While 9mm AR-15-based carbines have been around since the early 1980s, they’ve only hit peak popularity in the last several years. At this point, direct blowback models have been joined by various forms of delayed blowback and locked breech, and the double-stack, double-row-feeding Colt magazines have been eclipsed in popularity by GLOCK-compatible, single-feed magazines. With this vast variety of styles, actions and looks, what sets the Windham Weaponry R16FTT-9mm apart? The answer is in the history of the company that makes it.

Windham Weaponry of Maine originated as Bushmaster around 1976. Famous for its MIL-SPEC AR-15 rifles, this brand was sold and became a part of Freedom Group conglomerate in 2006. The factory was moved out of Maine in 2010 and, eventually, the brand was phased out in 2020. However, when the non-compete agreement expired in 2011, the original owner and employees restarted the company under the new name reflecting its traditional location. Being a high-quality gun maker, Windham Weaponry soon gained the same reputation as its previous name had once possessed. They are now known for making mainstream AR-15 variants of very high quality at reasonable prices. The four decades of institutional experience at design and production are very evident in the 9mm carbine I tested.

On the surface, this carbine seems quite conventional: it has a 16-inch Melonite finish, threaded medium weight barrel, a MIL-SPEC trigger group and plain M4 grip and telestock. A 13-inch, free-floated M-LOK handguard gives the option of an aggressive overhand grip for rapid fire up close, a long iron sight radius and stand-alone night vision or thermal optics in tandem with a scope or a red dot sight. A small rail segment comes pre-installed forward left with a QD socket filled with a sling loop. With all that, it comes in at 6.7 pounds empty. The receiver is extensively relieved for saving weight. Windham Weaponry’s aforementioned institutional experience comes in the form of such refinements as radiused insets in the receiver for placing the trigger finger between shot strings instead of resting it on the magazine release button and in the relief in the bolt that can be used as a streamlined forward assist in the manner of the WWII “grease gun.” The magazine well and the ejection port are extensively flared; all receiver edges are chamfered for comfortable handling.

This rifle isn’t fancy. The barrel profile steps up and down, suggesting that it came from the same lot as the barrels for gas-operated rifles. The trigger has a 7.5 to 8-pound pull—on the heavy side even for MIL-SPEC. The bolt is simple and solid, with a cutout for a very sturdy fixed blade ejector. The rifle ships with a 17-round Magpul magazine and is compatible with anything from a flush-fitting 10-rounder to a 100-round BETA double drum. The carbine’s heat endurance for uninterrupted fire appears to be in the 200-round range for the receiver and about 120 rounds for the forend before a vertical grip or an insulating wrap is required.

Testing Analysis 

The proof is in the performance. In the entire testing process, there were no malfunctions with any type of ammunition. Accuracy testing was done with two optical sight models. Bushnell’s Lil P, a jewel of a tiny, lightweight illuminated 1x prism scope, was used for short-range rapid fire and deliberate supported shots from 60 yards. Lil P is focused at 50 yards, so it is optimized for short-range use. I was able to get 100% on head shots at 60 and about 75% at 100, as well as very fast shot-to-shot times up close. With no magnification, the difference between loads was obscured by the variations in my aim, so I mounted a Leupold VX-Freedom 1.5-4x30mm FireDot scope. While the MIL-Ring in the scope name refers to 5.56mm BDC markings on the dial, the reticle provides concentric circles and Mil hash marks. The entire reticle from the top of the inside circle to the bottom of the hash mark tree measures 15 Mils, or about the height of a person’s legs and torso at 100m.

