Another tale of woe has come across my desk. One more United States citizen whose Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO) refuses to sign off on the back side of the Form 4 for him to purchase a Title II firearm. In conversations with this Ohio resident, he intimated that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents in his area had gone to all of the potential signers of Form 4’s, and informed them that they were not required to sign, and the government would prefer that they didn’t do it. I do not have names and dates for all of this, these are only rumors and allegations. However, it is a story that is very familiar to many of us in the Class 3 business.

This amounts to de facto gun control. It’s bad enough when the CLEO keeps a record of your firearms, let alone keeping you from having them.

Originally, the Law Enforcement signature was intended to verify that the signature, photograph, and fingerprint cards were those of the applicant trying to get a Form approved for a National Firearms Act taxed and registered firearm. Over time, it has become a place to try to get “Approval” from the local Chief of Police. He is being asked to perform work related to federal tax collection.

Recently the Supreme Court heard arguments in the “Brady Bill” case, and ruled that the federal government could not require the local or state officials to do work around a federal statute. Brady went out the window if the local Chief didn’t want to do the “Required” background check of a handgun purchaser. Most of this was related to the labor burden being unjustly imposed on the local government, not with the Constitutionality of Brady.

In the same way, the federal government can not require a state or local official to sign off on your Form 1, 4, or 5. Since they can not require it, I do not see how they can deny your application for a transfer if the CLEO refuses to sign.

I am just stirring the pot here, friends. There is no reason in the world for a law abiding United States citizen who has not surrendered his rights, to not be able to own a Title II firearm. Dealers and Manufacturers could make a case for the federal government interfering with their ability to do business- but there is nothing new about that.

We at SAR are interested in your perspective as Title II firearms owners, or people who are desiring to own, and would like your input on this situation.

– Dan Shea

Dear SAR

First I would like to thank you and your fellow staff at SAR on producing an excellent publication. Well done and I look forward to years yet of reading.

Next, I would like to assure you that normally I do not write in to criticize the creative products of others (not even when Peter Kokalis bagged one of my favorite toys, the L-2A1, in ‘FULL AUTO’) on the grounds that no one is perfect and all of us are entitled to their opinions. Even me.

However, ‘BIRTH OF A ASSAULT RIFLE’ (SAR Vol. 1 No. 12) by Robert A. Cortese prompts me to break this habit and thus this letter results.

I do not choose to quibble with his outline of the genesis of Western & Soviet assault rifle designs. However the last three pages of the article and it’s wholly unjustified chauvinism in favour of the AK series can not go unchallenged.

To state that the mere possession of AK rifles confers a massive combat advantage to the user over all other infantry small arms (with particular mention of FAL, AR-15 & M-14) is patently ludicrous and the authors attempts to prove so are verging on dishonest. I’ll deal with his examples.

El Jiradi: I’ve read a few accounts of the actions around El Arish & El Jiradi during the Six Day War- they range from Moshe Dayan’s ‘STORY OF MY LIFE’ who describes it as “…a battle lasting more than an hour.” To round-by-round accounts by some of the IDF participants. Given that most Egyptian infantry in the campaign were armed with AK variants, it is a bit of an insult to those at El Jiradi (and other places) who got their act together to subscribe their success to the rifles they carried. Leadership, initiative & courage deserve more credit.

Incidentally, the decision to adopt the Galil is most often quoted as May 1972 and was the result of a trial process that began in the early Sixties for a replacement for the FAL. First bulk issue to the IDF was May 1973. As these events were prior to the Yom Kippur War, I doubt the war played much of a role in the decision to equip the IDF with Galil ARM & AR. Note also that the IDF still uses substantial quantities of M-16A1, M-16A2 & various carbine variants to this day

Somalia: The author provides details of casualties inflicted (presumably by AK- the Somalis used just about everything) on one only of the US units involved in the mess that occurred in October 1993 but provides no other information- would anyone care to give an estimate of how many AK toting Somali bit the pavement having stopped (or briefly entertained) an M-855 or M-856 pill?

Vietnam: I think that the Editor (Dan) handled Ia Drang (and by extension, Vietnam as a whole) quite nicely. I would rather suspect that the loss rate among SF, SOG or Ranger teams had less to do with the small arms they carried (including, as the author points out, AK) than the adverse combat environment they worked in. I’d also like to point out “…no known NVA losses.” does not mean no NVA losses.

Using isolated instances or reporting the casualties on one side only to provide an “…example of the AK’s dominance on the modern battlefield…” can be played both ways. How would the author explain the following examples?

The Battle of Long Tan (18AUG1966, Phuoc Tuy Province, RVN) pitted D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (108 men) against estimated force of 2000+ NVA & VC troops. Initially ambushed as isolated platoons by the opposition, D Company formed a perimeter and beat off the enemy assaults. D Company was predominantly equipped with L-1A1, the NVA/VC units were primarily armed with AK as personal weapons- the first D Company had encountered. Australian casualties were 18 KIA & 24 WIA. The enemy left over 245 dead on the battlefield, having withdrawn in good order in the darkness.

Southern Africa: While the Rhodesian & South African SF (at least till the introduction of R-4/5/6) often used AK & RPD, the bulk of the work done by the infantry of those two nations was performed with FAL (mostly metric) against an enemy armed in the main with AK variants. Who dominated the battlefield?

Gulf War: Is the author seriously suggesting that the Syrian and other minor partners in the Coalition forces who carried AK’s ‘dominated the battlefield’ to a greater degree than those US units that carried the M-16A2? I might hazard a statement that while the Iraqi ground forces predominantly carried AK variants as personal weapons, the outcome of the war would not have changed if each and every single member of the Coalition had been carrying (say) an FAL or even an M-1 Garand.

Lest anyone at this point accuse me of being a dinosaur, I’ll state openly here that despite the above examples, I’m of the opinion that the ‘major calibre’ (eg 7.62x51mm) and intermediate calibres (eg 7.62x39mm) have seen their day as far as individual weapons go.

In conclusion, I would like to state that while the AK series are outstanding rifles within their limitations, they are not a super-weapon and their carriage does not confer an overwhelming advantage on the modern battlefield. If they did, the World would be a very different place to the one we know today.

The Army in which I serve has a saying: “It’s the nut behind the butt that counts.” and I’m sure that those Croatians who stood up to the AK armed Federal Army of Yugoslavia with little more than a sporterized K-98 would agree, as would those Muj who ‘harvested’ AKM & AK-74 for their mates with assorted Lee-Enfield. While we all have our favorite small arms (due to familiarity, nostalgia, media exposure, sheer bloody perverseness or otherwise), we should always keep this in mind.

To end this letter, I would like to leave you and SAR’s readers with an always relevant quote from one of my favorite authors:

“What are the facts? Again and again and again- what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretold,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history”- what are the facts and to how many decimal places?” Robert Anson Heinlein

Faithfully yours,
Peter Lindsay

Dear Peter,

Always a pleasure to hear from our Australian contingent, Peter. SAR has a policy of letting the writers have some “Elbow room”. Mr. Cortese wrote what was in my opinion a fine article on the Kalashnikov’s, and we stand by it. However, not wishing to catch TOO much shrapnel, your letter has been forwarded to Mr. Cortese for his response… which we anticipate will be in an upcoming issue. The readers are invited to weigh in on this subject as well. Well thought out positions are being solicited….. are the Kalashnikov’s the ultimate assault rifle?

For the moment, I am staying out of the fray. Since I am still an M60 man, I have been told that my opinion is not relevant to mature discussions. Perhaps Peter K will weigh in on this, and SAR looks forward to Mr. Cortese’s response.

-Dan

New Nation-Wide Gun Buying Regulations Going Into Effect

Special Report: Buying Firearms Under The National Instant Criminal Background Check System

The year of 1998 will not go in gundom history as being one of the more favorable to gunowners. What with the federal imposition of a new ban on imported firearms, the domestic firearms manufacturing industry in a recession, and the ludicrous new government edict requiring gun dealers to post signs in their shops warning customers of the dangers of firearms, it almost seemed things couldn’t be worse. But there were some bright spots, particularly on the local level.

Most significantly, 1998 is the year marking the start of the implementation of the permanent provisions of the Brady Law, which on November 30, do away with the five day waiting period on handgun sales and in its stead impose a national electronic system for instantaneously checking the qualifications of all gun buyers, including rifle and shotgun purchasers, at the point-of-sale from now on.

Certainly the most critical issue facing industry and consumers alike, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will run the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) out of a facility in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Gun dealers will access the system via telephone or by computer modem and after providing information on the prospective gun buyer, will either be given an indication to proceed or decline the sale, based on whether or not disqualifying records were found on the prospective buyer.

The new regulations affect not only those buying new guns but also people redeeming pawned firearms from pawnbrokers will have to submit to the background check as well. Those with criminal records will be denied the return of their pawned firearm. Shooters retrieving repaired firearms from gunsmiths will also have to undergo a background check, with the possibility that if criminal records are found, such persons will not be able to receive their own repaired firearms.

At press time, the FBI was proposing to charge gun buyers a fee of $13 to $16 each time a background check is performed. The FBI says the fee is needed to pay for the system’s operation.

Firearm manufacturers and retailers have expressed great concerns about the effect of the background check fee, which would come on top of the sales tax. Many feel the additional check fee will result in a disincentive for consumers to purchase firearms. Makers of lower-priced handguns were adversely affected by the background check fees imposed in some states and localities by local officials when the Brady Law was first implemented as such fees often added up to one third of the basic cost of the gun.

The new regulations go into effect at the height of the hunting season and the effect on sportsmen buying hunting arms, many of whom have never before had to pay a license fee of any kind to own or purchase a hunting rifle or shotgun, remains to be seen.

The FBI says its goal is to perform the checks within 30 seconds, but the agency is saying some checks may take up to three days in cases where there is difficulty in accessing a potential gun buyer’s background information. This delay would have the effect of creating a waiting period, although the system is supposed to function “instantly.” An appeals process is available to those denied purchases. And then there is the problem of the FBI’s proposal to retain NICS records for up to two years, supposedly for “auditing” purposes, although federal law prohibits any federal government agency from maintaining a list of gun buyers names and thereby creating a national firearms registration list.

