Who Are These People?
Most small arms manufacturers cannot afford to keep a full time sales staff in each country.  Every friendly country is a potential customer and sales to them can represent a significant portion of any company’s yearly revenue.  The solution that makes the most sense is to hire a sales agent who operates in the target country.  Familiar with all aspects of military and government procurement, these agents can be effective in leading the charge to find business opportunities.  A good agent can be the life blood of an organization while a bad one is your competitor and maybe even your lawyer’s best friend.  A careful selection of these agents must be made for a vast number of reasons.

The first is connections.  Most agents have prior military experience, generally at a high level, and are well-connected in the current government.  They have access to the military decision makers and buying commands for all branches of the military and law enforcement.  They visit the customer frequently, gathering intel and pushing your product.

Many agents are true professionals with substantial technical expertise.  Agents with technical acumen take the company’s armorers and other product maintenance courses.  They often keep a set of special maintenance or armorer’s tools handy.  This offers a huge advantage to the small arms manufacturer since the agent gets a close up, hands on experience that is invaluable when he is in the field troubleshooting problems.  Addressing minor problems on a rapid basis is a boon to the customer and can eliminate unnecessary travel outside the U.S.  In cases where the problem is beyond their capability, the agent can act as the first responder and intermediary who can get you a clear concise definition of the problem.  This keeps the company in good standing with the customer while preventing costly and time-consuming travel.

It is not unusual to find sales agents attending trade expositions such as the S.H.O.T. show or the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA.)  They have a presence in your booth, ready to talk anyone from their sales territory who may show up.

Traits of a Good Agent
A good agent will be willing to prepare a monthly business report.  This report lets you know where things stand and what’s been done that month to promote your product.  It alerts you to any problems with your fielded product and advises you of meetings, tenders, funded research studies, and other opportunities upcoming which may be of interest.  A good agent will give you this information in time to prepare a good response.  The most honest of the sales agents will let you know if they have taken on any new clients, and who they are.  They keep up with current activities of your potential customers and are fully aware of what your competitors have accomplished in that country.

It can’t be that hard to write 12 reports a year.  If nothing gets reported for a couple of months, maybe you need to start looking for a new agent.  This is particularly true when you suddenly get offers from new sources to be your agent while yours remains oddly silent.  It’s probably time to put them on notice for termination.

A good agent is familiar with your complete product line and visits your company regularly to stay abreast of new developments.  When this occurs, companies need to keep in mind that divulging too much information is in violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), so only cleared information may be passed to these agents.  In their home country, agents will keep a good stock of your product literature, available for strategic placement at a moment’s notice.

Considering current events at S.H.O.T., agents must be willing to become fully familiar with the Federal Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and know how to get the documents required for arms transactions in their country.  Import certificates are absolutely essential and good agents will secure them for you without question.

Many agents will represent large numbers of companies.  These agents won’t always put a high priority on selling your products.  Rather, they spend time working on projects that will give them the best or quickest payback.  Some agents even represent two gun companies with competing products, yet claim they can stay objective.  This always ends in disaster.

An excellent example of the best agent I ever worked with was an agent covering military sales in Canada.  He had a special knack for uncovering valuable information about the market, customers, clients, and potential business partners.  Before you would enter any meeting with them he would insist on scheduling a private session with you for a briefing.  He would give you a complete rundown on the personalities, the business climate, and the motivations of all the players.  When you walked into the meeting the next day, you were well prepared and with great confidence you knew exactly how and when to state your message.

The Tricky, Slippery and Dangerous Side of Being an Agent
One of the challenges facing agents in countries with unstable governments is the regime change.  Your agent may be the king’s first cousin but when the king is deposed, your agent is likely to be out of favor, incarcerated, or worse.  Association with the ousted government may be dangerous, even for sales managers of your company.  In countries with stable governments it’s a pretty straight forward bet – your agent either is well connected or is not.

Successful agents must learn to adapt to the wishes of their potential customers.  This can become dangerous in countries with internal problems and particularly when dealing with aggressive military commanders.  It has happened that when an agent shows up with a new product to demonstrate, the “test” might include participating in an operation against the local rebels.  The agent is usually expected to go along, indicating if nothing else, confidence in the product.

Having an agent that truly understands local customs can guide you when interfacing with potential customers and locals.  No matter how cosmopolitan you or your marketing department may think they are, there is no way they or you can understand every important custom in every country.  Take for example, an agent I knew who represented Thailand.  The agent was not a native Thai but was married to a Thai woman who managed a hotel in Bangkok.  When delegations from our company visited Thailand, everyone found it convenient to stay at his wife’s hotel so she could look out for them.  On their first day of arrival the agent recommended that our group rest from the plane trip for a few hours during the afternoon.  His wife had the day off and he’d be spending some time with her at home.  He would return later that evening to meet them for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Arriving at the restaurant, he found his colleagues standing in the hallway in front of a sign that announced the restaurant was closed.  The agent called his wife who investigated and called back with the explanation.  It seems the restaurant had run out of chicken, and rather than lose face by admitting they had run out, the staff found it more logical to close the restaurant.

Enduring the long dry spells between paychecks is another obstacle to be faced by agents.  Unless the agent represents a lot of companies with active transactions through the year, the agent may pursue what are called “parallel business” ventures.  This business is usually outside the law and involves supplying weapons to a rival political group or to local criminals.  Such parallel business was explained as the probable motive for the demise of a fellow sales manager at another company.  One Monday morning as he drove in to work, he was murdered, execution style.  I had taken the same route from Brussels only one day earlier.  Investigation into his murder uncovered some shady ventures, but the mystery of his murder has never been solved.

Agent Agreements – Write the Exit Plan First
For any small arms manufacturer it is wise to investigate every company thoroughly before signing up with them.  Far too many agents have a legitimate looking business front that is backed by underworld or undesirable characters.  The U.S. Treasury can be a help with your due diligence for agents.  Their website allows you to check what they term as “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons” and it is essential your agent’s name does not appear on this list.

You need to find out what other companies these agents represent.  If they are in the military business, and the best ones usually are, it’s important to find out if the companies they represent have any products that conflict with yours.  Before you write the agent’s agreement, you are smart to write the terms of termination first.  There are several reasons for this:  The first is that many agents are only interested in their sales commission.  They talk a good talk, yet do nothing to earn their pay.  Just about the time you think they’ve gone subterranean for good, you do all the work to orchestrate a sale within their territory, and up they pop like a prairie dog – looking for their commission.  Other reasons might include: regime changes, conflicts of interest, and the most important – an unwillingness to work within the FCPA guidelines.

What works best for most companies, and even the agent, is a short term (e.g. 30-60 day) no-questions-asked notice of termination.

Bribery and the Federal Corrupt Practices Act
As we all learned from the message conveyed at the S.H.O.T show, your agent must be familiar with the FCPA and needs to know what is allowed and what is not allowed.  They are not to be passing out bribes under any circumstances.  They should be aware of other important U.S. laws such as the ITAR regulations and mail and wire fraud statutes.  Finding an honest, informed agent can be crucial to your business; but knowing what to look for in an agent is half the battle.

Camelbak
Camelbak introduced the Flow Meter, an intelligent personal hydration accessory that can be customized based on individual needs and activity level.  It eliminates the risk of running out of water and the hassle of taking the pack off to see how much is left.  The meter provides four functions – it allows the user to know how much water has been consumed, ensures personal hydration goals are met, tells the user how much water remains in the reservoir and the approximate time until empty.  The meter can be integrated with any Camelbak reservoir.

AAI
AAI continues its research and development of telescoping ammunition.  Two variations of telescoping ammunition (cased and caseless) are now available.  The caseless ammunition is 50% lighter than conventional ammunition of comparable caliber, requires 40% less volume than conventional ammunition, is fully consumed within the firing sequence, and features a high-temperature ignition propellant.  The cased ammunition is comparable to the caseless version, with the exception of slightly less weight savings (40% for cased, versus 50% for caseless) due to the cartridge case.  Key objectives to the program include reducing the weight of the battle rifle to the war fighter, lower ammunition weight by 40% or more, and increased ergonomics.

Barrett Firearms
Although very little information was available for public disclosure, the Barrett 25mm anti-material rifle was on display.  Featuring a 10-round magazine, the rifle is reportedly comparable in size and weight to the Barrett M107 rifle chambered in .50 BMG.

AAI Caseless telescoping ammunition. Note the powder and projectile are easily visible within the consumable polymer case.

