Affable, cheerful and humorous, the doctor appears to be a wonderful real-world example of Marcus Welby – except he carries a gun. His name is Dr. Phil Dater and it might have been his fascination with how things work that led the curious physician to first experiment with sound suppressors in the 1950s, and later in the basement workshop of a hospital where he worked. Given his interest in firearms and his understanding of the scientific method – form a hypothesis, test it through repeatable experimentation and modify accordingly – Dr. Dater naturally took to sound suppressors and has been involved in many of the seminal sound suppressor companies in the modern era. Of all the arcane areas of firearms, suppressors are the most firmly rooted in a “trial and error” design processes because no amount of computers can possibly calculate all the variables at work when a gunshot erupts.

Suppressors have intrigued me too, which is how I’ve come to be sitting in the front row of Dr. Dater’s two-day class on Suppressor History, Technology & Testing conducted at the GSA training contractor, Long Mountain Outfitters in Henderson, Nev. The class is open to anyone, although Dr. Dater insists his students be vetted to assure no one of dubious motivation sneaks in. His information is protected by ITAR regulations, so only DoS qualified foreign nationals can attend and Dr. Dater understandably prefers his competitors to not attend.

Our class consists of firearms engineers, enthusiasts who want to learn what they can, suppressor dealers who want to enhance their sales ability, and several U.S. government employees from various military branches. Unbeknownst to me at the time, a celebrity is sitting in the back of the room, Pulitzer Prize winning author Stephen Hunter.

Dr. Dater displays an assortment of suppressors – “cans” in the vernacular – and immediately makes full disclosure that he’s one of the principals of Gemtech, a suppressor manufacturer. He assures us that his class is non-brand-specific, but that he wants everyone to know he has an interest in Gemtech. “I’ll try not to flog our product as this is not a sales presentation,” he says amiably.

Suppressor Background

Suppressors date to the turn of the century when Hiram Percy Maxim, son of the legendary machine gun inventor of the same name, started the Maxim Silent Firearms Company. Our class later tests one of Hiram’s original cans and surprisingly performs right up with “modern” designs.

Dr. Dater mentions some other famous suppressor inventors such as Mitch Werbell, Mickey Finn, Reed Knight and Doug Olson, pointing out that all of their designs came from trial-and-error experimentation along with scientific and engineering principles. It’s clear he has respect and admiration for these pioneers of silence.

We then jump right into the subject. Dr. Dater explains the basic science of sound. Sound is a form of over-pressure which is measured with a ratio of pressures – reference pressure to measured pressure – expressed in a unit of measure named for another well-known experimenter of sound transmittal: Alexander Graham Bell. The unit is called a decibel.

A gunshot, Dr. Dater tells us, is the sudden release of hot, high pressure propellant gases exiting from the muzzle of a firearm. A second component of a gunshot, the sonic crack, is caused by the bullet travelling faster than the speed of sound, like the sonic boom of a high-speed jet.

Going back to high school physics, Dr. Dater asks the class how to decrease pressure. I brush back the fog of time and remember that pressure is equally affected by temperature and volume. “That’s right,” says Dr. Dater, “If you lower the temperature and increase the volume, pressure decreases. In its simplest form, that’s all a can does to reduce sound – decrease temperature, increase volume.”

Now comes the technical part. Sound is not only a factor of loudness – decibels – but also of duration. Think of tapping your car horn versus an ambulance blaring its siren. The duration of the siren is more damaging than the short toot of a horn, even if they’re the same number of decibels. This leads to a discussion of what constitutes “harmful” levels of sound, which in turn brings us to the U.S. military’s definition of sound measurement as defined in Mil-Std 147 4D.

We will hear a lot more about Mil-Std 147 4D before the class is over. It’s the gold standard of suppressors, the only acceptable measurement of performance. Because the scientific method of trial and error is so important to suppressor testing, having a defined standard like Mil-Std 147 4D is imperative.

Reasons For Suppressors

Thanks to Hollywood, suppressors are widely perceived as only being used by assassins. It may be true that some cans have been used to snipe an enemy (we dropped suppressed .45 ACP rifles to the Resistance during World War II) but in today’s tactical climate, the suppressor has far more benign uses.

With law enforcement switching to patrol rifles such as Colt Commandos, the number one reason for a suppressor is to protect the shooter’s hearing. Additionally, cans serve to enhance command-and-control, confuse or deceive the target, to shoot out street lights or guard dogs on drug raids, to conceal the origin of the shot, muzzle flash minimization and a host of other tactical reasons.

Suppressors are a restricted item in the U.S. because when the National Firearms Act was passed in 1934 in the middle of the Depression, where Fish & Game determined that suppressors were used by poachers trying to feed their families, as well as an unfounded Hollywood stigma that suppressors were for assassinations. The Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army decreed that suppressors are a part of military equipment. Be that as it may, suppressors can be acquired by paying a $200 federal transfer tax and going through all the Form 4 paperwork associated with NFA weapons.

Or, better yet, make one at home. Dr. Dater told the class about experiments with seized and home-made suppressors that he performed with properly calibrated sound equipment at the California Criminalists Institute. First came the oil filter, nothing more than a common, everyday oil filter fitted to the end of a Ruger 10/22. “That one worked pretty well,” Dr. Dater laughed. “We got a 22 decibel reduction.” He tried a sprinkler head with a wadded up piece of cloth inside, a 2 liter pop bottle, a tennis ball can of three balls and, the best of all, a potato. “The potato worked really well, probably because of the high water content, but the bullet came out with what I’d guess was 30 degrees of yaw. Very unstable,” Dr. Dater said.

How Suppressors Work

The reason why potatoes and tennis ball cans don’t work so well is because they’re not addressing the three ways in which a suppressor works. First, a suppressor decreases pressure by increasing volume so that a bullet driven down the rifling of a barrel exits the muzzle into a tube of (ideally) 20 times the volume of the gun’s bore. Second, the tube serves as a heat sink to lower the temperature of the propellant gases, again serving to lower pressure. Third, the internal system of baffles in a suppressor tube serves to create turbulence to delay the exit of propellant gases, again allowing for more heat transfer and volume expansion.

When the bullet leaves a suppressor, just as it would from an unsuppressed muzzle, an “uncorking event” occurs. An uncorking event is the appropriately named term for what happens when a balloon bursts or a champagne cork pops. It’s the sudden release of pressure, the uncorking of the projectile exiting the muzzle crown, which makes a gunshot as loud as it is.

All suppressors rely on these three factors to work. However, there are two main types of suppressors. We’re most familiar with the muzzle suppressor, a pipe-like device that attaches to the end of a barrel but there is also a category of integral suppressors in which the barrel itself is totally enclosed within a shroud.

With an integral suppressor, the barrel is vented with holes to bleed gases into the shroud, which serves to suck away heat, increase volume and stir up turbulence. A good example of an integral suppressor is HK’s MP5 SD. Several companies make Ruger 10/22s with integral suppressors. The advantage is you’re not adding any length to the barrel; a disadvantage is you’re losing a lot of velocity and thereby giving up considerable terminal ballistic performance, plus you can never remove the suppressor. Integral suppressors are generally quieter than muzzle suppressors.

Additionally, a suppressor can be “wet” or “dry” meaning that an ablative agent, usually water or grease, is used within the can to further decrease sound. Dr. Dater noted that some unscrupulous manufacturers rig their testing by pouring water into a dry can to enhance its performance.

Baffle Stacks

All cans look pretty much alike from the outside: a piece of hollow tube. Granted, there’s a lot of engineering in the tube with calculations based on the pressure of the propellant gases to determine the material (steel, titanium, inconel, aluminum) for the tube and its wall thickness. Factors such as hoop stress and yield stress are figured as well.

But tube construction is really not what separates different designs. The baffle stack – the shape and arrangement of a set of washer-like constrictions within the tube – are what make one design work better than another.

Baffles are certainly not new. Hiram Maxim used them. Your car’s muffler uses them. The K-baffle, so named for its cross-sectional shape, was developed in 1909. It features a large surface area for heat dissipation and achieves increased turbulence for “frequency shifting” by acting like the closed end of a whistle or pipe organ. “Frequency shifting” is a phenomenon whereby a sound wave is reflected back on itself to cancel some of the energy, like swirling your hands in a bathtub in opposite directions.

