…
ATN DEBUTS LATEST OTS THERMAL MONOCULAR LINE ATN DEBUTS LATEST OTS THERMAL MONOCULAR LINE ATN, innovators of advanced night vision, thermal imaging and digital Smart…
ABOVE: Colt’s O1070CCU – COMBAT UNIT™ RAIL GUN® Colt The COMBAT UNIT™ RAIL GUN is an upgraded Duty Ready pistol based on the Colt Rail…
HIMARS achieves one million operational hours Lockheed Martin’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) recently achieved a significant milestone with U.S. military forces, reaching one…
The Royal Malaysian Police Museum Modern Malaysia is a beautiful country, rich in agriculture and history, with a growing industrial base. It was born from…
Global Security Asia has been held in Singapore since 2005, and the show has continued to grow and gain favor with attendees and exhibitors alike….
ABOVE: Sig’s MCX mission-adaptable weapon system contains several significant engineering modifications that increase reliability and extend weapon life. The 2015 AUSA Expo premiered a number…
The author firing the M6 PSD MKII chambered in 6.8x43mm SPC caliber. Notice the proprietary Magpul magazine designed for optimal feeding of the 6.8mm SPC…
National Guard of Ukraine Amongst arms and equipment inspected by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, one suppressed rifle stands out. The display of military hardware took…
ABOVE: In El Salvador, the AML-90 was relegated to perform security escort to artillery units, with an UR-416 traveling alongside — not with mechanized infantry,…
Left to Right: SWFA 3-9x42mm, Leupold VXR Patrol 3-9x40mm, Vortex PST 2.5-10x32mm, Burris XTR II 2-10×42, Leupold MK4 LRT 3.5-10x40mm Front Focal, Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x32mm,…
This early IA2 prototype is fitted with a longer barrel than the current 330mm (350mm, with flash hider) unit, while its polymer foldable stock, also…
Range vehicles presented realistic ambush scenarios during Barrett REC 7 DI T&E. Barrett has taken its vision of the AR rifle another step forward with…
Photo credit: Sergei Gritts/AP Untrained observers frequently confuse superficially similar small arms and light weapon (SALW) systems, particularly with the pressure of covering a current…
Shows AKM type rifle and PKMT undergoing refurbishment. Libyan workshop refurbishes small arms for ongoing conflict. Photo credit: Hassan Morajea (Armament Research Services) In a…
National Defense Industrial Association’s Small Arms Group: NDIA started out in 1919 as the Army Ordnance Association and through various mergers over the last century,…
Lockheed Martin Receives $528 Million THAAD Missile-Defense Contract The Missile Defense Agency awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) a $528 million contract in December 2015 for production…
MEOPTA INTRODUCES NEW MEOPRO 6.5-20X50 AND 6.5-20X50 HTR RIFLESCOPES MEOPTA INTRODUCES NEW MEOPRO 6.5-20X50 AND 6.5-20X50 HTR RIFLESCOPES Meopta adds to its popular 1-inch MeoPro®…
Defense Distributed – continued. A brief synopsis of the events thus far: January 2013: Defense Distributed, a nonprofit, gun-design digital publisher headquartered in Austin, Texas…
Advancements in optoelectronics is changing the firearms sighting device industry as we know it today and it is likewise changing society’s very perception. It’s no…
ABOVE: Firing the MGA SAW K in .300 Blackout from an overlook in the badlands of Utah. “Squad Automatic Weapon”- the “SAW.” The phrase has…
Pictures supplied to ARES show a Caracal F semi-automatic pistol, produced by Caracal, a United Arab Emirates-based firearms manufacturer. This particular Model F is the…
The QLZ87 is a direct gas impingement operated, selective fire grenade launcher chambered for the Chinese 35 x 32SR mm cartridge. With an effective range…
In a previous article SADJ covered ISAF armament on Camp Leatherneck from the American and British perspective. In this one SADJ will cover small arms…
From soldiering to civilian life I have had the opportunity to use some of the world’s greatest CQ optics. SADJ was given the chance to…
ABOVE: MG5 A2 (HK121) is the new MMG for the German defense to replace their aging MG3 machine guns. It is being promoted by H&K…
FN 15 Military Collector M4 The FN 15™ Military Collector Series M4 and M16 bring to market military replica rifles made to FN’s exacting specifications….
