#Dmr

There is so much going on in Germany and their attempts to renew the small arms for their Army at the moment. If you think it’s confusing, you have our sympathies and full understanding. First, it was announced that the Haenel MK556 had won the tender to replace the G36, and within less than a month,  the €250 Million order was withdrawn. Until we know what happens next we can only guess, but it seems that the Heckler & Koch G36 is going to be around for a while longer.

Seekins Precision has announced that their DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) rifle which was previously chambered only in .223 Wylde, is now also available in Hordany’s new cartridge, the 6mm ARC. Unlike its .223/556 siblings that are offered with shorter 16″ and 18″ barrels, the 6mm ARC Seekins Precision DMR is equipped with a 22″ barrel to allow squeezing maximum performance from this new 6mm cartridge.

Earlier this year the Canadian government confirmed it would be procuring a further 3,626 C6A1 FLEX General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) from Colt Canada. This large contract is worth CA$96.97 million and was awarded under the Canadian government’s Munitions Supply Program.

The Canadian Army have ordered just under 300 new semi-automatic precision rifles from Colt Canada. The initial order for the new 7.62x51mm C20 is worth a reported CA$8.5 million. We at TFB got our first look at Colt Canada’s new C20 rifle last summer at DSEI 2019, when Colt Canada were kind enough to talk us through the new rifle. Check out that earlier article about the rifle here.

It’s been a while since Vorn Defence got mentioned here at TFB. The Vorn Equipment Fast Access Rifle Backpack written by Nicholas C was the last time, and I really like their quick-release system. If you carry longer and larger rifles and firearms from time to time, or all of the time, you should continue reading. Their new system is called Garm, which in Norse mythology is a wolf associated with Ragnarök, and described as a blood-stained guardian of Hel’s gate.

Sons of Liberty Gun Works, a boutique AR-15 manufacturer, has introduced the Broadsword at SHOT 2020. The Broadsword is a Precision Rifle Shooting focused AR-15. It is specifically designed as a law enforcement marksman rifle, that excels at short range high-pressure engagements.

Back in 2016, Kalashnikov Concern officially introduced the SVCh Chukavin Sniper Rifle (Снайперская Винтовка Чукавина – СВЧ) which was initially called  SVK. The gun was designed to replace the venerable SVD Dragunov Sniper Rifle, however, up until now, there was no information concerning in what scale and when it is planned to be supplied to the Russian military. In an interview given to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Sergey Urzhumtsev, the chief engineer of Kalashnikov Concern, told that within the next two years, they will start the mass production of SVCh rifles which will be delivered to regiments throughout the Russian military.

Hakan Spuhr has been thinking about his new project off and on since 2012. Best known for his Spuhr optics mounts, accessory interfaces and the in-line G3 stock, recently adopted by the Portuguese Navy and the Swedish Army and Home Guard, Spuhr has now unveiled the concept model for his latest project, his attempt to improve the AR-10 platform.

NOTE: We previously reported that the Tavor 7 might be fielded as a designated marksman rifle for the IDF. However, according to our source at IWI, the prior article we cited from the Jerusalem Post contained misleading wording with comments from IWI taken out of context. They have advised that there are no formal plans for the IDF to formally adopt the Tavor 7, at least not yet. While the IDF is considering a compact DMR and it seems that the Tavor 7 bullpup would fit the bill in that respect, the Tavor 7 has not been selected for fielding at this time. The below is a version of today’s earlier article that has been corrected to more accurately represented the present facts.

From 2019 Česká zbrojovka (CZ) will offer their 7.62x51mm BREN 2 BR (Battle Rifle), to military and law enforcement customers. The rifle was officially launched back in September, check out Vlad’s right up on it here. Now we have some new product photos to take a closer look at the rifle.

At the Arms & Hunting 2018 exhibition, Russian TsKIB SOO has introduced the civilian version of the OTs-129 designated marksman rifle. The civilian rifle is called MTs-566 and it is largely a copy of its military counterpart. Let’s see what interesting features this rifle has.

As part of France’s continuing small arms modernisation the French Army has announced the search for a new semi-automatic marksman’s rifle to replace the ageing FR-F2 bolt action sniper rifles. This is a requirement that has been rumoured for some time.

A recent flood of images from the excellent Turkish defense armaments based Twitter account Aybars have revealed that Turkish infantrymen are receiving the latest variant of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 as a Designated Marksman’s Rifle. To be clear, this isn’t the first time that the new Turkish service rifle has been configured and issued in the DM role to frontline units, but it is certainly the most advanced attempt by incorporating a new scope, dedicated bipod, Turkish made 3E EOS LIRIL 300 laser designator, and possibly match ammunition. One of the scopes that have been in use for some time was a variable power Schmidt & Bender, however, in these new photographs, it appears that a Bushnell LRS 4.5-30x 50mm has been mounted in place of the previous optics in use. Gone is the Grippod that is still prevalent on numerous MPT76s in service today.

On the heels of the USMC’s effort to field 15,000 more Heckler & Koch M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles, as well as the M38 Designated Marksman Rifle variant, The Firearm Blog has received a copy of a 2016 report intended to justify procurement of accessories and additional M27s to fill a need for a special purpose rifle (SPR). The report documents a test conducted at Quantico, Virginia, by the Product Manager, Infantry Weapons Product Management Office (PdM IW). 9 M27 IARs were tested, each firing 2700 rounds over the course of the test. Notably, the Lead Engineer and Assistant Product Manager for this test was the recently-retired Salvatore Fanelli, who worked at Heckler & Koch in the early-mid 2000s.

In the late ’50s, there was a need in the armed forces of Soviet Union for replacing the rifles deployed in sniper and DMR roles. By that time they were mainly using scoped Mosin-Nagant, SVT and SKS rifles. All these rifles were outdated and they needed something new that would better integrate with the newly adopted assault rifles.