The M-baffle is another type, also named for its shape in cross-section. There’s a coned baffle and a pinched cone baffle. There are concave and convex baffles. There are slant baffles and mysterious sounding Omega baffles. No one type is inherently superior and, Dr. Dater told the class candidly, of the six different brands of suppressors he routinely uses in testing, any one of them can show the most decibels of sound reduction on any given day. “There’s a lot of atmospheric variation,” he says.

So far Dr. Dater has focused on the technology used to suppress the sound of a gunshot, but what if there is no sound to suppress? The idea of silencing the cartridge, not the gun, has long been a focus of Soviet suppressor technology and is called captive piston technology.

Instead of a propellant igniting to create pressure to push a bullet down a rifled barrel, a captive pistol cartridge retains the propellant in a chamber that pushes a piston into the base of the bullet. The “sound” of the propellant igniting is contained within the combustion chamber of the cartridge so it never escapes into the atmosphere.

In practice, a Soviet SP4 captive piston cartridge generates 124.6 dB, which is about what an integrally suppressed Ruger Mk II .22 LR pistol creates.

At The Range

Dr. Dater set up his sound testing equipment at the Desert Hills Shooting Club in nearby Boulder City to demonstrate the theory he’d explained to us with real guns and real suppressors. He started by showing us how Mil-Std 147 4D calls for the microphone to be placed 1 meter to the left of the muzzle, 90 degrees to the bore.

The sound testing equipment itself is highly specialized. The microphone is an LD2530 that’s been certified to a “rise time” of no more than 5 microseconds. The rise time is the time from the start of an event to the beginning of the microphone recording the event – think of it as “response time.”

The microphone is about the size of a pencil eraser and costs $1,000 a copy. It’s connected to a Larson-Davis 800B Type 2 sound pressure meter that in turn is calibrated to a rise time of 20 microseconds. Before any actual sound testing can begin, the unit must be calibrated with another device that produces exactly 400 Hz at 114 dB.

Without this type of precision equipment being properly calibrated and set in accordance with Mil-Std 1474D, any test data is invalid. Some suppressor manufacturers simply concoct “data” from thin air without making any valid tests at all, picking a number that makes their products look good against the competition. Dr. Dater derides such unscrupulous business practices as “specmanship,” the use of fabricated specifications to enhance a flawed product.

As the testing begins, the class experiences firsthand a phenomenon called “first round pop” in which the first round fired registers a higher decibel level than subsequent rounds. This is due to a secondary detonation within the suppressor from superheated, incompletely burned powder entering an oxygen-rich atmosphere. After that “first round pop,” the oxygen is burned off, so subsequent rounds register normally.

The next phenomenon we see in action is how suppressors increase the cyclic rate of full-auto weapons by as much as 200 rounds per minute. This is because the baffle stack in the suppressor delays the gas exit and therefore increases gas pressure back through the gun’s gas port. ARs are known to “run hot” with a suppressor to the degree that gas blow-back through the charging handle can sting the shooter’s eyes, even with eye protection. Accordingly, it’s a good idea to run a PRI “gas buster” charging handle on suppressed ARs.

When the numbers start coming in, we see that sound levels are far more consistent than muzzle velocities. As a longtime handloader, I’m used to chronographing loads that vary as much as 200 feet per second, a significant amount, but the decibel levels from all the guns we’re testing are remarkably consistent. Less than two or three decibels variation isn’t unusual.

The other thing we note is that different brands of 5.56mm suppressors show very little variation. For instance, a Knight’s Armaments M4 QD, SureFire 556K, Gemtech G5 and Advanced Armament M4-2000 were all so close – around 135 dB – that any difference would be statistically irrelevant. We’re talking less than 3 dB difference from the “best” to “worst.”

Which brings us to an important point: suppressor brands shouldn’t be judged solely on their sound reduction. What’s more important are their method of attachment and their point-of-impact shift. Additionally, the dynamics of a weapon are altered substantially with a suppressor making the gun more muzzle heavy, slower to transition between targets and harder to manipulate in close confines. Some brands over-hang the muzzle more than others.

As we shot various weapons – rifles, subguns, pistols, World War II era Welrods, even a pistol used in a murder – several things became clear:

• For pure performance, you can’t beat a .22 LR. The ratio of suppressor volume to bore diameter makes the little rimfire ideal to suppress, along with its low noise signature to start with.
• Suppressors are the world’s best muzzle brakes. Recoil is virtually eliminated.
• Suppressors are great for the guy who hates to clean guns. Dr. Dater says a suppressor should never be cleaned.
• You can minimize the gunshot – the uncorking – but you can’t get rid of the sound from a bolt slamming home or the sonic crack of a bullet. Yes, even suppressed guns make a noise. (The bolt of an M4 slapping home to an empty chamber registers 117 dB.)
• You can’t effectively suppress a shotgun; No Country For Old Men notwithstanding. There’s no safe way to allow the shot column to pass through a baffle stack.

Dr. Dater’s class is a fascinating addition to any tactical shooter’s knowledge base. It’s a classic example of “You don’t know what you don’t know” until you get there and take the highly informative class. For more information, log on to www.longmountain.com.

Linked below via PDF is the RPG Identification Guide developed for Small Arms Review in the October 2010 issue. We have also included the PDF version of the RPG Identification Guide developed for Small Arms Defense Journal magazine. Enjoy!

SAR Identification Series- the RPG Guide

SADJ Identification Series- the RPG Guide

I sat quietly taking notes as the Purchase Description was being reviewed, making sure I would capture the important points. The development of a new rifle for the U.S. Military is not an everyday occurrence and I wanted to make sure I understood all of the requirements clearly. The Government speaker went quickly over the next point. He knew that this one rarely enlisted any questions: “The rifle shall be compatible with the multi-purpose Bayonet and attach securely at the bayonet mounting points.” No eyebrows were raised, no questions asked. And why should there be? It was a foregone conclusion that every service rifle would be configured to accept the standard bayonet.

What does this mean to a designer of weapons? For one thing, whatever had been envisioned or planned for the muzzle area of the weapon was now complicated by design constraints. Any muzzle device, no matter how effective in its current configuration, would now have a 0.86 diameter so that the bayonet ring could pass over and ride securely. The fit would have to be loose enough for a quick deployment yet tight enough so there was no rattle. At a prescribed position aft of the muzzle, the gas block or other appendage would need the special T-configuration for securing the bayonet. This would require chamfered corners for a smooth and rapid connection. The rifle would have to be rugged in the muzzle area as well. When the M14 was in development, testing showed that thrusts with the bayonet resulted in damage to the weapon prompting a redesign. There were but few words in the Purchase Description where the bayonet was mandated, yet in an instant, the freedom of design was greatly restricted.

Why in the world do we need a bayonet anyway, I asked myself? During the break I considered other devices that might be better suited to the end of the barrel. How about a stun gun or a Taser? Maybe a pyrotechnic wire cutter or a laser would be better; something, anything that was more “21st Century.” Surely there must exist some new technology that might carry us beyond these design constraints from which we seem to be forever encumbered? I needed to give this more thought and also made a mental note to check how we got to the point of a never-ending bayonet requirement.

Weeks later, while searching my files and other reference sources, I learned that the first bayonet use was recorded in the 17th century. Riflemen wielding a matchlock rifle were protected by a soldier carrying a pike, whose job it was to keep the enemy at bay long enough for the rifleman to reload. When they closed in on the enemy, the rifleman jammed a special “plug bayonet” in the end of the barrel so he could join the pikesmen in combat when there simply wasn’t time to reload.

In the years that followed, bayonet designs were never very innovative but there was one that is remembered for out of the box thinking. Early rifles needed a ramrod and later ones a cleaning rod, so one designer sold the U.S. on a ramrod bayonet combination design. In 1905 this bayonet received some high level attention when president Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter to the Secretary of War telling him, “I must say that I think that ramrod bayonet is about as poor an invention as I ever saw. As you observed, it broke short off as soon as hit with even moderate violence. It would have no moral effect and mighty little physical effect.” He questioned the need for a bayonet and went on to ask that further studies be undertaken by officers seeing combat in the Philippines and from military attachés who were sent as observers to the Russo-Japanese war. Two American Colonels from the office of the Surgeon General were assigned to accompany the Russian Army in combat in order to study the wounds caused by weapons of modern warfare. Observations on the use of the bayonet would be part of their mission.

The Russian and Japanese armies faced off on three different fronts in battle lines that extended 10 miles, 60 miles, and 80 miles. Nocturnal engagements were frequent and much use of the bayonet was made on both sides, yet the actual number of casualties attributed to the bayonet was a mere 0.3%. In their report, the Colonels concluded: “The experience of the Boer War and that of the present Russo-Japanese war has shown that the bayonet is not yet an obsolete weapon and that we still must reckon with it.”