Images uploaded to Twitter by the Free Syrian Amy’s ‘Division 30’ show combatants with US-made arms. In one image, a Mk 14 EBR (enhanced battle…
ABOVE: Infantry rifle should perform adequately on any possible terrain, but some current battlefields overstretch the capabilities of weapons that were built for total war…
This was the seventh bi-annual PARTNER Exhibition held in Belgrade, Serbia. This regional show is maturing, and gathering some momentum. There were many delegations from…
Dealing with the U.S. Government: U.S. State Department versus the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Dealing with the U.S. Government is not always…
ABOVE: POF’s engineers did not just add some extra parts. They perfected this gun. There’s something better about this rifle. Under sustained full auto fire,…
FOBUS ANNOUNCES NEW HOLSTER FOR SELECT GLOCK MODELS FOBUS ANNOUNCES NEW HOLSTER FOR SELECT GLOCK MODELS First Samco, Inc. (FSI), the exclusive distributor of Fobus…
“Unreasonable” interpretations of the public domain exception The US State Department recently announced proposed regulatory language that would restrict the publication of technical data. Recall…
ABOVE: In a back corner on the lower floor, SADJ found the following gems from TNIITochMash in Russia. We had the opportunity to spend some…
ABOVE: In another part of the Trust International Group’s booth, Jerry had placed the OOW HCAR in 30-06 caliber with suppressor. This rifle system, the…
ABOVE: April 23, 2006, Staff Sgt. Brad Smith from 3-320th Field Artillery, 101st Airborne Division with his 14.5inch barrel M4, sitting in the middle of…
ABOVE: Soldiers of the Waffen-SS equipped with an early PzB 38 during exercises. After the annexation of the Sudetenland and the destruction of Czechoslovakia as…
Introduction At the time of this writing, computers and related information technologies are a part of almost everything we say and do—a situation arguably both…
The Evolution of the 9mm AR Carbine Christopher R. Bartocci Features, History, Volume 7, V7N6 ABOVE: The Colt 9mm-pattern carbines never achieved the success they…
The Kuwait Shooting Sport Federation has its base at an amazing facility on the Sixth Ring Road in Kuwait City, called the Kuwait Shooting Sport…
Law enforcement personnel firing armor-piercing shotgun projectiles during protests in Ukraine. Sergei Grits (AP Photo). In January 2014, various journalists, aid workers, and others have…
ABOVE: 1939 Lahti 20mm anti-tank cannon, converted to .50 BMG, mounted on FN30 tripod. Note in the inset, how the magazine has been shortened to…
ABOVE: Beam weapons in the battlespace. Envisioned in this 2008 illustration promoting the Navy’s Maritime Laser Demonstration feasibility project, a carrier task force fights off…
AES – The Automated Export System As computing systems get more advanced, there are increased opportunities to automate previously mundane or tedious tasks. In automating…
ABOVE: The VP9 is inspired by the Welrod design but modernized for Veterinary use. The legendary silenced Welrod pistol that was developed during the Second…
U.S. MACHINE GUN ARMORY ANNOUNCES THE MGA SAW K The U.S. Machine Gun Armory, an international provider of multi-caliber military belt-fed machine guns, often referred…
ABOVE: CZ Engineer Martin Sanda puts rounds downrange and brass in the air during the test of the 5.56x45mm CZ 807 AI assault rifle, using…
Two U.S. Senators Fail ITAR Literacy Test Many are understandably upset with the proposed rule from the U.S. State Department to regulate the dissemination of…
ABOVE: Third generation model Colt LE1020 successfully passing a mud test in 2008. Although never put into production, the final production LE6940P/APC is a direct…
Barracuda Signature Management, a SAAB company, held their Customer Conference on 21-22 May 2014 in Sweden. These conferences are held periodically, when management feels they…
ABOVE: The Russian ORSIS T-5000. (Yuri Lyamin) Recent photos to emerge from Iraq show government troops with new Iranian AM50 (sometimes written as ‘AM-50′) anti-materiel…
Have you ever thought about all the tests that must be used during the development of a firearm? A recently introduced test device will change…
ABOVE: Circa 1950, an Air Force officer with his modernized version of the M2 carbine featured an in-line stock, raised sights, muzzle brake and bipod….
