With IDEX 2021, the first major international defence exhibition of the year coming up in Abu Dhabi later this month, FN Herstal have announced a pair of improved machine gun mounts for land and sea vehicles. The FN M3M WM (Weapon Mount) and the FN Light MWM (Multi Weapon Mount).

The highly popular and highly anticipated Big Sandy Machine Gun Shoot is on for March of 2021 at the Big Sandy range in Wikieup, Arizona! Due to scares surrounding COVID-19 in 2020, both shoots were canceled last year along with many other popular gun-related events. However, the 2021 Big Sandy Shoot is back by popular demand and promises to be better than ever.

Various Indian media outlets have reported that the Indian Army has received delivery of the first batch of IWI Negev light machine guns which were ordered back in March 2020. The order for more than 16,0000 Negevs was a part of a series of purchases by the Indian military which saw not just light machine guns but also rifles, carbines and precision rifles.

SIG Sauer have announced the completion of the final delivery of their Next Generation Squad Weapon System prototypes and ammunition to the U.S. Army. The delivery includes finalised weapon prototypes which have been optimised following Army feedback from the ‘soldier touch point’ phase and a shipment of SIG Sauer’s 6.8×51mm hybrid cased ammunition. Uniquely for the program, SIG Sauer’s entire system submission has been developed in-house with no other external partners. So SIG Sauer’s homogenous system also includes their own suppressors.

SOFWERX, in concert with USSOCOM PEO-SOF Warrior (PEO-SW) has announced they will be hosting a Lightweight Machine Gun – Medium (LMG-M) Virtual Industry Day to foster the development of the new machine gun sought by US Special Operations Command.

Photo Of The Day and we are looking at an SG-43 Goryunov Machine Gun. It uses the 7.62×54mmR cartridge and was introduced during the Second World War, in 1943, to replace the M1910 Maxim.

Today’s Photo Of The Day features the Netherlands Korps Mariniers lead slinging sled! Unveiled a few months ago, the sled has an FN MAG 7.62x51mm general purpose machine gun mounted at its center.

FN Herstal has recently been commissioned by The German Bundeswehr to supply heavy machine guns for their fleet of NH90 helicopters. The NH Industries NH90 is a medium, twin-engined helicopter for multi-role military missions, and has seen combat in Mali, for instance.

Indian small arms procurement is a complex business. Not only is the Indian Army extremely large, standing at around 1.2 million men, but it also has a complex procurement structure and an indigenous small arms manufacturing base that has failed to provide weapons that meet the Indian Army’s requirements.

“Photographs open doors into the past, but they also allow a look into the future.”
– Sally Mann

Israel’s IWI recently made a significant flex with the posting of a photo of their Negev light machine gun production line. The photo features Negev LMGs for as far as the eye can see. Posted simply with the caption: “Just another day in the office, NEGEV production line”

The Ministry of Defense of Georgia and the US Embassy in Georgia have published news articles telling about a US-funded program of equipping the Georgian Defense Forces with 600 M249 SAW light machine guns. The program includes a two-week weapon familiarization course for the Georgian military personnel conducted by US advisors. Half of the course was dedicated to field training held in the Krtsanisi training center and included various drills and target engagements at 100 to 600-meter distances.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves discusses the history of the M60 machine gun and some of its little-known advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, James reviews reports from the U.S. Army that discuss the effectiveness, range, accuracy, and reliability of the M60. We also look at tests pitting the M60 against its bitter rivals from FN, including the M249 SAW and the M240 or MAG58. While the M60 has been mostly replaced, was this the best idea?

With the  Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program underway, the US army is considering changes in squad size. Working with the basic assumption that introducing new weapons might mean a change in optimal squad organization, the Army’s Maneuver Battle Lab recently revealed that they have commenced a study tackling the issue. While it is uncertain if any change will result from the study, the army had already indicated that the size of the squad will not fall below 9 men.

A visit by Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan, to Textron Systems’ Hunt Valley facility near Baltimore, MD gave us some fresh photographs of Textron’s new Next Generation Squad Weapon program prototypes. We have two photos, one of a Textron employee discussing the program while holding Textron’s NGSW-Rifle prototype and another showing both the NGSW-R and NGSW-Automatic Rifle prototypes.

Lots of progress has been made this year in the 3D printed firearms world. We’ve seen the printing world go from just a few parts here and there to having guns that are almost completely made from 3D printed materials. The development group AreWeCoolYet (AWCY) recently reached out to me regarding their Scz0rpion project.

