Earlier, Brandon Herrera, also known as “ The AK Guy“, announced that he had established a company to start offering AK products and to introduce the AK-50. The company is called AKG Industries. Several days ago, Brandon announced the launch of the first product of the AKG Industries. It is a limited edition of “The AK Guy” commemorative AK-47 rifles.

Krebs Custom has introduced a new AK handguard set with M-LOK accessory attachment slots. We are used to seeing this company’s rails with KeyMod. In order to find out whether this new model means a launch of an entire line of M-LOK handguards or is it going to be a single model, I contacted Krebs Custom. It turns out that Krebs Custom plans to completely switch to M-LOK on all their products!

Grab a drink, and maybe some popcorn, and settle in for an hour long presentation on Soviet, ComBloc and other foreign weapons with former Marine and small arms expert Harold Johnson.

The Russians are busy inventing new rifles and Kalashnikov Group have announced a rifle called TG2 chambered for the .366ТКМ round.

Our last episode with Col. Dillon, the infantry officer discusses U.S. small arms and some of their finer points of employment within the Vietnam War while on his two tours there as a battalion field grade officer. The Colt 1911? Great for shooting off locks. The M16A1? Dillon actually credits that rifle with getting through the Battle of Ia Drang due to the ability to carry more ammunition over the M14. M60s? Issues with barrel changing in the middle of a firefight due to the barrel mounted bipods. Blooper carriers/grenadiers never used their mechanical sights when employing their M79 grenade launchers.

Krebs Custom is one of the few companies which name is associated with the highest-end AK rifles on the market. Recently, the company has introduced a new AK pistol called PD-18. These are Polish AKM based builds chambered in 7.62x39mm.

Earlier this month, the Serbian Army debuted a new 6.5 Grendel weapon system, developed by Zastava. The rifle, called M17, is a heavily modified variant of the M70 AK family that has been developed by the company for decades. It incorporates a number of significant new features and improvements detailed below. The new rifle comes as part of an infantry upgrade for the Serbian Army which includes new 7.62x54R rifles, optics, helmets, and load-bearing equipment. This development marks the first adoption of the 6.5 Grendel round as standard by a national military force. The new rifle is advertised to be half a kilogram lighter than the previous rifle, although it’s not clear whether that is supposed to be the 7.62x39mm M70 or the 5.56x45mm M21. Reportedly, the rifles and the new caliber have not yet been adopted, but are still in testing.

A 74 year old, self-proclaimed history buff, has been jailed in the UK when his collection of nearly 200 firearms was discovered after a fire at his home.

Col. Greg Dillon sat down and talked with us about the small arms that himself and the men he was commanding were faced with during the course of his two tours in Vietnam during the conflict in the 1960s. Everything from AKs, B52s, and RPGs are lightly discussed in this informative episode. Although we don’t get into specifics, Dillion still has an excellent memory of his service days, and provides us with fascinating anecdotes from these wartime experiences.

What usually makes it difficult to write about rare and obscure firearms is the absence of any visual content (photos, videos etc.) of reasonable quality. If you write about any particular firearm or mechanism and have the description only or a couple of poor images that barely let to visualize the description text, it becomes not a too interesting read.

According to Russian news agency TASS, during the Dubai Air Show 2017, Sergey Chemazov, the CEO of the Russian state corporation Rostec, has announced that 26% (minus one share) of Kalashnikov Concern will be sold to private investors. The decision is already made and awaits approval from the government of Russian Federation.

Kalashnikov Media continue their fascinating series looking at rare Russian small arms, the latest video brings us a look at an early, pre-production prototype AKS.

We’ve covered the story of the Dillon AK on TFB previously on the blog and due to the efforts of a faithful reader that actually put us in touch with Col. Dillon we were able to actually sit down and interview him about his service in the 1st of the 7th Cavalry, infamous for heroic actions in the Ia Drang Valley under Col. Moore. But in particular, Dillon shared with us the story about how he captured an early model AK47, carved his initials on the stock, was forced to abandon it, and then its miraculous journey to the National Firearms Centre in the United Kingdom.

