A surprising—albeit subtle—variety of fixed polymer buttstocks were used on early AR-15/M16-series rifles. There are five basic types; although it does not appear that these ever received unique manufacturers’ designations. Collectors today know them as Type A through Type E. These stocks were fitted to the Colt Models 601 through 604 and later rifles.

The Colt 601 was fitted with both Type A and Type B stocks. These are seen in either their unfinished state—a red–brown color with visible mottling caused by the bulk filler material in the resin—or in a finished state with either a green or black paint. As with the later Types C and D, these were foam-filled for rigidity and featured a rubber butt-pad and a sling swivel that pivoted on a split pin. On the earliest Type A stocks, the sling swivel could fully rotate; however, these were quickly changed to the more common split pin and are rare today.

Type A is primarily differentiated from Type B by the profile of the curve in the underside of the stock. While Types B through E have the same general shape, Type A had a very short, straight horizontal section at the lower side of the wrist of the stock, which transitions with a relatively sharp curve before following a straight line to the toe of the stock. All later Types examined herein have a different contour; the initial departure from the receiver is longer and at an angle, with a shallower turn towards the toe. It is easy to miss this difference unless one can see them side-by-side. The author would speculate that the stock change was an engineering decision, motivated by the weak point evident at the wrist of the stock in the Type A design. When used to fire rifle grenades, or perhaps even in hand-to-hand combat as an impact weapon, it is easy to imagine a sharp blow to the rifle resulting in a breakage.

Mainly fitted to the Colt 602, the Type C buttstock was the final Type made using the early manufacturing methods and materials and differed from Type B only in color. Instead of a reddish-brown resin (typically painted, or sometimes dyed black), Type C was produced with a black polymer from the outset. Mottling from filler material is sometimes still present. The easiest way to identify a Type C stock from its successors is to check for a foam vent hole in the locating tab. This tab prevents the rotation of the stock once fitted to a lower receiver. While the foam vent hole is also present on the located tabs of Types A and B, these can be distinguished by their shape (A) and material (A & B), as noted previously.

The Type D buttstock followed the pattern of Type C’s but incorporated changes to manufacturing techniques and materials to improve durability. It is noticeably heavier than the prior Types and is the pattern used on U.S. Air Force M16 rifles (Colt 604) and early M16E1 rifles (Colt 603) as used by the U.S. Army. Finally, the Type E stock is essentially the same as the Type D except the butt-pad was made from a hard plastic, is affixed with two screws and incorporates a butt-trap for housing a cleaning kit. It also features a fixed sling loop, similar to those seen on the earlier M1 Garand and M14 rifles.

It is tempting to see the addition of a butt-trap as simply a change in keeping with tradition—indeed, every U.S. military rifle issued since the adoption of the Springfield Model 1892 (Krag–Jørgensen) had featured cleaning tools or supplies housed in the buttstock. The problem was more fundamental than this, however. Soldiers and Marines fighting in the Vietnam War were often issued rifles without cleaning gear of any kind. Combined with other teething issues, this contributed to failures under field conditions. Interestingly, with the passage of time, the butt-trap was put to an entirely different use. As M16 (and semi-automatic-only AR-15) rifles were accepted into official use in U.S. national rifle matches, competitors modified their rifles with the addition of weighted forends and, later, heavy “match-profile” barrels. In order to restore balance to the rifle for long-range, off-hand (standing) shots, competitors sometimes filled the rifle’s butt compartment with cast-lead weights.

Weights

The differing weights of the various Types are notable. Examples weighed by the author indicated a nominal mass of 285g (10.05 ounces) for Type A; 280g (9.88 ounces) for Type C; 340g (12.00 ounces) for Type D; and 375g (13.23 ounces) for Type E. The noticeable change in weight from Types A–C to Types D and E may account for some of the reports of rifles not matching nominal weights in the literature. When the author received his first AR-15 in the early 1980s, for example, he was puzzled to find it was a little heavier than military manuals stated. It seems likely that this was—at least in part—a result of the changes to buttstock manufacturing techniques and materials outlined above. As the weapon saw increasing use after its introduction, deficiencies were corrected by incorporating more robust furniture; however, the mass specification was not updated in newer manuals. The same design changes are likely to have influenced forend assemblies, which are also known to have been updated and made stronger—likely adding to the total weight of these updated, but still early, guns.

Desperate Measures
The Last-Ditch Weapons of the Nazi Volkssturm
By W. Darrin Weaver
ISBN 0-88935-372-7
Collector Grade Publications
PO Box 1046
Cobourg, Ont K9A 4W5 Canada
Phone (905) 342-3434 e-mail: info@collectorgrade.com
www.collectorgrade.com

During Germany’s salad days in early World War 2, little regard was given to arming the populace and last ditch defenses or choosing between the rapidly advancing Allies in the west and the Soviet juggernaut from the east. But it wasn’t long after D-Day when officials in Hitler’s Reich, taken aback by the speed of the Allies’ approach to Germany’s borders on both sides, finally realized that, perhaps, they were losing the war and might need the help of almost everyone in the defense of the Fatherland. And just as importantly, these defenders, these “Volkssturm”, would need to be armed. Desperate Measures seeks to detail the fascinating activities around that effort, and succeeds very satisfactorily.

Divided into four major parts with seventeen chapters, Desperate Measures is an exhaustive dissertation on the many aspects of creating last-ditch arms and armies. Part I gives the general history of the Volkssturm along with information regarding the acquisition of arms used to equip them. At the very beginning, author Weaver begins with dialogue regarding the political and business climate of wartime Nazi Germany. It is important, before any discussion of the weapons themselves, that the reader has an understanding of where the Volkssturm came from, how it was conceived and organized. With so much of the German male population already in the military, where did the manpower come from? Further still, how did German officials sell the idea to the German people all the while telling them how well things were going in the war?

It turns out that the selling of the idea was easy. As Soviet forces reached the eastern fringe of the German state in the fall of 1944, the Red Army was brutal in their vengeance as they captured German towns and villages. This was repeated so often that in practically no time everyone in Germany had a pretty good idea of what was waiting for them in defeat. Between D-Day and September, 1944, 600,000 men were lost as casualties or prisoners on the Western front alone. The associated loss of equipment made it difficult for the German arms industry to keep up as well. It wasn’t until late in the war before the Nazi war machine had the country’s industries on a war footing. Prior to that, it was pretty much 40 hour work weeks and business as usual. To say the Germans didn’t have a sense of urgency until it was too late is an understatement.

Thus, Desperate Measures records the difficulty in organizing and arming a planned million man army while being choked from all sides, including the air. Yet, as many as 700 or more Battalions of Volkssturm made it into action, mostly on the eastern front. So while the kar.98 was redesigned for quicker, easier manufacture in a simplified state, civilian arms were also pressed into service. This usage was actually greater than most realize and Weaver shows this with excellent research. It also seems that civilian and club owned sporting and hunting arms may have been seized for use. Even Luftwaffe drillings were on occasion handed out for use as an infantry weapon.

Be that as it may be, the issue of captured foreign rifles was the standard. The Italian Carcano was ultimately the most commonly issued Volkssturm weapon among the fantastic variety of arms officially used, and Weaver refers to it as the true Volksgewehr. Many of these were converted to 7.92mm by the Germans.

One other interesting tidbit revealed in this section of the book is the German designation for captured Russian Winchester 1895 muskets in 7.62x54R, the Gewehr 255 (r). Seems they used any and everything they could get their hands on.

Chapter 5, the final one in Part I, revolves completely around German anti-tank weapons used by the Volkssturm, when they could get them. There is a generous amount of detail about the Panzerfaust and the Panzerschreck as well as the German improvement to the American bazooka called the Ofenrohr (Stovepipe). This final chapter of the section delights with numerous rare photos, diagrams and reprinted pamphlet pages regarding these items too.

Part II of the book is devoted to the design, development, sourcing from suppliers and manufacture (with the hope of issuance) of rifles specifically for the Volkssturm. This is the story of the home-grown Volkswaffen. Here will be found everything from the dreadfully crude Erma EMP44 to a distant relative of the G3, the Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr also known by the post-war misnomer VG 1-5, a fascinating design that required according to company documents, “three weeks to design and 3 man hours to manufacture.” The cover photo is a detail from the photo on pg 348 and is significant since it shows the VG 1-5 in action as an issued arm.