A home-made anti-materiel rifle (AMR) made by Syrian rebels. (YouTube video) The Syrian conflict continues to yield interesting expedient small-arm designs. ARES has received YouTube…
ABOVE: The Mk12 SPR has seen significant amount of action in the Global War on Terrorism being very popular with the Special Operations operators who…
Once seen as an enhancement to your duty or combat rifle, quality RDS (Red Dot Sights) have become all but mandatory equipment for many working…
Images emerged from the Ukraine following fighting in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on the 25th of May, 2014 showing alleged pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist fighters in possession of…
World War II Japanese home front patriotic fan. Made of bamboo and paper it measures 7-1/2 inches long and opens up to be about 10…
ABOVE: Black Hornet is a “flyable robotic video camera” that bears a resemblance to a helicopter if you can see it – it is small…
First Amendment Rights Versus the ITAR On June 3, 2015, the U.S. State Department published a proposed rule on the publication of firearms related information…
During the ongoing civil unrest in Kiev, several images have circulated showing Ukrainian security forces equipped with a range of lethal weapons, including sniper rifles….
Above: The image shows a Galil ACE Model 21 carbine reportedly in the possession of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) Air Force. The ACE…
Kivaari .338 Lapua Rifle Now Shipping Kivaari .338 Lapua Rifle Now Shipping DRD Tactical is happy to announce that they have started shipping their new…
Fine for Improper Wire Transfer The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had fined the New York branch of the National Bank…
ABOVE: TIGRES operators are trained at Lepaterique, Francisco Morazán, where they attend a 12-week course provided by Colombian police Jungle Commandos, and 7th USSF Group,…
Sphinx SDP Compact Sphinx Systems Limited is a Swiss-based manufacturer that produces an evolved CZ 75 design, and while their previous offerings have been rather…
ABOVE: Markings on a PPZR Grom E2 missile launch tube. (Ukraine Military TV YouTube channel) An interesting video was released by the Ukraine Military TV…
The demand for firearms in Libya has brought to light three handguns so far undocumented, at least in the English-speaking world. At least one of…
ABOVE: The RCE is CMMG’s version of a “Recce” or Recon AR. The driving force behind the Recon was to give sniper/observer teams a support…
Nammo Lapua .338 PS The Nordic Ammunition Company, or Nammo, is a familiar name in the defense industry, and their products are well known to…
“Future Soldier Programs” has become a term for many nations, and now Russia has equipped its armed forces personnel with Ratnik (Warrior) Infantry Combat System…
EDITOR’S NOTE: It has come to our attention that the author of this article submitted photos that misidentified which military the soldiers were from. The…
If you’ve ever used an anemometer, or a wind meter, chances are it was a Kestrel. The anemometer is invaluable to anyone seeking to achieve…
Original silk art painting done immediate post World War I during the occupation of Germany. Entitled, “Neuwied Germany, Co. A, 4th M.G., 2nd Div., With…
ABOVE: Norwegian infantry MG gunner fires the MINIMI 5.56mm. The MG is equipped with an Aimpoint optical sight. An under-mounted polymer ammunition container helps keep…
ABOVE: Explosively bonded aluminum and stainless steel Model 1911 .45ACP by Uselton Arms Manufacturing offers a weight savings of 33% over a conventional steel frame and slide. Militaries of…
Recalls and Warrantees Firearms, like most mechanical items, occasionally break. Parts can fail, and barrels become worn. If the firearm was made in the United…
IWI US, Inc. Introduces Galil Pistol for the U.S. Market IWI US, Inc. Galil Pistol for the U.S. Market IWI US, Inc., a subsidiary of…
ABOVE: As designed at the request of SOCOM, the Lewis Machine and Tool Enhanced Bolt Carrier Group. Note the addition of an additional gas port….
