Quick: What’s the definition of “assault rifle”? I’ll give you a moment to think about it.

Dennis Martin aka @ak47shooter has been making giant wooden gun sculptures out of pallet wood. His latest creation is a giant AK47.

BNTI Arms is a Jacksonville, FL based company that is releasing a dedicated 7.62x39mm AR15 to the public called the AR/AK 7.62 BA Beast Optics Ready Rifle. The company has previously focused on .308 Win and 5.56x45mm NATO rifles in the past and this will be the first 7.62x39mm rifle released. Interestingly the company appears to have primarily developed the rifle for the Nigerian Military/LE market, possibly through U.S. AFRICOM, or it could have been otherwise contracted and exported. Previously we reported on the presence of 7.62x39mm Polish Beryl AKs in use by the Nigerians, in addition to the AKMs already in service with the country. The U.S. civilian version is of course semi-automatic and has a legal 16″ barrel. It features a Magpul ACS-L stock, Magpul handguard on a carbine length gas tube. It comes with one steel 28 round 7.62x39mm magazine. The upper and lower receivers are both forged 7076 T-6, which is usually not seen on many civilian ARs. From the press release-

Here follows a short story from a recent visit to the Central Armed Forces Museum.

Kalashnikov Concern has delivered the first batch of Saiga-12S 12 gauge shotguns to the  Indonesian national anti-drug agency (BNN). The amount of purchased shotguns and the prices are not disclosed. Judging from the expression “first batch” the delivery will be done in multiple stages.

That seems like a pretty straightforward question, doesn’t it? On the surface, armor piercing ammunition ought to be ammunition that pierces armor, right? Seems pretty simple. Except it isn’t. At least, not according to the BATFE. Under 18 United States code, AP ammo is defined rather arbitrarily as:

History certainly does repeat itself, at least where Army procurement is concerned. US Senator from Iowa Joni Ernst has, in an address to Vice Chief of Staff Daniel Allyn on Capitol Hill earlier last week, called for a new upgrade program for the US Army’s standard issue rifle. According to Military.com, she said:

Vitaly Kryuchin, the president of Practical Shooting Federation of Russia (the Russian branch of IPSC), has announced, that Kalashnikov Concern is planning to make an AK-based pump-action rifle for the competition shooters. The new rifle will be called KSZ-223 (IZh-1618). Kalashnikov will release the new rifle by the end of February 2017.

While we were at SHOT James, Steve, and I felt it was a good idea to take our camera crew to Battlefield Vegas. After all, this is the only place in town that can really excite the discerning gun nerd after a week at the world’s largest gun expo. If you were going to loose your gun virginity all over again, wouldn’t you want it to be with a super model? I mean, it’s an MP7 for your first range experience!

Previously on TFB we covered the 26,000 Beryl rifle order by the active component of the Polish Land Forces. That May 2016 contract was at the time the largest acquisitions order in recent Łucznik-Radom history, but this confirmed order of 53,400 5.56x45mm NATO 96C Beryl rifles and 3,800 wz. 96C Mini-Beryl carbines doubles the contract size of the earlier 26,000 rifles for the active component. Details from Polish Defense site Defense24 specify the contract valued at PLN 350 million for this particular order. However, there is more to come, with the planned overall contract of 86,000 rifles (including the aforementioned 57,200) to possibly include the MSBS modular infantry rifle ( Or not, as Nathaniel F. points out). There hasn’t been a specification as to what optics these wz. 96Cs will be issued with.

The ARES Hoplite blog has researched and reported on a growing trend within terrorist groups in Bangladesh using .22 LR cosmetically similar Kalashnikov blowback rifles to carry out violent attacks. This particular attack was carried out on the Holey Artisan Bakery on July 17 2016 and was the most violent terrorist operation to have taken place in Bangladesh so far. ARES has put forth research indicating that the rifles were locally made in Bangladesh, possibly with help from Pakistani gunmakers in Dharra Adam Khel, the notoriously famous home gun-making village in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Previously firearms in Dharra Adam Khel were very localized, most of the usage within Pakistan and Afghanistan. This example is one of the first to show the “weaponizing” of local gunmaking abilities. The fact that Pakistani gunmakers traveled to Bangladesh indicates a larger operation on the part of the terrorists there. I personally find this odd, as acquiring small arms on the local black markets would seem logistically much easier than resorting to producing them locally. The weapon is known locally as the AK-22. From ARES-