Part III of Desperate Measures is titled “Other Weapons for the Volkssturm”. While handguns and squad machine guns are here, most noteworthy items in this section are the mysterious “Potsdam Device” (Gerät Potsdam), a direct Sten copy, and the further development of it, the MP3008 (Gerät Neumünster). These were the Volksmachinenpistole and only a few thousand were made. Impetus for this line of arms was from a 1942-43 primitive weapons program inspired by the British Sten.

The MP3008 was meant to be a simplification of the already simple Sten. To further ease manufacture, they eliminated the barrel jacket, repositioned the magazine well on the underside and made it rigidly attached, reducing the time required to produce the arm to around one hour. It was really meant for Heer (Army) but its cheapness and simplicity made it attractive for the Volkssturm. During the war it was commonly referred to as Sten-Pistole, the MP3008 name is a post-war colloquialism.

Finally, in Part IV, Weaver sums up. Here will be found some stories of the tragic use of the Volkssturm, the old men, the children, and the constant shortages of even the simple arms that are the focus of the book.

Primarily a weapons book, Desperate Measures is necessarily also a history book as the end days of the European Theatre in WWII are inexorably entwined with the subject matter. As the book buying public has come to expect from Collector Grade Publications, Desperate Measures is a large format book of the highest quality, with an eye catching cover jacket and literally hundreds of photos, many rare and previously unpublished. The table of contents is so detailed as to make the omission of an index easily ignored, and the final pages are composed of several appendices including a detailed bibliography of the research that went into this wonderful book. A superb look at an ultimately hopeless cause and the “Desperate Measures” spawned by desperate times.

Air Machine Guns
By Larry Behling
Available from the author at
220 County Route 6
Phoenix, NY 13135
Or email: rte6larry@alltel.net
$65.00 plus $8.40 shipping

For many folks, their first exposure to automatic arms was, as often as not, standing at a booth at a carnival or fair. Indeed, this is quite often their only interaction with machine guns. Commonly, the game of shooting the star out was overshadowed by the thrill and excitement of shooting a fully automatic weapon – even if it was powered by air. In Air Machine Guns, Larry Behling helps the reader relive those times, and along the way provides stories and information about several other air powered machine guns.

The book is set up somewhat chronologically. One of the first guns detailed is a 24 pound Browning water cooled replica that was part of the attractions at Coney Island. A large format like this book has lots of room for generous numbers of outsized and detailed photographs, which the author has made good use of. Surprisingly, one of the photos in this section on the Browning replica shows what looks, initially, to be an AR type rifle front sight base. Instead, the item in question is a mounting interface for the air machine gun.

Covered in similar fashion are the air machine guns used for training purposes during WWII. Among the more noteworthy are Ma Deuce (M2) look-a-likes made by General Electric and Hotpoint. As a training tool, these guns provided invaluable service until production of the real thing (and ammo) caught up to demand. One of the tricks used to speed the assimilation of gunnery skills was the use of white colored pellets in daytime and red ones under ultraviolet light to simulate tracer fire at night.

The most common type of air machine gun is the previously mentioned variety used at fairs and carnivals to shoot a paper target with a red star on it or some other target. Completely removing the star from the target wins a prize, and as many found out, was much more difficult that it looked. These guns generally resembled a Thompson submachine gun and were typically tethered to the counter. Several companies manufactured these guns, and they are well covered by Behling, including tracking the somewhat convoluted history of the multiple entities that succeeded the prior, failed concerns. Included among the companies that made this type of gun are Feltman, The Shooting Star Company and Vintage Pneumatics, among others. While many of these are gone now, Shooting Star lives on as Shooting Star, Inc. Centered in New Jersey, they continue to make and service the legendary BB machine gun, along with the fun Shooting Waters game wherein the players shoot a stream of water into a clown’s mouth in order to inflate a balloon to be the first to pop it.

Another fantastic gun covered nicely is the Caselman. Available in larger calibers like .30, 9mm and .45, it is one of the most powerful air machine guns with maximum muzzle energy of over 300 foot-pounds. Like most of the guns in the book, these are not toys, and costs are commensurate ranging from $2,500 to $4,000.

Numerous other modern guns are covered in varying displays of detail and photographic excellence. The recent Internet sensation, the Russian Drozd is there, so is an AR-15 look-a-like originally from New Matics, shown in the book as being built by FN in South Carolina. For the exotic lovers, Piper’s Gatlings (miniguns) are well represented too. Some of these are nothing short of fantastic with ammo capacities of 2,400, rates of fire over 1,000 rpm and such refinements as rifled barrels.

For most, this book’s most important guns are the shoot-out-the-star types. But for those of a certain age, the one that thrilled with its advertisements for over half a generation is the wonderfully named M19-A Annihilator! Who can forget those advertisements in all of the gun magazines in the 1980s and early 1990s? That steel pot wearing guy, widely grinning with the cigar stuck in the corner of his mouth. Even the gun itself had styling to go along with the image, looking (very) vaguely like the M3 Grease Gun.

One especially interesting feature included in several places are photographic reproductions of receipts, instructions and other factory, sales or advertising documents related to the guns being detailed: a nice touch and a look at how things often used to be done.

This book deals with the entertainment inspired machine gun as well as the military training models in equal fashion and gives proper perspective to both. For the collector, shooter, and historian or just for reminiscing on a rainy afternoon, Air Machine Guns is a well written book with lots of pictures that should appeal to a wide audience. As mentioned earlier, it is a large format book with 324 pages, tape bound and soft cover. Now excuse me as I go kick my Red Ryder…

Except for those moments when suppressed weapons are given center stage when the line is hot, it is very loud. Those who have gone to Knob Creek several times, after a while, come to be able to identify certain arms by the sound of their firing. Not just the volume (loudness), but the characteristic sound of its cyclic rate. A classic German MG42, fast as they are, won’t be confused with a throaty burst from one of the several miniguns in attendance. And the steady, Hammer of Thor sound of the big M2 .50 BMG “Ma Deuce” is easy to pick out of the cacophony. Speaking of cyclic rate, that is the very thing when discussing the automatic weapons at Knob Creek. One might say that the recreational machine gunners are engaged in a kind of durability testing of their guns there. For many, the definition of fun is shooting the longest burst possible given the subject gun’s magazine capacity or ability to pull the weight of long lengths of belted ammunition. And why not? The main line at Knob Creek is as much as a proving ground of sorts, as it is a place to recycle ammunition back into the Earth on the 350+ yard range. Arguably, a fair amount of learning occurs on the firing line; things discovered, or rediscovered, about weapons, ammunition, and even how they were used. All based on the empirical information gathered while having fun.

All of this can be watched as closely as you please from behind the fence that separates the shooters from the spectators. There are even a few sets of small bleachers to sit in relative comfort. A popular spectacle is the night shoot, where, when weather permits, tracers, many with incendiary tips, are sent by the hundreds and thousands downrange in a glorious orgy of laser-like streaks of light and flame. Seeing this is impressive and also educational if you care to watch the incredible, crazy bounces and ricochets of the projectiles downrange.

Competitive Shooting
The main line isn’t the only shooting that goes on at Knob Creek. One of the most popular events is the subgun match. Competitive shooters from all over come to test their mettle against others, and the clock. Run quite professionally and safely by an experienced group of volunteers, the submachine gun shoot is actually just one of several contests offered. There is a practical pistol match, an assault rifle match, the old military bolt action match for the Luddites, a shotgun match, and the aggregate match that combines the assault, practical pistol and subgun matches.

Further, there is the lower range to shoot at too. There, the visitor to KCR can shoot their own gun that they brought as well as renting some interesting guns, usually buying time by the magazine full or belt. Some renting is also available on the main line as well. The lower range is a nice feature as the waiting list to get onto the main line is currently 10-15 years.