ABOVE: IWI eLog SADJ has always traveled the world in search of the innovators in small arms and weapons. Sometimes we’re able to coordinate visits…
FDIC Head Admits “mistake” in ‘Operation Choke Point.’ Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg told members of a U.S. House panel that much of…
ABOVE: Dave Walls posing with the rifles he brought into the precision rifle community. The L96 (top) was Accuracy International’s first major contract and brought…
This was the second biannual Gulf Defense & Aerospace show held in Kuwait City, Kuwait. It’s always difficult starting a new show, and the promoter…
ABOVE: Business side of the Full Scale MPIMS Area denial and protection has been a key factor in most combat missions from the beginning. For…
Australia, known as the land down under, is hard for Americans not to think of it without the image of Crocodile Dundee appearing in your…
ABOVE: Where the Dror springs were made. ‘Israel,’ the boss, stands in the doorway. (Carl E. Ekdahl) For reasons never made clear, Slavin took his…
ABOVE: US team ready to go for Precision Rifle. “We have to understand that it is called “international” terrorism, however, we as Special Forces, special…
ABOVE: This Marine corporal from the 1st “Sea Dragon” Marine Division is wearing the old uniform. He is cradling a 5.56mm K1A submachine gun. A…
ABOVE: Beretta’s ARX160 5.56x45mm rifle was on display, and has been purchased for testing by Jordanian Armed Forces. Of course, the ARX160 is available in…
As computing power and speed increases, new weapons and technologies are being developed that employ artificial intelligence (A/I). Within the next ten years, the advance…
Steiner Introduces “Intelligent” Combat Sight (ICS) Steiner Introduces “Intelligent” Combat Sight (ICS) Steiner’s new “Intelligent” Combat Sight (ICS) integrates a laser rangefinder and a ballistic…
M855 – What’s the Big Deal? Pay any attention to American politics, and the reader will know that the ATF recently attempted to reclassify and…
ABOVE: Field expedient firing positions were utilized during GII SASS evaluation at Echo Valley Training Center’s “Jungle Walk” range. DPMS offers one of the broadest…
Australian gold gilt and enameled veteran’s pin for the 2/1 Machine Gun Battalion Association’s 50th anniversary. Enameled grey, black and yellow triangle insignia of the…
Crowd control actions executed by Turkish police in 2013 have showcased the employment of several less-lethal launchers. Aside from a range of medium-calibre riot guns…
ABOVE: After a thorough evaluation, the FNS 9 stands head and shoulder above many other 9mm handguns. A Superior Polymer Pistol The FNS 9 9mm…
Vietnam Wants Arms Embargo Lifted Vietnam wants the U.S. to lift fully an embargo on arms sales that was eased last year, but Washington is…
ABOVE: The direct impingement Modern Musket harkens back to our early nation’s history. It is no secret that the Eugene Stoner’s AR platform is the…
The MLE will exceed every intent and expectation of the combat shotgun. By and large the shotgun has been traditionally regarded as something of a…
Weapons captured from rebel forces in South Sudan. (The East African (forum)) Captured From Rebel Forces in South Sudan Seen in the bottom centre of…
ABOVE: Carl Ekdahl shoulders a Johnson LMG outside the factory. (John Ekdahl) Niagara Falls, N.Y., Monday afternoon, February 24, 1947. Parked by the wintry highway,…
For seven years now, exhibitors from all over Israel and numerous other countries from around the world have gathered in Tel Aviv to show their…
ABOVE: Rheinmetall Vario-Ray SWIR Rheinmetall adds a new offering to its line of electro-optical equipment: the Vario-Ray (LLM-VR). It’s designed to be used on small…
Armed combatants in the Crimean peninsula. One of the GM-94 grenade launchers pictured is fitted with an EOTech-type holographic weapon sight. (Livejournal, original source unknown)…
ABOVE: The original POF rifle in its Gen 1 configuration. The first rifles were chambered in 5.56mm. The upper receiver is a standard forged upper…
ABOVE: 14 March 2014, Alaska, USA. Soldiers on the range engage targets with M16A2 rifles during the 59th Signal Battalion Soldier of the Year Competition….
ABOVE: Weighing 24 lbs., the GD-OTS Light Weight Medium Machine Gun is a full 5.5 lbs. lighter than the M240B, while the .338NM round has…
ABOVE: PD-100T Black Hornet PRS (Personal Reconnaissance System) is about the size of a dragonfly. The focus of the annual AUSA (Association of the United…
SADJ has known and covered the products from U.S. Ordnance in Reno, Nevada for many years. Their US MK43 Mod 0 (M60E4) machine gun is…
Sterling silver U.S. doughboy dog tag holder and locket. The outside of the holder is engraved “2nd Lieut. H.W. Billman 109 M.G. Bn. 28th Division…
Expodefensa in Bogota, Colombia is a bi-annual show that has strong regional attendance. It is heavily attended by the Colombian military groups, and their buyers…
Shipping Hazardous Materials Shipping ammunition within the United States? Easy. Slap a UPS Ground shipment label and ORM-D sticker on it and off it goes….
ABOVE: Some of the locally manufactured vehicles on display at Indo Defence 2014. These are all products of PT Pindad, with Anoa 6×6 armored personnel…
SureFire Releases Its Most Powerful LED Flashlight Ever SureFire Releases Its Most Powerful LED Flashlight Ever SureFire, LLC, manufacturer of high-end illumination tools and tactical…
ABOVE: Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) flagship machine gun, the MG3, is considered to be one of the best made versions of the old high-speed design….