SAAB
Saab displayed their new Light Anti-tank Weapon as a potential replacement to the legacy AT-4 anti-tank weapon system.  In June, 2009, a successful live firing demonstration of NLAW was conducted in the Gulf region.  A number of missiles were fired, by local gunners, against various targets including moving, hull down and soft targets.  The focus was to demonstrate that the system works under severe desert condition that comprises sand, dust, and very high temperatures as well as with gunners following a training program that allowed not more than roughly 10 hours of basic skills training.

The NLAW is the first weapon to give a single soldier the ability to destroy a modern Main Battle Tank (MBT) with a single shot from any angle.  Due to its Overfly Top Attack mode, it can even engage MBTs in front attitude, as well as hidden targets or targets that are partly obscured.  Its guidance system makes it very easy to use and provides a very high hit-and-kill probability.  It is an exceptionally light missile system, making it ideal for light infantry forces in any environment including built-up areas.  It has been developed and tested for use in any environment from arctic, desert, and sub-tropical, as well as both day and night.

Barrett 25mm anti-material rifle. Note the curved magazine, allowing reliable feed and function of the 25mm cartridge.

Vectronix and Wilcox Industries
Vectronix and Wilcox Industries jointly developed a new weapon sight for stand alone and under-barrel 40mm grenade launchers.  Utilizing a laser range finder, ballistic computer, and an articulating mount, the RAAM increases the probability of first round hit with 40mm rounds.

Outfitted with three separate lasers, the RAAM features a visible laser, IR laser and range finding laser within a single compact package.  Use of the RAAM is surprisingly simple.  The grenadier ‘aims’ the RAAM at the desired target.  The laser range finder within the RAAM determines the distance to the target to include any angle of declination or inclination.  The range finder will calculate and provide distances in 1 meter increments.  The laser range finder has a range capability of 50 meters to a maximum distance of 2,000 meters.  Clearly, a 40mm grenade can only be fired to a maximum of 400 meters; however, the laser range finder can be used for target acquisition and identification for support weapons and close air support.

If the grenadier determines that the target is within range, the range data is sent to the ballistic computer to calculate a firing solution.  Once a firing solution has been calculated, the point of aim is automatically adjusted so that the grenadier need only place the red dot on the target.  The aiming module is an easy to use and familiar red dot sight.  The ballistic computer will calculate a firing solution to a distance of 400 meters.

SIG Sauer’s SIG516 Rifle.

The RAAM may be the grenadier’s new best friend.  Weighing less than a pound, the ballistic computer will compensate for slope to the target position.  No longer need a grenadier worry about firing short when firing upwards.  Programmable for different types of ammunition, the RAAM utilizes two CR123 batteries, is night vision compatible, and mounts to either an M203 or M320 via standard Mil-Std 1913 Picatinny rails.

Fabrique Nationale Herstal
Fabrique Nationale displayed the Special Operations Forces (SOF) Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR) weapon system (MK 16 and MK 17) and the Enhanced Grenade Launcher Module (MK 13).  Initial fielding with U.S. Special Operations units began in early April 2009.

The newly designated MK 13 MOD 0 40mm Enhanced Grenade Launcher Module (EGLM) quickly mounts to the underside of either SCAR platform or can be used in a stand-alone platform similar to the M79, providing an additional punch to the individual warfighter’s firepower.  Look for a review of the MK 13 MOD 0 40mm EGLM in a future article.

Fabrique Nationale’s MK 13 40mm Enhanced Grenade Launcher Module for use with the SCAR rifle series.

General Dynamics
General Dynamics displayed a new programmable Orion FCS 40mm weapon system capable of firing smart muntions.  The unit is comprised of two parts: the weapon sight and the weapon.  Upon capturing the target within the weapon sight, a laser is used to measure distance to the target and programs the 40mm cartridge.  Unlike traditional 40mm cartridges, the smart munitions appear to be fired electrically and not via a traditional firing pin.  Upon firing, the munition calculates the distance from the muzzle, arms itself, and detonates at the pre-programmed distance.

While seemingly experimental in nature, the system shows promise to revive interest in parameters created in the OICW weapon project.  The system is reportedly adaptable to existing 40mm M203 systems.  Outward appearances of the launcher appear very similar, if not identical to the legacy M2093 40mm system.

The AUSA annual meeting was an unqualified success, and allowed many in the small arms industry to display recent developments and innovations.  Although not all of the products displayed were in production, the AUSA show is a great opportunity to witness developments in the small arms industry, talk to the engineers involved in the research and development process, and discuss innovations with others within the small arms community.  The 2010 meeting will be held in Washington, DC, from October 25–27, 2010.

Orion FCS 40mm system. Note the controls on the 40mm launcher.

Frank P. Puzycki has devoted over 40 years of service to the Army in the field of small arms.  His efforts in support of small arms span the entire acquisition lifecycle: Research, Development, Testing, Evaluation, Manufacturing and Fielding.  His contributions span, also, from the bench engineering level, to small team technical leadership, and into the management level as a small arms ammunition branch chief and ultimately as the chief of the 200 person Light Armaments Division, which encompassed all small arms weapons, ammunition and the associated ARDEC Armaments Test Facility.

As a bench level engineer at Frankford Arsenal and ARDEC, Mr. Puzycki co-authored a major study that resulted in standardizing automated and semi-automated packaging processes for Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (GOCO) load plants and type classified the M862 5.56mm plastic training round and companion XM2 training bolt in addition to the cal. .22 M861 tracer cartridge in the early 1980s.

Mr. Puzycki’s initial assignment as a manager in the small caliber arena saw the U.S. adoption of the M9 9mm pistol and design/manufacture of the 9mm M882 cartridge under his purview.  His team also produced the first high performance caliber .50 saboted cartridges (M903/M962 SLAP (Saboted Light Armor Penetrator)) in partnership with industry for the USMC that was later adopted by the Army as well.  The inaugural green ammunition program was launched during his tenure, an effort which received the Vice President’s Hammer award in 1994.

During Mr. Puzycki’s tenure as Light Armaments Division Chief, from 1996 to 2003, he very successfully led this 200-strong group, resulting in innumerable Type Classifications of new weapons, ammunition, mounts, sights, and other ancillary small arms-related equipment and technology transitions to Project and Product Managers for subsequent development.  In total, over 35 items were Type classified and fielded across the Armed Services.  Among these items were the M240 machine gun, the M16A2 rifle, the M107 rifle, the 7.62mm M118 Long Range Sniper Ammunition, the entire suite of 5.56mm and 7.62mm ammunition, several 12 gauge rounds, 40mm ammunition, optics for machine guns and rifles, and machine gun mounts.

Always looking to understand better small caliber performance and to advance small arms technology, Frank was the initiator of the scientific Lethality Study, subsequently sponsored by PEO Ammo.  The general results of the study have been validated and tools for the continuance and expansion of these kinds of studies are now in place.  He also initiated a venture into modeling and simulation, which has blossomed into an ARDEC-wide competency, creating a greater understanding of small arms functioning and contributing to a greater efficiency in their design.

Frank’s current assignment, assumed in 2004, is as the Research Program Director of the National Small Arms Center (NSAC).  During his tenure, the NSAC has become fully operational; membership has more than quadrupled (now over 100 member firms); and over $20 million in grants have also been awarded to a host of different companies focused on innovations in recoil mitigation, ballistic energy conversion, lubeless weapon operation, lighter weight case design technologies, new concepts for automatic rifles, thermal management, lighter weight weapons and other technologies.  Frank established an intensive marketing campaign with local and other Service Project and Product Managers, which has resulted in their full involvement in the NSAC and has been a significant source of funding for the grants awarded during the first years of operation.  He spearheaded an outreach effort to local and national universities, which has increased the number of members from that supply sector.  He has established and transferred seamlessly a fully operational and real-time updated website, which has kept the membership fully aware of all the activities of the National Small Arms Center.

Across his career he has also mentored a great number of young engineers and scientists, who have contributed greatly to the small arms genre, supporting a host of PEO’s and PM’s in the Army and the other Services.

Because of his career long excellence in support of small arms in all of its phases of acquisition, Mr. Frank Puzycki is a most worthy recipient of the 2010 Chinn Award.