Buy, Sell, Trade…Gawk!
Knob Creek is also one of the premier NFA related gun shows in the USA. For many, this is the primary reason to come. Not only can you shop for almost anything NFA related, but it is common to be able to try out your item of interest prior to handing over the cash: no small advantage these days. It is a thrill just to walk down the aisles under the pole barn’s roof. Museum quality pieces, whether for sale or just show, are often “right there”, in front of you. How often will the opportunity to stand directly next to a 37mm Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon occur? To gaze at its mechanism, see its five huge barrels waiting for a chance to fire again?

The significance of the gun show portion can be measured another way. It is not unusual for a company to premier a new product there. A couple of fine examples of this occurred last fall when U. S. Armament introduced their re-creation of the wonderful 1877 Colt Bulldog Gatling Gun while several feet away Allied Armament showed early prototypes of their 50-round drum magazine meant for the HK series of rifles (with alternate feed towers for other arms to follow).

Speaking of the pole barn, it was roughly two years ago when Knob Creek Range owner Kenny Sumner, along with his son Chad, expanded it yet again. First built over 15 years ago, the open-sided building has been the subject of many updates. For all of its simplicity, it provides a bit of a haven from the sun and dust and even a bit of the noise. It now covers more than 700 tables. Additionally, the driveway that wraps around the range house is rimmed with about 100 more tables and booths.

Important too is the fact that Knob Creek is often the best place to buy ammunition in quantity for very good prices as one converts money into noise. Some have argued of late that the twice-yearly event serves as an indicator of ammo availability and upcoming price changes. As volatile as the ammunition market is, they may have a point.

Lastly, don’t overlook the range house and store. Knob Creek Range has a full service gun shop inside. Well stocked with sporting, cowboy and military types of arms, they have a wide selection of accessories and factory ammunition. Between the dealers and the hosts, if you can’t find what you are looking for while at KCR, maybe you didn’t look hard enough.

Other Improvements and Plans
Recently, the main line had the shooting positions reworked. Gone are the old concrete shooting benches that were towards the back of the canopy, replaced with metal framed tables closer to the action. This makes much more room for working, cleaning or loading behind the tables, along with room to move about, all while enjoying the new concrete underfoot and the refreshed roof as well.

A sink hole that used to be where the entrance road ends near the uncovered firing positions was filled in and is now a gravel lot for added shooter and vendor parking. The shuttle for visitors to and from the parking area has been continuously improved over the years and now features a tractor pulling a double trailer filled with canopy covered bench seats.

For the future, Kenny has some more things coming. To ease some traffic flow inside, he hopes to have a second road around the backside of the range house. Lastly, he will soon also have a new dining area in place for everyone’s convenience.

Let’s Talk About the Weather
Whenever the Knob Creek shoot gets closer on the calendar the internet is abuzz with discussions about the weather. Will it be hot? Cold? Too dry for tracers? On and on it goes. For the October 2007 shoot, it could not have been better. Cool mornings turned into perfect days. Everything was great…until the wind shifted. Then the smoke and dust from downrange came back into the shooter’s and audience’s faces. But not to worry, after a few hours, the wind changed again and all was bliss, just in time for the night shoot too. However the forecast reads, in the long run, it matters not. It is all part of the Knob Creek experience.

Knob Creek Range is located at 690 Ritchey Lane, West Point, KY 40177. Telephone: (502) 922-4457. the Shoot website is www.machinegunshoot.com. Aside from hosting The Shoot twice a year, they are open year around and offer memberships, both individual and family, that entitle you to unlimited range time during regular business hours. For the shoots, primitive (no electric or water hookups available) camping spots are available on a first come – first served basis.

MG 34 The Movie
Volume 1
by Folke Myrvang &
Ed Schroeder
Approx. 55 Minutes
Retail – $25
Review by Chuck Madurski

The MG 34 machine gun was the first General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) fielded by any major power. While technically and tactically advanced, it was still manufactured the old fashioned way using machined billet parts and forgings and a myriad of other expensive production methods requiring time and expertise that produced high quality, finely finished parts. For the rapidly expanding German military, it required newer, more efficient teaching methods for the men expected to carry this into battle and maintain it in the field. The first two thirds of this video seem to be just that. It shows technicians disassembling portions of the MG 34 and inspecting the gun and components. It also uses excellent (for the time) animation to compare the operation of the gun with that of the Mauser K 98k, the general issue bolt action rifle of the German Army. During this part of the video, many of the differing parts of both guns have their nomenclature nomenclature printed on the screen in German. It is assumed this film was shown with an instructor narrating as it is totally silent.

The last part of the video is high speed video (slow motion to the viewer) of an MG-34 firing. What is remarkable about this is that it was filmed using fluoroscopy, an x-ray video technique, so you can see the internal mechanism operating while going through the firing cycle. This part was produced by the Norwegian Army in the 1970s to look into stoppages and their causes in the MG 34.

The first portion was best viewed at two to four times normal speed due to the slowness of the original production. The fascinating see-through gun was more enjoyable at the normal speed so as to watch the interaction of the parts. Also, it should be noted that due to the differences in screen sizes between the film and the DVD video, sometimes the German nomenclature runs off screen and partially out of view. This is no concern since in most every case enough of the word can be seen to know what it says – if you read German that is!

Though a soundtrack or English translation for the German labels would have been nice with this DVD, it is forgivable when the story behind this disk is known. These German training films were but a myth to Folke Myrvang until not too long ago. Getting the film onto DVD was an expensive process, so the frills were disregarded. He stumbled across them on an auction site out of Germany and they were expensive. While there may be more “out there,” what is on this DVD is all that is known right now. Some of the film was obviously damaged, perhaps by water, which makes it at times difficult to watch. But remember, this material is basically unobtainable anywhere else and, as such, your only choice.

Lastly, a nice companion for the serious student might be an English translation of the MG 34 manuals. These are available from John Baum on line at http:// www.germanmanuals.com/ and includes several titles that range from the operator’s manual to one for use of the Lafette tripod and even a 1943 dated picture book.

Available from Allegheny Arsenal, Inc.
(http://www.mg34.com/mg34_sales.html)
or directly from Folke Myrvang
(folkem@online.no)

Emergency distress signaling gear has been a standard item of issue since prior to World War II. The large, heavy projectors and shells of that era gave way to the smaller, lighter and more efficient pen-gun types by the time of the Vietnam War. These were characterized by a knurled aluminum pen-shaped launcher with a thumb knob that retracted a spring loaded firing pin. One end of the launcher was threaded to accept the flare cartridge, which was percussion fired upon impact by the firing pin.

The flares would reach an altitude of 200 to 250 feet using this system. Used by the Air Force, Navy and even Army Aviation, the performance of these flares was considered adequate for the expected situations in which they might be used. For some, that all changed with their experiences in bailing out over the jungles of Vietnam. Having to bail out generally meant landing in jungle with a high, dense canopy – often higher than the flares maximum altitude.

At this same time a totally unrelated project was under development: the Gyrojet family of rocket pistols. Though eventually it was deemed inappropriate for its intended use, someone in the right place at the right time, someone who knew of the Gyrojet and understood the problems of jungle search and rescue put the two together, and the Gyrojet Flare Launcher was born. Unfortunately, research was unable to uncover whether it was a military individual or someone from MB Associates who suggested the idea of using a rocket propelled projectile to get the distress signal through and above the canopy of tree tops. Regardless of this, by adapting the miniature rocket technology of the Gyrojet projectile to a flare, this level of performance was accomplished without a needless increase in size and weight of the whole system.

As near as can be determined, the Personnel Distress Kit, Red, A/P25S-5A (also called the M-201 in early editions) was first issued to Air Force and Army aircrew personnel around 1970. Some documents also refer to it as “Foliage Penetrating Signal Kit,” an interesting admission of its purpose. As issued, it was part of the Air Force SRU-21/P Survival Vest, which was also used by Army helicopter crews. It was also part of the unique Army OV-1 Aircraft Survival Vest used by of the OV-1 Mohawk, one of the few fixed wing aircraft in the Army inventory. For some reason, the Navy did not issue the rocket flares, choosing instead to continue using the traditional screw-in percussion fired pen type flares and launchers, though some rocket types have appeared in Navy survival kits. Since Naval aircraft flew missions from carriers, maybe it was determined that it was less likely for pilots to “punch out” over land, thus lessening the need for the performance provided by the rocket flares.