Each individual background check would be valid for the purchase of an unlimited number of firearms in one transaction. But a separate purchase conducted even the same day would require a separate background check and the payment of the $13 to $16 fee a second time. On the bright side, the in-store sale of rifles and shotguns to out-of-state buyers will continue. Licensed dealers and those persons holding valid state issued firearms possession or concealed weapons permits which involved a background check and were issued prior to November 30, 1998 while being valid for not longer than five years, will be the only persons not subject to the new provisions. State and local firearms permits issued after that date must have subjected permit-holders to a NICS background check to qualify the permit-holder for exemption from the federal background check procedures in place at the time of a firearms purchase.

New Import Gun Ban

In early April, President Clinton imposed a new ban on 58 imported firearms dubbed “assault weapons” based on the guns’ failure to meet “sporting purposes” import criteria. An Administration official bragged about the move as allowing his administration to take “the law and bending it as far as we can to capture a whole new class of guns.”

The banned firearms included versions of the AK-47, Uzi, Galil, FN-FAL, H&K 91 and 93, SKS, and other semi-auto rifles modified with the addition of thumbhole stocks, and elimination of features such as flash hiders and bayonet lugs to comply with the import criteria established by the Clinton Administration in its 1994 imported rifle ban.

Although Clinton claimed a “loophole” in federal law allowed the importation of the affected long guns over the last several years, the manufacturers and importers involved were actually only complying with the law in making changes to the affected gun models. Thus, after the manufacturers removed objectionable features from their firearms, Clinton changed the definitions by claiming they represented a “loophole.”

While police officials surrounded the President when he announced the ban, not all police groups support the initiative. Jim Fotis, executive director of the Law Enforcement Alliance of America pointed out, “So-called assault weapons are used in less than 1% of violent crimes. The President is using smoke and mirrors to make bad policy that will do nothing to save lives, but steal the rights of America’s law-abiding gun owners.”

The rationales for the ban is that the modified rifles can still accept so-called high capacity magazines manufactured before the 1994 Clinton ban on further manufacture of over 10-round capacity magazines for the civilian market.

Gun Production Down

The net effect of the federal anti-gun initiatives over the last several years, particularly the Brady Law that imposed a national five-day waiting period on handgun sales, has been a curtailment in production of firearms due to reduced demand.

The latest available figures on domestic firearm production compiled by the U.S. Treasury Department reveal that in 1996, U.S. manufacture of handguns, as well as shotguns fell, while rifle production increased slightly over 1995 totals.

Total pistol production declined to 985,533 units in 1996, down from 1,195,266 manufactured in 1995 and 2,014,336 in 1994. Similarly, revolver production dropped to just 498,944 wheelguns in 1996, from the 527,664 built in 1995 and 586,450 in 1994.

The total number of shotguns manufactured in the U.S. during 1996 came to 925,732, down from 1,173,645 made in 1995 and 1,254,926 in 1994. Rifle production, however, climbed to 1,424,319 guns for 1996, up from 1,331,780 produced in 1995 and 1,349,116 made in 1994.

The figures show the Brady Law has taken a heavy toll on the sale of small pocket pistols mostly commonly purchased for self-defense. For example, manufacture of .25 caliber pocket pistols declined to 41,156 in 1996, from 51,025 in 1995 and 110,732 in 1994.

Production of .22 caliber pistols is also showing large declines over the last several years. Just 204,819 such .22 caliber rimfire pistols were made in the U.S. in 1996, compared to 260,059 in 1995 and 456,490 in 1994.

By caliber, the greatest amount of pistol production in 1996 was for those products chambered in 9mm, while in revolvers, .357 Magnum chambered guns lead the way.

Looking at long guns, Sturm, Ruger & Co. finished 1996 as America’s top rifle maker with 417,310 units, compared to second-place Marlin Firearms Co. with 350,897 rifles.

Among shotgun makers, Remington Arms Co. continued its three-year streak as the number one shotgun maker with 307,803 scatterguns produced. O.F. Mossberg & Sons held the second-place position with 286,033 units.

While long gun makers were not negatively affected by the Brady Law’s gun buyer waiting period and background check provisions until now, as mentioned, the new permanent Brady Law provisions going into effect in November 1998 will affect long gun sales in addition to handguns. It remains to be seen what effect the new regulations will have on rifle and shotgun sales.

Warning Signs

Firearms buyers will now be noticing some ominous signage displayed within their favorite gun shops thanks to a publicity stunt President Clinton pulled off in July in an attempt to scare off folks considering purchasing firearms.

Clinton’s edict requires dealers to post signs stating: The misuse of handguns is a leading contributor to juvenile violence and fatalities; Safely storing and securing firearms away from children will help prevent the unlawful possession of handguns by juveniles, stop accidents, and save lives.

Other signs detail federal law prohibitions against possession of handguns (in most circumstances) by persons under 18, as well as the possibility of the imposition of a 10-year prison sentence to those knowingly transferring a handgun (even temporarily) to a minor.

It should be noted that under federal law, a youngster who wishes to engage in some handgun target shooting on a range must have in his or her possession a note written by a parent or guardian authorizing the youngster to be in possession of the handgun while engaged in such target practice.

Pro-Gun Victories

On the positive side, a major anti-gun initiative with potential for nation-wide repercussions was defeated during the year in the state of Washington. In one of its most onerous provisions, Washington’s Initiative 676 would have required not only all handgun owners to pass a competency test but would have mandated all adult members in a handgun-owning household to pass the same firearms competency test. Those not passing muster would have had to surrender their firearms.

Six weeks before the votes were cast, polls indicated residents supported the measure by a 60% majority, but thanks to the feverish efforts of pro-gun lobbyists to fully-inform the public, the proposal was defeated by the voters in a resounding 71% against versus 39% for (the law).

And in a late-breaking development occurring as this magazine goes to the printer, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment prohibiting the FBI from charging fees for gun buyer background checks when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System goes on line. The amendment also allowed those wrongfully denied the purchase of firearms to sue the FBI. In addition, it calls for the immediate destruction of all records related to background checks conducted on law-abiding citizens purchasing firearms which the FBI had proposed to keep for “auditing purposes” for up to 24 months.

Another Senate amendment mandating trigger locks be provided with all handguns sold in the U.S., was defeated. And in a 69 to 31 vote, the Senate defeated yet another amendment that would have held adult gun owners criminally liable if a juvenile stole a firearm from them and used the gun in a crime.

SADW is a monthly electronic publication from Nick Steadman Features. Nick, intrepid world traveling reporter for much of the arms industry, files this 40,000 to 50,000 word report once a month to his loyal subscribers. Those lucky ones pay a mere $50 (US) £32.50 (UK) per year for the privilege of getting the hot tips and insights from one of the industry’s insiders. Nick’s unique perspective is globally based, as is his wit. Each issue is full of insight and information for those with an interest in Small Arms, as well as his observations on world travel.

1. NEW WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT

STEYR SCOUT – FACTORY MODIFICATIONS

Following our various reports on poor ignition reliability of the Steyr Scout rifle with certain types of 7.62mm NATO ball ammunition, Steyr-Mannlicher has notified us that it is modifying the striker assembly, which will now provide four different locations for the circlip which locks the spring tensioning adjustment nut in place.

This will have the effect of increasing the striker impact force, theoretically obviating the need for additional home-made spacers and hopefully solving the problem. Col Jeff Cooper has been rather dismissive of this particular glitch, blaming ‘inferior’ ammunition from suspect countries, though in fairness we must point out that most of the ignition trouble was with US military Lake City M118 Match. However, Steyr says it has been unable to replicate the extraction failures we referred to in earlier issues. The owner of the rifle involved now says he thinks he might possibly have been the author of his own downfall in over-enthusiastically stripping the extractor; however he is nonetheless now carrying a spare extractor and spring.

Separately, it has since emerged that the short .375 cartridge being developed for the Scout by Hirtenberg in Austria (see earlier issues) is the ‘376 JCS’, apparently intended to lob a 260gr bullet at 2,500fps. Some increase in rifle weight will result. We’re not sure the wildcat approach will generate huge sales, since the ammunition will most likely remain single-source.

The American Rifleman also said that GSI was forecasting two types of Realtree camouflage for Scout rifle stocks next year. If so, just don’t put one of these down in the forest while digging your toilet pit at dusk, or you may not find it again in a hurry. You’ll remember Colt tried this tack before with one of its revolvers. Steyr’s official comments on Scout calibres other than .308 state that 7mm-08 is in production but any additional calibres are still ‘only under investigation’. The company says a few black stocks are being made for rifles with suppressor-compatible barrels and other camouflage patterns ‘for market research services’. While Jeff Cooper hints at interchangeable bolt handles to come, Steyr says it has not done anything on this so far, and its aim at present is to continue to promote the Cooper Package in its original form.

WINCHESTER DEVELOPMENTS

Olin’s Winchester ammunition division has been pretty busy on the military & police front.

Its reduced-range 5.56mm jacketed frangible ammunition, incorporating a 45gr jacketed version of the Delta Defense frangible bullet (made from a copper/nylon & tungsten mix) is loaded with the Winchester non-toxic primer, using dinol as the basic priming mix, with tetrazine as a sensitiser, boron as a fuel and potassium nitate as an oxidiser.

The bullet’s brass jacket, which extends most of the way to its tip, is a measure to ensure reliable functioning and match its ballistics more closely to the M855/SS109 round. Accuracy at 100 yds is actually better than with the standard NATO loading. Winchester’s equivalent pistol- calibre training ammunition, all non-toxic primed and offered in 9mm, .38 Spl, .40 &W and .45 Auto, has unjacketed Delta frangible bullets.

In Winchester’s parallel SuperClean NT range of ammunition, the bullets are all jacketed, but with a malleable tin core. They are not frangible and act much like lead-cored bullets on impact, though without producing the associated contamination. Non-toxic priming is standard. Available calibres are 5.56mm (55gr), 9mm, .38 Spl, .375 Mag, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. Maximum training range with 5.56mm is about 200 yards.

One of the lesser-known Winchester products is fully-encapsulated, lead-cored pistol ammunition with non-toxic priming, along German lines – in fact, the 9mm version is already understood to be selling to police in Germany in competition with local products. There are 115gr, 124gr and 147gr 9mm loadings, .38 Spl standard (130gr) & +P (158gr), .40 loads in 165gr and 180gr plus a 230gr .45 ACP.