ABOVE: New SWORD Technology Demonstrator. Based on the company‘s patented Network Power Data System, the modular Soldier Weapon & Observation Recon Devices system links the…
Chinese Arms Appear in South Sudan The (new) civil war in South Sudan is a little more than a year old, but it won’t end…
Aimpoint has had a lot of success in the individual weapon categories, with their military and civilian programs. After years of being asked to address…
ABOVE: Norbert Piechota of FB Radom demonstrates the MSBS-5.56B rifle. Note the steadiness of the weapon in full-auto firing: two cases are already flying, the…
ABOVE: T-5000 with night vision adapter. Until recently, Russian small arms were famous mostly for their ruggedness, durability and reliability, even under the harshest of…
ABOVE: Author firing an MD1A1 at Fábrica de Itajubá; the weapon offering a moderate cyclic rate of fire in the region of 550 rounds per…
ABOVE: Jeff Hoffman adjusting his scope on a Lewis Machine & Tool LM8MWS 7.62x51mm rifle as he engages targets out to 850 yards. Notice the…
ABOVE: The P320 in full business attire. The extra-long Picatinny spec rail allows for a multitude of add-ons. SIG Sauer means quality and performance. Their…
ABOVE: This particular example of a scoped Argentine rifle shown in a publicity photo has the cocking handle on the left side and, barely discernible,…
ABOVE: Mexican soldier atop of a Humvee with a RL-83 Blindicide. This is an obsolete AT weapon, but still applicable to the potential threats faced…
ABOVE: The scope mount had to be canted to the left and the carrying handle to the right to locate the handle at the rifle’s…
ABOVE: From left to right: 20x30B K-11; 20x42B PAW 20; 25x40B XM25; 25x59B LW25; 30x29B VOG-17; 35mm CL DFS10. The VOG-17 is genuine; the others…
ABOVE: ISAF Troops returning fire in Afghanistan. Insurgent forces partially overran COP Kahler in Afghanistan in July 2008 in part due to the failure of…
ABOVE: A useful comparison of similarities between the 7.62 NATO caliber HK121/MG5 in front, with its predecessor, the 5.56mm MG4 in the background. The 22…
Our fighting soldiers – the recon units and scouts and expeditionary fighting forces that carry all of their equipment on their backs in and out…
ABOVE: South Africa’s famous SS77 machine gun from Vektor has a venerable history, replacing the FN MAG as the General Purpose Machine Gun in South…
Combined Systems is excited to announce the expansion of its VENOM Non-Lethal Tube Launched Munitions System product line. In 2014 CSI made the push for…
ABOVE: Steyr STM 556 assault rifle. (Steyr) Eurosatory 2014, the Defence and Security Exhibition was held in Paris Nord Villepinte (near Charles de Gaulle airport)…
American Built Arms Introduces Aluminum Forearm T*Rail American Built Arms Introduces Aluminum Forearm T*Rail American Built Arms Company (A*B Arms), a veteran-owned manufacturer of firearms…
Iran looking to upgrade weapon systems Faced with the arms embargo enforced by the West, China may be Iran’s last hope in upgrading its obsolete…
International Shipping: Why Does Everything Cost So Much? A recent call from a prospective client came in, and went something like this. “I’m in Canada,…
ABOVE: British Machine Gun Corps shoulder patches as adopted for the 101st Machine Gun Company. This rare and unique patch features the image of a…
ABOVE: Police Officer and SWAT Sniper Fabian Rivera firing the H&K USP Tactical. Notice the pistol is in full recoil. His SWAT team carried USP45…
On August 5 and 6, 2014, the F.A.I.R. Trade Group (F.A.I.R.) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) held their annual Import/Export Conference at the…
ABOVE: Sniper team from CCG 4-3 INF Reg using an Applied Ballistics Kestrel at the Army Mountain Warfare School in Jericho VT. “The point is…
ABOVE: Col. Michael Manning (L), Marine Corps Systems Command’s program manager for Infantry Weapons Systems, congratulates Salvatore Fanelli (R) on winning the Donald Roebling Award….