The AK has a problem as a defensive rifle. Rifle projectiles that do not yaw, fragment, or expand tend to produce wounds that are little more severe than those produced by pistol bullets. In 7.62x39mm, this problem is compounded by its relatively low velocity, when compared to 5.56mm, 5.45mm, or full power rifle cartridges like 7.62x51mm. Some 7.62x39mm FMJ does yaw reliably, but even the good stuff, like Yugoslavian M67 or Golden Tiger 124 gr FMJ, does not yaw until it has penetrated four inches or more. More common FMJ like Wolf, TulAmmo, or any of the differently colored Bears tend to yaw even later, if at all. There are a great number of “hollow point” loads available in 7.62x39mm from the various Russian brands but, with very few exceptions, these projectiles behave exactly like full metal jacket in tissue. There are a few American loads that have excellent terminal performance, but these are far more expensive.There are Russian 124 gr and 154 gr soft points available, and these do generally tend to expand well, but they are not reliable and some users have reported feeding problems with soft points. What’s worse, Russian ammo makers seem to change components more often than Bruce Jenner changes his mind. You never really know what projectile will be loaded in the ammunition you buy, unless it is actually labeled with the specific projectile design, like Western ammo.

SHOT 2017 has come and gone. Hopefully we did our duty in providing the best coverage we could put together to you, our readership. I certainly had an exhausting show, staying up many late nights, even unto first light, hustling USBs over to fellow writers to get material online, flying through Vegas traffic trying to get to the Sands on time, etc…

We have seen some rather impressive AK magazine reloads but this one is not only smooth it looks refreshing.

In what appears to fly in the face of the Bureau’s prior attitudes towards enforcement of gun laws, a white paper by BATFE Associate  Deputy Director Ronald Turk was recently leaked which proposed loosening or modifying gun regulations in sixteen ways, to be discussed below. If you have not yet read Nicholas’ post on the leak, you can do that, and also follow the link here to the white paper itself. In this article, I’ll be taking a (hopefully) brief look at what the white paper means and why it’s so significant (and it is significant, don’t get me wrong).

Although KVAR has these new Aresenal models in stock, I did not find them in either of their SHOT Show booths. And while they aren’t drastically different from previous rifle configurations, both guns will appeal to AK lovers. Below are the two new SLR107 and SAM7 models

Kalashnicohn is bringing to market Vityaz, completely manufactured in the United States. Apart from the few parts that are subcontracted out, the machining and receiver stamping is manufactured at the companies store in Phoenix, Arizona. Compared to the clone being brought in by Kalashnikov USA, Kalshnicohn’s version might not be as matching when it comes to collector value, but it does accomplish the job of an affordable SBR, pistol, or rifle that comes with interchangable magazine wells. Currently the magazine wells offered are for MP5, Glock, and of course original Vityaz magazines. Removing them is through a simple pin outside of the trigger guard. Pistol variants will come without the folding stock, while rifle variants will come with a faux suppressor attached. Of course, one can order the Vityaz in SBR form with the folding stock and sub 16″ barrel. If you notice that there aren’t any dimples where the safety should slide into, this is intentional. Customers can request dimples, or even cut them out themselves. The company has had too much conflicting information when it comes to what customers want, that it is just easier to leave it plain.

The redheaded stepchild of the SCAR contract was Robinson Arms’ XCR, an interesting design from a small company in Salt Lake City, UT. A rifle that is part AR-15, part FNC, and part noodle, the XCR represents an attractive looking and interesting might-have been, and now exists as a small player in a big market (although, as Ed knows, it’s big in Canada!).

On May 8th (Victory Day Eve) Russia will unveil a large monument in the likeness of Mikhail Kalashnikov as a testament to his influence on modern day weapon design and, as the sculptor stated, to commemorate “the struggle of good versus evil”.