An August, 2004 “Sources Sought/Market Survey” Solicitation from the U.S. Army Field Support Command of Rock Island, IL provides an excellent description of the A/P25S-5A:

“The Personnel Distress Kit, Red, A/ P25S-5A is used by downed airmen or others exposed to emergency escape and evasion situations. The kit includes a hand fired launcher and a bandoleer assembly. The bandoleer assembly contains a plastic molded bandoleer holding seven red signals. The signals consist of small solid propellant rocket motors actuated by a percussion primer, a delay element, and a pyrotechnic candle in a metal case. The surface of the metal case is dyed red to match the color of the candle. The launcher is black anodized aluminum; it has a retaining device and a firing mechanism. The retaining device precludes the signal from falling out of the launcher when the loaded launcher is aimed vertically at the ground. The firing mechanismconsists of a free traveling firing pin with an actuation knob and spring. The launcher is connected to the bandoleer by a lanyard. Physical dimensions for the launcher are Length 5.5 in.; Diameter 0.8 in. Signals are loaded individually into the launcher with nozzle down into the launcher until the signal bottoms out. The firing pin inside the launcher upon firing, strikes the primer in the signal which ignites the propellant. Exhaust gases are expelled through nozzle holes in the signal and propel the flare out of the launcher in a spin stabilized flight. The signal should be able to completely penetrate moderately dense jungle or forest foliage. After traveling approximately 600 feet, the payload ignites causing separation from the rocket motor. Burning time is approximately 9 seconds and provides an average candle power value of 2,500 lumens for the first 7 seconds. Physical dimensions for the signal are Length 2 in.; Diameter 0.5 in.”

References list the maximum height attained by the signal itself as being either 1,100 or 1,500 feet which makes sense with presumed rocket motor burnout (at separation from the payload) occurring at 600 feet. Total burn time of the signal is said to be 9 seconds. The visibility distance is listed as up to 3 miles in the daytime and 10 miles in the dark of night. The retaining device in the launcher mentioned above for keeping the flare in place until the moment of launch is a simple, springy fourfingered collet in which the flare sits fairly deeply. When fired, the only sound is the minor crack of the primer that ignites the solid rocket fuel which overwhelms the subdued “whoosh” of the rocket venturis as the flare speeds on its way while the user also feels a brief wash of warm air from the rocket exhaust.

MB Associates was the supplier to the military for about ten years following the adoption of the Gyrojet Flare Kit. Drawing No. 11-1-1783 from the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories titled Survival Kit Individual; Vest Assembly (the SRU-21/ P), dated 3 May 1972 shows an Item List just above the title block. In that list is Item 4, Signal Kit, Foliage Penetrating. The material (source) column says: MB Associates Model MBA-2016 FSN 1370- 490-7362. “MBA” is engraved on the gripof the launchers made by them along with other information. Flares will have ink stamps on them indicating lot number beginning with “MBA” as well, sometimes with a manufacture date, matching the cardboard instruction sheet packaged with the kits. Lot numbers from subsequent manufacturers use a different code. The latest MBA marked kit observed is dated 11-81. According to samples inspected for this article, another company had taken over by December 1990. The actual date suppliers changed could not be found but it was obviously sometime in the 1980s.

Originally conceived as a more efficient means to kill enemy combatants, the Gyrojet technology found its real home as an aid to saving lives and finding downed airmen. Additionally, the Gyrojet Rocket Flare Kits were not just issued in survival equipment, but used as consumables in SERE schools for familiarity training. It is easy to see that many hundreds, if not thousands, have been manufactured over the years. And the date on the quoted “Sources Sought/Market Survey” makes it clear that the Gyrojet rocket flare system is still an issue item to this day. Not bad for a 40 year old failure.

By Chuck Madurski

Chronically short of small arms to issue to troops for a variety of reasons, the German Army often reissued captured weapons when available in quantity. Due to their early battlefield successes on the Eastern Front, they captured fairly large quantities of Soviet arms, among these the PPSh41 submachine gun. These were highly favored by German troops for its large magazine capacity when equipped with a 71-round drum magazine as well as its powerful ammo and rugged construction.

As is typical in warfare, when weapons are captured, ammunition is too. Captured PPSh41 submachine guns were issued to German troops and their allies as the MP717(r) in its original chambering of 7.62×25 (7.62 Tokarev). A bit later, if not simultaneously, a 9mm conversion was developed for the PPSh by the Germans. The nomenclature for this version was MP41(r). One obvious reason is the logistical nightmare of trying to supply several different calibers and loads to the troops in the field. Double that effort when one considers that German industry was not going to load the 7.62×25, so all ammunition for issue would likely have come from captured stocks. In one scenario the ammo is captured, brought to the rear areas for accounting and redistribution, and then shipped back to the soldiers actually using the arm, all the while consuming precious fuel and space on trucks, etc. If the captured ammo is simply kept at the front and re-issued, one hoped the ammo was captured near the users of the foreign made weapons. This would not work very well either.

Additionally, war being the chaotic, split-second decision making activity that it is, sometimes something as simple as an outline or profile is all one needs to open fire at a moment’s notice. The PPSh has a unique profile; its outstanding feature to an observer being the shape of the magazine protruding from the bottom of the weapon. This is so whether a drum or, especially, the curved stick magazine is in place. It is entirely plausible that German soldiers could open fire on other forces fighting on their side at a distance simply because of the profile of their magazines. Since the German-developed 9mm conversion for the PPSh uses the MP38/MP40 9mm magazine, it makes the submachine gun look quite unlike the Soviet PPSh. From afar, it may even look somewhat like the Hugo Schmeisser designed MP41, considering the wood stock and straight magazine.

The Conversion Kit

Long time SAR readers may recall an article about a very rare original 9mm converted PPSh41 back in the March, 1998 issue (Vol. 1, No. 6). In that article, author Frank Iannamico detailed that the German conversion consisted of a 9mm barrel and a removable magazine well that used MP38/MP40 magazines. Available from InterOrdnance, as well as various vendors at the larger machine gun oriented gun shows, the reproduction kit under review here is made in the same manner as the originals, which makes it a very simple and reversible conversion. Further, this is not meant to be solely an expedient way to convert a PPSh to fire the ubiquitous 9mm Parabellum cartridge, but it is an historical item as well. The magazine adapter is made to accept MP38/MP40 magazines, just like the originals, instead of something more common such as the Sten mag or some other single feed submachine gun magazine. Also, the adapter has several markings on it attempting to make it look like original Nazi issue. On the right side is stamped the weapon nomenclature MP41(r), and on the left side there is a manufacturer code and a date (44) along with an ersatz Waffenampt that, while stamped deeply, is nearly impossible to decipher. Probably for the best, but it does add a little to make it appear more authentic.

Fitting the Parts to Your Gun

The barrel provided is unmarked as to origin or chambering, though a box of conversion barrels were seen at Knob Creek and little bits of paper in the box said “Made in Bulgaria.” The barrel is fully chambered and blued and only needs to be fitted to the gun. This is a relatively simple task. First the diameter of the barrel near the chamber must be reduced from its (thankfully) slightly oversize condition to fit into the trunnion of the gun. This is quickly accomplished by spinning the barrel by hand lightly against a one inch belt sander and test fitting until it slid in with only a little force. Due to the construction and method of operation of the PPSh, true precision is not required here – but you don’t want the barrel loose enough to the point it has any discernable movement when in place.

The final step in fitting the barrel is cutting the notch for the hinge pin, which not only couples the receiver with the stock assembly but also retains the barrel in the gun. Pay attention here. The original 7.62×25 ammunition for the PPSh is a bottleneck round and feeds quite easily, therefore the barrel only has a rounded edge leading to the chamber instead of a feed ramp of any kind. This has several advantages, chief of which is that, when originally manufactured, no mind needed to be paid to the orientation of the barrel when the notch for the hinge pin was cut. It also allows a barrel to be reused and fitted to different guns too since the barrel can simply be rotated when fitted to a new gun, and a new notch cut. Not so with the 9mm barrel. Being a straight walled cartridge, the system requires a feed ramp to ensure reliable feeding. When the notch for the hinge pin is cut, attention should be paid to the rotational orientation of the barrel, making sure the feed ramp is positioned properly at the bottom.

