Radian Weapons has introduced a new AR-15 charging handle called Raptor-SL. This new product is based on the company’s Raptor charging handle series. Unlike the more common tendency of new charging handles coming with extended latches, the Raptor-SL has latches of reduced length.

Mean Arms, the company known for making the AR-15/AR-10 magazine loaders, has introduced a new product called EndoMag. This is basically a 9mm conversion kit for 5.56/.223 Gen2 and Gen3 30 round Magpul PMAGs. The converted PMAGs will work with standard AR-15 lower receivers and Glock or Colt magazine compatible 9mm bolts.

Mossberg has certainly been spicing it up lately. From magazine-fed 12 gauge shotguns to drop in match grade AR triggers, the iconic North Haven, CT manufacturer is getting some attention from shooters. While the JM Pro trigger is standard equipment on some of Mossberg’s AR15 and AR10 rifles, it is now available for sale as a drop in replacement to any standard AR.

The annual Sniper Competition in Finland is organized by Ostrobothnia Sniper Association – PohTA.

Ballistic Advantage has introduced a new AR-15 upper and lower receiver set. The company calls this product Enhanced Receiver Set. Although these receivers may look like billet ones, they are actually made of custom forgings. As the company says, these receivers: “deliver billet aesthetics in a forged package“.

The Turkish firearm component manufacturing company MERTSAV Defense has recently unveiled an under barrel 40x46mm Low-Velocity grenade launcher, as revealed by posts on Pakistan Defense forum. The launcher utilizes an M1913 Picatinny rail attachment system to marry to the 6 o’clock rail on any rifle so equipped. We don’t know too much about the system, but from the single photograph online it appears that the barrel is under at least 12 inches in length, swings to one side upon opening, has a manual safety positioned just being the base of the 40x46mm cartridge, has a full pistol grip with the barrel latching button inside it, and has a short Picatinny rail section positioned just ahead of the trigger guard and underneath the barrel, on the frame of the system. In the image shown, there is an attached forward grip on the launcher.

A recent flood of images from the excellent Turkish defense armaments based Twitter account Aybars have revealed that Turkish infantrymen are receiving the latest variant of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 as a Designated Marksman’s Rifle. To be clear, this isn’t the first time that the new Turkish service rifle has been configured and issued in the DM role to frontline units, but it is certainly the most advanced attempt by incorporating a new scope, dedicated bipod, Turkish made 3E EOS LIRIL 300 laser designator, and possibly match ammunition. One of the scopes that have been in use for some time was a variable power Schmidt & Bender, however, in these new photographs, it appears that a Bushnell LRS 4.5-30x 50mm has been mounted in place of the previous optics in use. Gone is the Grippod that is still prevalent on numerous MPT76s in service today.

Go ahead, change my mind. But to be clear, I’m referring to the silencer/suppressor world, where slinging heavy lead quietly through a proven semiautomatic platform is a requirement. I resisted the changeover to 300 Blackout for years, believing that 9mm was a universal cartridge that can pull its weight (pun definitely intended) in short barrels at subsonic velocities, whether in pistol or carbine form. Nah, 300 BLK is the king and reigning champ of short to intermediate range silencer bliss and I’m a fool for not adopting it years ago.

Hitting our news desk in January, the Magpul suppressor cover promises to save you and your gear from burns caused by slinging a hot rifle. Even after only a few shots through a centerfire rifle setup, the outside of the suppressor can reach scalding temperatures. The Magpul suppressor cover is designed with a skeleton-like frame that keeps the cover itself at a stand-off distance, creating a drafting effect. The result is a cooler surface that is much less likely to melt clothes or skin.

If you watch the news often, in any country, you’re probably used to seeing heads of state doing silly things on camera. Planting trees, handing off food to the children, dancing with people, flying combat jets…

Sureshot Armament Group has released a couple of M-LOK handguards designed for the Heckler & Koch HK417/MR308/MR762 rifles. These rifles originally come with Picatinny rails or HKey accessory mounting system or combination of both. Let’s take a look at the features and specs of these new SAG handguards.

Our unofficial series of articles showing illegal guns seized in Brazil by LE agencies will continue today with emphasis on the country’s Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state. You’ll see that most of the illustrated weapons resulted from the work of the  Civil Police’s DENARC – Departamento Estadual de Investigações do Narcotráfico, but Brigada Militar, the local Military Police, also contributed to the effort.

Earlier this year, Cobalt Kinetics introduced the Model 27 rifle which has an angled pistol grip that extends rearward and becomes the stock of the rifle. This weapon is 50 state legal. Recently, the company has announced the launch of what they call Forged Upper Conversion Kit which is basically a modified Model 27 lower receiver made compatible with standard AR-15 upper receivers.

Rock River Arms has introduced a new member of the LAR-15 family of rifles – the RRAGE Carbine. This rifle is advertised to provide a look and performance of the more expensive billet and monolithic upper receivers and handguards at a much more affordable price point.

In addition to the many firearms often falling into police hands subsequent to actual confrontations with criminals in Brazil, many weapons are seized on the way to their final, unlawful destinations. Much of this is credited to the PRF – Polícia Rodoviária Federal (Federal Highway Police), mainly along routes coming from bordering countries (e.g., Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina) from which a lot of this illegal stuff come. As you probably know, contraband/smuggling statistics generally reveal that only very small percentages of those are actually seized. What follows, then, is just an overview of recent confiscations so that you may get a general idea of the problems we have here.