M+M Industries is a budding small arms design firm out of Colorado that has been bringing the 7.62x39mm M10X rifle to market for over a year. The overall goal of the design was to bring a modular rifle to the civilian market (LE/Military also a possibility) that has a twist of the Kalashnikov bolt carrier and FAL long stroke gas system (or SIG 512, depending on where you cut the lineage). In the case of the Kalashnikov, it actually improves upon the original system in some ways, with a user removable firing pin, uses much less parts. Ejection port is on the righthand side of the rifle, but the charging handle can be fitted on either side. The charging handle is removed via a bullet tip or other pointed surface, through the top of the handle. Selector switch is ambidextrous, rails are M-Lok (12 o’clock is monolithic Picatinny), along with QD holes on the rail. Initially designs incorporated a tubular AR buttstock, but this was changed to a Kalashnikov folding stock and trunnion, so as to specifically work with the Magpul Zhukov stock (foldings to the right). It also takes Kalashnikov pistol grips.

Zentico, based in Moscow, Russia, are about to release the B-13N suitable for Tigr and SVD rifles.

Midwest Industries showed off two new rails during the 2017 SHOT SHOW. Joining an already impressive suite of accessories are the MI AR-15/M16 Gen3 Extended Rail One Piece Free Float Handguard, and the MI Gen 2 Extended Universal AK Handguard.

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Brownells has traditionally been a gunsmithing and parts destination for a number of decades but at SHOT 2017 the company has come out with offering full firearms for sale through their dealer network. We reported on this back in November and the company is in full swing of offering all manner of firearms to the public. At present time the company has over 3,000 models of firearms for sale and that number is expected to go up as well. In addition to the generic firearms for sale, the company has been putting together a few of their own. Most interestingly is the complete reproduction M16A1 that the company is going to be offering in various parts kits, so customers can purchase all the correct parts to complete their own A1 retro build. Much ado has been made about Colt’s repo M16, and although Brownell’s parts entry doesn’t appear to be as completely matching as the Colt one, I doubt very few gun owners who aren’t dedicated Colt collectors will notice or necessarily care about the minute details.

James River Armory is a North Carolina based company that specializes in reproduction rifles for the collector market. Something we are seeing a lot of today is that collectors will have a number of specimens of historical rifles that are very rare, but they still want to be able to enjoy the rifles as much as they collect them. Shooting some of these historical rifles can diminish their value drastically, especially if they have been rarely fired to begin with. Thus, companies like James River specialize in reproducing these rifles so collectors and shooters genuinely interested in the design so we can shoot or even compete with them and not damage a very historically significant rifle.

Kalashnikov USA had two potentially very exciting rifles at SHOT 2017. Unfortunately, the guns that I got to handle were not so great.

Iron Claw Tactical is a Wisconsin based custom firearms company that is coming out with several innovative upgrades for the Kalashnikov platform. Most importantly being their non-rocking magazine well. Kalashnikovs are notorious for the particular method of “rocking” a magazine into place. Iran Claw came up with a magazine well that is bolted to the lower portion of a Kalashnikov receiver. It has a sort of smooth travel ramp on which a magazine rides into place with, presenting an angle at which it can then lock into place. The system takes a couple minutes getting used to, but once it is down, straight magazine changes similar to what many gun owners experience with an AR is very easy to accomplish.

The American company Aeroscraft, founded by an immigrant from Ukraine, and the State owned company  Ukroboronservis will co-operate to produce M4 carbines to NATO standard.

Obviously keying in on the newest trends in tactical sporting rifles and carbines, Kalashnikov is releasing 9mm AK47s that will use proprietary magazines (inexpensive at $30), obviously to compete with the MPX, CZ Scorpion, and the host of 9mm AR15s that have sprung up over the past few years. Similarly, to wrest control of the 12 Gauge AK-platform shotgun market from Saiga and VEPR, Kalshnikov is introducing a Saiga-mag compatible semi-auto AK-platform shotgun. Check the video for more details.

Last year TFB reported about the MPT-76 rifle with some unique pictures from the MKE stand at IWA.