Hello and welcome back to another weekly edition of  The Rimfire Report. This weekly series explores anything and everything rimfire. The guns, ammunition, sports, history, and stories from the rimfire world are discussed here, and what a vast and expansive subset of firearms culture it is! This week we’re going to talk about the theoretical maximum amount of fun you can have with the humble 22LR round – a belt-fed 22LR.

As you can see, the M2 is air-cooled and feeds from a belt. It fires from a closed bolt, using the short recoil principle.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves visits Surefire’s gun vault and looks at an incredibly rare find: The Surefire MGX. This light machine gun or “LMG” is something like the mix between an Ultimax 100 machine gun, an AR-15/M16, and a Stoner 63. This LMG has almost no recoil due to the timing of the recoil mechanism and the function of its operating system. And at the time this video was published, only TWO of these guns have ever been made. Check out today’s video if you like content about uncommon full autos.

Textron Systems, one of the three vendors in the running for the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program held a media panel earlier this week. The panel was lead by Wayne Prender, who is Textron’s Senior Vice President, Applied Technologies and Advanced Programs.

Its been a little while since we last saw Textron’s Next Generation Squad Weapon prototypes but with the  2020 Annual Meeting and Exposition coming up Textron have released a new promo video.

Photo Of The Day – The ramp gunner in the mighty Sikorsky CH-53G helicopter. Initially, the German CH-53Gs had two 7.62×51mm MG3 machine guns in the side doors, but they have been replaced by heavier .50 BMG M3M/GAU-21 machines guns, one in the door and one on the ramp, depending on the mission, of course.

AG-026 (АГ-026) underwater machine gun was developed by  TsNII TochMash along with other Soviet amphibious weapons such as the APS (АПС) assault rifle and SPP-1 (СПП-1) pistol. Although all of these guns are rare firearms, the pistol and rifle are relatively more common and better known as they were adopted by the Soviet military. The AG-026 machine gun was never adopted and has always been a mystery with very scarce information and a few pictures available. During the ARMY-2020 exhibition, TsNII TochMash for the first time ever displayed this gun among other rare and prototype weapons they have developed over the years. Additionally, they released the following short video showing this unicorn firearm.

FN America have confirmed that the US Army has awarded them a contract to deliver an unspecified number of new M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. The contract is due to be fulfilled by 2025 with deliveries set to begin soon.

Welcome back to another installment of our series of articles dedicated to firearms consigned and sold at the largest American auction houses. Last time,  we took a look at some of the most obscure guns found in the catalog of the September 2020 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction. The auction took place from September 11th to 13th, as scheduled, and today we’ll see what were the most expensive lots that went under the hammer during the September 2020 Rock Island Premier Firearms auction.

TFB’s Photo Of The Day is where you can discover the World of firearms through the lens of a camera. Every day we run a few selected pictures with a short story and a credit to the person behind the lens. Today we’re looking at soldiers with the Negev, a light machine gun in 5.56×45 mm, developed by the Israel Weapon Industries (IWI).

During the  ARMY 2020 exhibition, Kalashnikov Concern has revealed the prototype of a new belt-fed 5.45x39mm light machine gun called RPL-20. Earlier, in an  interview given to RIA Novosti news agency, Dmitry Tarasov, the CEO of Kalashnikov Concern, said that that based on the field testing of RPK-16, the Russian military formed new requirements for an LMG which were the base of starting the development of RPL-20. This new LMG is however significantly different from the RPK-16 and the ammunition is probably the only thing these two guns share.

The U.S. Army reports that for the first time an additively manufactured item has been qualified and provisioned for production. While not as cool as a suppressor or other 3D printed accessories, the humble M249 Sight Adjustment Tool is an important milestone. Moreover, it contributes to saving money, which doesn’t hurt.

Machine gun shooters and fans will be disappointed to hear that this year’s Big Sandy machine gun shoot has just officially been canceled. With the cited reason being similar to that of the cancellation of the Spring 2020 shoot – COVID-19. Although those who have registered for the March 2020 shoot will miss out yet again on the October shoot, they will be credited for the next shoot which at this time is TBA for some time in 2021.

There are many good ways to flex on people at the range or on social media. You may choose to show off night vision equipment like TFB writer Nick, mountainous piles of suppressors like Editor-in-Chief Pete, or reveal an alarming amount of thigh meat like short shorts aficionado and town drunk TFBTV ringleader, James. A more common firearms flex, however, is simply to use nice guns. Custom Glocks? Classic. A SCAR Heavy in 6.5 Creed? Not cheap. A Barrett fifty-cal? Head-turning. But consider a bit more flashy option…