JL Billet has developed an AR-15 charging handle that turns the semi-auto AR-15 pattern rifles into a straight pull bolt action rifles. This accessory is called Kali-Key. It is primarily designed for the states with restrictive gun laws.

For this episode, we took a trip to the folks at Battle Arms Development in Las Vegas and were able to get our hands on some of the companies newest rifle entries that were premiered at SHOT this year. The Tanker and the Paratrooper is sort of the manifestation of Battle Arms in the company entering the full rifle market from the parts manufacturing business. They also have a lightweight piece, a .308 rifle, but these aren’t covered as much in the episode above.

Guns of SOCOM, Ep. 1: In this Fourth of July TFBTV special, James introduces viewers to a new TFBTV mini-series, the Guns of SOCOM, which will discuss various firearms that have some relationship to Special Operations Command in the United States.

After a brief hiatus, the infamous Mahama Tactical training team is back in the spotlight again. The group’s former leader, Uzbek national Abu Rofiq was killed a while back and since then the team appears to have lost some key leadership. Since then, a Twitter account under the handle of Salman Belarus started posting older media of the group on April 19th and has continued to grow to include much newer material, in addition to posting about the group coming back into the picture.

Brigand Arms, a company well known for designing  carbon fiber firearm accessories, now offers a new carbon fiber handguard series called Carbon Black. Right now, there are two models of the Carbon Black handguards available: Carbon Black EDGE and Carbon Black BLADE. These handguards were earlier introduced at SHOT Show 2018 and now they are available for purchase.

At this year’s 100th Anniversary of the Azeri Army Parade in Baku, Azerbaijan we were able to get a glimpse of some of the recent developments within the Azeri Armed Forces while on parade. In terms of small arms the most significant observation is the recent introduction of what appears to be a Belarussian manufactured AR15 derivative in 7.62x39mm that we reported on earlier this month. It still isn’t clear where the weapon is made, or if Azerbaijan simply purchased it from BSVT. The country does have a significant manufacturing and industrial base that does support small arms manufacture and development so there could be local production occurring. But without any further details, we can only speculate at this point. A user on MilitaryPhotos.Net who appears to have more information claimed that the nomenclature is “AZTEX” (possibly AZTEC?) but again, we just don’t know enough at this stage.

I came across the images of this AR-15 rifle with an AK-47 underfolder stock in one of the gun-related online communities. Normally, cool images like these are shared all over the Internet and often times it is virtually impossible to find the original source. However, there are always exceptions. I was lucky enough not only to find the man who made this gun but also get the details of the story along with a bunch of photos and his permission to publish them.

Armaspec has introduced a new ambidextrous AR-15 charging handle called Victory. The company takes pride in the design of this product and has incorporated a number of cool features into it. In fact, Armaspec notes that this is a patent-pending product which means they consider the design features to be different and significant enough to file a patent application for. Here is how the company describes this product:

Third Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Tony R.  A pretty clean and straightforward 2-stamp build, with good component choices (IMO, that is).  I don’t have any experience with Holosun, and personally am not a fan of top mounted lights, but this is not my build.

At the 2018 NDIA Armaments Forum the US Air Force detailed some of their current major small arms programmes. One of these was for a new ultra compact Aircrew Self Defense Weapon. This is a compact conversion of standard M4 carbines into a package small enough to be stowed aboard USAF combat aircraft.

Dead Foot Arms recently posted on their Facebook page about a new company called FoldAR that’s releasing a new folding AR-15 rifle. FoldAR uses the Dead Foot Arms Modified Cycle System (MCS) folding stock kit along with a proprietary barrel folding mechanism that allows the user to fold their AR-15 at both ends, making for a very compact setup.

At the beginning of the current year, TFB’s Eric B reported about the release of the Seekins Precision ProComp 10X stock. Back then the stock was available for preorder and just recently the company announced that they have started the shipping of these new stocks. Let me briefly remind you of the features of this stock.

I saw this video on Facebook and it is probably the best explanation of how to reload and use the bolt release I have ever seen. Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch is in the below video explaining the relationship between God & Eugene Stoner.

In Part One of this series George Huang discussed the initial founding of the company and why the Battle Arms Development team excels at problem-solving. In this section, he talks to TFB about why the company wears lab coats at SHOT Show, duel meanings behind the company crest, and the latest products and developments.

A few weeks back I asked the gang from the TFB Gear chat room (chat link is here: https://discord.gg/bcVD9zw) to recommend a few minimalist chest rigs. I wanted a small, light rig for 3-4 AR or AK mags, and the Discord boys made a number of suitable recommendations. I liked the Blue Force Gear 10 Speed for less than $100, but the MOLLE wings made it less minimalist and more mediumist than what I was looking for. I favored the Zulu RSCR, but $150 seemed steep for a 3 mag minimalist setup.  I looked at the Spiritus Micro Fight for $76.95 and thought I had a winner, especially because I love Tropical Multicam, which was one of the many patterns available.