With 100m (110-yard) zero also being the longest distance available at my home range, I dialed in for 115-grain FMJ. The longer barrel added almost 200fps to the Remington UMC® load compared to a 4-inch pistol. This particular bullet goes transonic slightly past 60 yards, so the most accurate results would be inside that range. A 150-yard drop amounts to one head height: aiming at the middle of the head gets an upper chest hit. By 225 yards, the entire height of a person fits inside the inner circle of the reticle, while the bullet drops 5 Mils to the bottom of the inner circle. With ranging being quite simple, can we count on sufficient accuracy? My dispersion with 115-grain ball, the handicap of the heavy trigger and all, was about 2 MOA. Assuming accurate ranging and no wind, this works out to a 4.5-inch group at 200m, the distance being commonly declared an effective range for all sorts of 9mm submachine guns. With the bullet barely reaching 900fps by then, and various environmental factors considered, we can confidently say that the Windham Weaponry 9mm carbine confidently does what buzz guns only reach in their nominal specifications. At least I could confidently do headshots on a 100-yard “hostage taker” target and send a 3-inch plastic ball at 110 yards spinning 100% of the time. If shooting further than that, I would swap out the MIL-SPEC trigger for something lighter by LaRue Tactical or Geissele.

I tested the R16FTT-9mm with 124-grain Federal® American Eagle® ball and 147-grain SIG SAUER V-Crown® JHP loads as well. Out to 100 yards, their trajectory and retained velocity are similar enough, with only about an inch vertical shift in impact and no horizontal shift at all. However, dispersion increased to about 2.5 MOA with the 124-grain and 3 MOA with the 147-grain. Also, in the span of a single 15-round string, the top of the magazine got perceptibly dirtier due to an earlier bolt opening. It’s safe to say that this firearm is optimized for lighter bullets. With that in mind, I also ran 90-grain, hand-loaded cartridges loaded with SIG SAUER JHP projectiles intended for use in .380Auto. The gun’s accuracy was around the same 2 MOA and initial velocity was near 1500fps. The lighter bullet starts out with much flatter trajectory and keeps that advantage out to 175 yards, though at the cost of greater susceptibility to cross-wind and reduced penetration.

Since most uses of a 9mm defensive carbine would be close in, I tried various drills on 20- to 25-yard silhouettes. With the scope at 1.5x and the center dot illumination on, I could tap the steel almost as fast with the 1x Lil P and slightly more accurately. The downside of the scope is the greater bulk; the advantage is the more detailed sight picture. For home defense use, I’d go with the 1x, but for outdoor use the 1.5-4x wins. The greatest delay was from wrestling the barrel back into the point of aim, which is easy to solve with a TANDEMKROSS, or similar, compensator. We wouldn’t want a muzzle brake because the recoil is already mild and the additional back-pressure would dirty the receiver that much faster, but a dedicated compensator optimized for venting gas away from the sight picture would keep the rifle steady during the reloading cycle. A vertical- or reverse-angled AMD65-style foregrip would accomplish the same effect. All of this assumes an effort to overlap the hit at that distance. If center low, center high and head hits are all that are needed, then the bare muzzle would do just fine.

Take-down for cleaning is even simpler than with a gas-operated AR-15, since the bolt and carrier are one part. The lack of an ejection port cover and imperfect sealing of the opening by the bolt body are compensated to an extent by the ability of this carbine to run with minimal lubrication.

Final Assessment

In sum, Windham Weaponry put together a carbine that is an excellent trainer for the 5.56mm counterpart, duplicating most of the handling and the felt recoil but with cheaper ammunition, less noise and backstop wear. It’s also a very reasonable defensive weapon that can match sidearm magazines and ammunition, simplifying logistics. For my use, it’s a fun and accurate gun that shoots well with inexpensive ball. 

In 2006 I decided to purchase a full-auto weapon. I had lived in several states that did not allow an individual to possess machine guns. When I moved to Arizona, I visited with Class 3 Dealer Curtis Earl who advertised, “We Buy Machine Guns,” in the American Rifleman all the time. He tried to talk me into a Thompson, he had over 30 of them, but I was not willing to spend that much money. I should have bought at least 10 of them because back then he was selling them for $3,500 a piece! They would have been a great investment! 