2010 NDIA Hathcock Award: Jeff Hoffman
Pennington County, South Dakota Sheriff’s Office
Jeff Hoffman began his law enforcement career in 1979 as a police officer with the Rapid City Police Department in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Several years later, Jeff hired on as a reserve deputy with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, where he is currently still employed as a 30-year veteran.  As a reserve deputy, Jeff trained with the Rapid City Special Response Team in 1989.  Shortly thereafter, the Rapid City team combined with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office to form the Rapid City/Pennington County Combined SRT and Jeff was accepted as a member and employed as a sniper.  Jeff grew up in rural South Dakota and spent his youth hunting, shooting and studying ballistics.  Jeff attributes much of his success to his grandfather who fostered a love of shooting in Jeff at an early age.  As an adult, this would serve him well when he, his wife Kristi and a business partner joined in a business venture loading ammunition in a company known as Black Hills Shooter’s Supply.  Jeff and Co. began loading ammunition for police officers locally and their reputation for precision quality ammunition grew rapidly.  As time went on, the business grew, requiring more and more of Jeff’s time.  Jeff began a separate entity from Black Hills Shooter’s Supply known as Black Hills Ammunition.  Jeff’s knowledge of ballistics and his wife’s business savvy began to pay off as his fledgling company took wings.  Jeff’s operational experience, combined with his ballistic knowledge, provided insight not possessed by many police officers with lesser backgrounds.  Well aware of the problems faced by police snipers in urban environments, Jeff researched and tested various bullets for successfully shooting through intermediate barriers.  After numerous attempts, Jeff settled on the 180 AccuBond bullet by Nosler.  This round is quickly becoming an industry standard for police snipers who must engage hostile suspects through intermediate barriers.  Outgrowing its meager beginnings, Black Hills Ammunition now operates out of a new 60,000 square foot facility.  Not one to rest on his laurels, Jeff recently accepted a position as sniper team leader for the eight-man, RC/PC SRT sniper team and often provides uniforms and gear for the sniper team out of his own funds.  At 50 years of age he is still operational, subject to callout and all PT requirements and is still actively “on the rifle.”  Jeff’s intimate knowledge of ballistics has also drawn the attention of the U.S. military.  Black Hills Ammunition currently makes match ammunition for the U.S. Marine Corps rifle team, the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit and all of the 5.56 match ammunition for the United States Special Operations Command.  Jeff Hoffman personally develops every load.  This position has the collateral consequence that Black Hills Ammunition has become a privately owned research and development laboratory for the special ammunition needs of the United States Government.  Much ammunition personally developed by Jeff Hoffman, is at the forefront of the War on Terror and the emerging war on piracy and has been responsible for the demise of many of the Free World’s enemies.  Jeff’s experience shooting in the high winds and hills of the northern plains has also proved beneficial.  Jeff was not satisfied with the inaccurate (and often confusing) wind formulas developed and passed on in various military sniper manuals for decades that are so often attributed to “voodoo” by those in the community.  So Jeff developed his own.  His formula is simple, accurate and quickly used; which is exactly what a sniper needs in a dynamic combat environment.  Many operators of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command (more commonly known as SEALs), while not widely known, have adopted this wind formula and other sniper related information Jeff gleaned the hard way over a 30-year career as an operational sniper.  Jeff supports military and law enforcement competitions and events worldwide and has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in ammunition as prizes to help keep the community strong.  He believes in the importance of education when it comes to the sniper community and is an accomplished writer in that regard, authoring numerous articles on police sniping.  He has also given unselfishly to SWAT teams other than his own who are truly in need.  Jeff offers deep discounts to military and law enforcement personnel because he knows firsthand that their missions require the best ammunition they can obtain and that many of them and/or their agencies simply cannot afford it.  Jeff has also supported military snipers whose unit budgets could not afford the sniper gear needed to make their snipers combat effective.  Many people in the shooting community know the name Black Hills Ammunition but many have no idea of the background of the man behind it.  It has been said that the only one who cares about a sniper, is another sniper.

He is very proud to be a part of the sniper community but remains humble and provides his support from behind the scenes, despite his huge list of accomplishments.  It could be said that Jeff Hoffman is a one-man force multiplier.  He possesses all of the traits Gunny Hathcock would have admired and approved of.  The undersigned past recipients of the Hathcock Award nominated Jeff Hoffman of the Pennington County South Dakota Sheriff’s Office for the 2010 Carlos Hathcock Award.

Chuck Mawhinney, 
United States Marine Corps
2000 NDIA Carlos Hathcock Awardee

Bart Bartholomew, 
Baltimore County PD
2001 NDIA Carlos Hathcock Awardee

Jim Owens, 
United States Marine Corps
2002 NDIA Carlos Hathcock Awardee

Larry Vickers, 
United States Army
2003 NDIA Carlos Hathcock Awardee

Steve Holland, 
United States Army
2004 NDIA Carlos Hathcock Awardee

Brian K. Sain for AmericanSnipers.org
2007 NDIA Carlos Hathcock Awardee

Buford Boone, 
Federal Bureau of Investigation
2008 NDIA Carlos Hathcock Awardee

R. J. Thomas, 
United States Navy

Indeed, in light of the increasing convergence between traditional defence and national security markets, Clarion Events, the organisers of DSEi, have made a subtle but important change to the name of the exhibition.  The event will still be known as DSEi but, going forward, this now stands for Defence & Security Equipment International.

Small Arms Support 
In terms of the small arms sector, DSEi 2009 included 95 exhibitors involved in firearms and ammunition while more than 400 exhibitors were displaying a wide variety of innovative personal and protection equipment for today’s soldier.

Several exhibitors were showcasing cutting edge body armour.  MKU, which specialises in personal and vehicle protection, was showcasing its patent-pending Instavest ballistic body armour.  Designed to deal with different life-threatening situations, Instavest includes a new quick-release jettison system that divests the vest from the user’s body within a split second in a single action.  Easy to reassemble and put back on, MKU envisions the vest being particularly useful in scenarios such as escaping from under an overturned vehicle, having to run through treacherous terrain while taking evasive action or jumping into waterbeds to avoid being caught.

A number of new sniper-orientated technologies were also unveiled during the exhibition.  Aero Sekur launched a new sniper suit poncho, which has been developed as part of the company’s work for Italy’s Future Soldier programme.  It provides effective camouflage in the multi-spectral range, while employing a new fabric that alters the detection capabilities of opto-electronic devices to protect the wearer.  Designed to prevent detection from night vision goggles during general use, the suit also provides shelter during prolonged night missions.  Meanwhile Ultra Electronics presented its latest Rifle Mounted Sniper Locator (RMSL) gunfire detection system.  These small, lightweight units have been undergoing field evaluation with UK armed forces, while mounted on SA80 rifles.  The units provide range and the bearing data of a hostile shooter to the soldier via an intuitive, integrated LCD display.  Sniper rifles specialist Truvelo was showing additions to its range of countermeasure sniper rifles.  According to the company, the 12.7×99 CMS has a modern design, incorporating all the requirements for countersniping and is expected to become the benchmark for this class.  Developed for urban warfare, the new CMS claims to provide an outstanding combination of calibre, compact design and lightweight construction, making it suitable for any type of mission.

Military Delegations
DSEi 2009 attracted the usual high levels of military delegations; 71 individual military delegations representing 49 countries, and including a United Nations delegation, attended.  The UK’s First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope and Chief of Defence Material, General Sir Kevin O’Donoghue were two of several senior UK military personnel to attend the event.  In total, the event clocked up visits from 1,986 military and government attendees from 48 countries.

The UK MoD used the exhibition to make an important announcement about the first stage of its Future Integrated Soldier Technology (FIST) programme.  Quentin Davies, the UK’s Minister for Defence Equipment & Support, revealed that the award of a £150m prime contract, covering the delivery and in-service support of equipment for Increment 1a of the programme had gone to Thales UK.  FIST is a major soldier modernisation effort for the British Army and is expected to take place in three phases.  Increment 1a, part of the first phase, covers surveillance and target acquisition equipment.

Spotlight on Force Protection
With the minds of many nations still concentrating on the International Security Assistance Force’s operations in Afghanistan there was a particularly strong showing of the latest blast-protected vehicles entering the market.  Just over 290 exhibiting companies were involved in land vehicles and there were approximately 100 vehicles on display in the halls.