Reckon with it we did, from the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War right up until the 1950s when the M14 rifle was being developed to replace the M1 rifle, Browning Automatic Rifle, M2 Carbine and M3 Grease Gun. The bayonet used with the M1 rifle did not fit the M14, which got the Army thinking about the requirement for a bayonet. Mr. Amos Bonkemeyer, who was then head of the Light Weapons Section of the Army’s Infantry and Aircraft weapons section, stated the Army “… is considering not using a bayonet with the M14.” This came as a result of a recommendation from Fort Monroe where they reported, “The bayonet is rarely used in combat.” These observations led to seriously consider arming the soldier and Marine with a K-bar knife with no means of attachment to the rifle. This concept met resistance from the troops and eventually the bayonet was accommodated on the M14. The front end of the weapon was redesigned and the stock reinforced to a point where the M14 was tested and determined to be as good as the M1 for bayonet fighting. The M16 that followed met the same requirement.

Resigned to be forever burdened with a bayonet, the Army funded a project to make the bayonet more useful. The soldier needed a saw, a wire cutter, or an all purpose knife far more frequently than those combat situations that required him to affix a bayonet to the end of his rifle. In 1973 a project was funded to develop a multi-purpose Knife-Cutter Bayonet that would perform multiple tasks and also be effective as a fighting tool. A contract was awarded, designs were conceived, and a number of prototypes were built for field trials. Just as the multi-purpose M14 rifle that preceded it, the Knife-Cutter Bayonet proved once again that a product that makes design compromises in order to do multiple jobs ends up doing none of them very well. Their overweight designs were not able to cut double strand barbed wire and were too cumbersome for most practical uses. At the time these studies were undertaken, men had already been sent to the moon, yet these developers were overwhelmed by the challenge to develop a multi-functional bayonet, their final report stating: “Development was terminated when it was concluded that it was beyond the state of the art to develop a single item encompassing all the features stated as essential.”

Only one year after the first “new rifle for the military” meeting, I found myself in a carbon copy of the first meeting. It was another new requirement, this time for a carbine that would also require the accommodation of a bayonet at the muzzle. When they reached the point in the purchase description that would cover the bayonet I thought once again about Teddy Roosevelt, the Russo-Japanese War, Stun guns, Tasers, and Lasers. I turned to a combat veteran next to me and whispered, “Why are we doing this again? Do you guys really need a bayonet?” The answer was short and profound. “George, when the soldier’s weapon no longer works for whatever reason, the bayonet is his last remaining means of defense.” Gee, I never thought about it like that. I don’t feel so bad though. Teddy Roosevelt didn’t get it the first time either.

“If we describe an all-volunteer force of warriors who share the core values of honor, courage and commitment and who are renowned for their professionalism, expertise, innovation, and superior physical fitness, you would be hard-pressed to decide whether we described Marines or SOF (Special Operations Force) operators. We found plenty of common ground to build on, but … the question at the heart of the issue is what is a MarSOF warrior” MARSOC Information paper

It defies logic that United States Special Operations Command did not include the Marine Corps until a little over four years ago. All the more so because the Corps is arguably the most nimble, aggressive and experienced component of the U.S. Armed Forces in the dirty and demanding business of fighting “small wars” in remote corners of the world.

Marines, also colorfully known as Leathernecks and Devil Dogs, are proud to be major players in more conventional aspects of the Global War on Terrorism, launched by the U.S. and allies following the murder of thousands of innocent Americans in horrific suicide attacks by Islamic extremists on September 11, 2001. But, until recently, SPECOPS missions against freedom’s many foes have been the exclusive domain of soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Lucky for USSOCOM – and not so lucky for bad guys around the globe – the puzzling omission of the Corps, with a long and rich history of success in expeditionary warfare and home to hard-charging, superbly trained Marine Force Recon, was corrected by President George W. Bush.

In October 2005, Donald H. Rumsfeld, the Bush administration’s Secretary of Defense, directed the formation of a 2,500 man Marine Component to serve with USSOCOM. Four months later, on February 24, 2006 Marine Corps Special Operations Command, led by Major General Dennis Hejlik, was formally activated at Camp Lejeune, NC.

Fast, Steep Climb

MARSOC immediately moved forward at double time with a small but highly motivated headquarters staff, drawn primarily from personnel who became available following deactivation of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism). Urgent demands of the GWOT necessitated building force structure and conducting initial operations at the same time, which one insider said was like “painting a car while driving 50 miles per hour.”

The Foreign Military Training Unit (FMTU) was the first fully operational element, tasked with hands-on training as well as conduct of Foreign Internal Defense missions to assist friendly nations struggling against terrorist networks.

FMTU was fortunate to have quickly attracted a heavy concentration of experienced and capable NCOs with proficiency in relevant foreign languages and ability to effectively teach a wide range of practical military skills. It grew to two companies, began taking on some Unconventional Warfare/Foreign Internal Defense taskings, and its teams regularly deployed to train and advise several developing countries engaged in counter-terrorism operations.

Hejlik, appearing before a congressional committee in January 2007, noted with pride a particular success that followed MARSOC assistance to the African nation of Chad. A major assault the previous year by Islamist rebel forces advancing on the capitol was stopped and pushed back, he said, by two battalions of the Chadian military that had been trained by FMTU teams.

With FMTU’s expanding and evolving role came a name change to Marine Special Operations Advisor Group, and it has most recently restructured to become the Marine Special Operations Regiment’s Headquarters and its 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion, both close to MARSOC’s flagpole aboard Camp Lejeune.

Door Kickers

The Corps’ Force Reconnaissance companies – repeatedly proven effective for the most demanding missions launched from land, sea and air – were essential assets in the fast and steep climb to full operational capability. In the months after the activation of MARSOC, the structure and personnel of both 1st and 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company transferred to MARSOC to form the 1st and 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalions. Both MSOBs retained their traditional home bases, with the 1st at Camp Pendleton, California, and the 2nd at Lejeune.

In the beginning, all operators in these “tip of the spear” companies already held the 0321 Reconnaissance Man MOS (military occupational specialty), designating them as elite Recon Marines. The current training pipeline for what are now called Critical Skills Operators (CSO) accepts experienced Marines and Sailors from any MOS who can meet a long and serious list of requirements. Graduates of the Individual Training Course may eventually receive an Additional Skill Identifier signifying qualification as a CSO, but for the time being a special code on their training record notes this achievement.

Marine Special Operations Teams are the basic building block for highly flexible and tailorable employment in a wide array of taskings. Marine Special Operations Company structure calls for four Teams, each usually consisting of 12 Marines plus two Navy Corpsman, all qualified CSOs with a common set of capabilities and each having additional special skills.

Teams usually deploy as part of a task-organized MSOC that is augmented by detachments from Marine Special Operations Support Group. MSOSG specialists provide necessary skill sets such as EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), K-9 working dogs, targeted intelligence, sophisticated communications, and others.

Operational tempo for these first two hard-charging battalions – colorfully known as “door kickers” for the Direct Action part of their mission capabilities – started fast and quickly grew. The first Marine Special Operations Company stood up in June 2006 and deployed to GWOT in December with 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). Their role was similar to the MEU’s Maritime Special Purpose Force, well equipped and manned with specialists in the conduct of maritime interdiction, deep recon, direct action, and close quarter battle.

Security requirements necessarily cloud details of most subsequent missions but cross-referencing various sources reveals the number of operational activities rapidly increasing each year, most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. By March 2009, the third anniversary of MARSOC, Marine Special Operators were regularly deploying for dozens of missions in support of Operations Enduring Freedom Afghanistan, Philippines, Horn of Africa, and Trans Sahara. The number and variety of deployments continues to grow and task forces are operating in at least four of USASOC’s Theater commands including Central, Europe, Pacific, and South.

Essential Training and Support

Providing intensively trained operators to round out all twelve “door kicker” companies in the regiment’s three battalions is the responsibility of the Marine Special Operations School. Building on the structure and field work of 1st and 2nd Special Missions Training Branch, MSOS was activated in June 2007 at Camp Lejeune.

Informally known as the “schoolhouse,” it is tasked to screen, assess select, train, and certify Marine Special Operations Forces. It also has responsibility for doctrine development and serves as the proponent for evaluation of weapons and optics used throughout MARSOC.

