About a week ago, JMac Customs has published a video where they were shooting a suppressed AK chambered in 5.45x39mm. The standard supersonic ammunition performed as expected, decreasing the sound to a hearing safe level. However, they were also shooting Detroit Ammo Co. subsonic 5.45x39mm ammunition which wasn’t powerful enough to cycle the action rendering the gun to a manual repeater. My first reaction was that this ammunition is worthless for a semi-auto gun. However, later I thought about a situation where this kind of ammunition can actually be useful. Let’s watch the mentioned video first.

Rifle Dynamics has something cool for the Father’s Day. Their Father’s Day Special limited edition AKM is specifically built to be a perfect Father’s Day gift although I think any of the Rifle Dynamics AKs is a perfect gift. Let’s first watch the promo video featuring Jim Fuller as the ’60s Dad.

There certainly exist a large number of myths and misconceptions about small arms in Afghanistan. Everything from the names of certain firearms available to how they are perceived in the country has been over exaggerated or hyped up to the point of no return. Surprisingly there are almost as many myths in the country of Afghanistan itself than those that exist in the United States and Europe. Some of these are quite harmless but others involve safety and safe firearms handling which can at times lead to negligent discharge and death.

In this episode of TFBTV, James gives you a quick rundown and comparison of three popular 7.62×39 piston operated rifles: The Zastava “Yugo” M70 (i.e. the “AK-47”), the IWI Galil ACE, and the Ruger Mini-30.

Pistol Stabilizing Brace fans have the option to add the device of their choice after purchase, but the Lynx is also SBR-ready for those willing to undergo the NFA application process. Additional models and options are of being evaluated for possible import by AOA and headed to Atlantic Arms in the future.

A few weeks ago, I had a pleasure of working with Larry Vickers on his trip to Russia. He had a unique chance to check out some of the newer Russian weapons, we visited some amazing museums and saw some incredible weapon collections.

In this episode of TFBTV, James reviews the Galil ACE in 5.56mm/.223. The Galil is Israel’s answer to the AK47, but a sleeker, more modernized version.

Kalashnikov Concerns Media site have shared a video of Larry Vickers testing out their latest carbine, the AM-17. Vickers recently visited Kalashnikov’s production facilities in Izhevsk, Russia and had the chance to handle and shoot some of their latest products.

We have been following the AK-50 project (AK chambered in .50 BMG) pretty much since its very beginning. Brandon Herrera (a.k.a. The AK Guy), the founder of AKG Industries, had started the project about two and a half years ago and ever since he has been continuously working on it gradually refining and perfecting the gun. The purpose of this article is not only to show the current state and the progress of the AK-50 project but also to use it as an example to talk about some product designing challenges and solutions in general.

Iron Claw Tactical has introduced the second generation of their AK magazine well. Once installed on AK rifles, this magazine well allows straight magazine insertion. The Gen2 magwell is compatible with AK-47 (both milled and stamped receivers) and AK-74 pattern rifles and magazines.

On April 12, 2018, Russian RIA Novosti news agency has published an article telling about the upcoming negotiations of Russian and Indian officials concerning the licensed manufacturing of 100-series AK rifles in India. This information was released during the DefExpo 2018 arms exhibition by Vladimir Drozhzhov, the deputy director of Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation.

JMac Customs has introduced stock adapters that allow attaching SIG MPX/MCX folding stocks to AK rifles. Currently these adapters are available only for Arsenal AKs, however, the company is designing such adapters for a lot of other AK rifle variations (Yugoslavian, Romanian Dracos, Russian Veprs etc.) which will appear on their website shortly. Moreover, they are planning to offer similar adapters for other firearms, too!

Insofar as Kalashinov derivatives and clones go, the Albanian variants don’t offer much when it comes to being unique or improving the system. If anything they are one of the much more mundane and uninteresting of the Kalashnikov variants. However, when it comes to positively identifying them there are some points about the Albanian 7.62x39mm ASh78-1 and resulting variants that are worth mentioning. Most important being that the rifle can very easily be misidentified for a Chinese Norinco Type 56 with attached/folding bayonet. And this is because for the most part it is license produced version of the Chinese Kalashnikov copy.

Chaos Inc. has introduced a new series of extended handguards for the following four shotgun models: Saiga-12, Cheetah-12, KS-12 and DDI-12. The new series of handguards is called Apollo 12. They are available either with KeyMod or M-LOK accessory mounting platforms on 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions.

A Ukrainian company called Black Storm Technology makes a variety of AK accessories. The company is mostly known for developing bullpup conversion kits for AK family of rifles. In this article, we’ll tell about the latest version of their bullpup kit called BS-4.

A recent image posted on Egypt Defense Review has shown perhaps one of the more detailed images publicly available of Beretta GLX160 40x46mm Low-Velocity UBGL/Stand Alone configuration grenade launchers in use by Egyptian special operations forces (also in use are CZ 807s). The caption states that these operators are from the “103th Battalion” after a night raid. Due to the rising level of violence in the Sinai Peninsula, it is possible that their location is in Sinai as well. Of particular note here is that this appears to be the second order of GLX 160s from Beretta, being that the first went to Egyptian Naval special operations personnel.