The British Army Export Support Team area considered the UK’s Comprehensive Approach to Operations while using Krulak’s ‘Three Block War’ concept as a vehicle for the demonstration.  The area featured four quadrants.  The first covered High Intensity Operations, the process necessary to secure an environment in which to conduct subsequent operations.  The second quadrant – Maintaining a Secure Environment – covered ways to ensure an area is safe against a variety of potential threats such as insurgency or sectarian focused civil disorder.  Equipment here included Allen Vanguard’s anti-IED robot, which provides mission support for EOD technicians in both law enforcement and the military, and Universal Target Systems’ Vigilant UAV system, which can be used in most conditions over both land and sea to collect different forms of data via state-of-the art sensors.

The third quadrant focused on Peace Support Operations (PSO).  Often conducted under the mandate of a coalition, such as the United Nations or NATO, this can necessitate a wide range of equipment and capabilities.  In this area soldiers from the British Army Export Support Team demonstrated CyberFlight’s E-Swift Eye – a lightweight, hand-launched UAV, which can be set up in five minutes and has a flying time of around one hour before it needs recharging.  Lifesaver Systems’ water bottle, which produces filtered, sterile drinking water quickly and easily, was also tried out in front of visitors.  The final quadrant looked at Humanitarian Operations where medical and infrastructure support tools are needed to respond to humanitarian disasters such as famines, floods and earthquakes.  Prometheus Medical’s first medical response equipment was among the items showcased here; with an emphasis on getting medical help to troops within the ‘golden hour’ and equipment included a blast & modular bandage, tactical medical bag and Team-8 stretcher, which can be safely pulled along by one soldier if necessary.

Waterside Features
With its prime waterside location at ExCeL, DSEi is unrivalled in the levels of marine-related equipment on display both inside the halls and in terms of the visiting ships moored outside the halls.  These included Type 23 frigate, HMS Somerset – a world leader in the anti-submarine warfare environment.  HMS Somerset is deployed around the world to undertake a wide range of tasks including embargo operations, using boarding teams inserted from the ship’s boats or by Merlin helicopter, disaster relief work and surveillance operations.  The Royal Navy’s HMS Mersey made a repeat appearance at the exhibition and the Royal Netherlands Navy kindly sent HNLMS Luymes, one of two recently built hydrographic survey vessels.

Adjacent to the ships, the waterborne demonstration was organised on a larger scale than before with a group of companies working together to organise a co-ordinated shipboarding activity, dubbed Operation Vision.  The exercise featured an advanced performance pursuit and patrol vessel and UAV helicopter.

This year’s event also made even more use of ExCeL’s excellent outside space with a group of companies setting up shop in the waterfront exhibition area, close to the waterborne demo viewing bridge.

DSEi will be held, once again, at ExCeL in 2011 from 13 to 16 September.  For more information please contact the DSEi marketing team at Tel: +44 (0)20 7370 8551 or email: marketing@dsei.co.uk.

SADJ attended the 9th biannual IDEX show in Abu Dhabi on 22-26 February, 2009, and found that the show had grown in size and scope.  IDEX is a “must attend” event for those involved in the small arms community as well as defense in general for the Middle East region.

Close-up of the ballistic computer fitted to the Serbian-produced Black Arrow anti-material rifle.

The Bazalt DP-64 under-water, anti-diver grenade launcher offers a unique capability.

One highlight of the small arms element of the show was the South Korean produced K-11 combination grenade launcher and kinetic energy weapon. Similar in concept to the earlier Objective Combat Infantry Weapon (OCIW), the K-11 features a 20mm grenade launcher firing operator programmed air-burst munitions and a 5.56mm NATO standard caliber assault rifle. To ensure the effectiveness of the relatively small diameter grenade a ballistic computer is fitted. The launcher is bolt-action operated and magazine-fed. The rifle component appears to be a selective-fire version of the K2 assault rifle.

The Turkish military arms producer MKE displayed a selection of its current product line. The company’s 7.62mm NATO caliber bolt-action sniper rifle was on display and appeared to be a product-improved version of the rifle seen at earlier Defence Exhibitions.

A new variant of the HK G33 assault rifle, the MKE-T50 in 5.56mm NATO caliber (produced under license) was shown. The telescoping butt originally offered has been replaced with a side-folding polymer buttstock.

Steyr Mannlicher of Austria exhibited a range of product improved versions of the Steyr AUG in both 5.56mm and 9mm NATO calibers. Shown here is the 9mm NATO version with regional color tone buttstock and fitted with a manufacturer supplied suppressor.

Yugoimport SDPR was present with a full range of infantry weapons manufactured in the Republic of Serbia. Shown here is the M77 automatic rifle in 7.62x51mm NATO caliber, which has recently received improvements. Note M4 type telescoping buttstock, modular rail fore-end with length adjustable forward pistol-grip.

Singapore Technologies Kinetics, also called ST Kinetics, is a large land systems and specialty vehicle company covering the Southeast Asia region.  It’s a four decade-old company that is a division of ST Engineering.  ST Kinetics has over 20 locations, over 6,000 workers, and is working all over the world in sales – primarily in its vehicle systems.  ST Kinetics’ Small Arms Division has a number of different products of interest to our readers.  The 5.56mm SAR-21 assault rifle, a 40x53mm AGL, as well as the drum fed 5.56mm Ultimax 100, which is now in the Mark V configuration.

Compact Personal Weapon
One of their newest products is the Compact Personal Weapon. The CPW is a very lightweight 9x19mm machine pistol with a seven-inch barrel that is select-fire with low recoil as well as a very ergonomic design. The engineers chose 9x19mm as a first caliber because the majority of armies and law enforcement agencies around the world today are familiar with and utilize this caliber. One of the features of the CPW is that while it starts in 9mm, it is intended as a multi-caliber weapon. It is a modular design, where the operator can change out the rear translucent grip for a different sized panel and there are plans to convert the CPW to 5.7×28 and 4.6x30mm, leaving the option open for the operator. The rear translucent grip panel also allows for a very fast visual count of how many rounds are left, since the magazines are clear as well. Length of the firearm is 350 mm, 500 mm with the buttstock extended. The retractable stock is a single rail that slides into the Picatinny rail that is on top of the length of the CPW. This single rail can be uncomfortable for some shooters, since it is a thin metal rail that goes against the operator’s cheek. ST Kinetics engineers are now working on a side-folding stock for those who prefer that option. The rear grip has an angle to it that is comfortable and natural for the operator’s wrist. The front rail allows for flashlight, laser, front hand grip or combinations thereof. There are three safeties involved including a standard safety mode selector, and other safety features, such as a long constant trigger pull and a firing pin charged by the trigger to ensure that it’s safe for use or carry. The firing pin safety is a physical block that can’t operate unless parts are properly assembled and properly working, so the firing pin can never go forward inadvertently. At the heart of the system is a cam recoil mitigation mechanism, thus a delayed blowback operation in the CPW. The cam slows the motion of the bolt to the rear and draws out the impulse, so it’s not a straight blowback system. The plastic materials and aluminum utilized in the system make it very lightweight. It can be holstered and handled like a regular pistol, depending on how the operator’s setup is designed. There are two sets of Picatinny rails that are up to Mil-Std 1913 for the mounting of different sights and accessories. The maximum planned effective range is 100 meters. The barrel is 180 mm (7 inches) and has 1/250 millimeter rifling. Weight of the weapon is 1.5 kilograms without accessories. A 30-round magazine is .1 kilogram empty; .5 kilogram fully loaded. Method of fire is semi or fully automatic. Rate of fire is clocked at 900 to 1,100 rpm.