In October 2008, all Marines seeking to become MARSOF Operators began attending Individual Training Course, an in-depth training program that covers required culture, technical, and tactical skills. The grueling seven month program of instruction gives all operators the same baseline training.

After graduation, most report to the Regiment where they will undergo further specialized training based on the unit that they are assigned to. Others will first go on to more advanced training in language and other skills like Airborne, SCUBA, and emergency medical care.

(Editor’s Note: Part two of this series will take a close look at how MARSOC’s Critical Special Operators are trained in high-stakes weapons handling and employment, as well as other critical combat skills.)

Marine Special Operations Support Group provides combat support and combat service support to MARSOC units. A Logistics Company handles food, fuel, ammunition, heavy transport, maintenance, and other essentials. A Support Company provides communications, K-9 and control elements for external sources of heavy firepower. Plans call for a full spectrum of intelligence capabilities to dramatically expand with formation of a dedicated Intel Battalion.

With its organizational structure in place and the number of assigned personnel trained and performing at acceptable level, MARSOC announced in October 2008 that it had achieved the remarkable feat of full operational capability.

Worldwide Reach

“In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed to secure victory.” Sun Tzu, THE ART OF WAR, ca. 500 BC

As directed by the Commander of USSOCOM, MARSOC deploys task organized, scalable, and responsive U.S. Marine Corps special operations forces worldwide in support of combatant commanders and other agencies. While MARSOC’s contributions are not dissimilar to some in other components of USSOCOM, they are strongly influenced by the unique culture and character of the Marine Corps:

• Foreign Internal Defense (FID) – Providing training and other assistance to foreign governments and their militaries to enable the foreign government to provide for its country’s national security.
• Counterinsurgency (COIN) – Those military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency.
• Security Force Assistance (SFA) – Operations, actions or activities that contribute to unified action to support the development of the capacity and capability of foreign security forces and their supporting institutions. Also, the augmentation of a foreign security force or its supporting institution in order to facilitate the achievement of specific operational objectives shared with the U.S. government.
• Special Reconnaissance (SR) – Acquiring information concerning the capabilities, intentions, and activities of an enemy.
• Direct Action (DA) – Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions taken to seize, destroy, capture, recover or inflict damage in denied areas.
• Counter-Narco Terrorism (CNT) – Military capabilities that support domestic law enforcement agencies and foreign security forces to counter activities that aid, benefit from, or are related to drug trafficking.
• Additionally, MARSOC is developing capabilities in Unconventional Warfare (UW), Counter Terrorism (CT), and Information Operations (IO).

Building future capabilities

At the end of February, 2010, MARSOC’s roster listed 1,965 Marines, 180 Sailors, and 124 civilians. This puts the command at better than 90 percent of the 2,500 personnel currently authorized. Intensified recruiting efforts within active and reserve units of the Marine Corps and Navy are underway to fill specialized MOSs in the Support Group, as well as to encourage those with the potential to become Critical Skills Operators. There is talk of an increase in the number of Individual Training Course classes to boost quantity without diminishing quality.

Under Major General Paul Lefebvre, MARSOC’s third commander, who succeeded Major General Mastin M. Robeson in November 2009, MARSOC continues reshaping and reorganizing to better balance the capabilities of MARSOF and its operator/support ratio. Standardization of the three MSOBs under the Regiment, establishment of an Intelligence Battalion and other important initiatives in the Support Group, are designed to enable a long term relevant special operations force with greater agility and self sufficiency in the execution of direct and indirect missions.

Under Construction

Evidence of some $700 million in construction projects underway was inescapable during our visit in early 2010 to MARSOC at its central complex at Lejeune’s historic Stone Bay. While an imposingly large and modern looking headquarters building, opened for business in November 2009, stood tall but alone among capacious parking lots and acres of recently-cleared land, construction crews were hard at work in several nearby locations.

A master plan drawing shows a sprawling campus with numerous specialized ranges, shoothouses, tactical training areas, armories, logistics centers, motor pools, helipads, and much more. These, along with the excellent infrastructure and air/land/sea geographical advantages of MCB Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River, as well as tactical and strategic airlift assets at nearby Pope Air Force Base, provide most everything needed for training, launching and sustaining global-reach special operations.

Marine Corps Warriors

“The MARSOC Marine secures victory by going forth with our allies to fight the next battle before it begins.” (MARSOC recruiting video)

So, what is a MarSOF warrior? How does he differ from other Marines?

Answers to these fundamental questions were provided by MARSOC in a particularly detailed information paper that was published in the Marine Corps Gazette’s August 2008 issue and excerpted here with MCG permission:

Whether deployed as part of a joint special operations task force, a Marine MSOC or MSOT, or as a task-organized enabler detachment of just a few Marines and corpsmen, our silent warriors are strategic and tactical force multipliers. They must be able to operate in austere environments far from the combat service support generally available to Marine Corps forces.

For example, a key distinction between MSOCs and traditional rifle companies is that MSOCs deploy to an area of operations in order to find, plan, and execute missions independently rather than to conduct a preplanned mission. Such missions can range from direct action and special reconnaissance one day to foreign internal defense or unconventional warfare the next based on intelligence gathered and opportunities identified. This does not require a better Marine, but it does require a Marine with a unique combination of skills, experience, traits, and specialized training.

To succeed at the range of specialized missions they will conduct, MarSOF Marines and corpsmen must be multilingual, compassionate, determined, mature, team oriented, culturally aware, physically fit, capable, disciplined, independent, experienced, and mentally fit. Many of these qualities are developed during initial Marine Corps training; others are honed during deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of operations throughout the GWOT.

Learn More

MARSOC has an excellent website, with information on all aspects of this vital “tip of the spear” component at www.marsoc.usmc.mil.

Up Next

SAR visits MARSOC’s “schoolhouse” for a look at special operations weapons training. Our report includes conversations with some of the battle-hardened Marine NCOs who have been brought in from muddy-boots operational deployments. These men have a critical role as Instructors in the Individual Training Course and some follow-on Advanced coursework. Don’t miss it!

(SAR extends special thanks to MARSOC’s Public Affairs Office for exceptional assistance in arranging interviews and photo opportunities during our visit, then following up with much additional information and graphic elements.)

By Christopher R. Bartocci

In the late 1950s a new rifle was developed that would change the entire concept of the battle rifle. Although the U.S. Ordnance Corps had no vision to see it, history was in the making. Eugene M. Stoner while working for ArmaLite, a division of the Fairchild Engine and Aircraft of Hollywood, California, developed the AR-10. Taking his experience in the aircraft industry he replaced traditional wood stocks with new synthetic materials and changed from a traditional steel receiver to lightweight aircraft aluminum considerably decreasing the weight of the weapon. Another innovation was the use of a direct gas system instead of the traditional piston operating system. His design was very radical for that time. With the M14 nearly already adopted, the 7.62x51mm AR-10 was submitted to compete. As expected, the M14 was adopted but the AR-10 was noticed for being abnormally accurate for an auto-loading rifle. From there the AR-10 was cast into the bottomless scrap heap of the not invented here weapons of the U.S. Ordnance Corps. Although a request from the Air Force would have the AR-10 scaled down to .22 caliber and the birth of the AR-15 would go on to revolutionize the battle rifle and have a more then 50 year legacy of the longest serving U.S. rifle in history, the AR-10 lay dormant. That was until Gene Stoner teamed up with C. Reed Knight Jr. of Knight’s Armament Company (KAC) and went back to work on his AR-10 that he never had quite given up on. However, there had been several improvements to the M16 series and he would carry many of them over to his updated AR-10 and developed the SR-25. The acronym stood for Stoner Rifle and added the 10 from the AR-10 with the 15 from AR-15.

Introduced in the early 1990s the SR-25 shared 60% parts compatibility with the current issue M16A2. Funding for the SR-25 development came through commercial sales. As first introduced, the rifle had a 24 inch Remington 5R rifled barrel. At that time, KAC was the only company Remington would sell these precision barrel blanks to. The Match rifle was designed specifically to fire factory 168 grain open tip match ammunition. With this ammunition Knight guaranteed that every rifle that left his Vero Beach facility would fire at or less than one inch at 100 yards and he was willing to prove it by sending the target with every rifle. The original rifles used AR-10 magazines but Stoner would redesign the magazine and improve it giving it a more familiar M16 look. The rifle used the newly introduced integral rail flat top upper receiver so optics could be mounted in line with the shooters eye. The bolt carrier group would retain the original chrome plating and this would go on to be a KAC trademark. The upper and lower receivers were serialized and fitted for precision fit and the SR-25 had a free floated barrel using a carbon fiber handguard. The rifles were not mass produced and when one thinks of Knight’s Armament Company a standard is set for the finest weapons in the world where state-of-the-art meets old world craftsmanship. Stoner continued to improve his design until his death in 1997. Unfortunately, Stoner never saw his new rifle to be finally accepted by the U.S. military as the Mk11 Mod 0 sniper rifle, which would equip the most elite soldiers and sailors the world would ever know.