I ended up buying an SWD M11/9 submachine gun in 9mm Parabellum caliber from Craig Wheatley at Tactical Innovations in Idaho. It was one that they had converted the magazine well to take the STEN magazines. At that time, the 32-round STEN magazines could be bought for as little as $4.00, and people who I visited with and who had experienced the STEN in WWII, said the feed was exceptionally reliable. There were 50-round magazines available, too. I also found one of the Austen magazine fillers from WWII to load them. This was very necessary and easy to use! 

After going through the long wait while the ATF approved my purchase of the gun, it was finally delivered to me. I was a little shocked and overwhelmed at the rate of fire! It was exciting to shoot but difficult to control and ate up ammunition at an extremely high rate. 

Later, I read an article about converting the M11/9 to a slow fire from a company in Wallingford, Connecticut, called Stony Creek Armory. The conversion to a slower fire rate utilized an AR-15 collapsible stock with the recoil spring and piston inside of it. The article showed how to make and install a rod in the bolt to function with the spring in the stock. It required drilling a 3/8-inch hole in the back of the lower section. The original bolt was already threaded 1/4-20 in the rear of it, so the rod could be screwed into the bolt. It also showed a small plate of metal to support the ejector rod and spring. I also found a source for a longer barrel for the M11/9. The original 5.25-inch barrel made the gun very compact but difficult to hang on to while shooting. I was looking for some way to provide better handling of the M11/9. 

I ended up finding and purchasing an upper that had a left-side cocking handle and a 10-inch heavy barrel. It came with a sight mount on the top and a short forearm very similar to what is used on the AR-15. I also installed an extended safety that was made by Lage Manufacturing, located in Arizona. The barrel was also threaded for a suppressor. The results were impressive! It slowed down the rate to about 950 per minute. It was much easier to control, and the longer forearm and barrel provided much more stable control. The rate of fire was changeable by using different buffer springs in the stock and different weight buffers. I also mounted one of the L3 EOTech 512 Holographic Weapon Sights, which is a major improvement over the iron sights. 

When I turned 75, I went to the Scottsdale Gun Club Range to celebrate my birthday. I did a 50-round mag dump that lasted just over 3 seconds. I was able to keep all 50 rounds in a 12-inch circle at 50 feet. A friend took a video of me doing that, and it was posted on YouTube for almost a year! 

All that remains of this original M11/9 is the registered lower receiver, bolt and the full-auto sear. The value of the firearm has increased over three times since I purchased it. I also have one of the Lage .22 LR conversions for it, and it really draws crowds when we are out shooting with either calibers. It is a reliable and accurate full-auto weapon.

“Aimee” My ANM2’s Little Sister 

Story & Photography by B. Powell 

The idea for this gun began several years ago when I was reading about the U.S. Marines fighting on lwo Jima in WWII. Wanting to increase their firepower, they converted aircraft-mounted ANM2 machine guns to shoulder-fired Light Machine Guns they called the “Stinger.” I converted my ANM2 to the Stinger configuration, but after shooting a few belts, I decided to put it back on the tripod, because it was such a handful to shoot. It was so much more controllable and accurate on the tripod that I decided to convert my AM180 from handheld to tripod-mounted. 

The AM180 is a drum-fed, open-bolt .22 LR machine gun which looks sort of like a Thompson. It has a very high cyclic rate, about 1200 rounds per minute, similar to an 275 rounds, and at 20 rounds per second, they don’t last long. The gun is reliable as long as you keep it clean and use the ammo it likes. I shoot CCI® 40-grain solids. The one potential problem with it is that it ejects through the bottom of the receiver and will occasionally fire out of battery and suffer case head separation, which is not a good thing when firing from the hip or shoulder. Mounting the gun on a tripod would place the ejection port where this should not be a problem. 

To begin the project, I converted an aluminum shotgun forearm I had sitting in the shop to fit on the AM180 barrel, mounted a rail to it, added a KNS Precision MG42 Anti-Aircraft (AA) tripod adapter from an M16 and was able to place it on the MG42 tripod. 