SAR-21 Assault Rifle
The SAR-21 assault rifle is a bullpup configuration rifle, utilizing a built-in optical scope that has minimal zeroing needs. It’s ergonomically designed, and the construction is modular, containing five basic groups – the barrel group, which includes what would technically be an upper receiver; a lower receiver fire control group that ST Kinetics calls an upper receiver; a bolt/operating group; and a magazine group. The SAR-21 utilizes M16/AR-15 magazines, as well as its own proprietary designed plastic see-through magazines. There are a number of variations of the SAR-21: there’s the SAR-21GL which has an M203 grenade launcher or a proprietary 40mm grenade launcher mounted to the basic rifle. The SAR-21 Modular Mounting System has a rail system with a standard Picatinny rail on top as well as a lower rail. The SAR-21P-rail, has a standard Picatinny rail on top with the normal SAR-21 forend. The SAR-21 Lightweight Carbine has a shorter barrel and forend. SAR-21 rifles are select fire, semiautomatic and fully automatic, and are gas-operated with a two lug rotary bolt. It is not an M16-style multi-lug bolt head – it’s more of a Kalashnikov-type bolt head. The SAR-21 feeds from 30-round magazines. The rate of fire typically is 500 to 650 rpm. The integrated scope is a 1.5x optical, and there is an option to order with a 3x optical. The standard weapon length is 805 millimeter (32 inches). Standard barrel length is 508 mm (20 inches), the 20 inches being proper length for terminal ballistics for the 5.56x45mm (.223 caliber). The maximum effective range is considered 460 meters for the 1 in 12-inch barreled rifling for firing M-193 cartridges. Firing the SS-109 cartridges, M-855, the SAR-21 utilizes a 1 in 7-inch barrel rifling, considered to have a longer range of 800 meters (875 yards). Optional accessories can be the built-in laser aiming device (LAD). It has a visible red dot or an infrared option. The end user can purchase blank-firing attachments, bore-sighting equipment, spent cartridge collectors, and a bayonet and adapter. The SAR-21 is considered to be very user-friendly. It’s a simple, very effective design, with an ambidextrous charging handle that is up on the inside of the optics on the standard model. On the P-rail and Modular models, the charging handle is moved down to the left-hand side. On the SAR-21 Lightweight Carbine, the charging handle is moved back up onto the top.

Ultimax 100
The second small arm that would be considered a flagship for ST Kinetics would be the Ultimax 100, which is the lightest 5.56mm machine gun in the world. The genesis of this current model is L. James Sullivan’s constant recoil principle, which makes this possibly one of the smoothest firing machine guns ever made. L. James Sullivan was the co-inventor of the AR-15/M16 family of weapons with the late Eugene Stoner and Arthur Miller, and Sullivan was also the designer of the Mini-14 and the original Beta C-Mag systems that came out of the Italian group, Beretta. Sullivan’s legacy is very evident in the Ultimax 100 as he spent time in Singapore doing the design work. The constant recoil principle means that the operating group is under constant pressure to the rear once it’s unlocked, it never bottoms out, and then it returns under constant pressure forward. The spring surge is worked out of the system, and it has a very long travel. In the current Ultimax designs that ST Kinetics has used, they’ve kept the constant recoil principle. The Ultimax 100 can fire from a modified M16-type magazine or from its own proprietary 100-round drums. It’s very lightweight, and an easy system to use. There is a new commando model with a side-folding stock and a shortened, quick-change heavy barrel. The shortest barrel is 13 inches in length; the standard barrel is 20 inches in length. The overall length with the buttstock attached is 1,024 millimeters. Without the buttstock it’s 810 millimeters, and yes, this weapon can be utilized without the buttstock. The weight of the firearm without a magazine is 4.9 kilograms, and with a fully loaded 100-round magazine; the total weight is 6.88 kilograms. The carrying pouches contain either a single drum pouch or there is a four-drum carrying pouch available. A twin mount that has been experimented with since the late 1970s is available from ST Kinetics today. The gas system has a three-position gas regulator allowing for the operator to adjust how much gas is given during adverse conditions or if the firearm gets dirty. It’s not a rate of fire adjustment. Like most firearms it’s simply there for difficult environments or constant use and inability to get the whole system cleaned down. The system utilizes the Stoner/Johnson-type multi-lug locking system. Current offerings are on the Ultimax 100 MK IV and MK V.

CIS50 MG
One of the most intriguing products ST Kinetics has offered lately is the CIS50 MG. This is a .50 caliber machine gun that fires the .50 Browning machine gun cartridge (12.7x99mm). The CIS50 system is set up for use in any position that could be utilized by the standard M2HB that is in operation in most of the world. The CIS50 has the added feature of having a dual feed capability. This is a manual-changed feed, from the right or the left. You can put .50 caliber SLAP on one side and 50-caliber Ball on the other, or any combination that you desire. The CIS50 has a right and a left feed chute; the operator manually lifts the cover and switches which belt is being fed into the firearm. Since the firearm is open-bolt, (negating problems with rounds cooking off in a hot chamber), this works well. It has a quick-change barrel and true fixed head space that doesn’t require any adjustments once taken care of by the operator. The operating system itself is gas operation and it utilizes two long pistons that take the gas off towards the front of the barrel at a port under the front sight post. The gas is taken off driving the two pistons, one on either side of the barrel, providing an even pressure to the rear. The bolt is interesting in that it is a Stoner-style multi-lug bolt with seven locking lugs – the eighth position is the extractor. The entire system was very easy to take down into its basic components. The engineers at ST Kinetics quickly taught the author how to strip down and examine the firearm. This is a selective fire weapon, semiautomatic or fully automatic, utilizing a push-through type selector and safety. One unusual fact about the CIS50 is this system uses a disintegrating M15A2 link, which is a push-through type link that was utilized on the M85 machine gun. This link shows how the CIS50 is radically different from a Browning machine gun. The Browning uses the pull-out M9 links where cartridges are pulled to the rear, dropped down and then insert forward into the barrel. This new CIS50 is a push-forward through and out of the link system. Singapore Technologies indicates that they’ve made approximately 10 international sales. Typical optional equipment that comes with the CIS50 can be the end user’s choice of a soft mount with a tripod adapter, a lightweight anti-aircraft mount, and they also manufacture the U.S. M3 tripod. Pintle mounts, brackets for ammunition boxes, (one for each side), blank-firing attachments, and optical scope adapters to use night vision devices or reflex sights are all available.

The Mitrailleuse Saint Etienne Mle 1907 is one of those rare classic machine guns that was a complex mechanical nightmare prone to overheating and parts failure.  Yet it saw active service in the French African colonies and, by necessity, throughout the Western Front in World War I.

The St. Etienne M1907 is an air-cooled, gas operated, strip fed heavy machine gun chambered for the French 8mm Lebel rifle cartridge.  It is unique in its operational design as the gas piston is of a blow forward configuration using a rack and pinion system to operate the reciprocating parts.  This complicated mechanism was the heart of the numerous inherent problems with the gun.

To fully understand how and why this design came about we must first discuss the involvement of Austrian Army Captain Baron Adolph von Odkolek with the French gun-making firm of Hotchkiss.  In 1893, Odkolek invented and built a prototype of a machine gun utilizing a new system of operation based upon a gas piston system mounted beneath the barrel and a cartridge loading feed strip design.  This system of tapping off a small portion of the rapidly expanding gases of a fired cartridge through a small hole in the barrel, pushing against a piston positioned directly below and parallel to the barrel driving the operating rod, is the basis of all gas operated weapons of today.  Since Odkolek had no manufacturing facility, he brought his hand made prototype to the Hotchkiss Company just outside of Paris at St. Denis.  It was there that Laurence Benet, chief engineer of the company, and his assistant, Henri Mercie, quickly determined that the prototype gun made by Odkolek was impractical in its physical design but recognized the value of the reciprocating gas piston system and the unique feed strip mechanism.  They promptly purchased the gun and the patent rights from Odkolek and designed their own gun using these new innovative concepts without fear of infringing on the patents of Maxim and Browning.

Right side view of the St. Etienne Model 1907T.

Their newly designed gun became the Hotchkiss Model 1897 that proved to be fairly reliable but had overheating problems.  There were some minor changes to the mount and cooling ring material (from brass to steel) and the new updated version, the Hotchkiss Model 1900, was purchased by the French government and used in its colonies building a fairly respectable reputation for operation and reliability.

Nevertheless, the French army wanted a machine gun of their own design.  Using nationalistic pride as an impetus and, more importantly, not wishing to pay royalties to the commercial Hotchkiss company, they set about to create their own version of a “perfect machine gun.”  With five years of operational experience and performance data on the Hotchkiss M1900 at their disposal, the National Arsenal at Puteaux (APX) produced in 1905 their version of a modified gas system, air cooled, strip fed machine gun.

The Puteaux M1905 had a number of unique design features.  It was the first gun to utilize the blow forward method of operation.  The method of gas operation in the M1905 consisted of a gas trap at the muzzle with a hollow tube in which the gas was driven back to about the middle of the barrel where it then operated the reciprocating parts of the gun.  Another innovative feature was the implementation of a variable rate of fire mechanism.  This device could be manually adjusted by the gunner to fire at a rate ranging from eight shots per minute to 650 shots per minute.  The M1905 is visually distinctive by a series of cooling rings from breech to muzzle.  Not produced in any large numbers, the Puteaux M1905 was issued to French infantry units and was probably sent to selected colonial units as well.  The gun was not well received in the field and it was quickly determined that a simplified and more reliable version was needed.