Winchester has also developed a ‘lead-free penetrator’ version of the 5.56mm M855/SS109 bullet, simply by substituting a solid copper core for the lead in the standard NATO bullet design. This reduces bullet weight to 55grs and increases the velocity by 100 fps, but evidently doesn’t diminish the bullet’s ability to defeat hard targets such as the standard NATO plate, which it penetrates out to 650m. It also matches the trajectory of the M855 out to around 750m. As before, non-toxic priming is standard.

Lastly, Winchester has designed a hollow-tipped, solid brass Match-grade bullet which is ballistically matched to the Raufoss .50 Multipurpose (MP) round (or its US Mk211 equivalent) and can therefore be used for more economical .50 sniper training. This is a necessary move, since the MP ammunition is about $8 a pop, and the operational APHEI bullets cannot be fired on some restricted military ranges. Again, non-toxic primers can be incorporated if required. The .50 bullet is a driving-band design with long bearing surface, increasing bore stability, and the long internal tip cavity is reckoned to improve accuracy by a third over solid nose bullets. Rifling engraving tests demonstrate that the brass material is rather softer than the jacket of the M33 ball round, so barrel wear may also be lower.

Actually, this new .50 Match round represents something of a breakthrough – we remember talking to Olin staff many times over the years and repeatedly asking when they were going to make something like this, but we were always given to understand the market was too small. Now that the military are interested, things have evidently changed.

NEW AUSTRALIAN F1 HAND GRENADE

The Australian Army says that its new F1 offensive hand grenade is planned to be issued to first line units and training establishments early next year, replacing the old US-pattern M26 HE/Frag grenade. The F1, produced by Australian Defence Industries (ADI) and in development over the past decade, is much the same weight as the M26 and contains an offensive payload of 4,000 steel ball bearings, which are more efficient than irregular fragments. It is designed to penetrate flak jackets to a radius of six metres and will injure out to 15 metres, yet is safe at 30 metres for troops wearing normal combat clothing. Anecdotal evidence from the US & UK suggests the M26 was never a particularly efficient design, and could fragment into too few pieces. Because of its bean-can shape the F1 is less likely than the M26 to roll after hitting the ground and can be expected to come to a halt within about three metres of impact.

We recall that when ADI first announced its grenade programme, it was talking about a dual purpose hand/rifle grenade. Australian sources confirm the F-1 is indeed a modular design which permits the addition of a finned tail tube converting it for use as a rifle grenade. Reportedly it was also designed to accept a range of booby trap fuzes, though this is apparently no longer PC, officially-speaking.

AUSTRALIAN SNIPER BUYS

Army magazine in Australia has published details of the British Accuracy International Model AW sniper rifle as purchased for the Australian army. Apparently it’s a modified AW-F; we understand it differs from the standard Model AW in the following respects:

– Picatinny scope rail
– Butt spike
– Multi-adjustable buttplate assembly
– Cheekpiece
– Quick detach scope mount
– Folding stock

The scope will be a variable-power Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50mm, and at least some of the rifles will apparently be supplied with muzzle suppressors, presumably for special forces. Barrels will be made in Australia, where the rifle will be designated SR98. Night sights will shortly be provided as part of the army’s Project Ninox, and the army is buying Lapua match ammunition for the SR98 in preference to local military supplies, which were found to be substantially less accurate. A spotting scope & laser rangefinder are also on the way.

We understand from our Australian sources that issues will be completed by the end of 1998. Army Magazine said the army’s old Parker-Hale sniper weapons were being superseded because of a ‘lack of user confidence’. The selection criteria required competing weapons to be capable of accurately engaging targets out to 800 metres. Troops found the AW to be very robust and accurate even after arduous stalking.

Currently, new ghillie (Oz – yowie) suits for snipers are also being trialled, including one comprising an Australian camo suit festooned with 1” strips of similarly patterned material, which has evidently been cut with pinking shears to give a zigzag edge. A neat solution, we’re told.

The army has also reported that trials of .50 long-range rifles will resume there early in 1999; meanwhile (as predicted earlier) the planned .50 users have been requested to refine their requirements, which we interpret as a reality check. The aim is to introduce a .50 rifle in the middle of next year. These weapons will reportedly be employed as battalion-level assets.

BARRETT NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Barrett Firearms has confirmed press reports elsewhere that it is conducting feasibility studies and trade-off analyses on the question of adapting the .50 Barrett M82A1 semi-automatic rifle to fire the smart 20mm and 25m HE ammunition which has respectively been developed for the US army’s Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) and Objective Crew-Served Weapon (OCSW).

It is not possible to quote a timescale for either of these projects at this point, since work is closely tied to continuing development of the ammunition itself.

National Defense said that the 25mm project would necessitate a larger Barrett receiver and, to fully utilise the smart fuzing capabilities of the ammunition, both the 20mm and 25mm approaches would need to incorporate some sophisticated fire control equipment – presumably the same type of modules presently used on the OICW & OCSW prototypes.

(Readers will recall that the NTW 20/14.5mm anti-materiel rifle designed by Tony Neophytou in South Africa can already be supplied with a conversion kit to fire the 40mm High-Velocity grenade cartridge used with the Mk19 automatic grenade launcher.)

In addition, Barrett confirms it has worked up a variant of the M82A1 suitable for use as an in-bore sub-calibre training rifle in tank guns, infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) cannon and 2.75” rocket launchers. This has also attracted interest as a primary weapon for arming light aircraft. Barrett envisages a 20-round box magazine or a 300-round linear linkless feed system.

PARKER-HALE/BREMMER ARMS NEW PROJECTS

The deal with DTL in the USA for Bremmer Arms of Birmingham to manufacture the 9mm IDW (formerly Bushman) SMG in the UK was finally wrapped up in mid-Sep 98, and Bremmer should receive the prototypes by early Oct 98.

Bremmer of course already owns Parker-Hale Ltd in Birmingham and has moved swiftly to redesign and value-engineer the popular but previously very expensive Parker-Hale bipod which has become the choice of many sniper rifle suppliers. The new steel bipod has self-leveling feet on ball joints, and legs which can be detached for cleaning. As before it will be mounted using a spigot attachment secured in the accessory rail or at the forward end of the handguard. Best of all, it should be available at £90-£99, a huge cost saving on its predecessor.

Before Christmas 98 we should also see a rebirth of the 5.56mm bolt-action rifle which Parker Hale originally developed as a contender for the UK MOD Cadet Rifle contest eventually won by the curious manually-operated version of SA80. As first built, the Parker-Hale rifle was fed from a ten-round, single-column magazine, but Bremmer has now re-engineered it to accept M16 magazines. Suppliers for the synthetic stocks are currently being explored, and Bremmer’s own hammer-forged barrels from the Parker-Hale facility will be used. Optimum rifling twist is still being discussed. The plan is to produce this weapon in a variety of configurations, including target, sniper and ‘practical rifle’ versions. We tested the Cadet Rifle in Birmingham some years ago and found it a very sturdy design.

Also on the way back is the Parker-Hale series of sporting rifles first heralded a year or so ago. In addition, Bremmer currently has a sizeable stock of unturned rifled barrel blanks of various types already in stock, and plans to develop the barrel production side as a separate sales line. And the Parker-Hale range of cleaning kit will also continue.

Finally, Bremmer has now completely redesigned the pump-forward service shotgun it inherited when it acquired Birmingham Gunmakers Ltd, also in Birmingham, and pre-production models should be ready by Christmas.

We understand the Parker-Hale brand name will be used for most of the new products except for the 9mm IDW, the new shotgun, the .22LR AR15s and .30-06 Springfields, which will all remain under the Bremmer Arms banner.

KNIGHT’S TUBB SR-25 MATCH RIFLE

One Reed Knight item we evidently missed at this year’s SHOT Show is the David Tubb Competition Match Rifle, a $5,995 (retail) variant of the Stoner SR-25 named after Tubb, a national match shooter, and offered in .308 and .260 Remington calibres. It differs from the standard ‘flat top’ rifles in being canted 10 degrees and has a 26” match barrel, an extended vertical match trigger, enlarged trigger guard, lightweight high-speed hammer, ambidextrous bolt stop, a hand stop, a skeletonised buttstock with rotating cheekpiece & buttpad and an extended ventilated handguard with mirage stopper. The cocking handle is on the side of the bolt carrier instead of at the rear of the receiver. Scope mounts, scopes and competition aperture iron sights are extra.

TWO BARRELS WITH CZ-700 RIFLE

National Defense reported that the 7.62mm NATO/.308 CZ-700 bolt-action sniper rifle, a 13.6 pound weapon from Ceska Zbrojovka in the Czech Republic, comes with two interchangeable barrels, one of them suppressed, allowing users to employ 200gr subsonic ammunition. This is clearly a neat move, which gets around the need for additional discrete suppressed weapons with tighter rifling twists, which are usually quite pricey.

SWEDEN’S NEW SNIPER ROUND

Some readers will recall that for years now the Swedish MOD’s FMV (Army Materiel Command) has been seeking a new sniper cartridge to use in the British 7.62mm NATO Accuracy International Model AW rifle adopted as the Swedish army’s new PSG90 sniper weapon. The ammunition programme began with a study in 1989 focused on establishing the chief criteria to ensure first-round hits, despite errors in range, crosswind and lead calculation. Its conclusion was that a short time of flight was the key factor, which could be obtained with high initial velocity and low downrange drag.

Full-scale development started in 1993, and not surprisingly studies centred on a sabot-discarding sub-calibre bullet. Competitors included Lano & Bofors from Sweden, Lapua from Finland and Olin/Winchester from the USA. In Feb 98, Winchester – with a modified 7.62mm SLAP cartridge – won the first Swedish contract for 1m rounds, for delivery starting next year.

Selected round is designated locally as ‘7.62mm sk ptr 10 prick’ (the last a rather unfortunate abbreviation of Prickskytte or sniper). Velocity is 1,340m/s (7.62mm ball is 850m/s), and weight of the 4.8mm calibre tungsten carbide projectile is 3.4g. Breech pressure is 385 MPa (360 MPa for ball) and the price US$2 a round, as opposed to 50c for ball. Seated below the tungsten projectile, inside the plastic sabot, is an aluminium ‘area multiplier’, a metal disc customarily used in SLAP ammunition to assist with sabot separation. We note also that the Swedish literature describes the propellant as ‘compacted ball powder’, so we assume Olin’s velocity-enhancing compaction technology has been used.

