Two thousand twenty-three is here with a bang, and we’re right into the action with the Royal Saudi Special Security Forces and Green Berets from the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Here they perform a daylight exercise alongside 19 Royal Saudi Special Security Forces (SSF/SOF 6), during counter-terrorism training at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky. This happened in December last year.

Have you taken your vitamins today? As you know vitamins have several important functions for your well-being. Some say vitamins are almost as important as your daily dose of TFB’s Photo Of The Day, and we agree of course. So here’s another dose of important pictures, but instead of magnesium, iron, calcium and Omega 3 there’s more lead, brass and gunpowder involved here. Above you see a Green Beret with the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) as he engages long-range targets during the Menton 2022 Best Sniper Competition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

TFB reader Stephan reached out to me recently about the best way to set up his new Beretta M9A4 RDO (Red Dot Optic-Ready) with a red dot. People’s first foray into the red dot optic market can be a daunting thing between deciding which red dot to go with, which footprint said red dot has, and obtaining the right plate if none is supplied with the pistol. In Stephan’s case of the Beretta RDO series, Beretta’s fine print stated that upon registering a new purchase with the company, they will send the owner one free optics mounting plate, while any additionally desired plates cost $29.

It’s not every day you see a Benelli M4 shotgun, especially one with wood furniture and a shortened barrel (SBS). Today’s Photo of the Day comes from Josh Herring of Cotton Branch Custom Firearms, featuring his SBS Benelli M4. You may have already seen some of his other photos with his now iconic rough finished wood table, coat of arms patch of his business, and of course, a customer’s finished product. Josh describes his SBS Benelli M4 below.

TFB’s Photo Of The Day has never been so diversified. Today we have U.S. Marines with the Maritime Raid Force, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, getting their uniforms wet in Japan. Looking above, is this what you imagine Special Forces look like and do every day? I think the firearm may be a plastic gun, what do you think?

Photo Of The Day and we go to Italy to see what mountain warfare is all about. Above you see a U.S. Army paratrooper assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment as he observes an objective. The paratroopers are working together with the Italian Army’s Alpini Brigade as part of the Exercise Summer Resolve in the Province of Bolzano, Italy, in October 2022.

Photo Of The Day and we’re in BPTA, Poland. BPTA is a NATO base located in the eastern part of Poland. Above you see the machine gun doing the talking, as U.S. soldiers assigned to Chaos Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division (3-1 ABCT) provide covering fire for advancing units during the Bull Run live fire exercise in Bemowo Piskie, Poland. It almost looks like a flame thrower over the field.

In this Photo Of The Day, we have members of the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Security Forces Squadron in squad movement exercises at Fort Carson, Colorado, in 2021. More than 30 Airmen from the unit traveled here to strengthen their specialized skills during nine days of field exercises at several different ranges.

TFB’s Photo Of The Day is here again. Each day different images of the fascinating world of firearms, together with a brief explanation and credit to the photographer. Today we have U.S. Army Paratroopers assigned to the Castle Company, 54th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade. They are engaging targets using the M136E1 AT4-CS confined space light anti-armor weapon during a live-fire exercise at Pocek Range in Postojna, Slovenia, in December 2022.

The arctic winter provides few colors, but a muzzle flash will do us just fine. Above you see an Alaska Army National Guard Infantryman assigned to Avalanche Company, 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, in a firefight with his machine gun. This happened during a training exercise near Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in December 2022. The exercise was aimed at enhancing the unit’s combat readiness and evaluating proficiency in an arctic environment.

Winter is coming in this Photo Of The Day, and I’m sure the making of these photos – in the little sunlight given each day – took a lot of freezing. We see Air Force Special Operators from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, as they learn how to survive and fight at the Swedish Subarctic Warfare Center in Grubbnäsudden. The location is near Sweden’s northern border with Finland and a stone’s throw from the Arctic Circle.

One of the purposes of TFB’s Photo Of The Day is to broaden the audience for the excellent work done by professionals like the combat photographers at the  1st Combat Camera Squadron. Here we have soldiers from the Armed Forces of Djibouti (FAD) Bataillon d’Intervention Rapide (BIR) discuss the best plan of attack prior to moving toward an objective during a situational training exercise (STX) in November 2020. The exact location is undisclosed. The Security Forces Assistance Brigade (SFAB) trains the BIR in squad, platoon and battalion-level drills to help them gain experience and improve efficiency.

Photo Of The Day and we begin with a question. “How much is too much air power?” The correct answer is that no such limit exists. Above you see an A-10 Thunderbolt II from the U.S. Air Force, as it releases countermeasure flares over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The image dates from August 2020.

Photo Of The Day and we have some images from the Canadian CF Combat Camera group. We see soldiers from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry mentor Ukrainian recruits during live-fire exercises in the United Kingdom.

What a fantastic time to be alive, and it’s Photo Of The Day time again! We have a great example of an awkward shooting position above, but staying behind a large wheel for protection is great if you’re getting shot at. We see the Canadian C7A2 5.56-mm Automatic Rifle, which is a mid-life program upgrade from the C7 and C7A1 variants. The upgrade came with ambidextrous controls, and a new configurable buttstock all painted in a low infrared signature. There’s also a possibility to fit it with a bayonet for close combat. The weight is 4.58 kg and it fires 5.56×45 NATO ammunition. The Canadians also use the C8A3 Carbine.