Next thing to do was figure out the spade grips. This contestant just happened to have a KNS Precision spade grip conversion for the AR-15/ M16 and figured all that was needed was an AR buffer tube on the AM180. 

This was a challenge, because I didn’t want to alter the registered mg receiver. This was accomplished by adapting an AK pistol brace with AR buffer tube to an AM180 stock mounting bracket. Now the spade grips were on the receiver. 

Getting the trigger to function properly was a bit more problematic. The AM180 trigger group has some springs and detents which are held in place by the pistol grip. A small plate had to be fabricated and attached to the grip mount to hold them in place. I made some adjustments to the KNS trigger bar and got it working with the spades. 

Now it is tripod-mounted and spade-grip-fired, but it just doesn’t look right because of the lightweight .22 LR barrel. Looking through my ANM2 spare parts, I found a barrel jacket that someone had crudely torched in half. After cleaning up the cut and grinding it down on the sides, it fit into the aluminum forearm. The barrel jacket serves a dual purpose in dressing up the gun and shielding the hot barrel. For a finishing touch I cut down a broken wooden HK G3 forearm to cover the rest of the barrel and blend the lines of the gun to the drum magazine. 

While sighting it in, I tried an EOTech holographic sight and an Aimpoint® red dot but settled on a SureFire laser for ease of standing back and aiming with both eyes open. The gun shoots great and is very accurate. 30-yard groups are about a 6-inch circle. I can write my initials with it on a piece of tin. Now I just need to mount a T&E, and I will be able to tighten up the groups! I call it “Aimee” because it’s my ANM2’s little sister. 

What Is a “FrankenGun?” 

A “FrankenGun” is just what it sounds like—a cross between Frankenstein’s monster and a gun, in this case a semi auto or a machine gun. The phrase goes back to the early internet days when legal machine gun owners would cross-pollinate weapon designs using parts, and sometimes movie voodoo-type add-ons, to create something that fit their idea of a fun gun. FrankenGun contests are held occasionally, and we at SAR like to encourage our readers to participate, making sure it’s legal as they do so. Much like our fabled “MacWaffle” contest (Small Arms Review, Vol. 2, No. 4), where readers had to make a working waffle iron out of MAC flats, this is about having some fun. 
We received several entries but chose the Top Two presented here. The winner of the FrankenGun Challenge will be judged by the readers and receive a 3-year subscription to both Small Arms Review and Small Arms Defense Journal. An RKI Certificate will be provided for those who put in an entry, which will be suitable for framing. 
Email Your Vote Now! 
Vote for your favorite FrankenGun by emailing your choice to office@smallarmsreview.com no later than Monday, September 28, 2020. The winner will be announced in the SAR November issue, Vol. 24, No. 9. 
There’s Always Next Year 
It’s never too early to start thinking about next year’s FrankenGun Challenge! Here are some guidelines for 2021. 
2021 Entry Guidelines 
Email your complete entry to editorial@chipotlepublishing.com by July 2, 2021. Entries must include the following: 
Your name, email and phone number 
An article describing what parts you used to make your FrankenGun, your processes, the ammo the gun uses and a description of the gun’s shooting results. Article should be between 600 and 1,000 words in length. Include the name of your FrankenGun—if it has one. 
A minimum of three high-resolution photos (at least 300dpi) and brief captions for each photo 
Rules 
Please make sure your completed FrankenGun is legal! Illegal entries will be disqualified. Gun used can be a semiauto or a machine gun. Entries must be submitted by July 2, 2021. 

One of biggest reasons people collect firearms is for the joy in shooting them, but there is also a whole category of “wall hangers,” old firearms that are not structurally sound, too fragile to be fired or rendered inoperable. 

The idea of having a deactivated machine gun might seem like heresy to some collectors, but for others this is a way to collect what isn’t otherwise available in a functional weapon. Of course, other factors in opting for a non-functional version include legality and cost. 