The Mk11 had some departures from the original design to meet the SOCCOM requirement. The rifle was designed to fire the M118 and M118LR match grade 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition and the Obermeyer barrel was shortened to 20 inches and equipped with a mount for a quick detachable sound suppressor also developed by Knight’s Armament Company. The 11.35 inch Rail Accessory System free floating handguard provided quad Mil-Std-1913 rails enabling attachment of any given number of accessories including night vision, lasers, tactical lights and bipods. The standard M16A2 stock and pistol grip are used for parts commonality. A flip up front sight was added to the gas block as well as KAC’s fully adjustable back up iron sight was also added. The rifle was equipped with 20-round magazines, a Leupold Vari-X mil dot scope with detachable rings and a Harris bipod. The Mk11 weighs 15.3 pounds unloaded and has an overall length of 45.4 inches long. The Mk11 would see action with U.S. Special Operations troops all over the world.

Knight’s Armament Company is first and foremost a defense contractor so commercial weapons were rare and due to the manufacturing process and quality they are very expensive. However, some did trickle down to the commercial market. In 2009, KAC introduced a new rifle, the SR-25 Enhanced Match Rifle. This rifle is a commercial version of the MK11 with the addition of the new URX free floating handguard that was designed for use on the M110 SASS (Semi Automatic Sniper System), which is replacing the M24 Remington sniper rifle in the U.S. Army.

The 20 inch barrel is the same as the one used on the Mk11. Through the evolution of the SR-25, the upper receiver was originally made from an aluminum extrusion; now the current rifles use forgings. The fired cartridge case deflector is now integral in the receiver rather than attached to the rail. Keeping with the tradition of the AR-10 and Gene Stoners expertise, no forward assist was added to the SR-25 family of weapons. The URX (Upper Receiver Extending) handguard as noted previously is a complete free floating handguard with a built-in folding front sight. When folded it acts as additional rail. The gas block has a section of rail on top of it as well as the mounting bracket for the QD sound suppressor. The rifle was supplied with three rail protectors enabling the rifle to be held and shot without a bipod. The upper receiver was also equipped with the KAC fully adjustable folding back up sight.

The bolt carrier group has gone through changes over the years. KAC has improved upon the chroming process and one of the finest features of the bolt carrier is the captive firing pin retainer pin. The carrier uses the standard M16 carrier key. The bolt has remained very similar to the original design with the major enhancement being to the extractor and ejector.

The lower receiver has most certainly gone through evolutionary changes. The area to the rear of the magazine release was machined down similar to the standard M16 making the button easier to actuate. The original SR-25 used a plastic spring guide, whereas the new rifle has an actual buffer. The standard M16A2 buttstock is used. Added to the left side of the receiver is an ambidextrous magazine release that can be reached by the trigger finger of a left-handed shooter. The trigger is the KAC designed two stage trigger which has an excellent crisp pull. The first stage is 3 pounds and the second breaks at around two pounds. The bolt catch has been redesigned from the original design. Originally it was a standard M16 bolt catch but with heavy use it proved not to be strong enough the take the weight and halt the 7.62mm bolt. KAC developed a stronger bolt catch.

The SR-25 Enhanced Match Rifle weighs 10.4 pounds with an overall length of 39.5 inches. The barrel is 20 inches long. Using GI issue M118LR (175 grain) match ammunition produces a muzzle velocity of 2,560 feet per second. The rifle is supplied with a 20-round magazine and an operator’s manual as well as a safety lock.

The test and evaluation rifle provided was just what I would have expected from Reed Knight. A precision rifle held to the highest craftsmanship and modern manufacturing standards. The rifle was not provided with an optic. Everybody has a different idea of what the best optic is and KAC lets that be up to the customer. Some additional magazines were procured and the rifle was tested with the new Magpul LMag and the C-Products 20-round steel magazines.

The ammunition used for testing was provided by Silver State Armory. Function testing was done with Silver State Armory M80 Ball (SSA10084-150FMJ). Accuracy testing was done with two different Silver State Armory loads. First was the 168 grain Sierra open tip match (SSA10084-OTM) and the second was the 175 grain Sierra open tip match (SSA10084-M118LR). The cartridge cases are manufactured by Silver State Armory to match specifications and their powder blends are proprietary and chosen for the particular load. Silver State Armory is known for their manufacturing of match quality ammunition in 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 6.8mm Rem SPC and a few others. They specialize in military calibers.

The barrel of the rifle was cleaned every 20 rounds with no malfunctions in 140 rounds that were fired. Targets were fired at 100 yards and both the 168 and 175 grain match rounds produced groups that averaged .45 to .75 inches – just as guaranteed by KAC and the target they provided. With the low round count I would expect the rifle to shoot even better if the barrel was broken in. The M110 will be with the U.S. military for quite some time.

The SSG 08 is a new marksman bolt-action rifle intended to replace the aging Austrian sniper legend Scharfschützengewehr 69, or SSG 69; a weapon still shooting true and in demand world-wide despite 40 years since its debut.

The new rifle has nothing whatsoever in common with its famous predecessor, except maybe for a cold-hammered free-floating barrel and the fact that the magazine is of an exchangeable type. The new SSG 08 is actually a further development of the SSG 04 developed four years previously and, contrary to the martial name, the SSG 04 was more of a hunting rifle than a military or law enforcement weapon despite the all black furniture and a Harris bipod capability. Technically, both the SSG 04 and 08 are almost identical, and both stem from yet another of Steyr’s hunting rifles line; the Pro Hunter. The difference between the two is mostly in the furniture, which is side-folding aluminum for the SSG 08. The receivers and magazines are identical and perfectly interchangeable. This was proven true during testing at the shooting range at Kleinraming, Austria where the world famous Steyr-Mannlicher GmbH is now located. Both SSG 04 and 08 rifles do shoot – and very precisely at that – with exchanged bolts and magazines. The other difference was a new muzzle device; but recently the SSG 04s are also available fitted with the new model muzzle brake.

Safe Bolt System

In contrast to the SSG 69, the new rifles are built around the modern Safe Bolt System actions, deemed one of the safest bolt-action systems available worldwide. It’s been over-engineered to the point of providing absolute safety to the shooter even with catastrophic failures brought about by brass failure or shooting with an obstructed bore. The massive bolt head not only supports the case head, it encompasses it. Along the bolt a long, spiral gas-ditch is cut, also serving as a scrub-groove, or space into which debris can fall from the bolt-way in the receiver to avoid hindering the bolt.

Both the SSG 04 and SSG 08 feature the same roller-style manual safety, patterned after the earlier Steyr hunting rifles. The safety control is a plastic roller set on an axis perpendicular to the bore and placed on top of the stock, behind the bolt, within easy reach by the firing hand thumb. The roller is easily turned, but at the same time, protected against accidental releasing from SAFE to FIRE. There are three safety settings: FIRE, SAFE and LOCKED. Each is marked with a highly-visible mark. At LOCKED, everything is shut off, – neither bolt handle nor trigger can be moved. At SAFE, the bolt can be handled and the rifle can be loaded and unloaded, but the trigger mechanism is blocked. Only at FIRE can the trigger can be pulled and the cartridge fired.

Tailor-Suited to the Customer’s Demand

The Steyr-Mannlicher SSG 08 is obviously an important step towards creating an optimal precision rifle; not only for military or police marksmen, but also for civilian precision-shooting competitors as well. The folding stock offered also on the civilian market offers them at long last the opportunity to fit the long rifle into a somewhat shorter case, better suited to the average trunk width. However, even with the longest, 600-mm (23.62 in.) barrel, the folded rifle would be under 1 meter (3 ft) long. Only with the precision-crafted aluminum furniture can one trust putting a folding buttstock on a precision rifle. The butt itself is fitted with a variable-height monopod, and both the cheek-piece and butt plate are fully adjustable in both height and angle – all that comes as a standard feature. Additionally, the pistol grip is fitted with recently fashionable exchangeable portions, adjusting the size and shape to the shooter’s hand. The SSG 08 has a pistol grip with exchangeable front and back straps. There are three of each in the set, as well as an insert to plug the internal cavity, converting it into a handy compartment for small items like spare batteries for reticle illumination.