ABOVE: Desert Tech of Salt Lake City, Utah, displayed their new bull-pup rifle, the dual-caliber (.308 and .223) modular Micro Dynamic Rifle, premiered at the…
ABOVE: Right side view of the Type 11 LMG In preparing research for this article it was found that there was no consistent consensus on…
ABOVE: The Avtomat Nikonova 94 The war machine of the Soviet Union has always been a source of intrigue to those interested in the development…
ABOVE: Salvadorian soldiers parade with M67 RCL. The U.S. supplied some 379 M67 RCLs to El Salvador between 1981 and 1992 to arm the soldiers,…
ABOVE: Right side of the Colt LE901 with the Smith Enterprise Vortex flash hider and the folding front sight base. Most of the Black Rifle…
Barrett is known for their innovative approaches in designing rifles. Much of this stems from Barrett’s non-typical background for a firearms firm. Their first product the semiautomatic M82 .50 BMG’s typifies this. Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was founded in 1982 and centered on Ronnie Barrett’s idea of a shoulder-fired .50 BMG rifle. Barrett’s first conventional military success was the sale of about 100 M82A1 rifles to the Swedish Army in 1989. World events then transpired to give Barrett a major impetus towards success in 1990, when the United States armed forces purchased significant numbers of the M82A1 during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq. About 125 rifles were initially bought by the United States Marine Corps, and orders from the Army and Air Force soon followed. The success of the Barrett .50 BMG rifles allowed for Barrett to expand its product line to include AR and precision bolt action rifles.
HK Launches New Striker-Fired V9 Pistol Heckler & Koch has just introduced its new striker fired pistol, the 9mm VP9 to the commercial and law…
U.S. Commerce and State Departments Suspend Export Licenses to Russia Effective March 1, 2014, the U.S. Commerce and State Departments have suspended all license applications…
What Is OFAC, the SDN, and Why Can’t Russian Arms Be Imported Into The U.S.? On July 17, 2014, the Obama administration announced additional sanctions…
World War I A.I.F (Australian Imperial Forces) aluminum dog tag. Engraved “92 T. Maxwell, 10 M.G. Coy RC” (Tag #92, T. Maxwell, 10th Machine Gun…
SADJ has been in contact with IDEAS Media Manager Ehtesham Bari for many years, planning to attend the IDEAS show in Karachi. We missed the 2008 show due to some issues with travel restrictions and the 2010 show had been unfortunately canceled due to the flooding tragedy. It was exciting to finally be able to set up at the show, and LMO’s Chief Armorer Instructor Matt Babb, Jason M. Wong from Hurricane Butterfly and I set out for Karachi to man the booth, explore the show, and then travel north to Islamabad and the Pakistan Ordnance Factories at Wah Cannt, and the Khyber Pass region.
TOP: German interwar period paperweight or desk ornament. 6-inch long silver German Maxim MG08 with Z.F. 12 optical sight mounted on a prone sled mount…
The U.S. State Department “Eats Their Own Young:” The Basics of Mens Rea, Specific Intent, and Acting “Knowingly” American criminal legal theory is based upon…
Bullseye Camera System Announce Remote Targeting Viewing The Bullseye Camera System is a unique patent-pending system that allows a shooter to view his downrange target…
ATF Import Permits Officially Changed to 2-Year Period of Validity On February 7, 2014, ATF announced via the Federal Register that it would extend the…
ABOVE: Germans with Maxim MG08. Judging from their cloth-covered spiked helmets, this apparently posed photo was taken early in the war when quantities of their…
SchleTek, a German chemical company operating throughout Europe, has recently offered a line of premium gun care products. Our evaluation of this product was taken on with a degree of enthusiasm – as most things German are expected to be outstanding – and we were not disappointed with the outcome. We only tested four of the nine products offered to get a feel for the performance of these chemicals. We were impressed with the four products we tested and assume that the others we did not test will be equally impressive.
The fourth biannual BRIDEX (pronounced Brih-dex) exhibition was another marked success for this small South East Asian nation on the northern tip of the island of Borneo. While a relatively small regional show, it drew a solid representation of buyers and vendors in the region, reaching all the way to Africa and the Mideast. The U.S. and UK were well represented as were other European nations. In some ways this event was a bit smaller in scale than the last, but the floors were packed with VIPs who engaged with the vendors, and that’s what counts.
Throughout the industry there are numerous combination tools for the AR-15/M16-series rifle. Most of them are not what you would consider to be armorer combination tools. They are mostly combination tools for cleaning such as the eFECT maintenance tool, Multi Tasker and the Samson Field Survivor to name just a few. These will often contain sight adjustment tools, firing pin retainer pin removal tool, carbon cleaning tools, punch, scraper and screw driver for optics. Some also will come with a broken shell extractor as well as cleaning brushes and or cables. None of these were intended for repair but just field cleaning.