With the new round, time of flight at 1,000 metres is reduced by 34% and trajectory height (it’s only about 2.5m) by 58%. Wind drift is down 32% and muzzle velocity up by 58%. 100m penetration (rated as 50% penetration) of a NATO armour test plate (hardness 400 Brinell) at 90 degrees (zero degrees NATO) is 30mm, as opposed to about 17mm for Bofors 7.62mm AP.

According to FMV figures, the new sniper round increases hit probability by a factor of two to four at ranges from 400 to 1,000 metres. As might be expected, the tungsten projectile does not break up in soft target simulants, and is claimed to be fully stable, with no tendency to yaw. What’s not said in FMV material is that the idea of a hard, solid bullet also allows the Swedes to avoid any criticism of the projectile’s terminal ballistics from a humanitarian viewpoint, a significant political aspect in that country. Of course, it would also do serious damage to hard targets at close range, though the holes would be pretty small.

Though we’re not sure who’s actually planning to invade Sweden just now, the official message of FMV is ‘Don’t mess with the Swedes, ‘cause we’ve got the world’s best sniper system and will quickly turn you into a casualty.’ You’ve been warned.

5.7MM P-90 BALLISTICS IMPROVED

It appears that we, along with other pundits, have been caught napping by ballistic improvements to the 5.7x28mm ammunition for the FN P-90, consequent upon the redesign of this round a few years ago to meet revised NATO penetration criteria, which include defeat of Russian-style titanium plates interspersed with soft body armour fabric.

Volume 3, No 3, of Wound Ballistics Review, the journal of the International Wound Ballistics Association (IWBA), carries a report by Col Marty Fackler (US Army, retd) of tests carried out on the improved P-90 ammunition at an RCMP Wound Ballistics Seminar in Canada during Sep 97. That publication has been highly critical of the P-90 concept in the past.

The original P-90 bullet with plastic core was noted for its propensity to divert wildly at right angles from the line of fire shortly after entering tissue simulant, but Fackler found that in test firings of the new bullet at ten feet into 10% gelatine the projectile consistently started to yaw about 6cm into the target, rotated 180 degrees and subsequently penetrated to a total of 25-28cm – and in a relatively straight line.

The improved bullet is 3mm shorter than the original, at 2.1 cm, it weighs 31grs and has an aluminium core with an internal steel penetrator tip like the 5.56mm M855. Fackler notes however that in truncating the new projectile the maximum diameter of the permanent wound track is also fractionally reduced. He also observes that the new bullet does not deform in tissue simulant and that for all but the central 10cm of the wound track, the hole made in the target is only about 5.6mm.

And he further notes that, at the bottom line, the P-90 projectile has just 60% the momentum of the commercial .22 Hornet, with around 52% of its energy. A closer analogue, Fackler says, would be the 1922fps .22 rimfire Remington Viper round, with momentum within 5% of that achieved by the P-90.

He also suggests that one reason why the P-90 has not apparently caught on with police, as FN clearly hoped it would when its military take-off was slow, was the serious risk of body armour defeat (for which the bullet was of course specifically designed) in ‘own gun’ shootings on the street.

2. INDUSTRY & FOREIGN NEWS

GERMANY HELPED ARM THE KLA?

A story in The European suggested that the German intelligence services had a hand in training & arming the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in a move the paper says had ‘the aim of cementing German influence in the Balkan area and tackling the refugee problem’. According to The European’s sources, KLA training and ex-Stasi communications equipment was provided by the German Militarabschirmdienst (MAD) counterintelligence agency and the Bundeswehr’s KSK special forces, together with ex-GDR weapons.

The matter has (not surprisingly) created serious friction between the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) (the German security service) and the CIA, who feared a backlash from the Serbs.

We believe it also raises substantial questions relating to Germany’s much-vaunted 1961 War Weapons Control Act (Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz), which forbids the export of military weapons to any parties engaged in conflict. This Act is the reason why production to meet various overseas contracts for Heckler & Koch weapons has been delegated by H&K over the years to Royal Ordnance in the UK.

No doubt there will be some nifty footwork exercised over the precise definition of ‘conflict’ in the Albanian context but – on the face of it – if the KLA story is true the BND and MAD would appear to have breached German domestic law, never mind any EU or UN prohibitions. Observers outside Germany may now also be legitimately asking themselves whether it was really such a good thing for the Bundeswehr to be finally authorised to conduct operations outside German borders in support of UN resolutions, if the intelligence services are able to use them abroad for covert sectarian purposes.

Nor were we very happy to note The European’s comment that the KLA equipping was said to be funded via an Albanian foundation called ‘The Fatherland’s Call’, with offices (inter alia) in Germany, Sweden & Switzerland. It all sounds a bit WW2 for our liking.

BIG THAI AMMO BUYER

The Bangkok Post said that a special forces colonel in the Thai army was found to have 700,000 rounds of ammunition at his home. He reportedly said it was purchased for a secret mission, but the army denied this. The Post said he actually appeared to be running his own ammo business, which is perfectly legal.

MEMORIAL SHOOT

A Times story said that, in accordance with his last wishes, former British gamekeeper Tony Goldsworthy’s ashes were fired from the guns of 40 of his fellow members of the Bath Muzzle & Historic Breechloaders’ Association at a special event on their shooting range. His other dying wish was that one of his friends should shoot a crow – not his favourite bird – with his ashes.

PHILIPPINES POLICE WITH P-90

One of our sources who was recently in the Philippines reports that members of the Special Action Group of the Philippines National Police patrolling Manila airport are armed with 5.7mm FN P-90 SMGs. He understands they have 20 of these weapons.

AUTO-ORDNANCE FOR SALE

In mid-Sep 98 Firearms Business (FB) in the USA said that the Gun Parts Corp was offering its Auto-Ordnance Corp New York subsidiary for sale, saying it wanted to concentrate on its core business & new ventures. Auto-Ordnance makes Thompson carbines (aka Tommy Guns) and M1911A1 type pistols. No asking price was mentioned.

GUN BUYBACK IN EL SALVADOR

In August the Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced another of his government’s projects aimed (in his words) at curbing small arms proliferation, a $130,000 contribution from the Peacebuilding Fund for a ‘Goods for Guns’ buy-back program in El Salvador.

This project, originally organised by several Salvadorian business people with the assistance of the Rotary Club, is intended to persuade former combatants to exchange weapons for coupons redeemable against consumer goods. Canada also made a contribution to this programme in 1996/97.

KAZANLAK HOPES FOR AK SALES

An International Herald Tribune report in Aug 98 came to readers from Kazanlak in Bulgaria, home to the Arsenal arms plant (formerly Kazanlak Arsenal), which the Tribune said makes everything from CNC machines to tank guns, in 200 production halls. It has 10,400 employees.

Apparently Arsenal is setting great store on selling Kalashnikov (AK74) rifles in 5.56x45mm calibre and breaking into Western markets, but would not be drawn on whether Bulgarian forces were going to adopt these weapons themselves – or who any other customers for them might actually be. Of course, all the former Warsaw Pact countries can also offer Kalashnikovs, including various AK74 derivatives chambered for 5.56mm NATO; in fact the last thing the market needs just now is another prospective Kalashnikov exporter. There really isn’t any money in it. (nb: though previously we’ve also seen the spelling ‘Kazanlac’, we’re informed ‘Kazanlak’ is in fact the correct way)

SECRET SERVICE UZI SMGs

In the USA we recently examined one of the famous Secret Service attache-case 9mm Uzi SMG systems which we assume the service’s current requirement for new subguns will now supersede. The gun itself is secured in the attaché case by two powerful magnets, and there are three spare magazines in the foam-lined case. Where you might normally stick your initials by the handle on the edge of the case there is a handy arrow to indicate which way the muzzle of the gun is pointing.

Apparently the suggested modus operandi is to pop the catch, let the lid of the case drop down and simply pull the SMG away from the magnetic catches. The only problem we see with this is the spare magazines, which will at that point still be firmly embedded in the foam, so you’d better bank on one magazine doing the trick!

Vang Comp Systems, named for its owner Hans Vang, is a company specializing in custom upgrades to the combat shotgun, both pump and semi-auto of various marques, intended to give police officers and hard-core self-defense oriented citizen shooters more efficient weapons. I recently had Vang Comp do up one of their MMC Ghost Ring model custom shotguns for my review. Let’s take a closer look at this gun:

I shipped to Vang Comp a plain Jane, inexpensive Remington 870 Express and they shipped me back an exquisite custom scattergun. As part of the Vang Comp package the 870’s standard wooden furniture has been replaced with a black composite forend and stock fitted with thick rubber recoil pad, both these from Speed Feed, Inc.

The heart of this gun is the Vang Comp Systems (VCS) modification, which both tightens shot patterns and decreases felt recoil. This system consists of back boring the barrel and lengthening the forcing cone. “Back boring” refers to actually opening up the diameter of the bore .002” along its entire length except the last 1-1/4”, which in effect creates a choke to tighten shot patterns, and also make the gun more accurate with slugs.

To understand the concept of lengthening the forcing cone and its advantages, picture a standard cylinder bore barrel which what most “riot guns” have. The forcing cone is the portion of the barrel that transitions from the chamber to the bore of the gun. Think of it as the on-ramp to a freeway. In a standard factory gun the forcing cone is about 1/4” long and very sharply angled. By the time Vang Comp is through with it the forcing cone is 1/1-2 to 2” long, and thus has a far more gradual taper. The number one advantage of this is that when the shot begins to leave the shell it won’t instantly hit the “wall” of a sharply angled forcing cone and deform. Rather the shot is “babied” as it’s guided into the barrel far more gently. Since the shot is not deformed, it flies more accurately, thus you get better patterns over longer distances.

Lengthening the forcing cone also gives you the perception of less felt recoil. In a normal shotgun, almost as soon as the shot begins to move it hits the forcing cone and you instantly get whacked with all that recoil. The lengthened forcing cone extends the recoil impulse out over a longer period of time. That doesn’t really lessen the amount of recoil, it just makes it seem lighter, which makes the gun far more pleasant to fire. Recoil perception is a very subjective thing. My personal take on it, from firing this shotgun both before and after modification: I would say that running Federal Tactical Loads though a VCS’ed 12 gauge feels like firing a stock 20 gauge.