I consider my SilencerCo Saker 762 to be an ‘end-of-the-world’ rifle silencer. It is simply a beast, capable of eating high pressure rounds on short barrels. And if need be, the Saker can pull double duty as a blunt force weapon, hammer or a jack stand. However, it has one, albeit significant, weakness: the original Trifecta MAAD mount can release the Saker at less than opportune times. Thankfully, Dead Air Armament has created the KYMO, a near perfect mounting system that is compatible with MAAD equipped cans as well as their own Sandman line of silencers.

Rifle and parts builders JMac Customs and M13 Industries have joined forces to introduce a new line of AK firearms. Designated as the OSC-13 series (Optics, Suppressor and Competition ready), the new rifles are available in three models with a variety of options. Pricing starts at $1250 for a basic build up to $2600 for one with all the options.

EMTAN KARMIEL Ltd announced the introduction of three new assault rifles that will be shown at the Defense & Security Thailand 2017 exposition in Bangkok. The new rifles are the MZ-47, the MZ-4P and the MZ-300.

We recently had a look at the updated Kalashnikovs, the AK-100M Series, with a set of unique pictures.

Today’s Modern Intermediate Calibers will handle something a little different. While virtually all rounds we have looked at so far were designed primarily for supersonic use, today we will be taking a gander at the Russian 9x39mm round – a dedicated suppressed caliber designed exclusively for the subsonic flight regime, with no supersonic option (yet) available. This begets a question, then: Is the 9x39mm truly an intermediate caliber? To answer this, we should consider a few facts about the 9×39: First, it was designed for carbines and rifles with cartridge overall lengths comparable to common intermediate calibers, like 5.56mm or 7.62×39. Second, it was designed to give substantially better performance than is possible with pistol rounds, including armor piercing effect above that which is normally possible with handgun rounds. Third, it is used more like an intermediate caliber than a pistol caliber, being issued with a whole host of sniper rifles, assault rifles, and other weapons comparable to any other intermediate caliber. Therefore, I would argue that it is an intermediate, albeit possibly the strangest one in common use.

James shared this photo with me. He found this at a local gun store pawnshop that he frequents. They let him peruse their back stock room and he found a mint in packaging original Hell-Fire trigger system.

Carpet sellers in Afghanistan call it a “Tup-e-Tung” in Dari, or what we know of in the United States as the “Afghan War Rug” in popular conception. This style of carpet initially became prevalent among tribal Baluchi women who weaved low profile designs into their carpets to signify the Soviet invasion and occupation thereafter beginning in December of 1979. The designs became more overt and wide spread after numerous years and started gaining interest among foreign buyers for their unique character displaying the Soviet occupation. The carpets themselves are a break from traditional Afghan carpet weaving. Afghan carpets are mostly based on certain designs or themes that are named after their designs or locales that they originated from. These don’t depict scenes or objects like the Tup-e-Tung carpets do, but instead intricate designs. In fact, Tup-e-Tungs are unique in that they are the only type of Afghan (or Persian/Iranian for that matter) carpet that portrays specific objects or people on the scale that they do.

The advent of the social media fever in the World Wide Web has brought out countless expected and other not-so results, which range from family members barely talking to each other while at home or in restaurants to outlaws promoting their own images by exhibiting their tools of trade in posed photos or videos, something that has become increasingly popular and common here in Brazil. Why they do that may be better explained by professional psychologists and sociologists if ego-related-only aspects are considered, something very similar indeed to what law-abiding, “normal” people do when they post their pictures visiting touristic spots around the world, or simply, smiling happily in front of their newly acquired sailboats. More often than not, however, criminals in this neck of the woods post said material just to show to their rival gangs what hardware they count on not only to perpetuate crimes, but to fight the completion, as well.

An improvised shotgun utilizing a revolving cylinder that appears to hold six 12 gauge shotgun shells was captured in a Nigerian Army operation in May of this year, capturing several alleged kidnappers on their way to committing a crime. Along with the improvised shotgun were several machetes, of which I’d probably be more afraid of doing damage with than the improvised firearm.