First, let’s cover the issue of legality. Currently there are 41 states that allow ownership of “machine guns” per the restrictions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). While it is beyond the scope of this article to describe the process of acquiring or transferring firearms, it is worth noting that much of the country does allow private ownership of machine guns (and other weapons that are restricted by the National Firearms Act of 1934) that have been deactivated per ATF guidelines. What is important to understand is what exactly is meant by deactivated. 

The ATF has addressed this: “A machine gun receiver that has been properly destroyed may be used to assemble a ‘dummy gun’ that is not subject to the controls of the National Fire arms Act or Gun Control Act. When sections of destroyed machine gun receivers are used to build a dummy gun and the severed sections welded back together, the dummy gun receiver must be at least one (1) inch shorter than the original machine gun receiver. The bolt, if present, must be welded to the receiver in the closed position. The breech of the barrel must be welded closed and an obstruction welded into the barrel. Alternatively, a solid metal/plastic bar in the same shape and configuration as the original model maybe used as a ‘dummy receiver.’” 

As with the ownership of live weapons, the ATF’s rules only apply on the federal level. State and even local laws can still restrict or prohibit the ownership of deactivated firearms. New York City, for example, bans replicas as well as toy guns, so a deactivated machine gun isn’t legal to own; and many states have bans on “high-capacity” magazines, so that part of the weapon would still be a problem even if the receiver is non-functional per the ATF. It is always recommended that when collecting deactivated weapons, one consults with local, state and federal laws. Ignorance of the law is not a defense and improperly deactivated weapons are considered very much live—and thus illegal! 

Don’t Confuse “DEWAT” with “Dummy Gun” 

One of the biggest areas of confusion around deactivated machine guns is in what these should be called. Too often sellers at gun shows and online use the moniker “DEWAT,” which is a form of deactivated machine gun, but it is essential to understand this is only a specific type of non-functional weapon—and it is one that is essentially as regulated as a functional machine gun, even if it cannot be made into a functional weapon. 

DEWAT is an acronym for “deactivated war trophy” and generally refers to firearms that were brought home by World War II-era servicemen. The original program was established in 1945 as a way to allow those soldiers to keep the machine guns as war trophies (hence the name). The weapons were allowed to be turned into what the Internal Revenue Service—which oversaw the transfer of machine guns and other NFA items before the creation of the ATF—described as “harmless ordnance curios.” An important point, however, is that although not regulated as “firearms,” the IRS was still required to be notified when the DEWATs were transferred. 

Even today, DEWATs can only be transferred via submission of ATF Form 5, as “unserviceable firearms,” but unlike a functional weapon, it is transferred free of tax. 

“It is really a term from the 1950s and 1960s,” explained Alex Cranmer, CEO of New Jersey-based International Military Antiques (IMA), which has become one of the premier sellers of display weapons and other military collectibles. “DEWATs involved removing the firing capacity, but left the receiver intact. It typically means severing the bolt from the front of the bolt … or the bolt was fusion welded shut. Otherwise the gun was complete and left alone.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: In that period, owners frequently used lead poured into the barrels to make a DEWAT, but this was not legal because the lead was easily removed.) 

The Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968 updated the law on machine guns, and as Cranmer noted, “this is when it was determined that the machine gun is really the receiver. DEWATs were grandfathered into their own new category, but even now require a transfer.” 

The change was made because, simply put, it was all too easy to reactivate a machine gun if it had been deactivated in such a manner. 

“The government says once a machine gun, always a machine gun except under certain circumstances,” added noted machine gun collector Robert Segel. “DEWATs were generally considered the ‘red-haired step child’ of the time with no real interest or value. However, over time, and with the introduction of CAD machines and advances in technology, DEWATs, if registered, could be re-manufactured into live, transferable machine guns.” This can be done using a tax paid Form 1, or a Class 2 manufacturer may make the DEWAT into a live gun using a tax exempt Form 2. 

Dummy or Display Gun 

Today it is easy to search the terms dummy or display guns on auction sites including GunBroker.com, but those are really collector terms, not official nomenclature. 

