#USArmy
BREAKING: Beretta APX Striker-Fired Pistol Reaches The Civilian Market… In Argentina!
Almost two years ago, Beretta announced a new striker-fired, polymer framed handgun, which they called the APX. Now, the APX has finally hit gun stores… In Argentina. User mithrils of The Beretta Forum uploaded photos and a short range review of his new pistol, showing the on-the-market Beretta APX off to the other members. A section of his review is replicated below:
Shooting during the HOTTEST day on Earth ever recorded: Worst Shooting Experience EVER
Editor says: This post was submitted to us by a TFB reader stationed in Kuwait.
Army Wants Spider-Silk Infused Body Armor
The wards over in Iraq and Afghanistan have taught the military some major valuable lessons on the strategic front including how to deal with insurgency, dismounted operations on a large scale across rugged terrain, and a myriad of other lessons. To each of those is a tactical component, with military across the world recognizing the value of body armor to save military lives and also take them by loading down combatants with too much gear that slows them down and robs them of critical mobility.
An Obscure Birth for the Military Twenty Two: The Forgotten .22 US Army of 1895
What was the first military .22 caliber high velocity infantry rifle round ever developed? Many would name the 5.56mm round designed in the 1950s to that title, but that would be incorrect. In truth, it’s probably impossible to know for sure due to the large number of obscure and even totally forgotten experimental rounds in history, but a very interesting candidate for this title was a development of the United States Army in the last decade of the 19th Century, designed at Springfield Armory in late 1894. The round’s official name was “0.22 Inch Caliber Cartridge for Experimental Arm”, but it has subsequently been called the “.22 Krag”, or “.22 1895 Experimental” by the small circle of ammunition collectors aware of its existence.
BREAKING: US Army CANCELS M4A1+ Upgrade Program
The US Army’s plan to wrap new technologies and commercial off the shelf (COTS) improvements into the M4A1 rifle has apparently been canned. The program, called M4A1+, was originally intended to upgrade the M4A1 fleet with new COTS rails, back up sights, flash hiders, triggers, and other improvements, but it seems the service will push forward with the basic 22-year-old M4A1 design for now. ArmyTimes reports:
BREAKING: US Army's Modular Handgun System Moves Forward, to Downselect to 3 Competitors
The US Army’s Modular Handgun System is slated to move forward, downselecting in August of this year from a reported 12 submitted proposals to only three, in preparation for the final competition. The program solicitation was released in September with a deadline of the 1st of February, but the deadline for submissions was extended to February 12th. Now, it seems the Army is in review of the proposals and is poised to choose the final three entrants, one of which will become the next US military standard issue pistol. IHS Jane’s reports:
How Much Would It Cost for the Army to Adopt the 6.5 Grendel?
This subject has come up in my comments recently, and I thought I would explore it in a post proper. To adopt the 6.5 Grendel (or, as we’ll see, something like it), the US Army would need to develop and procure new complete upper receivers, magazines, buffers, and possibly other small components, as well as the ammunition itself. How much would that cost? It’s impossible to say for sure unless it happens, but with a little napkin-math, we should be able to get some idea:
LSAT 6.5mm Plastic-Cased Ammo, and the Army's Next Small Arms Program
The National Defense Industry Association has released the PowerPoint presentations from 2016 Armament Systems Forum, including Kori Phillips’ update on the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program, which is the successor to the well-known Lightweight Small Arms Technologies program (LSAT). Of special note in the presentation is the program’s decision to explore (and, to an extent, promote) the 6.5mm caliber as a viable option for CT configuration next-generation ammunition. There is quite a lot that could be discussed about this, but I’d like to focus on two pieces of information given to us by the presentation, those being the effective ranges and the weight cited for the 6.5mm CT ammunition, shown by the slides below:
POTD: Caliber Converted SCAR MK17
This photo was posted in a SCAR Owners Group. It is short barreled MK17 caliber converted to shoot 5.56×45. The weapon is used by US Army Rangers and was seen at a Rangers Open House.
The .276 Garand That Almost Was, the T3E2
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:
BREAKING: Army Chief Seeks Purchase of Glock Handguns Instead of MHS, but Is There an Alternative?
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 National Firearms Museum Takes A Look At Rare 9mm Handguns
The National Firearms Museum in Fairfax Virginia is one of the most important collections of small arms in the world, but their representatives also leave the museum and travel to places where they can find firearms that they don’t have in their collection. As part of their Curator’s Corner segment on the NFM Curator’s YouTube channel, the Museum has released two videos filmed at the Wanenmacher Tulsa Arms Show covering some of the rarest of the rare 9mm handguns:
MHS Request For Proposal To Be Released By End of Month?
In the second half of June, we reported that the Army had released a new second draft of the request for proposal (RFP) for the new MHS handgun, now called “XM17”, slated to replace the M9 handgun made by Beretta that has been in use since the 1980s. The latest news on the grapevine is that the Army will release the finalized RFP before the end of the month. Defense Media Network has the full story, part of which is replicated below:
Light Rifle 1.5: A Clarification
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.