Contrary to the SSG 69 with its rotating Schönauer-type exchangeable magazine, the SSG 08 has a simple staggered row box-type magazine for 10 rounds (or 8 rounds of .300 Winchester Magnum). These are fully interchangeable with 10-round magazines offered earlier for the SSG 04 or Pro-Hunter – but will not take their shorter magazines.

Today, accessory rails govern the usefulness of a rifle and the SSG 08 addresses this quite admirably. The European variant has a 280-milimeter long UIT-style bipod slot rail on the bottom, and there are four strong-points at each side for bolting additional shorter Picatinny-compatible rails on the sides. There are two rails (one shorter, one longer) in the set and four points each side to attach them, which gives plenty of room for placing needed extras along the fore-end.

There is also a Picatinny rail for sight attachment on top of the receiver. The shorter barreled version features an extended monolithic receiver with an extra-long Picatinny rail on top, reaching the front limit of the fore-end. This type of receiver (even forged out of aluminum instead of steel like in SSG 08) would make the weight excessive with the longer barrels, so the long-barreled model has a different receiver along the classic lines with a shorter rail on top.

This rifle is fitted as a standard with a US-made Versa-Pod bipod, which can be mounted using two alternating methods: either with an integral bipod mounting pin imbedded into the front part of the fore-end and protruding under the barrel, or – using a special adapter – anywhere along the UIT rail slot in the fore-end’s bottom. The rifle is delivered with an abundance of extras and add-ons, including a full-length plastic case and ergonomics kit.

Testing

During tests at the company’s shooting range in Wiener Neustadt near Vienna, the accuracy was very impressive. This rifle shoots straight. A big leap towards that impressive accuracy is the barrel manufacturing method: these barrels are cold-hammered on a mandrel. This makes the metal internal surfaces at the same time harder and smoother than after traditional rifling, making it less corrosion-prone and enhancing the friction-resistance. All of these make for a longer barrel life. Some people say that hammering barrels is not a good idea, that cold-hammered barrels are strained and therefore unpredictable. These people should have a go with this rifle – we did and the results speak for themselves.

The SSG 08 is very handy, and can be tailor-suited to the shooter, but one should take care not to overdo it. Before one starts to loosen the myriad of screws keeping all the jig-saw parts together, one should read the manual first and consider the influence of each adjusted parameter on the accuracy. This would be a long read (the manual is a thick, very nicely edited book), but it would help to spare oneself an embarrassment. At the least, don’t try to adjust more than one thing at the time. It would take much time to find the factory settings anew.

The receivers of the SSG 04 and SSG 08 are identical, but the furniture is different – classic rifle stock with no separate pistol grip for the SSG 04, and much better handling folding butt aluminum furniture for the SSG 08. The latter also offers better bolt handle and safety roller handling. The magazine is quite long, and the magazine well is rigidly mounted in the stock. The SSG 04 had a replaceable magazine sleeve, enabling it to alternate between use of 10-round and also the shorter 5-round magazines. Both magazines, short and long, are held in the weapon by small plastic hooks integral with the magazine bottom, and hooked into recesses in the magazine well (or magazine well sleeve) mouth. The SSG 08 has a long magazine well, and therefore it would not take the short magazines. Actually, to be more precise, it will take the magazine, but the cartridges in it would be halfway down the magazine well, out of reach of the bolt.

The SSG 04 has a Harris bipod and the new SSG 08 has standardized the Versa-Pod model. This looks like a move in the right direction, especially with the addition of the bipod pin in the fore-end face. It moves the bipod axis closer to the bore and the rear monopod stabilizes the rifle even further. The only annoying thing with this stock is the ultra-stiff swivel catch springs. The sling swivels are ambidextrous and can be mounted on either side of the rifle, but the springs keeping them there are so stiff that it takes a considerable amount of hard labor with both hands to tear the swivel out in order to replace it – and then some more to hammer the thing against the pressure of the catch again. But, you only change it once in a lifetime so that’s really quite a desperate attempt at finding something (anything) fundamentally wrong with this rifle. The Steyr-Mannlicher SSG 08 is one of the best tactical rifles money can buy. A lot of money, to be sure, especially as the dollar plunges against the Euro making the price skyrocket up to $5,899. But there’s plenty to be had for that money, and this is a really cost-effective buy, with many extras included in the price. The metal stock is a unique design, very functional, and a rock-solid hinge is able to withstand a great amount of abuse. For handling ease in transport it can only compete with bull-pups – while offering much better handling in firing trim.

There is one absolute “Must-See” military museum in the Jakarta area in regard to small arms. It has amazing dioramas on the first floor, but once you find the basement full of small arms, and the back yard full of cannon, mortar, recoilless, vehicles and aircraft, it will be worth the trip. The upper floor of carefully made dioramas showing important events in Indonesian military history is carefully displayed and well crafted. The downstairs held a lot of surprises in that hundreds of small arms were on display. We found examples of most of the common small arms of the pre- and World War II era, but there were many treasures of local origin or adaptation that have never been shown outside of Indonesia. Heading back outside, there is a large cannon display with many historic pieces, and an aviation display as well. If you are in Jakarta, it’s definitely worth a side trip to spend time in this museum. The next IndoDefence Jakarta is scheduled for 10-13 November, 2010.

Museum Satria Mandala
(Armed Forces Museum)
14-16 Jalan Gatot Subroto
Kuningan Timur Village
Jakarta Pusat, 12710
Phone: +62 21 522 7949

A good photo review of this museum can be found at: www.aroengbinang.blogspot.com/2007/02/satria-mandala-museum.html.

Weighing in at only 7.2 ounces including the recoil device, with a diameter of only 1.25 inches, the Gemtech Tundra more resembles a rimfire suppressor than a 9mm suppressor. If it first seems a little small for the task at hand, any initial skepticism is overcome as soon as the first round is fired.

The suppressor we received for testing and evaluation was mounted on a Glock Model 17 as a host firearm. Since the factory Glock 17 doesn’t have a threaded barrel we consulted with Lone Wolf Distributors of Oldtown, Idaho, USA. A threaded, drop-in replacement stainless steel barrel was selected and installed. Lone Wolf is one of the few Gemtech recommended barrel manufacturers for suppressor mounting.

Even with the tiny diameter of the suppressor, the factory sights are still slightly obstructed. With very little practice the factory sights can still be used with great effectiveness due to the low profile of the Tundra but we chose to mount a Green Lasermax Unimax laser sight to the factory rail in front of the trigger-guard on the pistol. The combination of the laser and the factory sights make fast target acquisition a simple process.

The Gemtech Tundra is manufactured from high tensile aluminum and finished in either a Flat Dark Earth (FDE) tan hardcoat anodized finish or the standard black hardcoat anodized finish. Both are YAG-Laser engraved for fast identification.

The Gemtech LID-8

One of the most visually distinguishing characteristics of the Gemtech Tundra is the “divoted” grip-area at the rear of the suppressor, which resembles the pattern on a golf ball. This section is machined to allow users the ability to tighten or adjust the suppressor with heavy gloves or in wet or slippery conditions. This grip-area is directly in front of (toward the muzzle) the Linear Inertial Decoupler (LID-8).

Since many semiautomatic firearms are based on the Browning design where the barrel tilts on unlocking, it has historically been a challenge to overcome the extra weight and tension placed on the end of the barrel by installing a suppressor. As finicky as some of these firearms can be with specific types of ammunition, magazines, springs, or even heavy use or poor maintenance, something attached to the barrel itself can be a big factor to maintain reliability.

In the past, recoil boosters, often referred to as Neilson Devices, have been used to counter the additional weight and drag created by adding a suppressor to the barrel of this particular firearm design. The Neilson Device is used to increase the recoil energy of the firearm to “force” everything back into alignment and function properly. It accomplishes this task by utilizing a “piston” on the end of the barrel and acting like hammer. Although these have worked well for several applications, when not properly installed or correctly “tuned”, the additional recoil has the ability to damage the firearm.

The Gemtech LID-8 uses a different principal to aid in overcoming the additional weight and mass of the suppressor. Without the aid of a piston or a necessary “hammering” to keep everything in alignment, the LID-8 actually allows the suppressor to momentarily free-float after firing, and disconnect from the inertia during the unlocking and locking sequence.