The makers of this kit manufactured their parts to require fitting, which is preferable to having parts oversize and unable to function correctly. Considering the various countries that made PPSh submachine guns and their sometimes casual regard to tolerances, this was a wise decision. Not only will the magazine well adapter need fitting to the lower receiver and stock assembly, but in this case, the well itself needed several minutes of filing to allow the MP38/MP40 magazines to fit in the fore-aft direction. Side to side fit was fine. Due to the tightness of the mag well, the much more plentiful and cheaper Belgian Verignon magazines are not able to be used in this example. However, if one wants to open the mag well up even more, they can probably be made to work, though at the possible loss of functionality with the original German magazines.

In fitting the mag well to the lower receiver/ stock assembly, the only area that required attention was the ramped rib on the rear which is engaged by the original mag catch. Make sure to maintain the same slope to the surface while filing to fit. The rest of the mag well is a snug, but not too tight fit in the gun.

How Does it Shoot?

A blustery spring day at the Knob Creek Range was scene for trying out this historical recreation. After firing several 32- round magazines and passing it around to fellow shooters for a test drive, a few trends were noted. First, the cyclic rate is noticeably slower. Where the stock PPSh is known for a fairly high rate of fire at around 900 rpm, the 9mm converted gun seemed to be in the 700-750 range. It was also considerably easier to hold the gun still and keep the sights on target while firing long bursts. Though the 9mm typically fires a heavier projectile, it is launched at a much lower velocity with less pressure. In the heavy PPSh, this makes for a sweet, easy to shoot platform. It was definitely a crowd pleaser and led directly to several more sales of conversion kits in the pole barn that weekend.

Why Convert?

The question often posed is, why convert? Especially using these parts and expensive MP38/MP40 magazines. Many PPSh owners will say they only need a 9mm barrel and are then successful in using original 7.62×25 drums and sometimes even the curved stick magazines. That is great, and satisfies one of the answers as to why. The full answer being, though, at the moment 7.62×25 ammunition is readily available and in most cases more affordable than 9mm: the Parabellum round is easily the most common centerfire pistol and smg cartridge. Certainly, eventually, supplies of 9mm will far outstrip those of the old Tokarev round; it is only a matter of time. Further, the conversion turns the PPSh into a different, calmer shooting experience. Lastly, this is an historical copy of a unique adaptation and use of a captured weapon from a desperate time long ago.

Where to get it:
Inter Ordnance I.O. Inc,
3305 Westwood Industrial Drive Monroe, NC 28110(866) 882-1479
Cost: $150
Barrels may be available separately, call and ask

On Tuesday, December 27, 2005, Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox issued an opinion that reversed a 29 year old opinion and changed Michigan from a Curio and Relic (C&R) only state to one in which the citizens could now purchase and possess any transferable machine gun or suppressor. The entire opinion is centered on Michigan Law MCL (Michigan Combined Laws) 750.224 which reads in part: 750.224 Weapons; manufacture, sale, or possession as felony; exceptions; “muffler” or “silencer” defined. Sec. 224. (1) A person shall not manufacture, sell, offer for sale, or possess any of the following:

1. A machine gun or firearm that shoots or is designed to shoot automatically more than 1 shot without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.
2. A muffler or silencer.
3. A bomb or bombshell.
4. A blackjack, slingshot, billy, metallic knuckles, sand club, sand bag, or bludgeon.
5. A device, weapon, cartridge, container, or contrivance designed to render a person temporarily or permanently disabled by the ejection, release, or emission of a gas or other substance.

(2) A person who violates subsection (1) is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or a fine of not more than $2,500, or both. (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following:

1. A self-defense spray device as defined in section 224d.
2. A person manufacturing firearms, explosives, or munitions of war by virtue of a contract with a department of the government of the United States.
3. A person licensed by the secretary of the treasury of the United States or the secretary’s delegate to manufacture, sell, or possess a machine gun, or a device, weapon, cartridge, container, or contrivance described in subsection (1).

(4) As used in this chapter, “muffler” or “silencer” means 1 or more of the following:

1. A device for muffling, silencing, or deadening the report of a firearm.
2. A combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a muffler or silencer.
3. A part, designed or redesigned, and intended only for use in assembling or fabricating a muffler or silencer.

History: 1931, Act 328, Eff. Sept. 18, 1931; – CL 1948, 750.224; – Am. 1959, Act 175, Eff. Mar. 19, 1960; – Am. 1978, Act 564, Imd. Eff. Dec. 29, 1978; – Am. 1980, Act 346, Eff. Mar. 31, 1981; – Am. 1990, Act 321, Eff. Mar. 28, 1991; – Am. 1991, Act 33, Imd. Eff. June 10, 1991. Subsection (3)(c) above regarding individuals, deals with the exceptions to the basic law. Prior to the new opinion, former Attorney General Frank Kelly had ruled that only individuals who were literally licensed by the Secretary of Treasury could possess (or sell, etc.) the prohibited items. This was typically understood to be some kind of FFL. For the non-dealer, this meant a Federal Curio & Relic collector’s license. An AG opinion in Michigan works much like a US Supreme Court ruling in that the “official” interpretation of the law is set down. In order to request an official opinion in Michigan, the request must be submitted by an elected representative or state Senator. Mike Sessa, a C&R machine gun owner and founder of Gun Owners of Macomb County, was the main driving force for this change. Working with state Rep. Leon Drolet, a Republican and a friend of his, the two worked long and hard to get the language right for the requested ruling. Some patience was needed too in waiting for the political climate to be favorable in the state for the request to be submitted. The new opinion concentrates on the requirement for a license and whether the process followed for an approved ATF Form 4 is an acceptable, and legal, substitute. Page 4 of the opinion says in part: “In light of this federal regulatory background, it must next be determined whether this federal approval process culminates in the issuance of a “license” for purposes of the exception to the prohibition on the possession of a machine gun found in MCL 750.224.” Indeed, in the AG’s opinion, it does, for on page 5 the AG says: “Although the application and registration scheme provided for under the federal laws and regulations discussed above do not result in the issuance of a document labeled “license,” the Form 4 application and resulting approval process bears all the hallmarks of licensure. The permission granted by the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to transfer and possess a machine gun is the official authority required in order to avoid the federal proscription. Absent such approval, a person possessing a machine gun would be subject to serious sanctions, including prosecution and incarceration under both federal and state law. See 18 USC 924 and MCL 750.224(2).” Translation for non-lawyers might say, “if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it’s a duck!” Interestingly, to leave no doubt regarding his intent, AG Cox even included a copy of the ATF Form 4 in the attachments to the opinion. Further, since Sec. 224 subsection (1)(b) of the listed prohibited items defines suppressors, and the exceptions subsection (3)(c) includes any “contrivance described in subsection (1), then it is logical to believe that suppressors will be legal to purchase and possess too. Unfortunately, short barreled rifles (SBR) and short barreled shotguns (SBS) are covered in Michigan Law under a different section (750.224b) and are not part of this new deal. Though, C&R SBR and SBS weapons were, and are, allowed prior to this new opinion. As of January 4, 2006, AG Cox has forwarded all pertinent information to ATF for their attorneys to review and evaluate. Already several Form 4s have been submitted and checks have been cashed by ATF. Sessa contacted Ken Houchens at ATF regarding the status of his Form 4 and the situation in Michigan and was told that ATF would likely hold these forms awaiting final approval rather than kicking them back while the ATF and Michigan State AG’s Office resolve any questions. This is a good example of how one determined individual, with lots of help from friends, can make a considerable difference regarding gun laws and their application. Sessa is humble about his part and is quick to spread the accolades around preferring to refer to himself as more of a facilitator. Ideas were exchanged over the course of about a year and a half on this project with many interested parties believing this would never work out. However, refusing to take “No” for an answer, and refusing to listen to the nay-sayers warning not to rock the boat too much, Sessa boldly called Rep. Drolet and set things in motion with the resulting positive outcome. The Attorney General’s opinion is number 7183 and is available at the Michigan AG’s website at the following URL: http://www.ag.state.mi.us/opinion/datafiles/2000s/op10259.htm.

