#Handguns

The French National Police and Gendarmerie Nationale law enforcement branches have recently posted a solicitation for a submachine gun chambered for a 9x19mm Parabellum round. The solicitation was placed on Boamp.com, a French government run contract posting website. Specifically (as much as Google Translate will tell), the solicitation is for an entire suite of carbines, specifying 2000 submachine guns, 600 “training” replicas, blank firing adaptors, training devices, and interestingly enough, suppressors.

The Armed Forces of the Netherlands will be receiving an order of 10,000 9x19mm NATO Gen 4 Glock 17s with the latest contract announced by the Dutch Ministry of Defense as reported by the Polish magazine Mil Mag. This comes after an initial purchase of 6,300 Gen 4s in the fall of 2016. Previously the Dutch were armed with the Browning 9x19mm Hi Power up until 1994 when they were replaced with Glock 17s sans a forend mounting rail. Glock 17s destined for Holland are specifically marked “NL” as a serial number prefix.

Asian Defense News recently published a compilation of high-quality photographs lifted from various Mandarin news sources such as Ifeng and Nownews of Chinese Military Police competing in a skill of arms competition, in Yunnan Province. The literal Mandarin translation of the description was for the chance to become the “Gun King” of the Military Police units involved. Sponsored by the PLA, Wu-jing (Military Police) soldiers used rifles and handguns in a combat marksmanship shoot, in addition to precision rifles shooting at distance and incorporating various tactical exercises. It incorporated load bearing equipment and physical fitness as a stress element. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any video material of the event to have surfaced yet, so we can’t fully comprehend the drills used just from the photographs.

Every year the Singaporean Armed Forces hosts an Army Open House to allow the public to interact with various components of the military. This is similar to numerous other open houses across the world in which militaries display their wares and showcase abilities. However, Singapore is somewhat of a special case because the country is so small, that essentially a good portion of the entire country can get some hands on time with much of what the military has to offer, in one setting. For this year’s Open House, Shepard Media was quick to point out numerous advances in the military’s Special Operations Task Force (SOTF) armament. Specifically identifiable was the addition of Heckler & Koch 4.6mm MP7A1s, and 5.56x45mm NATO HK416s with the SOFT assaulters.  FN Herstal P90s were also present, but these appeared to be regulated to a lesser used role than the MP7A1s. Elcan variable optics and Trijicon RMRs were mounted to the weapons, and a Steiner eOptics CQBL-1 mounted at the 12 o’clock position of some of the weapon systems. Helmet mounted NVGs appear to be one of the MINIE series from Thales Group Angenieux, and a surprising appearance of a MOHOC  helmet-mounted camera system, specfically designed for military operations. The

Series 70 vs Series 80 is a bit of a holy war within the 1911 community. Many purists believe that Series 70 pistols are a superior version of the gun (and they can make a good case for it.) If you prefer Series 70 guns, I have good news: Colt’s Manufacturing Co is now making the Series 70 Competition Pistol.

Previously we looked at examples of long guns out of the Pashtun gun-making village of Darra Adam Khel in the FATA region in Pakistan. In this episode, Miles looks at some of the handgun copies that have emerged from the cottage industries there. We compare Makarov and Beretta copies side by side, in addition to an odd Martini Henry contraption that has since been deactivated. Many of these copies are so well made that it would make most small arms enthusiasts think twice about which one is legitimate and which one was handmade. But most of all, the conditions that these are made in are sure to be admired as the gun-makers lack any of the amenities that most firearms manufacturers or even Western gunsmiths possess.

Coming across this video of female Indian Army soldiers making excellent time with disassembling their INSAS rifles better with one hand than I could with two was very exciting to watch. I’m not a stranger to seeing or attempting a one-handed weapon disassembly, probably the most impressive demonstration I’ve seen was with a Marine Machine Gun Instructor who took apart a Browning M2 single-handedly to show that it could be done with some practice. Looking up on Youtube you’ll find a number of videos of the practice, many of which I’ll share below.

The Firearm Blog has learned that German Sport Guns will be shipping out at least 1,100 of their 9x19mm NATO MP40 pistols to a wholesale dealer in the U.S. Looking at American Tactical’s website, it shows the 9mm pistol available for $649.95, ready for shipping to an FFL. However, we also learned that the MP40s will no longer be coming with their wooden chests, and instead will be in cardboard boxes, unlike their GSG .22 LR brethren that came with the chests. So far we haven’t gotten any word about the SBR version with the under-folding stock. Based on the success of the pistol version, ATI and GSG might release the SBR variant, in addition to kits wherein someone could convert their pistol MP40 once their ATF paperwork came through. In fact, ATI is currently working on trying to get these kits out to the public, pending ATF approval.