“Dummy gun doesn’t really exist as an official term,” noted Cranmer. “ATF doesn’t call it anything, except that it isn’t under the provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968. ATF sees these items as destroyed. Another term is demilled as in demilitarized, but that could also imply parts kits as much as a firearm for display.” 

What is crucial for collectors to understand is no matter what it is called, a non-functional machine gun needs to have a “destroyed,” or if possible, replaced receiver. Thus some dummy guns could include a solid aluminum block, while others have been torch cut so that at least one-half inch of the receiver is removed. 

“There is no gray area here,” explained Cranmer, whose company has worked with ATF for decades to clarify what is, and what is not, within the bureau’s guidelines. “If you have a gun that doesn’t have a torch cut or solid receiver, it is probably a machine gun, and that is a serious problem.” 

Where it gets confusing is with Maxim/ Browning-style belt-fed machine guns—and in this case it is necessary to have the right side-plate removed. 

“It used to be the left side-plate on some of the belt-fed guns, but more recently it is has been decided that on all of these, the right side-plate is removed,” added Cranmer. “It is important to note that you can have no barrel, no internals, but you have the side-plate, and it is still a machine gun to the ATF!” 

Today there are now replica side-plates that ATF has approved that are too thick for the weapon to function but externally look quite good. 

Origins of the Display-Only Guns 

The ability to create items that were for display only came about in part due to the GCA in 1968, which banned the importation of machine guns, but not the parts. In the 1960s and 1970s there had been a market for reasonably good replicas that had come out of Japan. 

However, while there were display versions of World War II submachine guns such as the Thompson and even the German MP40, there weren’t replicas of larger machine guns. 

“There were a lot of machine guns overseas, many rare and desirable that one could not find at home in the U.S., as the government wouldn’t allow the import of those,” said Segel. 

It was possible then to import the parts, minus the side-plate or receiver, and beginning in the 1990s companies such as IMA began to create solid replica receivers and non-functional side-plates. 

“Other means were also used to satisfy ATF that the gun could not be re-manufactured to fire,” added Segel. “Thus, this rebuilt representation would be allowed without registration. What this allowed is for individuals or museums to have a display of historically significant weapons that did not require registration and could be had at a reasonable price.” 

Collecting Non-functional Machine Guns 

As noted some purists might balk at the idea of owning a gun that doesn’t do the one thing it was designed to do, but there are considerations. 

The first is still about the cost. Because of the FOPA of 1986, the price for live machine guns has only increased, and they are expensive to operate due to the cost of the ammunition. For some collectors, non-functional display guns were a good way to fill a void in a collection that still had many historic parts. 

For the general collector of militaria— such as helmets, uniforms and field gear— either from general or specific conflicts, machines guns can be part of a larger display, and having a non-functional piece can be as good as a live weapon, maybe even better. Whereas a live machine gun should be properly stored, a dummy or display piece doesn’t require the same level of due diligence. 

Cranmer described the display guns as being much like a classic car without an engine or an old warplane hanging in a museum. These display weapons look the part, and for collectors that is good enough. 

“In today’s economy, this is becoming a satisfactory way to own and display automatic weapons without government interference, and more and more of these display pieces are coming on the market,” said Segel. 

However, this doesn’t mean that display weapons should be considered “cheap” by any means. While these were fairly common in the 1990s, in recent years the market has seriously driven up the prices. Deactivated World War II-era German machine guns such as the MG34 and MG42 can now fetch prices in excess of $2,000, while a Thompson submachine gun from the era is rarely found for under $1,000. It isn’t uncommon to see a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) sell for more than $2,000, while rarer weapons are even more expensive. 

A German MG08 with an original sled mount can be as much as $10,000—but in this case the sleds are so rare that these sell for $6,000 to $7,000 depending on their condition. It has really come down to supply and demand. 

