#B&T

The German EnforceTac 2016 is a two day exhibition for professionals only. Just before the IWA exhibition where the rest of us are welcome, and the fully automatic stuff is well hidden.

An interesting little rifle made an appearance at the CSAAA show in February. Canadian company Wolverine Supplies brought in a sample of the Swiss-made B&T SPR 300. This little bolt gun is chambered in .300BLK, features an 9.8″ barrel and an integrated suppressor. Its got a price tag to match, and will cost your department or unit $8000 to add to the armoury, and that’s before you put an optic on there. Unfortunately the suppressor means that this rifle is only available to Canadian military and law-enforcement buyers.

This photo published in the Guardian shows President François Hollande visiting the Bataclan Theatre where terrorists killed 89 people and injured 200. A reader noticed the B&T MP9 machine pistol being used by the French ‘Secret Service’ officer (GSPR / Groupe de sécurité de la présidence de la République),

TFB friend Lionel attended the recent B&T Police & Military Day 2015 event, and covered some of the products exhibited there. Show host B&T had on display their less lethal ammunition and accessories for 40mm grenade launchers, including vests and grenade holsters. Lionel writes:

TFB friend Lionel attended the recent B&T Police & Military Day 2015 event, and covered some of the products exhibited there. The host, Swiss company B&T (formerly Brügger & Thomet AG), of course brought a large number of products to show off. Lionel writes:

TFB friend Lionel attended the recent B&T Police & Military Day 2015 event, and covered some of the products exhibited there. Regarding Simunition’s booth, he writes:

Later today we will be publishing many photos taken by my good friend Erik. I wanted to highlight this photo of the Brügger & Thomet VP-9 pistol, the first I have seen of the unusual pistol actually being fired. The B&T VP-9 is essentially a 21st century reimagining of the Welrod, the British covert bolt action pistol used during WWII. It is fully suppressed, magazine fed and has a bolt action.

For those looking for some modern Swiss firearms, Brügger & Thomet USA firearms have now been imported and are available. Ethan of Aftermath Gun Club reports:

B&T Industries released in December their BT53 Silo, a novel built-in soft rest for your rifle. The BT53 Silo features “soft” resting points for the rifle on the sides (rubber stripes) and bottom (bean bag). It mounts to the rifle via standard picatinny rails and screws but also has the option via the BT54 flushcup stud for easy donning and doffing.

I’ve kept my eyes open for literature regarding the new Brügger & Thomet carbine family, since I managed to miss their booth at the 2015 SHOT Show. Fortunately, Defense Review covered the rifle at the show, which appears to be essentially similar in operation to the AR-180 and G36 (I haven’t seen any pictures of the bolt yet, but I suspect it’s a Johnson-type multilug design):

B&T AG (formerly Brügger & Thomet AG) of Switzerland have introduced a new sound suppressor targeted at the .380 subcompact market. The suppressor is partnered with a barrel either for a Glock 42 or a SIG P238 pistol. Designed to be smaller than other suppressors, it still offers hearing-safe sound suppression of about 28db (about the same as a pair of ear plugs). B&T has released through their YouTube channel a brief, but satisfying video of the new product:

Gabor, a reader from Hungary, sent us a photo of his B&T APC9. This semi-automatic (consumer legal) version is chambered in 9mm NATO. Earlier this year we reported that importer ARMATI was planning on bringing the APC9 (minus the folding stock) into the USA this year but we have heard nothing from them since March.

Being a gun nut and a traveller, I really wanted to visit Switzerland for a long time. This October I finally put these plans to life, and made a week-long leisure trip across the German-speaking part of Switzerland with my wife. Our main goal was just to see the country (which turned out even much more beautiful than we expected), and my own goal was also to get a taste of the Swiss gun culture. Part of this goal was achieved by visiting two local gun collectors (more about this later, probably), and another part was achieved by using an invitation I received from B+T AG folks during latest IWA-2013 expo in Nuremberg. After some planning, I was offered a factory tour and a visit to a shooting range, and below is my humble report on the event.

Recently, The Firearm Blog ran an article on the B&T VP-9.  There have been a variety of comments and questions regarding the potential sale of the gun in the United States of America.

For those not familiar with the Welrod, I recommend perusal of Anders Thygeson’s site. it was developed by the Birmingham Small Arms company in 1942 to meet a Special Operations Executive requirement for a truly ‘silenced’ pistol that would allow them to quietly eliminate enemy soldiers and assassination targets. The type was supplied to resistance fighters, and a U.S. version was developed for SOE’s American counterpart, the Office of Strategic Services. The name derives from Welwyn Garden City, where SOE were based and, erm, ‘rod’, because the end product resembled a smooth black baton with additional pistol grip/external box magazine arrangement. The suppressor was integrated into the design to ensure correct capture of propellant gases, and it was made essentially bolt-action to prevent any sound from reciprocating working parts. .32 ACP was chosen to keep pressures low, though a 9x19mm variant was produced later. These design choices are widely thought to have produced the most effective suppressed weapon ever conceived, and the type served Britain into recent decades, there being no direct replacement available for this niche weapon. Basic pistol-style iron sights were radium painted for use at night, which poses a challenge for those collecting them today.