There are two versions of VCS, the Comp and Non-Ported models. Both of these systems feature the same internal modifications to the barrel (back boring, lengthened forcing cone) the only difference being that the Comp model has ports drilled toward the front of the barrel, to vent expanding propellant gases upward and thus hold down muzzle flip during recoil, and the Non-Ported version, naturally, doesn’t. Both systems have their virtues:

The Comp model offers enhanced control of barrel rise during rapid fire. Another positive trait is that the ported barrel has about half the muzzle flash of a standard barrel. You’d expect a ported barrel would vent burning powder gases upward across the line of sight and give you more muzzle flash than a non-ported barrel (that’s certainly what happens on compensated auto pistols) however this data was gathered by Larry Nickols of the Burbank PD and apparently that’s the truth. The porting does make the gun louder, since noise also travels up and back toward you as well as simply out the front of the muzzle and away. Hans Vang reports that about 90 percent of his customers opt for the Comp model VCS.

An advantage to the Non-Ported system would be if an individual or police department didn’t want any outwardly visible modifications to the barrel. And the gun is a bit quieter. Also, if officers were going to do an entry in the “stacking position” with one officer right above the other, it’s possible with a ported gun the guy right above it might get some muzzle gas in the face when the lower man fires.

Sights are from MMC, a high visibility ramp front mated to a fully adjustable ghost ring rear. Says Hans Vang, “As far as I’m concerned, MMC makes the best ghost rings sight available today. I’m of the old school, I like things machined from billeted steel.” These sights feature tritium inserts for low light shooting, consisting of a dot up front and a bar beneath the rear ghost ring aperture.

The 870 Express started out with a simple round barrel. Hans takes a standard Remington 26” or 28” vent rib barrel and cuts it down to 18-1/4 or 18-1/2”, then installed the sights. Combined with the MMC ramp/ghost ring set-up, the vent rib configuration on this gun really looks nice.

Out-of-the box the gun came with Remington’s “shorty” four-round magazine tube. Fitted with a Scattergun Technologies (SGT) tube extension, mag capacity jumps from four to six 2-3/4” shells, making this a seven-shot gun with one in the chamber. The stock magazine tube follower of black plastic has been replaced with a follower in high visibility day-glo orange, also from SGT; this makes it much easier when inspecting the gun to visually verify the magazine is empty.

The gun has been fitted with an SGT magazine cap with quick detachable sling swivel. The swivel holds the sling off to the left, which could be a very nice thing if you ever wanted to put a tactical light on this gun; with the sling off to the side it won’t get in the way of the light. The sling itself is the Giles Tactical Sling, which is considered by many experts the best tactical sling available. One of the nice things about the Giles sling is that it doesn’t require a sling swivel on the butt, being instead affixed with a Velcro loop. When worn by a right handed operator the “loop” of the Giles sling goes over the right shoulder; when the gun is released the gun simply hangs across the chest, barrel angled downwards. This allows you to have both hands free but not lose instant access to the gun. The Giles unit can also be used as a conventional carry sling.

One of the most common upgrades among serious defensively minded shotgunners is finding some way to carry a spare ammo supply that is fixed in an accessible manner to the gun. Probably the best system existing is the side saddle ammo carrier, and one of these is included in the Vang Comp custom package. Mounted on the gun’s right side aft of the ejection port, this unit holds six 12-gauge shells ready to hand.

The Remington 870’s standard small safety button, located on its right side behind the trigger guard, has been upgraded with the installation of a greatly oversized part for more positive manipulation.

Trigger pulls on an out-of-the-box Remington 870 tend to be around 4-1/2 pounds. Vang Comp doesn’t really lighten the trigger pulls, just makes them crisper by very lightly touching up the sear. If the gun needs it, Vang Comp also polishes the slide rails and hones internal parts so the gun cycles very smoothly.

For my testfiring of the Vang Comp Systems custom Remington 870, Hans Vang recommended Federal’s Tactical Load as the best choice. Since this is an extremely popular load for the tactical 12 gauge both among police and serious citizens, limiting my buckshot testing to this load was no great hardship. The Tactical Load carries the familiar nine 00 buckshot pellets traditional in a 2-3/4” 12 gauge shell, but with velocity downloaded from 1,600 to 1,400 feet per second. This is Federal’s approach to giving police and other shooters 12 gauge stopping power with less recoil.

Let’s compare the accuracy of the gun both before and after Vang Comping. We’ll refer to the gun’s performance as BVC (Before Vang Comp) and AVC (AfterVang Comp).

BVC at seven yards the 870 printed a nicely centered 4-1/8” pattern. AVC at the same distance pattern size shrank in half (actually a bit less) to 2”. Lengthening the range to 15 yards, BVC pattern size was a mediocre 9-1/8”.

AVC pattern size again at 15 yards was only marginally larger than at seven yards, a quite impressive 2-13/16”. Perceptive readers will recognize this means the VCS equipped 870 actually printed tighter patterns at 15 yards (2-13/16”) that it had at seven yards (4-1/8”) before being Vang Comped!

When I received the customized shotgun back from Vang Comp, they included a test target fired at 50 feet, marginally farther away than my own 15 yard shooting. On this target were five different patterns fired with the Federal Tactical Load. Average group size hovered right around five inches, a bit more or less, with one superb though anomalous group of 2-3/4”. Also on the target was a three shot group fired from the bench with Brenneke low recoil slugs. All three slugs went into a tight 1-1/8” cloverleaf that bears an amazing resemblance to Mickey Mouse.

Back to my own testing; at 25 yards BVC I wasn’t able to measure pattern size because the gun couldn’t put all nine pellets on paper. AVC it could, albeit barely, in a group of 12”. Hans Vang has commented, “For decades the 12-gauge shotgun has been characterized as being a 15-yard gun, if you want to be safe. With the Vang Comp it’s a 25 yard gun!” Vang Comp Systems literature states, “The VCS modification increases the effective range of the 12 ga. shotgun using 00 Buck to an excess of 50 yards.”

I’m not sure I can buy that. Even at 25 yards, pattern size is loose enough to pose an unacceptably high risk of several pellets from even a well-centered group missing the target and whizzing past to endanger innocent bystanders. This is simply unacceptable in an urban environment. As far as I’m concerned the Vang Comped 870 is still a 15 yard gun…but it’s a far safer 15 yard gun, since compared to a stock weapon its condensed patterns give you a much better chance of keeping all nine 00 buck pellets inside the thorax area. The tighter the pattern, the safer things will be for noncombatants during the gunfight.

Moving ever to the rear, and switching to slugs as we traveled far, far beyond prudent buckshot range, another target fired by Hans Vang was sent to me along with the gun, this one bench rested from 50 yards. On this target the first two sighting-in shots went low, approximately two inches below the bull’s-eye. After the adjustable ghost rings were fine-tuned, of the five shots fired for record four went into a slightly vertically strung group measuring 2”. The final, fifth shot was alas a flyer opening up overall group size to 4-1/2”. Still, four shots into 2” at 50 yards is not too shabby for a slug loaded 12 gauge!

There were no malfunctions of any kind encountered during my testing of the Vang Comp Systems custom Remington 870, just perfect operation.

The cost of this weapon from Vang Comp Systems is $815 (plus shipping & handling, of course) and that’s not a “done up on your gun” price but includes the base gun. There are also several other custom packages available from Vang Comp that are less expensive than the one reviewed here. Simply having the VCS modification and nothing else done to your gun costs $195 for a ported barrel and $145 for a non-ported one, and you don’t need to send them the entire gun, only the barrel. For more information you may write to Vang Comp Systems, Dept GAH, 234 Orange Avenue, Goleta, CA 93117 or phone (805)964-7956. The fax number is (805) 964-6467. The web-site address is www.vangcomp.com.

Harry Constance is a highly decorated U.S. Navy Seal, who served three combat tours in Vietnam between 1967 and 1970. He participated in 300 Special Ops behind enemy lines, as a member of the Seventh Platoon of SEAL Team Two. What follows is a story of one of those operations, the small arms used by Harry, and how a suppressed High Standard pistol helped save his life. Harry’s life story can be found in his excellent autobiography “Good To Go”, which is now in paperback.

Harry had many small arms available to him during his tours of duty in Vietnam. His primary issue weapon was a Stoner 63. He had several alternate weapons depending on the mission at hand. These weapons included the standard M-16, CAR-15, and Remington 700 .308 sniper rifle, as he was assigned to be the platoon sniper. More exotic weapons, which were used less often, included the Swedish K, Sten, M-3 Grease Gun, and the suppressed High Standard pistol. Open bolt weapons were often preferred by the SEAL’s, who would swim in from the ocean, and often hit the beach shooting. Open bolt machineguns could be brought into action faster than close bolt weapons such as the M-16.

One of Harry’s most exciting experiences with a suppressed handgun took place during his second tour, when he was a PRU advisor in 1969, in the town of Soc Tran. Word had been received that there was a high level Viet Cong sector chief who wanted to defect. This individual happened to be the intelligence officer for the whole region and had a great deal of valuable information. The mission was to kidnap him and take him alive. The sector chief’s home was completely surrounded by two rings of guards, so no one could get in to him without the alarm going off. The only weakness in their defense was that the house and guards were very close to the edge of the main river. The guards had a san pan in the river to monitor other boats in the area. Whenever a boat would approach the beach, the guards would send a signal to run the boat off. No boats could approach, and no one could walk near the house.

Harry’s chief at the time, Bob Gallagher, reminded him that they were frogmen, and suggested that they swim in to retrieve him. The two SEAL’s took a Chu Hoi ( a former Viet Cong, who had surrendered and changed sides and was working with the American’s) on the mission. The three men loaded their gear for the swim to grab the sector chief. Harry’s weapons for that night included a CAR-15, a 9mm Smith and Wesson Model 39 pistol, knife, and grenades on all of which were stowed on H-gear suspenders. The men had to swim 600 yards down river from the point of land, after sliding off their PBR (Patrol Boat River) into the water. Life jackets were tied to the gear, and the men breast-stroked toward the shore pulling their equipment behind them. About half way to shore, the former VC’s life vest failed and he started drowning. Harry swam to the man, who was splashing wildly in the water, to quiet him down, and prevent discovery. As Harry approached, the scout jumped on him in an effort to save himself. This action forced Harry underwater from the weight of the two men and his own gear. Harry was wearing jungle boots, instead of fins, and was barely able to hold up the scout, his own head, and his gear. The scout continued to struggle and climb further up on Harry’s arm, which was holding onto the gear. During the struggle, the scout ruptured Harry’s life jacket, leaving the two men with no floatation devices, and Harry holding 80 pounds of gear in one hand and a 90 pound man in the other. Harry dropped the gear, placed the scout in a crossed chest carry, and swam to the beach.