By Chuck Madurski

Collector Grade Publications has been publishing high quality, high-value books on the world’s most important small arms for over 25 years. Beginning with their initial title North American FALs, published in 1979, they have provided advanced collectors, researchers, military historians and other arms enthusiasts with an ever-increasing catalog of in-depth historical studies. From the very beginning, R. Blake Stevens, the man behind Collector Grade Publications, has ensured that his books were printed using the best materials with sewn binding, full-color laminated dust jackets, and an attention to detail that has set the standard for the genre. Profusely illustrated with excellent and often rare photographs, Collector Grade books never fail to impress. However, it is the subject matter that truly sets Collector Grade Publications apart.

Today, Collector Grade books are the best-known sources of detailed, accurate information on various military small arms, and the good news is that a large percentage of them are about machine guns. From the esoteric WWII German FG42 Death From Above; now sadly out of print, to the politically controversial but now near-ubiquitous M16 (in two classic studies The Black Rifle and Black Rifle II), over half of the thirty-three Collector Grade titles currently in print are about machine guns or other automatic arms. When one considers the consistent quality of the books, the wealth of information and the subjects covered, it is obvious that the Class 3 community owes quite a debt to R. Blake Stevens and Collector Grade Publications.

With all of this in mind, and recognizing the important niche Blake has created for Collector Grade in the gun world, especially regarding machine guns, SAR paid a visit to his office in the charming country east of Toronto, Ontario to talk about gun books and the publishing business.

SAR: How did you get started writing and publishing gun books?

Blake: Like a lot of writers in the gun business, I started out as an avid gun collector. In fact, at one time I had my own small mail-order gun parts business called Collector Grade Parts & Accessories, which is where the name of the publishing company came from. My ads always included the phrase “Description Guaranteed,” and I’m proud to say that I never had anything come back.

The gun parts business wasn’t my “day job” though – I had a regular career going. But after a number of years of beavering away in the corporate environment, I found I had had enough. Unless you are working for yourself, there is always someone above you to make sure you know who is really in charge. I got to the point where I didn’t want to do that anymore. This was much tougher than I had thought, however. I had to learn a new way to think: instead of looking outside for my paycheck, I had to look inside and ask myself, “What do I know enough about so that people will pay me to do it?” No one teaches Entrepreneurship 101, at least not in the schools I went to. When I was younger I knew I wanted a job where I couldn’t wait for Monday morning to get back to work, and lo and behold, I found it. Due to my interest in the C1, the Canadian service rifle of those days, I already had a lot of research at hand, so I thought I’d write a book about the “North American FAL”!

SAR: That explains how you became an author, but what about creating the publishing company at virtually the same time?

Blake: I wrote that first manuscript by hand. Computers weren’t nearly as common or affordable then, and I found it easier to just write. It was a learning curve in a number of respects. So I’m going to write a book, well that’s great; lots to learn. Then I get it written and think “Oh thank God, the end!”, you know? It’s finally over. But no, that’s just the first step. Next thing was I had to get it published and printed, and that’s a big job. Not to mention distribution, otherwise you end up with a garage full of books forever. I tried to find a publisher who would take my project on and pay me a royalty, but I soon found that all the “general-interest” publishers viewed a large, in-depth gun book as obscure and off-the-wall, and nobody really wanted to touch it. The only other approach was for me to do it myself, which is quite an undertaking. Had I understood just how large it really was, I might have not attempted it. However, it was publish or perish at that point, and I didn’t want to waste all the work I had done, so I did it.

SAR: What did you do before the book writing and publishing business?

Blake: Well, I played trumpet in a dance band in high school, and considered music as a path. However, I got a job in a trust company in the financial sector in downtown Toronto and worked there for some years, advancing into systems analysis and computer programming. Then I went to General Motors for a short time, working as a programmer on early IBM mainframe computers. Then out of the blue I got a call from an IBM salesman who had made a sale to another trust company whose first concern was, “We don’t have anybody who knows how to program a computer.” He put them in touch with me as someone who could head it all up. So, not for the first time or the last, I took a leap. It brought me back to my home town of Toronto and it was a much better arrangement financially, but after a few more years, when the system was up and running well, that’s when I decided to go out on my own.

SAR: Why did you start with the North American FAL?

Blake: I guess it was mainly because the research material was comparatively close at hand, but it sure stood me in good stead when I had to fly to England and Belgium to dig up the information to do the second and third FAL books.

SAR: Did you plan from the start for your books to be the large format, high-quality reference tools they are?

Blake: Back when I started there were very few gun books which focused on a specific gun or system. The type of guns I was interested in were expensive even then, and I wanted to create the kind of books that would do them justice, in a quality format that would complement the guns in my own collection.

A large specialist book dealer told me that he has lots of gun show customers who want a book dealing with some gun or another they like to collect. The dealer will point out the several choices usually available, from a copy of an old military manual for a few dollars up through a series of books designed to sell at various price points, and then conclude by explaining that if they want the best, here is the Collector Grade book that will provide complete and authoritative coverage of the subject. Often the customer will buy one of the cheaper books, and come back a few gun shows later to tell the dealer he was right – they need the Collector Grade book.

Some of the better books out there have a lot of good information in them, but the text seems to jump around and can be hard to follow. I lay mine out chronologically, so the reader can see what happened, and why, throughout the entire history of the firearm. And right from the start with the original paperback edition of North American FALs, which by the way is a bit of a collectors item itself these days, all our books have had sewn-in pages. I wanted these books to be read and studied, and to last without falling apart.

SAR: Why don’t you include an index in your books?

Blake: Frankly, the reason why my books are not indexed is simply that I find myself genetically unequipped to produce such a thing. Every time I try (and I have), I get the same frustrated feeling: “Browning, John: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…”. With my original premise in mind, that “Collector Grade” books are designed with the needs of an advanced collector in mind (myself, originally), I have consciously tailored the layout and content to be not something just to pick off the shelf for a quick check of a model number or caliber, ala Small Arms of the World, but as an enduring reference which will bear repeated readings, so that the greater the reader’s knowledge and familiarity with the text, the greater the dividends it will pay him. Added to this is my deliberate editorial arrangement of the material in a logical, chronological fashion, and the expanded Table of Contents, including up to five levels of subheadings, so that anyone even remotely familiar with the subject can reference any particular portion of the text quickly and easily.

SAR: Have you considered going offshore for printing, to cut costs and lower prices?

Blake: I could go offshore, and God knows they are doing excellent work these days in Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and places like that. But if you send your money overseas it never comes back. When I spend my money in Canada or the USA, it stays here, you know? Every few books I get a comparative quote from some printer I haven’t dealt with before but in the end, well, the longer I stay with the company I’m with, the better the relationship we have. They have come to know my needs and will do some little extra “custom” things for me. I am very happy having my books printed by the Book Division of Friesen Printers in Altona, Manitoba. Friesen’s specialize in high-quality image reproduction and are generally recognized as the finest coffee-table book producers in Canada. The extra touch of quality they bring to everything they do is much appreciated, certainly by me. They are also among the very few printers in North America who are equipped to print and bind right in their own facility. That does away completely with the problems one can (and often does) encounter when dealing with separate printers and binders, who both try to point the blame for wrinkled pages or worse at one another, to the ultimate dissatisfaction of me and my customers.

Also, today’s hi-res scanners, ultra-fast computers and photo imaging programs have allowed me to greatly improve the appearance of my books without increasing outside costs. The manuscripts for some of my early books were typeset in galleys on equipment which had no memory, and consequently every alteration required a laborious paste-up of a few new lines of galley type. Now with word processing programs and layout software, setup doesn’t take nearly as much time and the end result is a much better product.

SAR: Why are some of your books done in the landscape format as opposed to the usual portrait format?