The key to reliability with any auto loading firearm is the feeding device whether it is a magazine, clip, belt or whatnot; the buck stops at the feeding mechanism front door. Over the last several years the industry has produced many different magazines for the black rifle. With the popularity of the rifle there simply wasn’t enough to go around as the demand was overwhelming. On the other side, there have been numerous attempts and some successful endeavors to improve greatly upon the standard aluminum GI magazine. Though not the first to produce a polymer AR magazine, Magpul has revolutionized the way we feed the black rifle. Earlier attempts to make a durable polymer magazine met with disaster. Magpul’s introduction of the PMag set a new standard, not only for polymer magazines but for the AR magazine in general.
A large group of friends and family gathered today at the front of the old MOD Pattern Room at Enfield Lock, England, for the dedication of a plaque honoring the life and contributions of Herbert J. “Bertie” Woodend, the former Curator of the famous MOD Pattern Room in England. This is one of the largest collections of military small arms in the world, and starting in 1966 “Herbie” was the driving force at Enfield Lock and later in the 1980s-90s at Royal Ordnance in Nottingham, until the Pattern Room was moved over to the Royal Armouries in Leeds in 2002. The collection is now the core of the National Firearms Centre at the Royal Armouries.
During its history, Romania was occupied by Turks, Austrians, Greeks and Russians. The principality of Moldavia and Walachia were acquired in 1861. Romania was an ally of Russia during its war against Turkey in 1877 and became independent one year later. Allied with Greece and Serbia, Romania fought against Bulgaria in 1913. In 1916, it entered in the Great World War beside the Allies. Between the two world wars, Romania was member of several alliances with other Balkan or Central European countries. The king renounced the throne in 1940, after a coup d’état organised by officers favourable to the Axis. So Romania, allied with Germany, entered the war against the Soviet Union in 1941. In 1944, the situation reversed after an insurrection managed by the communists.
The 18th Worldwide Exhibition of Internal Security was held in Paris from November 19 to 22, 2013. There were 915 exhibitors from all over the…
It is nice to see a product evolve over time. The ArmaLite AR-31 .308 Win rifle is a great case in point. The AR-31 shares its design lineage
with previous ArmaLite precision rifles in the form of the AR-30 and its updated version AR-30A1. The AR-30A1 rifle is chambered in “long
action” bolt cartridges such as .300 WinMag and .338 Lapua. The AR-31 takes the no nonsense ArmaLite concept of the tactical rifle another
step forward. While the AR-31 (and AR-30A1) may resemble its AR-30 predecessor, only the pistol grip, buttpad, trigger, and a few small
components from the original AR-30 transferred over to the AR-31. All other components are new or redesigned. This is especially true with
the AR-31’s bolt action. The AR-31’s “short action” describes the length the bolt needs to travel to function/cycle the .308Win cartridge.
The longer .300 WinMag and .338 Lapua cartridges require a “long action.” The AR-31’s shorter action provides for a stiffer receiver often
translating into better accuracy.
In January of 1990 a new cartridge hit the market that would pretty much be a game changer as to the cartridge preferred by law enforcement. The product of a joint effort between Smith & Wesson and Winchester would spawn the .40 S&W cartridge. The .40 caliber cartridges roots go back to the 10mm Auto cartridge when it was tested by the FBI as a potential replacement for their 9x19mm caliber pistols and .38 Special/.357 Magnum caliber revolvers. When tested, the FBI found two major problems with the 10mm Auto caliber firearm. First was the heavy recoil and second was that the current pistols did not hold up to the potent round. Due to the power it was difficult if not impossible to make a small compact version of the pistol. What if you could make a 10mm Short? Reduce the powder charge to make recoil manageable and shorten the overall length of the 10mm cartridge so it will fit in a 9x19mm size magazine/mid size pistol frame? Thus, here is the introduction of the .40 S&W. The first defensive cartridges in this new caliber were Winchester 180 grain jacketed hollow points.
From 1990 to very recently, the ROK (Republic of Korea; or South Korea) army had a tendency to reduce the presence of 7.62mm NATO light or medium machine guns. From the 1970s to 1990, the South Korea military used M60 GPMGs as their ‘almost universal’ machine gun; first supplied from the U.S. as military support when the ROK military dispatched a considerable number of troops to Vietnam and then manufactured under license by Daewoo Precision Industry, Co. (today’s S&T Motive). It was used everywhere machine guns were used: infantry, vehicle mounted, helicopter mounted, etc. Since the ROK military was heavily influenced under U.S. doctrine, it was quite natural and that influence led to the development of the K3 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), since the U.S. Army used the M249 SAW from the 1980s. The K3 is the ‘Koreanized’ version of the famous Minimi, and the role of K3 in ROK Army/Marine Corps was initially quite similar to that of the M249 in U.S. military.