If you spend any time on firearms-focused social media channels, it is easy to spot those who are going through the motions just for the business and those who truly enjoy their work. Justin and Ashley McMillion of  JMac Customs definitely fall into the later category and their newest product is a perfect example of their pure enjoyment for the shooting sports. Called the ‘Loud And Flashy’ or the LAF (wink) for short, JMac has created a working muzzle brake that is most definitely not a flash hider.

After field trials and subsequent purchasing of the “Trichy” Assault Rifle (TAR) by the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), it is being reported that other Indian Law Enforcement entities are taking an interest in the rifle as well. The 7.62x39mm TAR rifle was initially introduced almost a decade ago but appeared to have seen little success in the form that it first existed in. Essentially it appeared to be converting an FN FAL receiver into 7.62x39mm with internally produced magazines. The current variant is in fact a copy of the Bulgarian Arsenal 7.62x39mm AR-M1 (milled receiver) with some modifications to the buttstock in a fixed stock, folding stock, and telescoping M4 patterned stock variation. It appears that the latch to secure the right folding stock is left on the receiver even when the fixed and telescoping stocks have been installed. This improved variant was officially unveiled in March of 2017, more than a year ago. The name “Trichy” is short for Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli where a large number of defense articles are produced, to include the dreaded INSAS.

Will the World Cup 2018 being held in Russia create a TulAmmo shortage in the United States?…

Circle 10 AK has just released two new AK products –  AK Push Button 2-Bolt Folding Hinge and  AK 2-Bolt Triangle Stock. Both of these accessories use 10-32 2-bolt mounting system. Let’s take a quick look at each of these parts separately.

Production at the long-planned and troubled Kalashnikov factory in Venezuela reportedly edges closer as politicians announce production is scheduled to begin rifle in late 2019. The construction of the plant was first confirmed way back in 2006.

The number of private Russian companies manufacturing firearm accessories constantly increases. There are more an more AK accessories appearing on the market that are made in this country.  Bulletec is one of those domestic Russian companies that makes a variety of AK parts including an adjustable trigger. To my knowledge, this is the only Russian company that makes non-factory pattern triggers for AK rifles. Their AK trigger is called Spike and it is primarily dedicated for use in competition firearms.

In the late ’50s, there was a need in the armed forces of Soviet Union for replacing the rifles deployed in sniper and DMR roles. By that time they were mainly using scoped Mosin-Nagant, SVT and SKS rifles. All these rifles were outdated and they needed something new that would better integrate with the newly adopted assault rifles.

At the World Shoot 2017 IPSC Rifle just outside Moscow, in one of the shooting bays of the Park Patriot, there was a possibility to shoot a wide variety of Russian firearms.

Žiga Polajnar, more commonly known as the face of Polenar Tactical (although many would argue  that title belongs to Manca) will be crossing the Atlantic from his home in Slovenia to teach two small one-day AK courses in Texas the week before NRAAM. Žiga is both a good friend of mine and one of the most talented tactical shooters I’ve worked with. His technical knowledge of the AK platform is top tier. Additionally, everyone knows that – all other things being equal – you get a 10-12% skill bonus when you are learning the Kalash from a genuine Slav, especially one who comes from a family of WWII and Slovenian Independence War vets. I’m upset that I won’t be able to attend personally, if only to prevent Žiga to tell drinking stories about me (if he does, I guarantee that they are somewhere between minor exaggerations and complete fabrications, including any pictures or videos he may have).

According to Jane’s 360 and the producer Fabryka Broni the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (abbreviated DICON) and the holding company Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) have agreed to begin the production of the Beryl M762 military rifle.

Kalashnikov Media has recently published an article about one of the Soviet experimental caseless rifles. Just like in other countries where the caseless ammunition was developed, the goal was to get rid of the case in order to have a much more compact and lightweight ammunition which would in its turn result in more compact and light weapons, too.

Russian Tula Arms Plant, the manufacturer of the VSS “Vintorez” integrally suppressed rifle, has recently added a couple of versions of the rifle to the list of civilian products on their website. In order to qualify as civilian firearms, these weapons were converted to semi-automatic only. Both rifles are chambered in 9x39mm just like the original VSS “Vintorez”.

While writing an article on available muzzle brakes and compensators for Kalashnikovs, I found myself at an impasse. Despite shooting and customizing AKs for more than a decade, I never really dug into the reasons behind the angle of the iconic slant brake. I was stuck wondering why the AKM’s muzzle brake canted?

What does an average person know about the Pakistani weapons and the military-industrial complex? Nothing. Ordinary people are not interested in this kind of weird stuff. OK, so what does an average gun enthusiast know about Pakistani weapons? Probably not much either.