Although the function of the LID-8 is extremely effective and sounds quite complicated, the mechanism is simple to use and maintain, and even offers an additional advantage; The LID-8 can be indexed with absolutely no tools to fine-tune the accuracy of the pistol/suppressor combination. Since adding sound suppressors to a barrel (or adding any muzzle devices for that matter) have the ability to affect the point of impact, it creates a situation where a firearm may need additional sight adjustment when the device is added. In extreme cases the point of impact shift can be so severe that a different point of aim is necessary to compensate for it.

To fine-tune the relationship between the Tundra suppressor and the host pistol all you need to do is fire a small test group and note the point of impact. If it is not the same as the point of aim drop the magazine, clear the chamber and make certain the pistol is unloaded. While holding the pistol with one hand, lightly pull the Tundra grip surface away from the pistol about 1/4 inch and rotate 1 click while slowly releasing the grip on the suppressor. The suppressor can be rotated in either direction. Load, fire a test group and make notation of the point of impact. Continue this process until you achieve the desired point of impact. We fine-tuned the Tundra suppressor to the same point of impact as it shot without the suppressor and removed and replaced the suppressor while retaining the same zero.

Ammunition

While the effectiveness of a suppressor is truly realized when used with subsonic ammunition, we opted to shoot two popular types of ammunition during our testing. The first was the standard commercially available Winchester 115-grain FMJ, which represents a popular round, used by recreational shooters or heavy shooters where a budget is a factor. Often available in 100-round bulk packs it functions well in most pistols and is reasonably priced. Since it is not a subsonic round it is not nearly as quiet as the heavier ammunition, but we found it to function without failure and firing with the absence of hearing protection was comfortable and well below the threshold of pain. The second type of ammunition utilized was standard 147-grain Federal Hydra-Shock. We wanted to test the effectiveness of a truly subsonic round as well as the performance and function of this popular hollow-point. It was extremely quiet and also functioned without failure of any type. The Tundra was tested both “dry” (as designed for) and “wet” by adding a commercial available suppressor coolant. Performance in every capacity was exceptional with both methods.

Conclusion

The Gemtech Tundra is not only well designed and effective; it is small and light enough to keep the end user quite aware of its exceptional performance. It is well balanced, and comfortable when mounted, and the ability to index the Gemtech LID-8 for additional fine-tuned accuracy only adds to an already impressive system. The fact that no tools are necessary for disassembly, maintenance, cleaning or even changing the LID-8 for different firearms is a big benefit that should not be overlooked. With all ammunition used, both wet and dry, everyone present who had the opportunity to test the Gemtech Tundra expressed it was a positive experience. After handling the Gemtech Tundra it is no surprise that it has already been purchased and placed in use by the U.S. Army and other government agencies. Although we chose a Glock Model 17 for our testing platform, the Tundra is available for Beretta, Smith & Wesson M&P, SIGs, HKs and other popular combat handguns. No matter what your capacity or necessity for a compact effective 9mm sound suppressor may be, it is the opinion of this writer that the Gemtech Tundra will not disappoint.

Gemtech Tundra Specifications

Caliber: 9mm Parabellum (9x19mm)
Length: 7.6 inches (193mm)
Diameter: 1.25 inches (31.75mm)
Weight: 7.2 ounces (203gr)
Materials: High tensile aluminum alloys
Finish: Matte black or FDE hardcoat anodized
Price: U.S. $699

Sound Suppressors
Gemtech
P.O. Box 140618
Boise, ID 83714
Ph: (208) 939-7222
Fax: (208) 939-7804
www.gem-tech.com

Threaded Replacement Barrels
Lone Wolf Distributors
57 Shepard Rd.
Oldtown, ID 83822
Ph: (208) 437-0612
www.lonewolfdist.com

Unimax Laser Sights
Lasermax
3495 Winton Place, Bldg. B
Rochester, NY 14623
Ph: (800) 527-3703
Fax: (585) 272-5427
www.lasermax.com

During the spring and early summer, NFA transfer questions came to the NFA-TCA by the hundreds. I am always amazed at the sheer number of individuals that are not only given, but gladly take, bad advice in their quest to find yet another shortcut to getting an NFA item. In many cases it is under the guise of trying to save a few dollars; knowing all the while that the process is risky. Let’s put a fine point on this: there are no shortcuts. The quickest and most efficient way to transfer an NFA item is to do it correctly, completely and legally – the first time.

An NFA Revocable Trust, plain and simple, is a legal instrument designed to protect specific assets, especially in the event of your untimely demise. It is also a sophisticated legal instrument that can have an enormous impact upon whether or not you stay on the right side of the law. Why on earth someone would want to entrust that protection to a process that has been intentionally short cut, is beyond me. I have seen examples of trusts that have been copied from someone else’s trust or have been downloaded from some web site where there are no checks and balances on making certain that what you are getting will comply with state laws and will properly serve your estate. The short story here is when it comes to a document that may very well have to stand up in court, never anoint yourself as a lawyer, especially if you don’t have the training.

The NFATCA has seen just about every conceivable shortcut attempt that you can imagine and almost every single one of those transfers’ attempts gets bumped back to the dealer for a variety of reasons. This year has seen a huge increase with this problem. Virtually four out of five trusts get bumped back because it was simply an improper trust. What amazes me even more is the fact that the transferee expects the dealer to decipher what the specific problem is and give them advice on how to solve it. Your dealer is most likely not an attorney and even if he or she is, is most likely not a trust attorney. If your dealer is not a lawyer and he is selling you or even giving you a blank trust form document for you to “cut and paste” then a crime is being committed: unauthorized practice of law (UPL). It’s the same crime if he or she is creating a trust for you on the shop computer connected to the Internet or running Quicken. Not using a reliable attorney that knows and understands the laws in your state is risky business and will guarantee you a recipe for problems.

Trust transfers represent such a large portion of current transfer requests that the NFA Branch has been forced to train all of the examiners on what to look for in a trust that is legitimate and will pass the initial muster. Since our examiners are not lawyers they must depend on a variety of solid guidelines as to what is acceptable and what is not according to ATF counsel. I remember the days when virtually every trust came through with flying colors… Those days are gone! With prohibited persons actually obtaining NFA items through trusts, thus avoiding the law, the NFA Branch has had to tighten up, take a closer look at each trust document, and make certain that the trust document is structured according to all legal requirements. Needless to say this is a tough assignment for our examiners and requires yet another level of checks and balance that have never been required by the system. And it goes without saying that this additional work load has an impact on turnaround times.

I want to make it clear at this point that the NFATCA believes in the trust process as a rock solid method of protecting your assets, let alone the fact that it provides a work-around for CLEO issues, such as the law enforcement agency that still thinks they are approving a Form Four. It is at this point that we would like to point out that the individuals that are shortcutting this process and adding yet another level of hardship to the NFA Branch must remember one thing and only one thing: The problems that are being created are jeopardizing this process for everyone else. The NFA Revocable Trust is an invaluable asset to any NFA owner and should be coveted as a privilege that provides many benefits. Why abuse such a wonderful privilege? Unfortunately we all know that given an opportunity to gain an edge, it is inevitable that someone will take advantage and spoil the opportunity for everyone else.

Earlier, I mentioned that ATF Counsel has given some fairly strict marching orders with regard to trust review. In fact, these marching orders are, essentially, a punch list that each examiner uses to establish the validity of the trust document before them. And if there is the slightest whiff of uncertainty, the trust gets bounced. Keep in mind that since the examiners are not lawyers, they do not have the authority to give you advice on what you did wrong! Folks, if the trust is not valid, and an NFA item has been or gets transferred into it, then an illegal transfer has occurred. That is a federal offense. Some folks who had trusts sail through before are now discovering that they no longer work. These people, in particular, should have even more concern than the rest of us because they might already be in possession of an illegally transferred item. This issue has stunningly huge implications.

As part of NFATCA member services, we try to guide our members through this ever-changing landscape. We give them information that has been validated against ATF opinion and practice. We help them to do it right the first time. For less than the price of a weekly coffee, you can help us help you. In the meantime, here is your very own NFATCA Trust Buster Checklist:

1. Our best advice is to hire a competent attorney that is familiar with your state’s trust laws.
2. Internet templates and services are frequently not as up-to-date as one would hope. Further, the nuances of NFA item ownership are not even present. Generic asset trusts may not be appropriate. The same holds true for many off-the-shelf software packages.
3. Beware of dealers practicing law, even those who are doing so without even knowing it. You tend to get what you pay for.
4. Avoid cutting and pasting of an already existing trust. You will likely not know the where, when and how of the original trust, which means it probably will not work for you.
5. Make sure that your trust:

• Is validly constituted in the state in which you reside.
• Is properly funded.
• Has the beneficiary(ies) properly designated.
• Has the successor(s) properly designated.

