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“Caliber”. It can mean a lot of different things, but when we use it, what does it really mean, and what’s its significance?

I don’t consider myself more than a hobbyist when it comes to ammunition – I reload a little, play around in SolidWorks a bit, and read dry, dusty tomes full of other people’s hard work collating every minute detail about ammunition. I’m, frankly, an ammo nerd, but not really a true expert. Once I began writing, however, I found that very few people are ammunition nerds, at least in the same way that I am.

The US trials that led to the adoption of the first standard issue military selfloading rifle are together one of my favorite parts of small arms history. Recently, Forgotten Weapons’ van Dyked and ponytailed founder and host Ian McCollum got a chance to handle one of my personal “holy grail” firearms, a T3E2 .276 caliber Garand rifle. His excellent video overview (including disassembly) is embedded below, and some further discussion on my part follows that:

Well, sort-of-not-really, although it makes for a pretty great title. The Bendix-Hyde Carbine was in fact one of the nine prototypes initially submitted to the Light Rifle program (not to be confused with the Lightweight Rifle program  that is the subject of my ongoing serie s), and it’s in many ways the most interesting one to me. First, though, a brief overview of George J. Hyde, the brilliant designer who invented it:

The concept of a stockless – or “bullpup” – rifle has been around since the very dawn of the 20th Century. It was invented in the United Kingdom, the country with which it still is most closely associated. After World War II, the concept began to gain traction, but bullpups saw their greatest success in the 1970s and ’80s, being adopted by Austria, Britain, France, Singapore, and many other major nations of the world. However, in the modern military market, the concept’s popularity has declined. The questions of why, and how designers can create more competitive military bullpups are the subjects of this article.

After criticizing the Army’s Modular Handgun System program last week, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley spoke again about the program, further refining his desire to select not just any new pistol, but specifically to piggyback Army purchases of new handguns onto  SOCOM procurement of the Glock 19. Via SoldierSystems.net:

The Taurus Judge is not the first .410 caliber revolving shotgun-handgun hybrid, but it has been by far the most successful pistol of its kind. Despite being a heavy, bulky weapon that holds a mere 5 rounds, the Judge can be found in most well-stocked gun stores, and its suitability for personal protection has become a hotly debated topic on internet forums.

Why do some cartridges burn barrels more than others? What makes a smaller-caliber, higher velocity round toastier to your bore, and how can you compare one caliber to another in this respect? While it’s not the whole answer to this question, today we’re going to talk about a major component to this equation, and that’s heat flux.

For me, one of the great joys of being a firearms hobbyist is introducing someone new to the community. I have never been a professional instructor, but I consider it a public service to give my time to a new shooter to help them safely and accurately use the weapons they own or may soon own. Besides safety and marksmanship, though, there’s also helping a new shooter to economically and successfully purchase the weapons they want and need, so they can enjoy the sport with as little regret as possible. To that end, I’ve come up with a few tips for the new gun buyer on how to get the most bang for their buck when buying new guns. It should be noted that Alex C. created a similar list at the end of last year, but his was explicitly geared towards the collector, whereas mine will target a broader audience of new gun owners. I will attempt to create as little overlap between the two as possible, and my readers should definitely click that link and take a look at Alex’s excellent advice for collecting. With that out of the way, let’s begin.

This post was written as a companion to an upcoming Gun Guy Radio podcast, hosted by Ryan Michad. The discussion below will be expanded upon in the show when it’s released later this month, but for now, read on to learn more about the past, present, and future of infantry weapon calibers!

In the comments section of  my 6.8mm SPC article last year, I was asked what I thought about future infantry small arms. This is a subject that has dominated my thinking over the past several years, and much of the historical research I have undertaken has been in service to forming a better picture of the current state of small arms and how to improve it.

If you read the previous two installments on how to order from the CMP, then you have a good idea about how to get eligible, fill out your paperwork, and send in your packet for a Field- or Service-Grade M1 Garand rifle. Now what? Once the waiting is done, and your rifle arrives at your doorstep, you have received a shiny new example of Patton’s “deadliest rifle in the world”.

After the Wednesday round of the 2016 SHOT Show, I sat down for an evening of quiet work, to finish up a few articles I had from the day’s show-trekking. Less than an hour later, I was standing in a crowd at Battlefield Vegas, watching a Chieftain tank crush a sedan.

Since the announcement that Fabryka Broni is seeking to import the MSBS modular rifle into the United States civilian market, there has been a great deal of discussion about the relationship of the MSBS to the Remington ACR or Magpul Masada. The two rifles are very similar, similar enough that I’ve previously referred to the MSBS as a “Masada derivative”, but I wanted to take a closer look. Therefore, at the 2016 SHOT Show, I took a look inside both rifles, to compare their similarities and contrast their differences. I found that, while there are conspicuous similarities that previously led me to believe the MSBS is a Masada derivative, there are also a great deal of subtle differences that suggest more convergent development based on similar requirements and design philosophy – and likely cross-pollination of a few ideas –  than the Fabryka Broni team picking up where Magpul left off.

The M1 Carbine is a weapon that, although popular with shooters and soldiers alike, has been unfairly dismissed in the broader context of the development of the modern assault rifle. Although initially fielded without select-fire capability, the lightweight and handy M1 Carbine was a surprisingly capable weapon, able to perform the combat roles of both the full-size infantry rifle and to a more limited extent the submachine gun, out to short distances. Its development would foreshadow the post-war assault rifle, and both it and its cartridge would become a model for several post-war intermediate caliber assault rifle projects in France, Belgium and elsewhere.