An Israeli Defense Force Brigadier General is currently under investigation for having a large number of issue rifles in his personal storage container while transferring bases in his career. None of the rifles (more than 30) were supposed to be there as Generals typically don’t fight with a rifle, they fight with an Army, and as such they were unauthorized. This report on its own could be alarming, but coupled with other reports in recent years, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to small arms and ammunition theft from IDF bases. A number of reports, specifically claiming that as many as seven bases aren’t secure at all to common theft of sensitive items with an estimate of over 450 small arms have been stolen, has lead to the IDF increasing budgets up to $4.2 million to better secure armories around Israel. In 2014 a report by the Times of Israel that expressed almost the same sentiments about issued small arms being stolen from IDF bases in increasing numbers and incidents.

Russian concept arms designer Alexey Tarasenko’s firearm designs have been published in  Kalashnikov Gun Magazine several times. In this article, we’ll take a look at the designer’s latest concept of an assault rifle that is designed to solve the problem of efficient burst firing by decreasing the felt recoil and its influence on the stability of the weapon system. Kalashnikov Gun Magazine kindly gave us a permission to use the information and images from their article.

Thanks to Hracyha for sharing this simple yet stunning photo of a 1911 and M16 juxtaposed to an AK and a Makarov. Both sets are very iconic and hold their own. Let’s not make this into which is better since that topic has been done ad nauseum. What do you think of the photo? How about the choice of firearms? Im not so sure about the use of the Mavkarov. Im thinking the Russian TT pistol may be a slightly better choice?

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, gunmaker FB Radom was present at the Polish pavilion, displaying their MSBS modular assault rifle, recently named “Grot” (arrowhead) by the Polish government. The new rifle has been selected by the Polish government to replace their legacy AK fleet, many of which are the upgraded 5.56mm “Beryl” variant. The first order for the new rifles was signed in mid-September, and will result in the delivery of 53,000 rifles to the Polish government, which is expected to be completed by the end of November.

Although the Russian Kalashnikov assault rifle is the one that is most famous, it is arguably the Chinese Type 56 AK that made the bigger impression on the world in the 1960s and 70s. This rifle was initially developed with Russian technical assistance just before the Sino-Soviet split beginning in 1956, but subsequent development took place without Russian input, leading to an entire family of unique AK variants. The name “Type 56” actually refers to this entire family of Chinese AKs, which includes milled receiver variants derived from the Russian Type 2 AK, as well as stamped versions similar to (but distinct from) the AKM. These guns showed up all over the world, and for many they are THE iconic “AK-47”. They were the primary weapon of the North Vietnamese Army in the latter half of the Vietnam War, were exported by the Chinese to Africa, Asia, and South America. It was the most used AK variant by the mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War, up against Russian AK-74 rifles. Too this day remains one of the most common if not the most common AK variant, and it’s the Chinese Type 56 with its distinctive integral spike bayonet that is famously depicted as a symbol of liberation on the Flag of Mozambique.

In the mid-2000s, India began looking for a carbine to replace their 9mm L2A3 Sterling submachine guns which they inherited from the United Kingdom. Two weapons were developed, one by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), and another by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a subdivision of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The Ordnance Factory Board produced the AMOGH carbine, while the DRDO produced the Modern Sub Machine Carbine (MSMC, also known as the Joint Venture Protective Carbine, or JVPC). These weapons reportedly competed against each other, and by the early 2010s, the MSMC had been selected as the Sterling replacement.

In the mid-2000s, India began looking for a carbine to replace their 9mm L2A3 Sterling submachine guns which they inherited from the United Kingdom. Two weapons were developed, one by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), and another by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a subdivision of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The Ordnance Factory Board produced the AMOGH carbine, while the DRDO produced the MSMC. These weapons reportedly competed against each other, and by the early 2010s, the MSMC had been selected as the Sterling replacement. However, the AMOGH is still being marketed to customers by the OFB, and has reportedly been purchased by the Indian Coast Guard.

Caliber wise, here’s a list of how each model is chambered.