The good news was they survived to reach the beach. The bad news was that the two men had lost all their weapons and gear, and were deep in Indian country. Luckily, Gallagher had made it safely to the beach with all his gear. Harry leaned over to Bob and told him they needed to return home. Gallagher replied that they could still accomplish the mission, as the house was only a short distance away. The element of surprise was still on their side for the snatch and grab. As Harry had no weapon, Bob gave him his own backup weapon- a suppressed High Standard .22 pistol with a spare magazine and the radio wrapped in a plastic bag. The men covered themselves with lily pads as they laid against the bank of the canal, and waited for first light. As the tide went out, the men became more exposed, but the mud that they were covered with kept them camouflaged.

As the sun rose, Harry heard a Viet Cong soldier walking in the mud behind him. The VC had his hands on the bow of a san pan. There were three more VC in the san pan, which was attempting to come ashore through the mud. The VC pulling the boat had mud up to his calves and walked right between Harry’s legs. Harry rolled over to look, and when he did the VC spotted his eyes. Harry shot the man twice in the chest. The man merely flinched and didn’t realize he was shot, because the pistol made no noise. The VC reached into the boat for his AK-47, but Harry took careful aim and shot him in the throat, dropping him immediately.

The next VC in the boat stood up with his AK-47 to see what had happened to his buddy. He saw the body of his friend laying in the mud, but before he could react, Harry shot him several times with the High Standard. These shots had a minimal effect and the VC started to turn his AK toward Harry. At the same time, Harry had emptied his ten round clip, and the slide locked to the rear. Luckily, Gallagher heard the slide lock and turned with his CAR to finish off the wounded VC, and shoot the other two Viet Cong in the boat. The gunfire had alerted the VC at the house to their presence, and Harry suggested that this would be good time to leave. Gallagher said no that they should attack and went off by himself towards the house. The scout, who was unarmed remained put. Harry ran up to the middle of the courtyard, about 30 yards from where he was laying, and attempted to get the radio working.

Gallagher had taken the fight to the VC. Harry heard shots being fired, and a fight inside the house. Once the radio was working, Harry requested immediate extraction. The response from the Mike Boat which was assigned to pick them up came as, “No problem, we’ll be there in 30 minutes.” Harry responded that the fight would be over in one minute, and they were needed right away. They responded to Harry that they would do their best to be there as soon as possible. Harry’s friend Scott Kelly was a Gunner’s Mate on the Mike Boat and was armed with a GE Minigun.

The fight in the house continued, and Harry took a look around. Forty-five degrees from the house and inland, across five hundreds meters of rice paddies, Harry sighted twenty to thirty uniformed soldiers with guns running down the treeline. Harry yelled for Gallagher so they could escape the oncoming soldiers. He then directed the scout to retrieve an AK-47 and ammunition pouch from the dead VC in the mud. Gallagher emerged from the house dragging the sector chief, who was shot in the femur. Harry directed everyone to the main canal where they could easily be picked up by a boat or a helicopter. Once they were in position, Harry heard his call sign on the radio, “Moose Jaw 7 Bravo, be advised we’re right off your flank and coming hot!”

The PBR had turned off their engines during the night after dropping off the men and floated towards Harry’s position in anticipation of trouble. It was a good thing the PBR had stayed in the area as the Mike Boat was too slow and too far out for an immediate rescue. Harry stood up, waved his hat, pointed first at his blond hair and then at the approaching enemy troops 150 yards away. The PBR cranked up its engines and slid around the corner. Harry again pointed out the enemy and the gunner on the bow of the boat smiled at Harry, and then opened up his twin .50’s. As the boat slammed into the embankment, Harry and Gallagher shoved the wounded sector chief and the scout up into the boat while brass was streaming down on them. Their efforts got the two Vietnamese into the boat, but also sunk Harry and Gallagher hip-deep into the mud. The boat crew reached down and pulled the two SEAL’s to safety, slammed the engines into reverse, peeling the boat backwards and upwards into the river. The gunner on the front never lost his sight and continued firing at the enemy as the boat spun around.

As Gallagher and Harry laid exhausted on top of the other men, Harry wondered out loud if there would be many more days like this one. Gallagher responded with, “See, I told you that High Standard would work for you!”

Oh, the terror of it! Good people completely surrounded by objects of evil incarnate! What horror! As the scores of people gazed appreciatively around them, they saw pernicious pistol gripped armament, hideous high capacity magazines, scary shoulder-stocked pistols, diabolical destructive devices, suspicious semi-auto shotguns, brutal black plastic in many configurations, confrontational compensators, fearsome flash suppressors, and myriad malevolent machine guns. One baleful banana mag was of such large capacity that it appeared to be almost semi-circular. Particularly shocking were those guns that brazenly boasted brutally business-like bayonet lugs, for several of the lugs held real bayonets. In fact, one shooter professed himself ready for a bayonet exercise. A reunion of Janet Reno’s infamous Team Waco? No, just the Albany, Oregon, Rifle and Pistol Club’s Banned Guns Solidarity Shoot, held May 31, 1998.

Some of the best ideas are themselves the result of the confluence of several simple but good ones. In this instance, the good idea of holding the shoot came, first, from the truism that it is totally unnecessary to have either a complicated reason or major event as a reason for holding a shoot. The second simple idea is the rueful, bemused acceptance of the fact that, because of the thrust of the present administration’s philosophy and accompanying actions, many of the people who shoot at Albany have become, through no deliberate, positive act of their own, the owners of guns and/or accessories whose further manufacture or importation into this country is currently banned, although possession and commerce remains legal. One example is the club member who read a morning paper one day and learned that he now owned a destructive device, Clinton having whimsically changed the status of the Streetsweeper the previous day. So rather than mope or whine, ARPC decided to sponsor a sardonic “solidarity” shoot, held two weeks after the main shoot, another opportunity to come out and shoot strictly for fun with kindred spirits.

There was a certain show and tell aura to the get-together. Many smiled appreciatively as they looked over each other’s treasures. The scores of shooters who attended took full advantage of the opportunity to unlimber some really questionable ordnance. Understandably, many of the items were not exactly state of the art for various kinds of regular competition. What standard course of fire, for example, allows a shoulder-stocked 9mm pistol with at least an 18 shot magazine? For what standard course of fire does one use an M1 carbine that folds into about 15”? But that’s irrelevant. The point of the exercise is that if they’re fun to shoot, that’s reason enough to own them. And considering that the targets consisted of the same kinds of drum lids, balloons, and water jugs that were so popular among machine gunners just two weeks before, the guns were highly appropriate. The day’s shooting was provided gratuitously by ARPC strictly as a public service to all shooters. Everyone there had a good time and hoped that the shoot will become an annual event. It was certainly something to see!

As a footnote, in case anyone is curious about connections, the Albany range is approximately 45 miles from the site of the unfortunate May 21 shootings at Thurston High School. Naturally, the question of whether to proceed with the shoot was raised in the wake of the shootings. The club officers decided, quite rightly, to press on. These officers correctly determined that Albany’s shoot was a legitimate recreational event at which guests would safely and legally use legally acquired firearms for a sporting purpose, in contradistinction to the crimes committed at Thurston with illegally acquired firearms used as weapons. It is high time that we shooters everywhere quit being apologetic about our shooting avocations and quit allowing our enemies to define us. This writer’s hat is off to the Albany club’s courageous and correct decision to hold the shoot as planned. It is only by closing ranks and going on about our business that we shooters can maintain shooting sports of all kinds in this country.

The following photos were taken at Judy’s Beltring Military Vehicle Show, in England and sent to us by one of our readers who wishes to remain anonymous. He point out the low price for the DeWats, citing the price for an MP44 at only £195. ($320). We thought you would enjoy these photos and encourage all of our readers to feel free to submit interesting photos from their travels around the globe.

Two political events scared me as I grew up. One was the US-USSR Cuban Missile crisis. Here was brinkmanship epitomized. The other was the downing of a CIA U-1 spy plane flying a reconnaissance mission over central Russia. I was sure that this incursion into Russian air space would result in escalation into armed conflict.

I remember Francis Gray Powers being paraded through the headlines and across the television screen. His spy equipment was displayed as proof of “Yankee imperialistic aggression against the peace loving peoples of the Soviet Union”. The wreckage of the U-2 aircraft, its camera, Powers’ uniform, knife, suicide kit and suppressed pistol were used as evidence in his trial. The artifact of special interest to High Standard collectors is the .22 caliber USA Model HD MS (s/n 120046) carried by Col. Powers as he ejected from his disabled aircraft (See photo). The Powers pistol and evidence used in the propaganda trial is now exhibited by the successors to the KGB in the Lubyanka Prison Museum in Moscow. The NFA and ATF have given me written opinions that under current law the Powers Pistol can not be repatriated to the USA.

That pistol is similar to the approximately 2,620 USA Model HDs fitted by High Standard with a suppressor adapted by Bell Laboratories and delivered to the Office of Strategic Services in 1945 for use in clandestine missions. The suppressor was adapted from a “Kulikowski Polish” suppressor.

Colonel Rex Applegate remembers a Sgt. Jackson developing a prototype suppressor for the High Standard HD at Camp Richey Maryland during the early stages of WWII. Colonel Applegate was then a First Lieutenant at the Military Intelligence Training Camp where military intelligence students were taught about foreign weapons. Up to that point Maxim silencers had been state of the art for submachine guns. These were the same Maxims already available to British farmers for use in pest control. Sgt. Jackson worked in the machine shop maintaining the foreign weapons. One day he said he could do better than the Maxim. After a time he presented his prototype to Lt. Applegate who was duly impressed by the work. Jackson had made his prototype by drilling holes through the barrel, covering it with wire mesh and then a housing. Lt. Applegate submitted the gun to the War Department “where they tested all kinds of kooky devices like cross bows or slings that threw grenades. The next thing I knew Washington types showed up and started taking over in the device. That’s when we lost track of it. One thing I do remember is the difference ammunition made in the report. Standard velocity .22 caliber long rifle would often but not always make a loud report. Long rifle ammunition was not consistent enough. I used .22 caliber Long ammunition instead. It was subsonic and made no noticeable report. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had discovered the importance of the bullet not breaking the sound barrier”.