“The so-called ‘dummy guns’ are getting harder and harder to find,” said Cranmer. “Parts sets are no longer being imported, and once we used to see all kinds of different machine guns that were sold as surplus from governments around the world, and that isn’t happening.” 

Cranmer noted that in just the past 30 years prices have skyrocketed. “Back in the 1990s you could find an MP40 parts set for $250, but today a display gun can sell for $3,000 or more. So many people don’t want the hassle of owning a firearm, especially a class III machine gun, that display weapons are a good option.” 

Advice for Beginners 

While not nearly as difficult as purchasing an actual NFA weapon, such as live machine gun, collectors should still be wary when purchasing a display weapon. When buying a belt-fed machine gun, make sure that the side-plate has been removed, and if the right plate is present, make sure that it is a correct replica. If this doesn’t look right—even if the gun is a rusty hulk of steel (something this author has seen)—it isn’t technically deactivated per the ATF. 

The same holds true for the receiver. It needs to be torch cut in three places, based on the ATF guidelines, or replaced with a solid block. It gets even trickier with some simple weapons, such as a STEN gun. If the bolt can be cocked back on such weapons that isn’t a good sign even if the barrel is plugged. 

Collectors should consult with dealers who have experience with such display weapons and not just take the advice from someone who is trying to sell the item. As noted, a plugged barrel doesn’t matter; nor does a welded bolt. Those may have been fine for registered DEWATs (and still could be, provided the item is transferrable), but otherwise it is a big problem one should avoid. 

“If it looks like it functions,” said Cranmer. “You need to walk away.” 

Reloading—taking a fired cartridge case, reforming it, replacing the primer, powder and bullet, and shooting it again. Most folks do not know that reloading was first widespread by the U.S. Army. As always, logistics was a big issue after the Civil War, with the adoption of the breech-loading rifle. Our first breechloaders were muzzleloaders, converted to load from the back. As they were issued out to the troops on the Western frontier, resupply from the East (St. Louis) took time.

As a result, some ordnance officer, whose name is lost to history, figured out that it took less space to ship lead bars, kegs of powder, primers and one set of reloading tools than case after case of ammunition. The ordnance folks always want to save money, so recycling the cases (in the recycled guns) was a good idea. When you get supplies perhaps once a month—IF the wagons got through—running out of ammo is not an option. 

How Is It Done?

These days, the reloading process is pretty much the same as it was in the 1870s. Obtain some cases; clean them; reshape the case; remove the old primer; place a new primer; add a measured powder charge; place the bullet in the case; fire the round again. It is cost-effective—about half the cost of factory ammo. But here is the secret the folks who make reloading tools don’t talk about: You don’t save any money! You shoot twice as much!

Yup, for the price of 50 rounds of ammo, you now have 100! Yee Haw! As this is written, guns and ammo are disappearing from gun shops so fast that most shops limit how much you can buy; maybe 1 or 2 boxes! They make toilet paper seem to be readily available! While the components can be hard to find, they are out there and still cheaper than factory ammo.

Reloading is efficient—in addition to expanding your ammo per dollar, it does not take much time. Even with a single-station press that does one operation at a time, by loading in batches you will never miss a practice session, match or hunt because you do not have any ammo. If it’s too cold, hot or wet to go shooting (it’s hard to believe, but some folks feel that way), you can always load some more ammo!

Fun? That too! When the author has a knotty problem to work out or is irritated about something, he’ll start focusing on loading some ammo and usually work out an answer or work off irritation and get a better perspective on things. Plus, one gets to fine tune the load for his or her particular firearm and objective. There is personal satisfaction at making that difficult shot with ammunition you built yourself. When the steel “clangs” at over 1,000 yards, or the holes in a target are all tightly grouped, there is extra pride in knowing YOU made those rounds.