Blake: I was following the content of the book. I chose the landscape (horizontal) format for books on large, long guns like the Lewis, the Bren, and even the Thompson. In a “vertical” layout the biggest image I can place on a page is eight inches wide, as the paper itself measures only eight and a half inches wide. In the horizontal or landscape format, I can make the same image nine and a half inches wide, which is 20% bigger. I got the idea from a publisher who specialized in commemorative books about famous warships – destroyers and so on – where the landscape format showed off the long ships in the water to their best advantage. I thought that was a really good idea, so I used it for some of my books where the format made sense. However some customers complained that landscape books don’t fit on their shelf properly and, due to these complaints, I discontinued the use of this format. After all, this is a business, and the clients should certainly have a say in what they are willing to pay good money for.

Conversely, I have had nothing but praise and approval for our continued use of upgraded matte coated paper and library-quality hardcover binding. This “reader acceptance” factor applies especially to the sewn-in pages I mentioned earlier. I feel that this is really an essential element for a reference work to which repeated returns are invited. Nothing is more annoying than to pick up an interesting book and find yourself holding a folio of loose pages!

SAR: What books do you have coming up?

Blake: We recently published Volume I of The Browning Machine Gun series by ex-US Army armorer Dolf L. Goldsmith, wherein Dolf covers all the rifle-caliber Brownings in US service. Volume II, subtitled Rifle Caliber Brownings Abroad, will be our next title. Our latest published book is called Desperate Measures – The Last-Ditch Weapons of the Nazi Volkssturm, a really fascinating look into the last desperate days of WWII in Hitler’s Germany. There is also a big Luger book in the cards. I don’t want to give too much away, but as you know there are already a lot of Luger books out there. So why is Collector Grade doing a Luger book? Wait and see…

Some people have asked me if I will be doing more Mauser books, for example, assuming that our Swedish Mauser title was a natural “follow-on” to Backbone of the Wehrmacht. The answer is that there is no master plan. I’ll get a call out of the blue from someone who will say something like, “Hi, my name is so-and-so and I’ve been collecting such-and-such for the last xx years. I like the way you do your gun books, but I can’t find anybody interested in doing mine with that degree of quality. Would you be interested?” I’ve had to turn down a few projects, such as a book on the Gyrojet, which would doubtless be very interesting, but I have to remember what happened to our SPIW book. This was one of the most fascinating projects I ever did, but sales were very slow. They’re all gone now, but basically the only guys who bought that title were cartridge collectors. The flechette-firing guns themselves were all experimental, and there just aren’t any in private hands, you know?

SAR: I am surprised at how small the Collector Grade operation really is. Do you have any assistants?

Blake: My wife, Susan, is our financial person, and also my proofreader.

SAR: How did she become your proofreader?

Blake: Because she’s really good at it. She hasn’t got a clue what many of the technical terms mean, but she knows if the words are spelled correctly or not, and she also knows her grammar. She was educated in private schools in Scotland and Switzerland, and she’s very quick and sharp. I can read the text over and over and miss some of the typos she finds right away, but of course I’m reading it for sense, which is different. Don’t forget, we do books in British English (calibre; armour; defence) as well as American English.

SAR: Which is your favorite Collector Grade book?

Blake: The Black Rifle has probably been reprinted the most times, though US Rifle M14 and The Browning High Power Automatic Pistol are also very popular titles, which we’ve reprinted several times over the years. But I think perhaps the best example of our work is Hans-Dieter Handrich’s Sturmgewehr!, the complete story of the WWII German MP43/MP44, which we published in 2004. This was written by a prizewinning military historian working directly from German archival material, and I consider this to be the most important book we have ever done.

SAR: Do you find it difficult to edit or change the painstaking work of others? I mean with how strong personalities can be in this business.

Blake: It can be a problem at times, but since it’s my money on the line and our customers, who deserve the best for their money, it’s my job to keep things on the straight and narrow. Personalities can come into it. Rarely does the author’s manuscript come into my hands ready to go. I’ll just get a big box full of all sorts of great information, and start sorting through it. The first thing I do is to prepare a chronology. I go through a whole text putting everything in order based on the date on which each event occurred. This shows up a lot of discrepancies right away. For example I’ll see an important point which the author has placed in say, chapter three, followed by something that really belongs in chapter two.

SAR: How did the change from writer/publisher to editor/publisher happen?

Blake: I had completed most of the FAL Series when a very good friend of mine who’s unfortunately no longer with us, Tom Dugelby, said to me, “Gee Blake, you’re doing a great job here, how about doing a book for me on the EM-2?” That was the first book I did for anyone else, and it worked out rather well. He was really pleased with it.

SAR: You currently have 33 titles in print, several of which are now revised editions. How many others are now out of print?

Blake: The EM-2, The SPIW, Modern Military Bullpup Rifles and Death From Above, the book about the FG42. That’s about it, at least on automatic weapons.

SAR: Who was your greatest influence, or was there possibly a mentor of sorts?

Blake: That’s easy. Ed Ezell – the late Ph.D. military historian, Dr Edward C. Ezell. Ed was just a super guy. He was a real mentor to me. He was the most, not driven, but just on-the-go-all-the-time guy I think I’ve ever known. I got tired just watching him. We met at one or other of those great old Houston gun shows, when he was the historian at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. At the time I was doing the M14 book, and he became one of the major contributors to that project. Then he moved back East and was appointed Curator of Military History at the Smithsonian in Washington, and we collaborated on the SPIW and the M16 projects. Ed just said to me one day, “I’ve got all this material on the M16 and I don’t really have time, and you’ve already done the M14 book, so…”. And he gave me this mass of absolutely incredible archival documents and photographs on the M16 controversy.

So Ed was certainly the greatest influence and help that I had. Everybody has to have somebody, you know – this doesn’t just happen in a vacuum. Thinking about this, I feel somewhat obligated too. If there is anything that I could do to help anybody coming along in this business, I’d be more than happy to do it. It’s a tough row to hoe alone.

SAR: How much longer do you plan to continue?

Blake: I’m 67 now and one of these days I’ll have had enough. But for now, certainly in these last few years, I have had more work in front of me than I’ve ever had before. The “specter” of completing one job and having nothing else to do is over, long gone. If I decide to stop it will be a decision, not a necessity.

SAR: After you retire, will Collector Grade carry on as a name? If so, do you think (or demand) that this future Collector Grade publisher maintain your high standards?

Blake: The most likely (so far) successor with whom I have talked feels, as I do, that it would make all the sense in the world to carry on with the Collector Grade name. This is still a year or two down the road, God willing and the creek don’t rise – but I think it’s just good economics to keep the same format and name. Content will be a different story. I will probably be available to act as a consultant for the first one or two projects, but after that, of course, I can make no guarantees. However, I’m sure the purchaser, whoever he might be, will recognize and appreciate that the niche we have created, or at least inhabited, is built solidly on quality presentation and reliable, in-depth content.

SAR: What was the most difficult project you ever tackled?

Blake: Every project is a challenge, both in the “learning curve” which is necessary right off the bat in order to be able to critique someone else’s manuscript intelligently, and the sheer amount of work involved in producing and editing that much text, scanning and enhancing all the images, and then putting it all together. But since I mentioned at the beginning of the interview that I wanted to make this article an inspiration for younger people who might consider such a writing and/or publishing career as their life’s work, I have to say frankly that for me, the greatest challenge lay in the early days, when I had to confront and overcome some serious doubts and hesitations from within myself.

I well remember contemplating the first copy of the little pamphlet I showed you, which I did for another publisher back in 1974, on the Canadian Inglis “Hi-Power” pistol. It was my first published book and an accomplishment, to be sure; but I immediately found myself playing my own devil’s advocate with the thought that it was as nothing compared to a comprehensive book on ALL the Browning High Power pistols. But that was such a daunting thought! How would I be able to travel to Belgium and convince the busy engineers and department heads at Fabrique Nationale to co-operate? The whole idea seemed so impossibly beyond my reach! But, a few years later, that’s just what I did, numerous times, and, if I do say so, the results were even better than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams.

And don’t even get me started on the “window of opportunity” – suffice it to say that those early books, especially The Metric FAL, simply could not be done today, as all the people who so kindly did assist me have died or retired. Most of the early documentation has long since been thrown away, and no one is left who remembers the events of those days.