Photo Of The Day: These daily articles bring together some of the most eye-catching and visually appealing images on the planet. You won’t find a lot of pictures of sunsets, flowers or tourist landmarks here, instead the photo selection spans from soldiering, firearms, special units, snipers and the odd knife or two. Today we have a Fire Bomb from an Infinity Open Racegun from the recent IPSC World Shoot 2022 in Pattaya, Thailand. The caliber is .38 Super Comp (the official THAIARMS ammo). I found these magnificent pictures in my stream, and the photographer Supoj Chumsana was kind to let TFB share them.

It’s Photo Of The Day o’clock, and we’re going to have a look at the excellent work done by this photographer and the beauty of this John Rigby & Co. Rising Bite double rifle in .500 Nitro Express. Did you know that they are the third-oldest gun making company in the world? Well, now you do!

The definition of a photograph, photo, exposure, or picture is a representation of a person or scene in the form of a print or transparent slide; recorded by a camera on a light-sensitive material. In TFB’s case this usually means a soldier or a firearm of some sort. As you can see here, it’s dark, so the exposures are rather long on the images in this  Photo Of The Day. We’re at the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center, during “night shots” with the 52nd WPW and 32nd AFSAM Sniper Championship hosted by NGMTC at Fort Chaffee, Ark.

The hungriest beast of them all on this blog is our Photo Of The Day. It consumes hundreds of images every month, and it has been doing so for over 8 years. Above you see operators with the Jordanian Maritime Counter Terrorism Team conducting Over the Beach Operations during Exercise Eager Lion 22, which took place in Aqaba, Jordan, in September 2022.

Photo Of The Day: Just before last Christmas I came extremely close to buying a Blaser R8 Carbon Success. I’m still surprised I didn’t go for it, as I’m useless at resisting new firearms and gear. Feel the same? The price could have been what made me think twice, and I don’t even dare to look at what they’re going for now after the price increase(s).

The final match of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 ended several hours ago and Argentina became the world champion. To commemorate the 22nd Copa Mundial, Austrian gunmaker Johann Fanzoj built eight Mauser 98 pattern bolt action rifles each featuring one of the stadiums the matches took place in inlaid on the magazine floorplate and the World Cup on the grip cap.

Photo Of The Day and we go to France, PGM Précision, and the suppressed barrel of their Ultima Ratio sniper rifle in action! This rifle is available in many different calibers, but what you see here is the subsonic version in .308 Win, and the integral suppressor with a 41 cm barrel length. What is unique is that we get to see (above) how the suppressors are working, with the expanding gas leaving the suppressed barrel.

The smallest long-cylinder Biggest Finest Revolver is what we have for today’s Photo Of The Day. Dubbed BFR Thunder Snub, this Magnum Research wheelgun is chambered in .45-70 Government and although it has a 3″ barrel, its overall length is over 10″ and it weighs in at around 3.5 lbs. So it’s small compared to its siblings but it will dwarf any normal snubby. Here is what Kahr Firearms Group (parent company of Magnum Research) said in the social media post where they shared the picture above:

Photo Of The Day: We have some carefully taken pictures of “The 500” by FEGA Master Engraver Tom Harvey. A great gift for anyone into racing and firearms, priced at $18,894! Note the Indy 500 engravings and the custom black and white micarta checkered flag.

Welcome to the heat in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, in yet another Photo Of The Day here at TFB. Above we see U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Cameron Barnes, a reconnaissance assistant team leader with the Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia (MRF-SEA), I Marine Expeditionary Force. He posts security on a beach during the Keris Marine Exercise (MAREX) 23, held in the PiaBung Training Area earlier this year.

Photo Of The Day and what could be better than a few Green Berets opening fire in the Jungle (of central North Carolina)? These Special Forces candidates are doing their final stages of something called Robin Sage. It’s a combination of the name of the town of Robbins, N.C., which is a part of the operations and the former Army Colonel Jerry Sage. Mr. Sage was a World War II veteran in unconventional warfare tactics.

Our Photo Of The Day goes back in time, to The Falklands Conflict in 1982. I wonder how many of our readers were even born then, some 40 years ago? The Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom went on for ten weeks until Argentina surrendered. In total 907 people lost their lives.

The number of internet users worldwide will soon reach the 5-billion mark. Our world has never been so connected. Great photos can spread globally in a matter of minutes, but the story and the necessary context sometimes gets left behind. Not in TFB’s  Photo Of The Day, we will always accompany the images with a background and credits to the maker. Today we are in Operation Mazurka, where we see a Royal Australian Navy sailor taking part in a weapons practice with an F88 Austeyr on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt.

So far it’s been a fantastic year for TFB’s Photo Of The Day. Every day we deliver images of all sorts and today is no exception. We have the Strike Modular Chassis (SMC) by Strike Industries. They claim this is the most modular SIG Sauer P320 chassis in the world – designed in Southern California and tested at various California and Nevada shooting facilities. Above you see it by the components, down to the Loctite, and below what it can look like assembled.

Have you ever tried the CZ Scorpion EVO3? I have, and apart from the trigger, I liked it. This one has had its barrel chopped and it has the drop-in Timney Trigger. I’m pretty far away from this EVO3, but let me say I’m quite interested in trying it out. The Bushmaster stock does give it the look of an FN SCAR-SC in .300BLK, don’t you think?