The Defence Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2013 exhibition was held in the London Docklands ExCeL Exhibition Centre on September 10-13, 2013. It is a bi-annual event, held in the autumn to avoid conflict with the other major international defence exhibitions such as IDEX in Abu Dhabi held earlier in the year and Eurosatory in Paris traditionally held the following year.
According to company literature, the first Glock pistols imported into the U.S. came in January of 1986. These guns had serial numbers beginning with a two letter alpha prefix of “AF” followed by a three digit number. This means for every two letter combination, there were up to 1,000 pistols produced with numbers from 000 to 999. As of this writing, current new production Glock….
After the end of the Second World War, the United States military, the Army especially, saw its mission as one of countering potential Soviet aggression. If this were to come, the most likely battlefield would be in Northern Europe. With the Soviet Union’s acquisition of nuclear weapons the two world powers settled into the Cold War. Though a major land war between the two in Europe would have been catastrophic, other fronts presented more potential. By supporting insurgencies around the world the Soviet Union….
Since it gained independence, Chad has been shaken by numerous armed risings, invasions of the neighboring military, conflicts regarding borders and scuffles among political leaders. Since 1973 the northern part of the country was placed under control of the guerrilla insurgents supported by Libya, but with French help the uprising was repressed and operations of Libyan troops were suppressed….
Much has already been written about German military weapons. But still today some real treasures are left to be discovered. Some of them are re-discovered – like the Erma EMP44 of the Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (in short “Erma”)….
Up until the 1960s all machine guns manufactured in China were of foreign design. The first heavy machine gun to be produced in China was the 12.7mm Type 54, a straight-up copy of the Soviet DShKM 1938/46, made on Soviet machinery, using Soviet documentation and assistance. This weapon fired the 12.7x108mm round of Soviet origin, which was roughly similar in performance to the American .50 BMG round….
This event is held annually in the last full working week of August at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. It remains the focal point for European infantry weapons and small arms developments and complements the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Joint Armaments conference normally held annually in May in the United States…..
Examining and trying to appreciate the latest greatest technology being promoted at the near countless booths at a show the magnitude of AUSA, one underlying question must be answered. What does any particular technology mean to fighting and winning? Small arms technology can be categorized into the following areas – weapon material construction, operating systems, fire control and sighting….
They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. If that is the case, Norinco of China is the Mecca of flattery. Aside from their original designs, Norinco of China has copied many firearms and sold them including the M1911, Remington shotgun, SIG P226 pistol, M14 and also the M16. In the early 1980s, Norinco introduced the CQ M311-1. This was a semiautomatic only version of the M16A1 intended…..
The Emerson Electric Company was founded in 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri as the Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company. The company initially produced electric motors and then went on to produce entire electricity powered machines like fans, sewing machines, and power tools. By the time the Second World War broke out, Emerson turned its already half century of experience with electric power….
ABOVE: These company-level PF98 120mm rocket launchers have just a basic optical sight system. Note the basic tripod dropped to its lowest position. In a…
The Accuracy International AX PSR was developed to compete in USSOCOM’s solicitation H92222-09-PSR2 for a “Precision Sniper Rifle” on 15 January 2009. The essence behind this solicitation and the numerous amendments that followed resulted in a final request for a modular rifle that could be quickly transformed from a 7.62mm to a .300 Winchester Magnum to a .338 Lapua Magnum….
Mesko, Poland’s leading ammunition manufacturer turns 90 this summer. From the beginning it was meant to provide the Polish Army with high-quality ammunition – and within the intervening years that’s what the plant, through its many guises, always did….
A defining moment for a sniper is when he can positively identify a threat within his area of operation and exercise certain actions, from an intelligence report to target neutralization. The ability to identify a target is vital in a stability operation or counterinsurgency (COIN) environment, where precisely aimed fire is at a premium and collateral damage isn’t an option….
One does not often think of shotguns as viable combat weapons and in the law enforcement arena, shotguns have lost traction in favor of the patrol carbine. The destructive power of the 12 gauge shotgun is not disputed; the real issues with the changeover had more to do with the patrol carbine being more versatile with its ability to penetrate body armor and reduce collateral damage from stray pellets. In the military arena, the shotgun still has its place but it’s rather limited. The standard….
