Below you will find details of the different LWRC International (LWRC or LWRCI used as short) rifles used by the Swedish Military and Police, as well as accessories and optics.

The German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has announced the long-awaited program to replace the Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle in German Army service, reports the Polish gun magazine MilMag. According to the source, the BAAINBw released the tender for the new System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr on April 19, with all submissions due by May 22, 2017. Selection is expected to occur sometime in 2018, and production of whichever rifle is selected is slated for April 1, 2019, to continue through 31 March 2026. The 7-year contract is expected to have a total value of 245 million Euros, (~ USD 260 million).

It is with a very heavy heart that I inform the readers of The Firearm Blog that Kevin O’Brien, known as “Hognose” to readers of his website Weaponsman.com, passed away yesterday morning. Kevin was a US Army Ranger, Green Beret, and veteran of the Afghanistan campaign. More than that, he was a subject matter expert, and a kind and patient listener and teacher.

FN America is letting us finally tell you about their brand new striker fired pistol. Well, I say brand new, but the reality is this design has been developed for some time now. If you look closely at the internals, you see that the handgun is unmistakeably a very refined FNS. Not a bad thing, the FNS has flown under the radar for far too long.

Full disclosure: This news has been out for some time but no one has reported it. 

Just one day after Orbital ATK’s announcement of a $92 million order for 5.56 NATO and 7.62 NATO ammunition the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri suffered a detonation in a primer mixing cell that has left one person dead. News organizations are reporting that four people suffered what we can only assume to be minor injuries from the explosion as they were evaluated and then treated at the scene. The explosion occurred at around 1:00 PM

The Civilian Marksmanship Program has received word that the Philippine government could be shipping 86,000 M1 Garand rifles back to the United States for distribution to American civilian shooters. Mark Johnson, Chief Operating Officer of the CMP, commented on the possible upcoming delivery to The Firearm Blog:

The Associated Press and KGWB in Cheyenne, Wyoming are reporting that Magpul Industries’ staffing agency, ResourceMFG, informed workers of the separation of 85 employees from its manufacturing and distribution facility on Thursday, April 6, 2017.

While not the elusive ‘M’ or ‘Generation 5’ models, it appears that GLOCK is set to release new features on some existing models later this year. Most notably, the polymer pistol king will add front slide serrations to the Gen4 G19 and G17 models. Also, both Gen4 models will now include a compensated ‘C’ subset with barrel ports and top slide cuts.

Our friends over at Maglula sent some photos of the counterfeit loaders that have been purchased from Amazon directly. As before, the best thing you can do to avoid falling victim to the fake loaders is to buy from a reputable retailer that purchased their entire inventory from Maglula.

In an unannounced move, it appears that YouTube has pulled all ads from gun related videos. You might be thinking that is is a good thing and are happy about the decision, but you would be wrong. Thanks to the removal of any revenue that creators use to cover costs and even make a living, YouTube gun channels are in danger of disappearing forever.

According to a recent article on Soldier Systems, the US Army is considering an “interim” switch back to the 7.62mm caliber in standard infantry rifles. Eric Graves of the site lays out a reasonable overview of the situation on the ground, and what sort of weapons might be considered as the 7.62mm “interim” weapon. Follow the link to read his article over at soldiersystems.net.

North Dakota has passed constitutional carry back on March 23rd and the lack of ‘gunfire in the streets’ allowed the bill being signed into law to fall through the cracks.

Taser International has renamed themselves Axon. The Scottsdale, Arizona company, which has a monopoly on “projectile conductive energy devices” used by law enforcement worldwide, has decided to switch focus from arming law enforcement to monitoring them with their Axon line of Body Cameras and their Evidence.com subscription service for law enforcement organizations.

Our friends over at Maglula sent over a notification that their excellent loaders have been counterfeited. Below is the release they sent over, sadly we do not have any photos of a fake loader to show you. Your best defense is to buy from a quality retailer until the folks at Maglula can sort everything out.