Look at it this way: You are building a vehicle that is supposed to keep you from paying hefty fines or going to jail. For most folks, that’s a big deal. Now is not the time to fill the tank of this vehicle with cheap gas.

Come join the NFATCA today by visiting us at www.nfatca.org.

Leatherman Introduces the MUT

After more than 18 months of research and collaboration with competitive shooters and operational snipers, Leatherman has completed development of the MUT; an everyday carry multi-tool with central features for weapon maintenance. The MUT is the first tool to combine both weapon’s upkeep and general utility tools in one platform, making it the perfect tool for everyone from competitive and recreational shooters, to military and law enforcement professionals. Central to the MUT are: the bolt override tool to clear a jam without disassembly (also doubles as a hammer); replaceable carbon scraper to keep the weapon clean and performing at its best; replaceable firearm disassembly punch, the threads of which accept cleaning rods and brushes; replaceable cutting hook for clothing, zip ties, or cord; and interchangeable screwdrivers in the popular sizes for adjusting sighting systems. Utility tools include: a knife; saw; needle-nose and pliers; regular, hard and stranded-wire cutters, a carabiner/bottle opener, and optics mount adjustment wrench accessory. The materials used in the MUT include non-scarring bronze for the carbon scraper and 154CM steel that keeps an edge three-times as long for wires cutters. Other features include extra-large, one-handed opening blade and extra-long bits to reach into tight places. The bits were sized specifically for adjustment to all current and last-generation optics rings and pistol grips. In addition, quick and easy replacement logic was built into the most commonly used parts. The MUT will be available in a black or silver utility model and a black EOD version. The EOD model has mil-spec cap crimpers, fuze wire cutters and a C4 punch (instead of the firearms disassembly punch) designed for use by those in a breacher or EOD tech capacity. Both models come with a mil-spec MOLLE sheath and are covered under the Leatherman 25-year warranty. For more information please contact Leatherman Tool Group, Inc., Dept. SAR, 12106 Northeast Ainsworth Circle, Portland, OR 97220. Phone: (503) 253-7826. Fax: (503) 253-7830. Website: www.leatherman.com.

Remington 700 SPS Tactical AAC-SD with Threaded Muzzle

The new Model 700 SPS (Special Purpose Synthetic) Tactical AAC-SD centerfire rifle chambered in .308 features the time-proven Model 700 action: the number one choice of police and military marksmen and one of the most popular bolt-action rifle series in America, with some of the latest performance-driven features including a threaded muzzle. At the core of the 700 SPS Tactical AAC-SD is the machined solid-steel, cylindrical Model 700 receiver design ensuring uniformity, strength and solid bedding area. Unique to this precision rifle is the 20-inch heavy-contour clean barrel, threaded to accept AAC and all 5/8-24 threaded flash hiders, muzzle brakes and suppressors. The tactical-style carbon steel, hammer-forged barrel is the perfect balance between handling in tight spots and delivering pinpoint accuracy. With a twist rate of one in 10 inches, this rifle is optimized for accuracy. These specialty, bolt-action rifles are shipped with a thread protector installed. The rock-solid barreled action is bedded into a well-designed, Hogue Overmolded Ghillie Green pillar bedded synthetic stock with a semi-beavertail fore-end for added stability. This soft-touch, sure-grip stock is extremely comfortable for extended, long range shooting and assures a positive grip in both stressful situations and inclement weather. The dual point pillar bedding guarantees a solid interface between the action and stock to help insure cold bore accuracy and prevent point-of-impact shifts. Add Remington’s X-Mark Pro externally adjustable trigger, designed to “break-like-glass” and set at 3.5 pounds from the factory, and this rifle delivers surgical-like accuracy. Other key features include receiver drilled and tapped for the addition of optics; distinctive laser-engraved “Tactical Rifling 1 in 10” roll mark; convenient hinged floorplate magazine with 4-round capacity; non-reflective, black oxide external metal finish; and sling swivel studs. The suggested retail base price is $757. For more information contact Remington Arms, Dept. SAR, 870 Remington Drive, P.O. Box 700, Madison, NC 27025. Phone: (336) 548-8820. Fax: (336) 548-7741. Their website is www.remington.com.

New Configurable AR-15 Lower from Lancer Systems

The L15’s changeable Magwells make it the most versatile AR receiver available today. With three Magwell configurations to choose from the L15 lower can be rapidly customized for a specific mission, trip to the range or 3-gun match. The Tactical and Competition Magwells have a large smooth funnel-like internal surface to facilitate rapid magazine changes. The standard size Magwell emulates the size of a typical AR lower. The Magwells attach to the lower via a captured rail and lock into place with a standard front takedown pin. The use of the takedown pin allows the Magwells to be removed without the use of special tools. The Magwells are precision machined from aluminum billet to match the features in the lower ensuring there is no rattle during operation. The lower also features an ambidextrous bolt release and oversized magazine release button. The L15 lower is available stripped or complete with various trigger and magazine well options. For more information you can contact them at Lancer Systems, Dept. SAR, 7566 Morris Court, Suite 300, Allentown, PA 18106. Phone: (610) 973-2614. Fax: (610) 973-2615. Website: www.lancer-systems.com.

TacStar Adds Capacity to Mossberg 930/935 Shotguns

TacStar – a Lyman Brand – has added two new products that increase both the magazine capacity and shell holding capacity for Mossberg’s newest autoloading shotguns. Both the new Magazine Extension and new SideSaddle Shellholder offer fast, easy, no-gunsmithing mounting. The 930/935 Magazine Extension features rugged all-steel construction and increases magazine capacity by three shells. The extension simply replaces the screw-off magazine cap and includes an extended magazine spring to retain factory function and reliability. TacStar’s 930/935 SideSaddle quickly gives the shooter an extra six shells securely held to the side of the shotgun’s receiver. Made of virtually indestructible, weatherproof Hytrel polymer, the new shell carrier requires no alteration of the shotgun and can be installed in minutes. The TacStar Magazine Extension and SideSaddle for the Mossberg 930 and 935, as well as all TacStar products and Lyman brands, are available nationally through firearms and sporting goods dealers and mail order companies. For more information you can contact them at Lyman Products Corporation, Dept. SAR, 475 Smith Street, Middletown, CT 06457. Phone: (800) 225-9626. Fax: (860) 632-1699. Website: www.lymanproducts.com.

Crimson Trace Announces Laserguard for Ruger SR-9c

Crimson Trace has announced the upcoming release of a New Laserguard product for the Ruger SR-9c: the LG-449. The newest addition to the immensely popular Laserguard family attaches to the trigger-guard and is instinctively activated with a pressure button located on the front of the grip. Tested with over 5,000 rounds of 9mm +P, this secure platform holds zero shot after shot providing the repeatability and performance that Crimson Traces’ customers have come to expect. As with all Laserguard models, the LG-449 attaches to the trigger guard, leaving the grip of the gun unencumbered for an ergonomic, instant activation that assures accurate and quick shot placement. The Laserguard housing is manufactured out of rugged polymer with a rubber-overmolded activation pad. The rock-solid Laserguard uses the frame of the pistol as its foundation for stability, giving the LG-449 industry-leading shot repeatability. The design of the LG-449 follows the sweeping lines of the SR9c to produce an appealing accessory that looks natural to the pistol itself. The same texture pattern on the frame of the pistol is carried over to the texture of the LG-449 making the combination of the superb handgun and laser aiming device seamless and unobtrusive. The ultra-compact 3.3mm diode powered by either one-1/3N 3V lithium battery or two-357 silver oxide batteries gives this Laserguard model an extremely compact yet powerful beam that is completely user-adjustable for both windage and elevation. With over 4 hours of illumination with either choice of batteries, the LG-449 will be ready when you are. MSRP is $209. For more information please contact Crimson Trace Corporation, Dept. SAR, 9780 Southwest Freeman Drive, Wilsonville, OR 97070. Phone: (503) 783-5333. Fax: (503) 783-5334. They can be found on the web at www.crimsontrace.com.