Left side view of the St. Etienne Model 1907T.

The French army then tasked the St. Etienne Arsenal (MAS) to simplify the gas operating system of the Puteaux M1905 and make other improvements to the gun.  They maintained the blow forward concept but simplified the gas operating system by using a gas port in the middle of the barrel to drive the gas piston and operating rod.  They also eliminated all of the cooling rings on the barrel to simplify the manufacturing of the barrels.  The result was the St. Etienne Model 1907 – a machine gun forever destined to be considered one of the oddest designed weapons ever put into large production, adopted by a national army and used in a major conflict.

The operational heart of the St. Etienne M1907 is the gas piston and operating rod that, instead of being driven rearward to unlock the bolt, traveled forward.  This meant that since the piston and connected operating rod were traveling the wrong way, a rack and pinion gear mechanism was needed to move the bolt in the proper rearward motion.  The gas piston is attached to an operating rod that attaches to the rack upon which the pinion and cams work.  As the gas piston/operating rod/rack moves forward upon firing, the pinion spur gear rotates and engages a cam follower that unlocks the bolt bringing it rearward while at the same time lifting the cartridge feed tray and turning the cartridge feed sprocket.  Locking of the M1907 bolt is accomplished by the cam way going over-center at the end of the forward rotation of the pinion gear cam.

Markings of the Model 1915 Omnibus tripod made at the Puteaux Arsenal (APX)

The tripod for the M1907, designated Tripod Model 1907C, accommodated only the M1907 machine gun.  The tripod consists of two main groupings: the support pivot head and the tripod body.  The two front legs had a unique knee joint a few inches below the head that could be folded under for the purpose of lowering the tripod to enable the gunner to fire from a prone position.  The rear telescoping leg has a small seat affixed to it as was common to tripods of that era.  A revised tripod was produced, the Model 1907 Omnibus (multi-purpose) that had a modified support pivot head to allow the mounting of the Puteaux M1905, St. Etienne M1907 and Hotchkiss M1900 machine guns.

In 1916, further modifications were made to the M1907 machine gun and the new designation was M1907T.  (T for Transformé, or transformed or, in simple English, “modified.”)  These changes and/or modifications included the addition of a large ring gas regulator, front sight heat compensating mechanism, changing the rear sight from a leaf sight to a drum sight and modification to the feed sprocket gear to accommodate the use of a cloth belt.  At this time the older M1907s were supposed to be returned to the Chatellerault Arsenal (MAC) for upgrading to the M1907T specifications and examples today of an unmodified M1907 are exceptionally rare.  Both St. Etienne and Chatellerault arsenals manufactured the M1907 and M1907T with St. Etienne being the primary manufacturer.  Chatellerault manufactured a total of 11,105 guns in which 9,661 were manufactured during the war years of August 1914 through November 1918.  The St. Etienne Arsenal produced over 30,000 guns.  Total production between the two arsenals reached a high point of over 1,900 guns a month.  It is interesting to note that each arsenal used its own serial number system beginning with number 1 for each year.  Thus, in the example of the gun featured in this article, serial number 7522 dated 1916 at the St. Etienne arsenal means that it was the 7,522 gun made in 1916, not the 7,522 gun ever made.  Additionally, the actual number could be repeated but with a different date and the number could also be repeated by a different manufacturer.  It should also be noted, to confuse the issue even more, that the year corresponded to the year in which the production order was received and not necessarily the year when the gun was actually manufactured.  Also, the “T” designation was not used on identification markings on the guns but could be externally determined visually by the use of the large gas ring regulator, front and rear sight changes.

Bolt at rest in battery. Note forward position of bolt, lifter is down and the rack is to the rear.

The M1907T gas system had a large regulator around the barrel at the gas port.  By turning the regulator, different sized gas port openings were presented to allow altering the rate of fire by speeding up or slowing down the movement of the piston by restricting or increasing the volume of gas allowed into the gas expansion chamber.  Since the gas port tended to eventually foul with carbon deposits, the larger hole settings were generally used.

One benefit of the gas piston and the bolt moving in opposite directions is that the gun actually fired quite smoothly since the recoiling energies tended to counteract each other.

The variable rate of fire mechanism used on the Puteaux M1905 was also employed on the M1907 and M1907T.  A hydraulic system dashpot was located inside the rear of the receiver box directly below the trigger mechanism.  A push/pull engaging switch and a setting wheel located on the outside left rear bottom corner of the receiver box allowed a choice of rate of fire ranging from 8 shots per minute to 600 rounds per minute.  When pushed in the dashpot is engaged and when pulled out the dashpot is disengaged.  The setting wheel was turned to determine the actual rate of fire desired by the gunner.

Left side of receiver showing cocking lever in forward locked position, shutter door to access the locking bar directly above the cocking lever, variable rate of fire switch and mechanism near trigger group and a strip of cartridges in the feed way. Note battle damage to rear grip.

Another interesting feature of the M1907T is the front sight heat compensation mechanism.  The front sight is attached to the barrel casing in a spring loaded vertical slide and not to the barrel proper.  Because the barrel casing got hot during firing, the front sight would heat up as well but at a different rate and temperature resulting in a different and changing point of aim.  To counter this, a steel rod ran along the length of the top of the barrel casing and connected to a lever system that was attached to the front sight post.  As the steel rod expanded, it pushed the levers that in turn pushed the front sight post down against the spring allowing everything to remain “on target” as the gun heated up.  The tangent rear drum sight is calibrated up to 2,400 meters but is adjustable only for elevation with no provision for windage.

The large steel main spring under the barrel housing had to be left exposed to help facilitate cooling of the spring.  Otherwise, it would get so hot it would loose its temper and thus its recoiling ability or just break altogether.  This exposed spring invited all sorts of reliability problems due to dirt, mud and the elements interfering with its movement.  The right receiver access door and the locking bar shutter door on the left side of the receiver were also a source of problems for the introduction of foreign material.  And the eleven large cooling slots along the bottom of the receiver box also invited foreign material introduction problems.

The design of a suppressor is not quite as simple as it may appear.  Not all suppressors are suitable for usage on all weapons.  While it should be intuitive that a suppressor designed specifically for .22 LR will not withstand the pressures of the 5.56mm cartridge and be destroyed, there is the temptation to try to make any 5.56mm suppressor work on any .22 centerfire weapon.  This may not be a wise choice.

In its simplest explanation, suppressors reduce sound by reducing the sudden release of pressure at the instant of bullet uncorking, usually by expanding the volume in the suppressor.  The pressure that the suppressor has to deal with is generated by the burning of the propelling gases, and the volume of gas generated is related to the amount of powder in the cartridge case.  Since the bullet is slightly larger than the bore, a lot of pressure is required to not only accelerate it through the barrel, but to sustain its velocity.

Depending on the burn rate of the powder, the pressure inside the bore propelling the bullet will either peak rapidly (as in rimfire and pistol cartridges) or more gradually in the case of centerfire rifle cartridges.  Here, the terms “rapidly” and “gradually” are relative – it is all very fast.  The author has performed actual pressure measurements in the bore of a 5.56mm rifle at various positions and times.  Some of that information will be the subject of another article.  What is germane to the current discussion is what the residual pressure is in the bore at the instant of bullet uncorking, because this is the volume and pressure of gas that the suppressor needs to address.

The first portion of the suppressor that has to contain the bore pressure is the entrance chamber, and this may well be the most critical chamber with regards to strength and safety.  Depending on the powder/gas load, barrel length, and entrance chamber volume, the pressure here can vary between several hundred and several thousand pounds per square inch.  If the entrance chamber pressure is too great for the structural design, the outer tube can weaken, bulge, or even fail.

For a given entrance chamber volume and pressure, the geometry can make a dramatic difference in integrity.  An important calculation is referred to as “hoop stress,” which is calculated by multiplying the pressure (in pounds per square inch) by the diameter of the chamber (to the middle of the chamber wall) and dividing by the wall thickness.  The units are pounds/square inch.

The safety factor is calculated by dividing the yield strength of the wall material by the hoop stress.  At a safety factor of one, 50% of the units will fail.  For suppressors, a safety factor of two is acceptable.  The aircraft industry requires a safety factor of 2.5 or better.  Most of the calculations are performed automatically when performing finite element analysis.  However, for FEA (finite element analysis) to work, one has to know the actual measured pressure within the vessel (suppressor entrance chamber or even in the barrel itself).  Unfortunately, attempting to simply calculate pressures in the beginning of a silencer based on bore volume, maximum SAAMI chamber pressure, and entrance chamber volume can easily lead to dangerously erroneous conclusions.  With one exception, the author knows of no suppressor company that actually measures direct entrance chamber pressures in the entrance chamber.