An early story about the efficiency of the suppressor states that General “Wild Bill” Donovan, then head of OSS, entered the White House carrying a sand bag. He had also concealed on of the first MSs under his uniform. Reportedly he entered the Oval Office where FDR was dictating a letter. Donovan surreptitiously placed the sand bag in a corner. He then emptied the ten round magazine into the sand bag without being noticed. He then approached FDR, explained what he had done, and presented the MS to him butt first. FDR stated something to the effect that Donovan was the only Republican he would trust to perform such an act.

While this story may have some basis in fact the report of this suppressed pistol fired indoors is certainly noticeable, if not identifiable to persons with average hearing.

That pistol was exhibited for several months in FDR’s Hyde Park home until somebody realized the breach of security in displaying the then classified pistol. It was subsequently returned to the OSS.

The Model H-D was not the first suppressed High Standard nor the only High Standard produced suppressor. Although it never went to production, High Standard already had government contracts for experimental production of suppressors for the M1 carbine in 1943. Several months after the H-D contract came a contract for M-3 grease gun suppressor.

In October 1943 forty four Model A,B.D. and E pistols were among a shipment of one hundred ten Bell Laboratories suppressed firearms delivered to the OSS for testing. The suppressed High Standard pistol showed promise. The design was modified and was approved. On 22 November 1943 a contract was awarded for production of 1,500 units.

The addition of the letters MS to the USA Model HD connotes “Military Silencer” modification.

The first shipment of five hundred and three USA HD MS pistols was delivered in January 1944. Within a week Major Lucy had demonstrated them in Algiers. Within two weeks twenty had been shipped to General MacArthur and six were issued to Alamo Scouts.

By the end of July 1944 six hundred nineteen pistols had been issued to troops in Europe, four hundred eleven to the Mediterranean and three hundred sixty seven to the Far East. One hundred ninety three remained available in the continental U.S.

Within a year a total of four hundred ninety five went to the Mediterranean and six hundred thirty six to the Far East.

Initially met with reservation the pistol soon proved effective and gained wide acceptance in the field. It is probably the only suppressed pistol to see significant use in WWII. Donovan himself stated that the pistol’s accuracy seemed unaffected by the addition of the suppressor. Col. Applegate concurs that they were effective at distances of about one hundred feet.

Existence of the MS was leaked to the press in 1944 when Admiral Nimitz released photos of his pistol to the press. Nimitz was one of the dignitaries issued the MS by the OSS. Others went to Admiral Leahy and the five OSS theater commanders.

The first contract pistols had blued frames and Parkerized barrels. All OSS pistols were roll stamped with the Ordnance acceptance “crossed cannons” on the right side of the frame. “Property of U.S.” was stamped on the right frame as well. A test target and instructions on cleaning both the pistol and suppressor were included in the hinged black box. The left end of the box had a yellow label lettered with

HI-STANDARD MODEL D 4 1/2” BARREL

The label was overstamped by hand with the crossed cannon Ordnance acceptance mark and the word “SILENCED”, both in black ink. The serial number was hand written on the label in pencil.

In August of the same year a second contract was awarded for an additional one thousand pistols. The cost was $38.93 per pistol. Shipments were delivered in late September and early October. All these had Parkerized frame and barrel. This second run had the above markings and added two small numbers stamped on the base of the barrel and tube. A new inclusion in the box was a bristle brush to clean the bore and standard four and one half-inch barrel.

Records indicate High Standard also produced a limited number (possibly all prototypes) of a shoulder stocks for use with the pistol. The author has not located any examples of these as yet.

There was a final contract for one hundred and twenty pistols at the same price in January 1945. As yet I haven’t found records showing the destination of these pistols.

In a 1966 letter to Bill Douglas, Will Lawson, High Standard Sales Manager, stated “Upon completing this government contract all finished parts and subassemblies including records were turned over to the Government arsenal.”

High Standard also produced other runs for the Central Intelligence Agency. These guns had both Parkerized and blued frames but all had Parkerized barrels. The frame and tube were numbered but lacked the Ordnance acceptance or “Property of U.S.” markings. Reliable sources also state that some were “totally sterile without any visible markings or stamps”. Unlike the OSS pistols, which were shipped in black High Standard boxes, these were shipped in a brown kraft box. The CIA kit included a .22 short magazine not found with the OSS.

The Powers pistol was one of these. The serial number 120046 is blank in the High Standard shipping records. It was probably on inventory but not used during the war. It must have been suppressed for the CIA after WWII.

These were the preferred suppressed side arms issued for use in Vietnam and South East Asia and are still in use today. The CIA is rumored to have less than four hundred High Standards left in its armory.

At the request of the OSS in late 1944, High Standard developed a suppressed prototype HD pistol in .380 caliber. Colt had been approached initially, but had refused to make the necessary longer and heavier barrels for .32 or .380 caliber. High Standard delivered the prototype in January 1945 and was awarded a contract for 1,000 pistols in April 1945. Initial cost was to be $65 per pistol. The contract was re-negotiated and price reduced to $57. Black plastic grips were substituted for checked walnut grips. Production began in September but was terminated by the end of WWII. Only one was delivered to the OSS. A picture of it can be found on page 252 of Pate’s book.

Although slightly louder than the .22 (88 dB vs 70-77 dB) the increased noise of the .380 was considered an acceptable trade-off for the increased power. The .380 also offered a quick-change type G barrel not available with the .22 HD. After the war this pistol sans suppressor became the G-380.

Records show that High Standard worked with a suppressed .25 caliber pistol as a trade-off between the .22 and .380 calibers. Information on this work is limited.

The High Standard H-D was suppressed by turning down the forward 4.70” of the 6.75” barrel to .406” external diameter. Eleven vertical and horizontal .125” “bleeder” holes were then drilled completely through the barrel .250” apart giving a total of forty four holes. (The early version used four rows of eight holes.) The frame end of the barrel was threaded to accept the 7.75” long .98” external diameter .843” internal diameter shroud. The forward end of the shroud was threaded to accept a .06” cap drilled with a centered .234” diameter exit hole. Both ends of the shroud had holes where spring loaded detents on the cap and frame locked the barrel in place. A front sight was affixed by solder.

Inside the shroud is a two chamber suppressor system. The first consists of a 4.375” long. 795” diameter tightly rolled tube of tin plated #20 mesh bronze screen. The mesh is soldered on both ends and side as well. It was designed to be discarded after 200-250 rounds. Next is a .06” wide .828” diameter brass washer with a .410” hole drilled to slip over the barrel to separate the rolled screen from the forward compartment.

The part of the barrel (approximately 1”) extending beyond the rolled screen and washer has .828” diameter size thirty mesh bronze screens drilled with .410” holes fitted tightly over it. Filler screens occupy the remaining space to the muzzle cap. They are of the same material and .828” diameter but not fitted to the barrel. They are stacked tightly to fill the space. They have a central .243” central hole to allow passage of the bullet.

The assembled pistol is 14” long. It weights 2.37 to 2.75 pounds. The silencer alone weighs .63 pounds. The free volume of the suppressor is 1.84 cubic inches with .76 cubic inches in front of the barrel. Muzzle velocity is reportedly 930 fps with 75 foot pounds muzzle energy with standard velocity .22 caliber ammunition.

Several variables can affect the efficiency of this or any suppressor. Most of the suppression is a function of trapping expelled gases and slowing the projectile to a subsonic speed. Part of the perceived noise is also from the mechanical action of the pistol’s slide. Standard velocity .22 ammunition is subsonic. Using .22 shorts further reduces the report by decreasing escaping gases and speed. Mechanical noise is almost eliminated with .22 cal shorts as the powder charge is insufficient to blow back the slide.

Coating the screens with heavy oil or other fluid such as shaving cream also increases efficiency. The fluid absorbs heat from trapped gases reducing gas volume and thereby volume of gas expelled through the muzzle.

When a round is fired powder continues to burn in the barrel or in this case the suppressor. This combustion produces more gas and increases report. To reduce combustion a first shot is fired in advance to burn out the oxygen. A piece of cellophane tape is then applied to the muzzle to control reentry of oxygen. Combustion is minimal and report is reduced. Muzzle flash is also eliminated in this fashion.

Placing a piece of cellophane tape over the muzzle also creates a “wipe”. The tighter the seal between the muzzle and the bullet the better the control of escaping gases. With a wipe the bullet punches a hole of minimum size. This tighter hole retards gas escape and diminishes report. Repeated use of the same hole decreases its efficiency.

Use of jacketed ammunition reduces fouling of the screen and does extend suppressor efficiency. In the Bell Laboratories designed High Standard suppressor system this was not considered critical as replacement screens were issued with the guns.

Regarding the early use of the OSS pistol the Hague Accord Regulations prohibited the use of non-jacketed ammunition by uniformed combatants during hostilities. Jacketed T-42 .22 caliber ammo was specifically designed for this pistol to circumvent this regulation. Most kits included non-jacketed Remington .22 cal standard velocity ammunition however. When captured with an OSS pistol most operatives did not expect treatment in accord with the Geneva Convention on Treatment of Prisoners of War.

There were 2,620 suppressed pistols produced by High Standard. An unknown number of copies have been produced by machinists and armorers in and out of the armed services since that time.

Reportedly High Standard and X-ploraco, a Texas based company, also custom manufactured a number of legally suppressed HDMs in the 1950s. The X-ploraco combination suppressor and pistol was sold for $125.

Of the total produced, other authors give either three or nine as the number of guns Amnesty registered and legal for private ownership. ATF has responded to the author’s requests for the correct number amnestied by stating that their records are not setup to give a specific number of any particular type of firearm. The author has located one Parkerized and two blued privately owned amnesty registered OSS pistols. I have not seen any examples of the CIA contract or custom shop work but would welcome the opportunity to do so. The Rock Island Arsenal, FBI and CIA collections have pistols in their collections as does the Lubyanka Prison KGB history museum.