Recently we’ve been looking at a number of high-profile developments that came out of Special Operations Executive. Namely the infamous Welrod and Welwyn suppressed devices, and the Norm and Welgun experimental submachine guns. In this video, we take a look at some of the much lesser-known developments of the spy organization during the Second World War. A fully automatic .22 LR Colt Woodsman that had an excessive rate of fire, a hip mounted handgun that was designed to be shot while the user had their hands in the air, some fascinating cover stories that allowed the gunmaker John Wilkes Brothers to modify and repair small arms for SOE, and finally a highly modified and integrally suppressed M1 Carbine. Some of these small arms armed the agents parachuting into Fortress Europe and across lands captured by Imperial Japan, while others barely left the drawing board and served more as experiments of curiosity. However, all of these weapons were indicative of a time when the Allies were willing to throw any amount of effort at even a half-baked idea that would get Hitler or Tojo to surrender their empires quicker.

As a gun scribe, I have been blessed with exposure to a large portion of the market. With various shooting events conducted on a regular basis, my itchy trigger finger gets quite the scratching, but often enough its shooting the same platforms with little tweaks. While I enjoy watching and being a part of the inexorable march of progress and product improvement, often enough the larger domestic brands and larger international brands overshadow various platforms.

While at Latin America Aerospace and Defence 2017 (LAAD 2017), Israeli Weapon Industries released the latest in their line of Jericho handguns. The 9x19mm NATO/.40 S&W/.45 ACP Jericho 941 PL Enhanced handgun is a move towards bringing the Jericho into motion with numerous changes in recent modular pistol design. This includes a flattened polymer frame, interchangable backstraps, a rounded trigger guard, and more picatinny rail-estate on the forend. The 941 PL comes in two sizes, a full size and a compact version. So far the only difference between the two that we can tell is that the full size has one more picatinny cross section and might be somewhat longer in the grip. The handgun comes in Black, Green, and FDE. Offering this handgun in FDE appears to be a first in terms of finish FDE options for IWI as well.

Unlike in the United States, Britain requires that every single firearm imported, produced, or modified on the isle to be “proofed”. This means that at least two high-pressure charges be fired through that firearm before it can be allowed for public sale or usage. Proofing has been an official regulation since the 1600s when numerous Gunmakers put their heads together and asked that a standard be set for their industry. The problem they were trying to solve was that there were too many inconsistencies within firearms of the period and customers were suffering from this through improperly made guns. Today Britain follows the CIP standards set forth by a number of European countries. In the United States we have SAAMI which although is very similar, it isn’t government sanctioned as CIP is.

In what is sure to top the current craze over making music with firearms, Russia’s IPSC Grand Master Vitaly Kruchin outdoes his own performance of taking musicians to the shooting range, by taking the shooting range to musicians! In this example, he is using .22 LR converted Glocks to engage multiple steel plates designed to sound differently when hit, in order to match a classical music piece from Austria. I can’t tell if this piece is more challenging than his previous performance while on a range but either way, both are amazing skills of marksmanship and competency with a firearm. However at that range with .22 LR rounds, I would be concerned with ricochets from bullets bouncing back. Although not entirely common, I’ve seen people get hit and I myself have gotten snagged by small pieces of ricochets from steel at very close ranges. I assume the proper safety precautions were taken in regards to bullets used to prevent such hazards. From RT–

It appears that over 100 Ruger pistols were stolen from a Chicago train yard by gangs in a one-time heist. Apparently, this is becoming a large problem in a city that prides itself on its strict gun control measures with over 150 firearms reported stolen from Chicago train yards since 2013. City leadership seems rather clueless about the root cause of the problem, one alderwomen was quoted as saying “How in the world are these kids getting these guns? I see them on Facebook. Everybody got guns. They can’t go purchase a gun, so where are they getting them from?”

With the Taurus Curve review I highlighted a sort of methodology that I consider central to carrying a handgun for self-defense. Namely being that one shouldn’t rely on a single handgun or holster but instead be flexible when it comes to the situation and attire at hand while still trying to provide as much capability when it comes to firepower and ammunition capacity. Particularly with the Curve we looked at deep concealment options with a handgun, but with the concealed carry shirt, I’ll be looking at deep concealment carry products. We mentioned the ankle holster earlier, but something that I don’t see much actual coverage of is the holster shirt. Many might immediately dismiss this sort of carry as unsafe or ludicrous. I would agree at face value but given a few modifications I believe the concealed carry shirt has its place among the deep concealment options out there on the market right now.