Pressure testing the entrance chamber of a 1.5 inch diameter quick detach 5.56mm suppressor on an M4 carbine with a 14.5 inch barrel. The pressure sensor is in the fixture surrounding the suppressor, and the charge meter shows an absolute pressure of 1,668 psi. Calculations of hoop stress show a safety factor of 3.1 at ambient air temperature and a safe 1.9 after 100 rounds fully automatic fire for this suppressor. The safety factors were also acceptable on the 10.4 inch barrel.

Rifle barrels are generally tapered from large over the chamber to thinner near the end. This is to have adequate wall thickness for safety over the higher pressure portions of the barrel and to reduce weight in the lower pressure far barrel.  Even at its furthest, the barrel wall thickness is significantly greater than the wall thickness in the entrance chamber of a suppressor.  Rifle barrel manufacturers have spent a lot of time making pressure measurements.

Marginal safety factors in a suppressor entrance chamber can often be easily corrected by several means.  Obviously, reducing the pressure by using underpowered ammunition is not viable if the weapon system is to be used for anything other than punching holes in paper.  One can also increase the barrel length, which may or may not be practical.

First is to increase the volume in the entrance chamber.  Increasing the diameter may not reduce the hoop stress simply because while the pressure is reduced, the radius is increased.  The answer here is to increase the chamber length (which has other positive effects on suppression).  Sometimes this can be accomplished by removing one baffle.

Second is to increase the wall thickness.  This has the definite disadvantage of increasing the weight, which is often a critical factor in the end user’s requirement.

The third option is simply changing to materials with higher yield strength, such as the change from 300 series stainless steels to 4130 chrome moly steel.  Series 300 stainless steels have yield strengths in the vicinity of 30-35 kPsi (thousand pounds per square inch).  This is the material that seems to be specified for most suppressors because its corrosion resistance is thought by many to be of importance.  It is certainly not the most structurally suitable material, and it is interesting to note that no firearms (especially barrels) are made from this alloy.  On the other hand, 4130 steel has a yield strength of 75-80 kPsi, better than twice that of 300 series stainless.  Simply switching to 4130 will better than double the safety factor without increasing weight or affecting heat dissipation.

Regardless of the material selected, suppressor heat buildup can adversely affect the safety factor.  Measurements of heat buildup in a suppressor have shown that in 5.56×45 NATO, a 100 round burst will raise the core temperature of a suppressor by approximately 750 degrees Fahrenheit above ambient air temperature.  On an average day, the 100 round burst will raise the temperature inside the suppressor to around 800 degrees.  At 800 degrees, most steels (including 300 series stainless) have 62% of the tensile and yield strength compared to room temperature.

The loss in yield strength after a 100 round burst can easily reduce what may have been a safety factor of 2 to a safety factor slightly over 1, at which point suppressor failure becomes more problematic.

The piezoelectric Kistler 6215 pressure sensor is screwed into either a fixture with a passage into the suppressor entrance chamber or into a sleeve welded on the vessel to be measured. With a maximum input of 100,000 psi, it is suitable for measuring bore pressures in a firearm, either in the chamber or in a barrel port.

Several years ago when this writer started doing pressure measurements, a question was raised about excessive instantaneous peak pressures in the entrance chamber of a relatively small (1-3/8 inch diameter, 6 inch long) 5.56mm suppressor built from 300 series stainless steel.  The suppressor was designed for, intended for, and rated by the manufacturer for the M4 carbine with a 14.5 inch barrel.  Users, however, were mounting the suppressor on 10.5 inch barrels, which raised some question as to suitability of this suppressor on this barrel length, especially since a number of users were training and employing significant fully automatic fire.

There are two recognized methods for measuring pressure in a vessel such as a silencer.  The least expensive method is the use of a strain gauge.  This is a sensor affixed to the exterior of the pressure vessel (usually with an adhesive) and connected to a recording instrument.  The gauge actually measures stretching of the vessel wall when pressure is applied, and it must be calibrated for each application.  Calibration is a relatively simple process of sealing the vessel and applying pressure to a fluid trapped in the chamber.  While this certainly can be done, it is a tedious and messy process and must be done for each sensor gauge and silencer.  Further, although the strain gauges are not expensive, they cannot be re-used and a new one is necessary for each silencer.  Few ammunition developers use this method, because it is not as accurate as direct chamber pressure measurements.

The other method is direct measurement of the pressure within the vessel.  This requires a high pressure sensor that has a direct connection to the volume within the vessel.  The sensor, a quartz piezoelectric transducer, is housed in a steel cylinder that threads either into the chamber directly or (far more commonly) into a housing surrounding the chamber.  The housing then has a port (hole) communicating directly into the chamber.  The signal pulse from the sensor is interpreted by a charge meter external to the system.  For chamber pressure measurements (ammunition development), the sensor is screwed into the barrel over the chamber and a hole is drilled into the cartridge case.  For a silencer, the sensor is screwed into a fixture attached to the silencer, and a hole is drilled through the wall of the silencer to provide the communication.  This is the most accurate method of pressure measurement.

A fixture to hold the piezoelectric pressure sensor was built and clamped around the suppressor over the entrance chamber, and a 2.5mm hole was drilled through the outer wall into the entrance chamber to permit actual pressure measurements.  The equipment used was a Kistler type 6215 high pressure sensor and a Kistler 5015 charge meter.  This was mounted first on a standard M4 carbine (14.5 inch barrel) and subsequently on an HK 416 (10.4 inch barrel).  In both cases, multiple rounds were fired and the pressures recorded.  The same ammunition (M855) was used for all tests.

The results were interesting.  When mounted on the 14.5 inch barreled M4 carbine, the pressure in the entrance chamber of this suppressor averaged 1,999 psi and the safety factor calculated to 2.8.  However, when mounted on the 10.4 inch barrel, the entrance chamber pressure averaged 2,998 psi (50% higher), and the safety factor calculated to 1.9.  While a safety factor of 1.9 is acceptable, users firing 100+ rounds of fully automatic fire in closely spaced bursts raised the temperature of the suppressor, resulting in de-rating the yield strength of the suppressor to the point where the safety factor was under 1.2, at which point the number of failures is going to increase.  While failures may not involve catastrophic rupture, there is the definite possibility of bulging (with further weakening) of the outer tube over the entrance chamber or parts going down range.

In this particular suppressor for use on a short barrel, the solution was simply to increase the length of the entrance chamber (reducing entrance chamber pressure) and change the structural material to something other than 300 series stainless steel.

Entrance chamber pressures in rimfire and in pistol caliber silencers are low and are rarely important in suppressor yield strength issues.  Even with inexpensive aluminum alloys like 6061, unless the wall thickness is ridiculously thin, the pressures are going to be low enough that safety factor concerns are non-existent.

This is not true for centerfire rifle calibers.  In these weapons, gas loads are high and pressures within the bore are significant, including at the instant of bullet uncorking.  The suppressor’s entrance chamber, while usually of greater volume than the weapon’s bore, must be able to contain these pressure peaks for an exceptionally brief (but finite) period of time.  With the goal of producing lighter and shorter suppressors, entrance chamber volumes are sacrificed resulting in higher pressures.  Coupling this with the propensity to use too-short barrels, there is less distance (volume) for pressures within the bore to abate, resulting in increased stress and pressure in the entrance chamber.  Both of these factors (along with the perceived necessity of using 300 series stainless steel and heating from fully automatic fire) increase the hoop stress resulting in decreasing safety factors to the point of possible suppressor structural failure.  It is this writer’s opinion that pressure measurements and safety factor calculations should be made in all rifle suppressors under the most adverse anticipated combinations of weapon configurations.

In the past 25 years a lot of different trends have emerged.  It seems that the new products that show up every year are generally market driven; and rightfully so.  In the years prior to 9/11, black rifles and tactical items were a very small part of the total industry.  In fact, up until just a couple of years ago, machine guns or targets with a human face or shape were strictly forbidden at the SHOT Show.  Now, “Tactical” is the new buzzword and is what sells.