References and sources of information

Firearms Silencers vol I/II/III
John A. Minnery
Delta Press
El Dorado, AR

OSS Special Weapons & Equipment
Spy Devices of WWII
H. Keith Melton
Sterling Press, NY 1991

OSS Weapons
John W. Brunner PhD
Phillips Publications, Williamstown

Personal conversations with Colonel Rex Applegate

Personal conversations and correspondences with
John W. Brunner PhD

Personal conversations with Charles Petty

Silencers Principles and Evaluations, Report R-1896
Dept of the Army. Frankford Arsenal
Philadelphia, PA 19137
August 1968

Silencers, Snipers and Assassins
J. David Truby
Paladin Press, 1972

US Handguns of World War II
Charles Pate
Andrew Mowbray Publishers 1998

From the window of my plane in the commercial flight en-route to Lima, the sight of the dark blue waters of Lago Titicaca (the world’s highest navigable lake, right on the border between Bolivia and Peru) was one more breathtaking scene of the equally majestic Andes Mountains that I tried to record in my mind. Photographs alone could hardly match the sensation of actually being there, and I couldn’t help imagining how it would have been in the time of the native pre-Columbian civilizations which existed for over 5,000 years. Their Apogee was reached by the Incas in what is now Peru around the year 1500, only to be drastically brought to a bloodstained end, following the arrival of Spanish “Conquistador” Francisco Pizarro in 1532.

Although a great portion of the passengers on my flight from Brazil were clearly foreigners eager to visit such traditional places as the ruins of Machu Picchu, the cities of Arequipa and Cusco, and the intriguing Nasca Lines (colossal figures of animals and constellations traced on the ground and only clearly perceptible when you fly above them!), the purpose of my visit was not so touristic and/or esoteric. Pretty much on the contrary, my objective was to test fire and learn about submachine guns of indigenous design and manufacture. Yes sir, the Peruvians do have a local small arms production capability!

For the record, domestic firearms construction in that South American nation had already been tried in the early 1950s, when American designer Gordon B. Ingram (better known by his compact, fast-firing M-10/M-11 series SMGs) established the local “Fábrica de Armas Los Andes”. The aim was to series-produce his .45 ACP caliber Model 6 submachine gun under license from Los Angeles-based Police Ordnance Company. It’s not clear how many examples were actually assembled in Peru.

It would take about twenty more years for the Peruvians to think about making guns again, and that time they decided to go ahead and contrive a national product. Oddly enough, incentive for this effort came in the mid-1970s at what was then the “Departamento de Armas del Arsenal Naval” (Weapons Department of the Navy Arsenal), at the Callao Naval Base, adjacent to the capital city of Lima.

That establishment was primarily in charge of maintaining and repairing Peruvian Navy armament of all types. Its CO at the time, one Captain Benvenuto, boldly decided they should contemplate actual manufacture of small arms. A project group was put together, and this allegedly also included an Italian and an Argentine designer. As it has frequently happened in countries deciding to establish a domestic firearm production capability, a subgun was chose as the initial product. This comes from the fact that this type of weapon is intrinsically simpler to design and cheaper to make than, say a good revolver or rifle.

A prototype was ready for testing by 1979, and later showed to be good enough to justify series manufacture. At about the same time, the SIMA-CEFAR organization was established, SIMA standing for “Servicios Industriales de la Marina” (Navy Industrial Services), and CEFAR for “Centro de Fabricaciones de Armas” (Weapons Manufacturing Center), whose responsibility would be making and marketing the guns.

As it should be expected, moving from a couple of working prototypes into series production status is no simple task, much more so in a country with very limited financial and industrial resources. Skilled technicians had to be trained and adequate tooling procured from different sources, and all this resulted in the production of the first domestic Peruvian submachine gun, the MGP-79, starting around 1983. Something like 16,000 guns were made through about 1985, all being supplied to the local Police and Armed Forces.

The MGP-79

MGP stands for “Marina de Guerra del Peru” (Peruvian Navy), and this first model is a stockless weapon which operates by conventional blowback action and, like all subsequent members of the family, is chambered to fire the popular 9 x 19 mm cartridge. The receiver is a conventional tubular structure, to the fore end of which is fastened the 240 mm-long barrel (12 micro-grooves, RH twist) by the collar of a perforated jacket. The similarly-cylindrical bolt with a fixed firing pin and its corresponding recoil spring assembly (guide rod and buffer) are inserted into the receiver from the rear end, which features a screw-on cap.

Following a configuration common to many of the so-called second-generation SMGs, pioneered by the German MP38/MP40 series of WWII fame, the long magazine housing is well forward under the receiver, and doubles as a vertical fore grip. Wooden panels, with a marked protuberance at the rear, were originally employed here, but later examples featured straight synthetic panels. The magazine catch, found on the lower left side of the housing, is a square button fashioned after the one used in the Uzi family of SMGs. The 20- and 32-round box magazines also come from the Israeli design, being of the staggered-row, two position feed type.

The firing mechanism proper is contained within a stamped, rectangular lower body affixed to the receiver. The pistol grip is an integral part of this assembly, and may also be encountered with wooden or plastic panels, both types with conspicuous finger grooves.

Shooting Impressions

The most cooperative staff of SIMA-CEFAR was kind enough to allow me to carry out a hands-on evaluation of the MGP-79, an event which took place at one of the many combat training ranges at the Callao Naval Base. My host for the occasion was Captain Daniel Quiróz, then Marketing Officer of that organization. On our way to the test site he drove past several training areas where I could see a number of “Marina de Guerra” (Navy) and “Infanteria de Marina” (Marine Corps) combat teams hard at work. Instructors and trainees alike displayed an outstanding degree of professionalism, which should come as no surprise to anybody in view of the fact that both the local Military and the Police share responsibilities in anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations. The guys I saw there were not merely following a course schedule, but rather, learning or drilling how to survive in real-life combat and assure their opponents … don’t!

At 3.3 kg with a loaded 32-round magazine in place, the MGP-79 is well within the weight range of typical second-generation SMGs. My individual taste does not favor inserting the magazine into a housing too far forward in the gun, I favor those just ahead of the trigger guard (H&K MP5-style) or, even more, within the main grip (Uzi-style). As usual, tapping the bottom of the magazine after insertion makes sure that it is in place and held by its catch.

Applied safety and fire control are performed by two distinct levers on the left side of the gun body, which leaves a lot to be desired in terms of ergonomics. A single lever is certainly preferred, mainly under the usual stress of combat. Just above the main grip and within satisfactory reach of the right hand’s thumb lies the fire selector. In a 90-degree arc, settings are semi-auto (curiously marked “1×1”), to the rear, and full-auto (marked “RAF” for “Ráfaga”, or Burst). The applied safety lever, which blocks the bolt either in the closed or open position, is located on the left side, near the magazine housing. It can be flawlessly manipulated with the thumb of the left hand, and settings are “F” (“Fuego”, or Fire), forward, and “S” (“Securo”, or Safe), down.

The cocking piece is a knob protruding 90 degrees to the right side of the weapon, so if you are right-handed and don’t want to lose your grip when actuating it, just turn the gun slightly towards its left side, and use the supporting (left) hand, instead. As an additional precaution against accidental discharges, the retracting handle can be pulled to the rear and hooked up into a vertical notch in the receiver, a simple and long-established method.

As mentioned earlier, the design parameters for the MGP-79 surprisingly did not call for any kind of buttstock, which might well be an indication that its intended operational use was only CQC (close-quarters combat) or any other actions (I wonder what) not requiring too-accurate fire. In contrast, however, decent adjustable sights are provided. The rear unit is a flip-type, two-position (100 and 200 meters) V-notch, while the front sight is a hooded blade, radius being a reasonable 260 mm.

The example I used in my test was in excellent condition and was marked with serial number “383” (definitely an early production weapon) and “FAP” (“Fuerza Aérea del Perú”, or Peruvian Air Force). Although it came with sling swivels at the rear and forward ends, regretfully the sling itself was missing, as it would have made a good additional support for more precise shooting. Anyway, the “opposition forces” at hand were simply empty plastic bottles, soda cans, and broken wooden crates spread around the sand bank I was shooting at … and, most fortunately, they didn’t return fire!

Range was in the region of 50 meters, more than realistic for submachine gun use, and the stockless MGP-79 still allowed me to concentrate most of my semi-automatic and automatic fire on the “enemy” in such a way that heavy casualties among them would have been expected. Firing from the waist, assault-style, shot convergence both with short and long bursts was pretty much satisfactory.

The supporting hand was alternately used to hold the vertical fore grip (magazine housing) and to grasp the barrel sleeve well near the muzzle end, the latter proving more effective for speedier turn-around movements, like would have been required for the engagement of multiple targets. The insulation provided by the perforated jacket was barely enough to protect my hand from the moderate barrel heating generated by my brief scuffle with the bottles.

But there’s a trick with the MGP-79: its ejection port is located right on top of the receiver. Although the “formal” ejection path should take the empty cartridge cases up and forward, I had the annoying experience of seeing (and feeling!) some of them hitting my shooting glasses a number of times, mainly when I fired the gun from a lower position. Were it shouldered (had it a stock!), the brass would probably fly inoffensively over the shooter’s head. That is one design snag.

Cyclic rate of fire averages about 700 rounds per minute, a reasonable figure, and proper trigger manipulation allows one to squeeze out two- and three-round bursts (and even single shots, with a little more familiarization time) in full-auto setting. I tried some single-handed firing, as this may eventually be required in an emergency, but found it not practical, mainly as a result of the main grip being too far back from the gun’s center of gravity. For my small build, it was far from effective beyond short ranges, but maybe Rambo and others of his species would find it a piece of cake…

Design improvement

The shortcomings I noticed during my relatively brief shooting session at Callao obviously also called the attention of the MGP-79 users as time passed and operational experience accumulated. Although the weapon’s reliability as a whole was generally praised, there were complaints regarding the barrel’s limited resistance to high volumes of fire. What would in our days be called a PIP (Product Improvement Program) was eventually carried out by SIMA-CEFAR, the result being the MGP79A/MGP-87 series of buzzguns, which entered production in 1987.

MGP-79 Technical Specification:

Cartridge: 9 x 19 mm
Operation: Blowback, selective fire
Feed: 20- or 32-round detachable box magazine
Weight: no magazine: 2.65 kg, 32-rd magazine: 3.25 kg
Overall length: 526 mm
Barrel length: 240 mm
Cyclic rate of fire: 700 rounds/min