SAR: Thanks Blake!

Blake: You’re welcome.

The Gun

The GAU-8/A has seven barrels. Like all externally powered Gatling guns, its rate of fire is adjustable. However, it generally fires at 4,200 rounds per minute. That works out to only 600 rounds per minute per barrel. At that rate, the barrels have a USAF specified minimum life of 21,000 rounds. The barrels are 86 inches long (not including chamber) and weigh 52 pounds each. They are held to the gun by a quick release mechanism for ease of maintenance. The barrels have right-hand twist rifling with 20 grooves. While the 20mm Vulcan uses gain-twist rifling, the twist rate on the Avenger is constant. Total length of the gun, sans feed mechanism, is 112.83 inches and weighs 661 pounds. The overall length including the linkless feed system is 21 feet. The unloaded weight exceeds 1,800 pounds, while fully loaded weight is nearly 3,500 pounds.

The impressive size and mass pales in comparison to the recoil forces generated by the Avenger. According to the US Navy’s Gun Systems Engineering Center, the GAU-8/A firing at 4,200 rpm has a trunnion reaction (force) of 19,000 pounds! That is 1,000 pounds greater than the combined thrust of the A-10’s two engines a full power. Obviously, bursts are kept relatively short as firing the Avenger is much like slamming on the brakes. This large force also necessitated that the gun be installed on the aircraft’s centerline to avoid having the plane turn off target from recoil forces.

Simply scaling the M61 Vulcan up to 30mm size would have resulted in a much larger and heavier weapon. A clever engineering change to the Avenger’s bolting method led to large dividends in weight savings and in reducing the overall length of the gun. Where the Vulcan bolt locks into the rotor acting as the receiver, the Avenger bolt is a multi-lugged Stoner-type and locks into the barrel extension, similar to the AR-15. Other improvements allowed the gun package to be only slightly larger in diameter than the Vulcan.

Feeding the Avenger

The linkless feed system of the GAU-8/A is based on that of the 20mm Vulcan. Being linkless saves weight and reduces the number of bits and pieces the whole system has to deal with. The cartridges are held in a drum with the projectiles pointed toward the center. A full load consists of 1,100 rounds. This is enough ammunition for about a dozen gun passes before the need to reload. Spent cases are retained in the system and are shuttled back into the drum for unloading when the plane is back at the base. Thus, potential airframe or engine damage from an ejected fired casing is avoided. Unloading the empties and reloading the whole system can be accomplished in about 13 minutes using a ground support piece called the Ammunition Loading System (ALS) that is much like the Avenger’s feed system, although it is trailer mounted.

The drum feed and the gun are powered by a pair of hydraulic motors working together and producing a total of 77 horsepower. That amount of power is required to spool up the seven rotating barrels almost instantaneously and begin the feeding of the ammunition. If one of the motors should fail, the gun is still able to operate but with the rate halved to 2,100 rpm. At the end of every burst, the motors reverse momentarily to decelerate the gun while the feed mechanism clears any live rounds from the barrels to prevent cook-offs.

The Ammo

The 30x173mm ammunition used in the GAU-8/A is available in three common varieties for CAS use, with a few more that are used for anti-missile installations. Unlike the 20mm Vulcan rounds that are electrically primed, the 30x173mm is percussion primed. The main tank killing round, the one that gets nearly all of the (negative) press, is the PGU-14 API(T). This is the depleted uranium (DU) kinetic penetrator round that was so effective at defeating Saddam’s tanks. The DU penetrator is sheathed in an aluminum shell that shatters upon impact, while the penetrator has a high pyrophoric effect. The extreme penetration is due to the high density of the DU, and its relative hardness. Development of the DU shell began in 1972 and was finalized in 1976. The loaded round has an overall length of 11.42 inches, weighs 1.53 pounds and has a muzzle velocity of 3,323 fps. The projectile weighs 0.6 pounds (9.6 ounces). The normal combat load is a 5:1 ratio of PGU-14 API rounds and PGU-13 HEI. The two rounds are ballistically matched, as is the inert PGU-15 TP (target practice) round.

One of the first innovations of 30x173mm ammunition is the light alloy cartridge case which is 60% lighter than the same case would be in steel (5 ounces versus 12.3 ounces). Recall that the normal combat load is 1,100 rounds of ammunition. The weight savings allowed an increase in the ammo load of over 300 rounds or 25% of the total load. Steel case ammunition is used in the Mauser MK30 cannon.

Another important advance pioneered by the 30x173mm round is the successful development of plastic driving bands. Not only do these save some weight, but more importantly, they contribute to long barrel life by reducing wear to one-third that caused by metal driving bands. Furthermore, plastic bands do not tend to foul the barrel as traditional copper bands do. A 40mm version of this round had been developed by simply necking up the case for potential use in Boeing’s Bushmaster II chain gun.

Variations

So successful has been the 30x173mm family of ammunition that several guns have been developed to use this chambering, though they generally use unique projectiles more suitable to their methods of employment. Among these is the Oerlikon KCA that was selected as a back-up in case the Avenger failed. There is also the previously mentioned Mauser MK 30 (Mauser Model F), and Bushmaster II 30mm Chain Gun. Also there was an experimental Rocket Assisted Projectile (RAP) version tested in the 1970’s. To save space, the propellant was wrapped around the penetrator. This round demonstrated penetration at approximately 1,800 yards equivalent to the standard API at 1,200.

An alternate usage for the Avenger is the Dutch Goalkeeper Close-In Weapon System (CIWS). Introduced in the mid 1980’s, it is similar to the US Navy’s Phalanx anti-ship missile system. It is in use by the navies of Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates. In this guise, a special FMPDS (frangible missile-piercing discarding-sabot) projectile is used. Designed by NWM De Kruithoorn, this round uses a tungsten alloy penetrator in a sabot that falls away once the round has left the gun muzzle. The tungsten alloy used is somewhat brittle and is designed to fragment after penetrating the thin sheet metal that usually makes up the front end of anti-ship missiles, thereby destroying the missile.

Gun Pod

The Avenger had a little brother. A four-barreled version designated the GAU-13/A that was designed to be used in the General Electric GPU-5/A Pave Claw pod. Besides the barrel count difference there are a few other attributes that differentiate the GAU-13/A from the GAU-8/A. The helical feed drum only holds 353 rounds and houses the ammunition with the rounds pointed forward instead of towards the drum centerline. This is done to reduce the frontal area of the pod to a minimum. The pod weighs nearly 2,000 pounds loaded and the gun is powered pneumatically fed by a storage bottle. The rate of fire is 2,400 rpm.

During Desert Storm some F-16s from the 174th TFW were deployed to the Gulf, but the fighter/pod combination did not perform close to expectations. Among the reasons were a lack of rigidity in the pod’s mounting when compared to the GAU-8/A in the A-10 and the severe vibration and subsequent handling problems for the F-16s when the gun was fired. Interestingly, in the late 1980’s the Royal Thai Air Force (Kongtap Agard Thai) fitted Pave Claw gun pods to the centerline pylons of some of their Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighters.

The Warthog in The Storm

Debriefed Iraqi soldiers stated that the single most feared aircraft was the A-10. Firing Maverick missiles, making cannon runs and generally loitering for extended periods looking for more targets generated no small amount of concern for any enemy personnel in the area. The GAU-8/A was utilized from ground level to altitudes of 10,000 feet and sometimes more, by day and at night. To the pilots shooting the guns, they didn’t know until later the effect the 30mm gun was having for when they shot up a tank it was perforated like Swiss cheese, and it tended to burn inside with no secondary explosions. Until Iraqi tanks could be examined on the ground, these kills were listed as only “possible damage”. The Avenger cannon also proved to be an ideal anti-material gun for those times when a tank just could not be found, some of the other favorite targets being SCUD launchers with or without missiles, and artillery sites.

Whether in its element as a tank killing cannon in the snarling nose of the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) or working as a last line of defense CIWS anti-ship missile gun, the General Electric/General Dynamics GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling Gun has assured its place in history as one of the most important members of the modern Gatling Gun family.