Airsoft guns, once thought of as high priced toys, are now used as serious training tools. The realism of the guns is amazing right down to the actual weight of their real counterparts. They are available in everything from revolvers to 5,000 round per minute copies of the GE Minigun.

The tactical arena of new rifles, optics and accessories introduced this year at SHOT was staggering.  In the way of rifles, more highly sophisticated 5.56 AR-type rifles are starting to emerge as well as several new 7.62 AR types.  Many new “heavy” calibers such as .50 BMG, .338 Lapua, and .416 were prevalent.  Piston driven guns in both 5.56 and 7.62 calibers are now the “hot” item because of longer wear, cleaner operation and their ability to run cooler for longer periods of time.

This year SIG Sauer introduced their new piston driven AR-15/M16 type 5.56 rifle designated the Model 516.  The SIG 516 uses a 3-position (4-position optional) gas regulator and is available in semi and select-fire variants (military and LE only).  It comes in several models with a wide range of barrel lengths from the 7 inch Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) to the 20 inch Precision Sniper.  SIG also introduced their new Model 517, a piston driven 7.62 (.308) rifle.  These new AR-10 type rifles will also come in several models from the tiny 12.5 inch Tactical Patrol to the 20 inch Precision Sniper.  All models offer free-floating threaded barrels, quad rail forearms and full length Picatinny M1913 rails.  Also new from SIG this year is their P522 pistol.  This gun is a pistol sized version of the .22 LR, SIG 522, which was introduced last year at SHOT.  The P522 features a 10-inch 1/2 x 28 threaded barrel, Picatinny railed upper receiver and is available with either an alloy quad-railed forearm or a Swiss-type polymer hand guard with the retro look of the SIG 550.  It is shipped in a hard case with a 25-round magazine.

Dillon Aero displayed their M134 Minigun systems. These guns fire upwards of 4,000 rounds of .308 per minute and can be mounted on almost any vehicle including this GMC Yukon XL for the ultimate in executive protection.

Manufacturers introduced a multitude of .22 LR firearms this year.  With ammunition prices reaching staggering highs in the last 12 to 18 months, there has been a resurgence in the diminutive little .22 LR round that has brought about a renewed interest in .22 caliber firearms.  Some of the new guns are old favorites that have been remodeled to look like their tactical centerfire brethren, while others are completely new firearms built from the ground up to work with the .22 LR cartridge.  The fact that they look just like their black rifle “big brothers” is just an added plus.

Umarex USA, who at last year’s show created a buzz when they introduced a Walther made, Colt licensed .22 LR replica of the M4, has done it again this year.  They showed off their new H&K licensed MP-5 and HK 416 .22 caliber replicas.  There will be two models of the MP-5, one with what looks like a muzzle mount suppressor to cover the 16-inch barrel and another with a shrouded barrel that mimics the MP-5 SD.  There will also be two models of the 416.  The first is the full length rifle version and the other a pistol version – again with a shrouded barrel that makes it look like an integrally suppressed gun.  All models will carry HK trademarks and will work just like their larger caliber cousins except without the full-auto feature.

The Gun Room Company was showcasing their new .338 Lapua rifle. The piston driven, semiautomatic gun features a rail forearm, 10-round magazine and very effective muzzle brake.

Sturm, Ruger and Company was on hand with the SR-22 that has been on dealers’ shelves now for several months although a lot of people still hadn’t seen one.  The SR-22 is basically a Ruger 10-22 inside a “shell” that covers the receiver and makes the gun resemble an AR-15 type rifle.  Ruger used the smart approach and turned a proven gun into a look-a-like of a tactical rifle.  The 10-22 has been around since the 1960s and they all run like sewing machines.  Ruger has produced over 6 million of the great little guns.  Now the new gun features a collapsible AR type stock, threaded barrel with flash hider, Picatinny optic rail and a tubular free floating forearm.

The company ISSC, LLC was on hand with their Austrian designed .22 LR copy of the FN SCAR rifle designated the MK-22.  This is one great looking rifle.  It is fed with either 10 or 22-shot magazines and can be ordered with either a fixed or folding stock.  They also have two models of a new .22 LR handgun that resembles the Glock with an exposed hammer.  One model looks like a Glock compact with front dust cover rail for adding a light or laser.  The other is a long slide model complete with an actual working ported barrel.  The guns have match barrels and triggers and have 5 different safeties that work independently of one another.  They also have polymer frames and adjustable rear sights.  These guns are very accurate and totally reliable.

Smith & Wesson has introduced their new Bodyguard .380 pistol. The new pistol features a polymer frame and an integral ambidextrous control laser sight. There is also a .38 special revolver with laser in the Bodyguard lineup.

Another .22 handgun worth mentioning will shortly be available from American Tactical Imports.  The gun is made by the German company German Sport Guns and is a copy of the Colt 1911 .45.  The new pistol has lots of bells and whistles including a beavertail safety, match trigger, ambidextrous safety, adjustable sights and checkered wood grips.  The gun is hefty and feels like a .45 in your hand.  It is fed from a 10-round magazine and is dubbed the GSG 1911.  The best part is that the gun is slated to have a retail price of just $349.  They also had on display a new 12 gauge shotgun that they will be distributing.  The gun is called the AKDAL 1919 SGA and looks like an oversized AR-15.  It is recoil operated, fires 2-3/4 inch shells and is fed from either 5 or 10- round detachable box magazines.  It will be available in either camo or black.

Bushmaster had their long awaited ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle) at this year’s show and promised show-goers that the rifle would indeed be shipping in the next several months.  The rifle will initially be available in 5.56mm but will also later be produced in 6.8mm.  It is a piston driven, modular firearm that can be configured to fit a wide variety of users and missions.  It features a monolithic upper receiver with full length Picatinny rail.  This allows optics, sights and night vision devices to be mounted along the same sighting plane.  It also has a quick detach forearm that hides the tool-less quick change barrel.  Barrels will be available in different lengths as well as different calibers in the future.  It will be available in two different models.  The first will be Basic ACR that comes with standard A2 “birdcage” flash hider, high-impact composite forearm that accepts rail inserts and a fixed stock.  The other model is the Enhanced ACR that features upgrades such an aluminum railed forearm, an excellent AAC (Advanced Armament Corporation) Blackout flash hider and a folding 6-position telescopic stock.  The new ACR is totally ambidextrous and will be able to be ordered in either black or coyote tan.  The rifles will be shipped in a hard case with one 30-round MagPul P-Mag.  For those who haven’t been following the ACR saga, this rifle is now a joint venture between Bushmaster, MagPul and Remington Defense.

Leupold picked the SHOT Show to introduce their new Tactical Optics line. The optics are specially designed for tactical situations. Not only will they have scopes and reflex sights but a line of tactical lights as well.

FNH USA drew a lot of attention to their booth with the introduction of the new civilian version of the SCAR Heavy called the SCAR 17S, which was preceded at last year’s show with the introduction of the 5.56 SCAR 16S.  This rifle is a .308 version of the Special Operations Combat Assault Rifle.  It is the same rifle that the military get only without the select fire feature and a different flash hider/compensator.  The rifle is totally ambidextrous with magazine release and fire controls on both sides and a reversible charging handle.  It is piston driven with a 16-inch chrome lined barrel and folding front and rear sights.  The stock on the SCAR 17S is both folding and collapsible with a 2-position cheek piece for locating the shooters cheek for either the iron sights or optics.  The gun can be fired with the buttstock in the folded position.  FN was also showing their line of SPR guns.  The Special Police Rifles are bolt-action sniper type rifles in either .308 or .300 Short Magnum.  These rifles are available in a variety of barrel lengths and with several different McMillan stocks.  They feature either 20 or 24 inch chrome lined hammer forged barrels and come with M-1913 Picatinny optic rails already attached at the factory.  The rails can be either steel or titanium depending on rifle weight requirements.  FN also introduced their new FNX handguns at the show available in 9mm and .40 S&W.  The pistol is double or single action with a decocking lever that allows it to be carried either cocked and locked or hammer down in a decocked mode.  It has a modular grip and comes with several backstraps with different checkering and profiles to fit a variety of hand sizes.  The gun is designed with a different grip angle and position so the bore sits lower in the hand.  This in turn produces less recoil and reduced muzzle flip for faster follow-up shots.  A new style rear sight helps the shooter’s eye pick up a sight picture quicker.  The guns have the added feature of a dust cover rail for adding accessories of choice.  The pistols are totally produced in FN’s Columbia, South Carolina plant.