#7.62X51

Previously, we looked at the Breda Model 39, an Italian rifle that competed against what would become the Beretta BM-59 in a bid to be the Italian military rifle of the 1950s and ’60s. TFB friend Trevor Weston sends along more photos of three Italian rifles that are not well known today. The first two are Beretta-made licensed-produced copies of the 7.62mm  SG 510-4 rifle, the more conventional one being the first Chilean contract rifle of 13,000 made by the company for that country. The other is a Beretta-made “improvement” of the 510, called the BL-62, with a combined buttstock and pistol grip.

Putting .308 into a bullpup rifle is no easy feat. While many companies are working on a solution, it seems that K&M Arms is getting close to a solution with their updated M17S based design.

Daniel Defense has released its highly anticipated 7.62mm rifle, the DD5V1. It features a 4-bolt mount for the front handguard that is integral to the upper receiver forging, and a cold-hammer-forged barrel.

At this point, I’ve written relatively few articles about small arms design in general, due to my time going to a certain other writing project. However, small arms design and theory has always captivated me, since the beginning of my interest in firearms. Ian McCollum’s recent Forgotten Weapons video about the CMG-3 has really excited my interest, as the Colt machine gun design is a virtual incarnation of “best design practices”. The video, which includes disassembly and shooting segments, is embedded below:

The woes continue for famed gunmaker Heckler & Koch. Apparently, the Bundeswehr’s procurement of the new HK121 7.62x51mm machine gun, designated MG5, has been delayed significantly, though the reasons why are vague.  DW.com reports:

On Saturday, I reported that the Bundeswehr has purchased 600 HK417/G27P rifles and 600 MG4 machine guns to replace/supplement G36 rifles on the front lines. The initial run of German language-articles, especially when translated, appeared to say that these purchases were the initial buy in a program to replace the G36, which is not the case. Unfortunately, my reporting did nothing to clarify that these purchases are supplementary to the G36 fleet – similar to the purchase of the HK417 by the Australian Army, and 7.62mm LMT MWS rifles by nations like the UK and New Zealand – not the Bundeswehr’s first steps towards an all-7.62 fleet of rifles.

In a surprising move, the German Defense Ministry has accepted an order of 600 new rifles and 600 machine guns to replace the troubled HK G36 that was savaged by scandal earlier this year. Their choice? The 7.62x51mm HK 417 rifle. The Local reports:

Royal Armouries’ Trevor Weston recently sent me an email with some details relayed to him about a little-known Italian rifle from the 1950s, the Breda Model 39. This firearm was apparently intended to compete with what would become the BM59, among other weapons trialed by the Italians at the time, but stands out as having a very “commercial” appearance, with a classical shaped, fully-encased receiver reminiscent of a Winchester or Remington shotgun. Everything I know about this firearm comes from my email conversations with Trevor, in which he relayed information from one of his sources to me:

Two weeks ago, Janes reported that production of the Turkish MPT-76 rifle had begun. The rifle is a 7.62mm caliber derivative of the German HK417 rifle, itself a derivative of the AR-15 series of rifles. The MPT-76 inherits the operating rod mechanism of the G36 through its German parents, but differs from the HK417 in some details of the handguard mounting system and the receiver.

A video was released by Patrulha Policial (Police Patrol) on YouTube. The video appears to be from the body camera of a Brazilian officer, in a helicopter, observing a runaway suspect involved in a high speed pursuit with other Brazilian officers. The sniper next to him appears to be using a FAL.

ABM Ammunition has released two new loads for the .308 Winchester, utilizing parent company Berger’s 185gr Juggernaut bullet, an OTM designed for both tactical and target use. The two new loads are likewise each optimized for tactical and benchrest purposes, with one loaded outside the OAL restriction necessary to fit in .308 Winchester magazines. From the press release:

Russian special forces were spotted recently in the Russian republic of Dagestan, which has been experiencing an insurgency recently. The commandos were equipped with at least two foreign weapons, an HK417 7.62x51mm rifle with an impressively large suppressor, and an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare sniper rifle, caliber unknown, also suppressed. The video from War Clashes is embedded below:

Nikon has proven that not everything in the .308 or larger caliber world has to be that expensive. They have just released their P-308 riflescope, a dedicated BDC-reticle optic with 4-12x zoom and a 40mm objective lens. The BDC-800 reticle is specifically set-up for the .308 WIN 168-grain HBT Match bullet at 2,680 fps.

This is the zeroeth part of a series of posts seeking to describe and analyze the 7.62mm Light Rifle concept promoted by the Americans, and subsequently adopted by NATO in various forms. This series will cover development from before World War II to the present day, but will focus primarily on the period from 1944-1970, which constitutes the span of time from the Light Rifle’s conception until its end in the United States with the standardization of the M16.

Project SALVO’s experiments with multiple projectile ammunition did, surprisingly, result in the production of service ammunition. The 7.62mm M198 Duplex round was an attempt to improve the short-range combat effectiveness of the M14 rifle (so far as this author knows, it was never linked for use in the M60 machine gun – ED: Commenter Bud Harton mentions that it was linked for use in the M60, and this has been confirmed by other sources), but the fundamental limitations of duplex ammunition remained, and it was never successful. Eventually, the improved hit probability rifle would be realized in the .22 caliber AR-15, adopted as the M16 before the Vietnam War.