In an effort to further diversify the audience here at The Firearm Blog, we are announcing an exciting new multimedia partnership. Through the use of polling, online surveys, gun show handouts and man-on-the-street interviews, TFB has discovered that the second largest demographic of our readers, next to gun ownership obviously, are cat lovers,

In a decision that could have broad implications throughout the silencer industry as well as with shooters/consumers, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATFE or ATF) has notified silencer manufacturer Dead Air Armament that the wipes used in their Ghost M silencer is a silencer part. News came to me from fellow blogger Nathan at ModernRifleman.net, who reported on an informational post on Dead Air’s Facebook  page stating the company will discontinue sales of the rubber insert immediately.

Walther has issued a recall of the Walther CCP pistols because of what they call a potential condition in the CCP that can cause the firearm to discharge regardless of the manual safety being engaged or disengaged. Walther has issued a voluntary recall as a result and will be upgrading all affected CCPs in order to remove the risk of a drop-fire.

It is with a heavy heart that we at TFB bring news of the death of a true industry great: Jim Schatz has died. Jim’s career in the industry spanned four decades, and he served as a paratrooper (11B) with the 82nd Airborne, a shooter and instructor with the Army Marksmanship Unit, and most famously as an officer with Heckler & Koch. Through his time at H&K, he became known as the guru of all things HK, and many times he was recommended to me as the “go-to” personality whenever my research intersected with that company (which was often).

Several sources have confirmed that the corporation has “released” several dozen employees, some of which hold high-ranking positions. Out of respect for the individuals named, TFB will only be releasing their general titles and departments.

Rifle Dynamics owner Jim Fuller took to Facebook to announce that he was approached by a ‘group of long time friends’ to sell the company and that he has accepted the offer. Fuller has not yet disclosed the buyers nor the sale price and only offers that more information will be available soon.

As you know, Russia hasn’t yet made a final decision which one of the new AK-12 and AEK-971 assault rifles to adopt. Both firearms are being extensively tested and issued in small quantities and both seem to be adequate to be adopted.

Many people predicted the fate of Gander Mountain and now more information is surfacing. By filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy it allows Gander Mountain to clean up their dirty laundry, consolidate as needed, and potentially sell the company without too much disruption for their customers. Gander Mountain‘s timeline is looking loosely like this:

A gun that was simply given away as a prize throughout the “Duel 3” sweepstakes back in 2015 has finally become available to the public. The Springfield Armory Master Class Silent Operator fills a void in the Springfield 1911 line-up since no stock models have threaded barrels. It also tips the scale on the tacti-cool factor (yup, I said it), and the price tag tips the scale as well.

Recently, it seems like I have had the job of delivering bad news, and unfortunately today is no different. Remington Arms has announced that the plant in Ilion, New York has laid off 122 employees. This is in addition to the 39 layoffs at the Huntsville, Alabama plant from the last quarter of 2016.

In yet another sign of changing times within the firearms industry, an anonymous source contacted TFB with the news that Howell Munitions & Technology laid off an unknown number of employees for a temporary two-week period. Apparently employees were also given the “option” to find employment elsewhere.

For anybody that is a fan of the 10mm, Springfield Armory is responding to a lot of unanswered prayers. In an open “Q&A” video on Springfield Armory’s YouTube channel, a Facebook user basically asked if they would be making a 10mm any time soon. This was their response:

Good news for everyone’s favorite Dakotan ammunition company, Black Hills has just won the contract to provide subsonic .300 Blackout ammunition for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hostage Rescue Team, according to a listing at FedBizOpps. The contract, which sources tell TFB is for 39,000 rounds and a value of $106,080, marks the Hostage Rescue Team’s first move towards the increasingly popular .300 Blackout caliber.

We are still fresh into 2017 and it is shaping up to be the year of the pistol. An anonymous source has revealed that Wilson Combat will be releasing a new 4″ alloy 1911 that takes double stack magazines. Dubbed the EDC X9, the new model won’t use STI/SVI 2011 magazines. Instead Wilson’s new handgun will accept 18 round magazines similar to the MecGar’s for the Beretta 92.

Last week we reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), adopted the SIG P320C as their next service handgun.