Increase Your Versatility 

Do you want to introduce someone new to shooting? Load up some reduced charges for less blast and recoil, so they can focus on the fundamentals. Want to see how accurate a rifle or pistol is? Try different loads to find that sweet spot of maximum accuracy. It’s all there to experiment with. There are folks who buy a box or more of every brand of ammunition in their preferred bullet weight in their chosen caliber and then spend hours carefully trying to figure out which is the most accurate in their rifle or pistol. They end up spending a lot of money creating an inventory of partial boxes of ammo that are inaccurate for their purpose.

A reloader can choose a bullet weight and powder and then load a few rounds with each of several different powder charges and in one range session figure out what load works best in his/her firearm. They can try different brands of powder and bullets by different makers to see the effect on their group size. If the finest precision is their pursuit, they can then further refine their load, until every shot goes into a tiny group. Others want a capable load at the least expense so they can produce lots of ammo for practice and/or competition. Shooting is a perishable skill, and practice is the key to skill maintenance and enhancement.

Then there are those fascinated by older guns in calibers no longer produced. A reloader can obtain the necessary dies to load just about anything, so that antique family heirloom can go out to the range and let its owner feel what it was like “back in the day.” There are even ways to make cartridge cases from existing models to revitalize that oddball round.

Our focus will be on rifle and pistol ammunition, as reloading shotgun shells is not as cost-effective. Of course, for some bird hunters and shotgun sports competitors, the sheer volume of shooting brings on economies of scale, justifying reloading their hulls.

Some of the readers own full-auto firearms, and the days of inexpensive bulk surplus ammo are long gone. But you can keep those hungry guns fed by reloading. In fact, one reloading tool company was founded because the inventor wanted to shoot his machine guns more than his budget could allow!

Whatever your shooting goals—excellence in competition, meat in the freezer or shooting some gun in an obsolete caliber—learning to reload opens new vistas for the hobbyist, collector or general gun owner.

Getting Started

There are some upfront costs to be considered. These are one-time costs for the tools needed: mainly, reloading manuals; a means of cleaning the cases; a press for reforming the cases and seating the bullets; the dies for your caliber(s); a powder measure to dispense the charges of powder; and a scale to measure the charge weight. There are ways to save money here as used equipment shows up in gun shops, and almost all of it has more life left. It is not uncommon to see presses from the ‘50s still turning out quality ammo.

One decision to be made early on is how much shooting you do or will want to do. Most folks start out with a single-station press, meaning it allows one operation at a time, with the dies changed between operations. Large volume shooters may choose to dive in with a progressive press—a manually operated press that, once fed cases, primers, powder and bullets, will produce a round for every pull of the handle. Rates of 300 to 600 rounds per hour are easily attained if you have settled on one particular load.

One of the oddities of reloading is the multiple ways to get the job done. For every operation in reloading, you can find multiple ways to do it. You will prefer some and discard others, depending on the degree of precision you desire, the volume of ammunition you want to shoot and the differing calibers you may want to reload.

COMPONENTS

Cases

Cases are the best starting point, as they hold the other components together. They can be made of brass, steel, aluminum or plastic. With a sole exception, the steel cases are not reloadable. One company makes a case of stainless steel and aluminum which can be reloaded using special tools. Aluminum and plastic cases are not reloadable. Considering the stresses of high pressures, heat and rough handling, brass has proven to be the best material for reloadable cases. 

There are three principal sources of cases—new unloaded cases, the cases from factory ammunition and “range pickup” cases. Those shooting either in high-end competitions at the highest levels or trying to put every bullet through the same hole will buy bags of cases direct from the makers. They will track the number of times the cases are reloaded and trimmed (more about this later) and discard them at a given point. This is the most expensive source. If you have been shooting factory-loaded ammunition, you have “once-fired” brass, all from the same lot; that would be a remarkably close match to the “from the maker” brass. You have already paid for it, so your additional cost is zero.

Most shooters use range pickup brass—which is exactly what it sounds like. Range pickup brass is usually free or can be purchased for a very nominal cost, but there are some disadvantages. It will not be as uniform if absolute precision is your goal; it may have sand, dirt and/or rocks in it. It will need to be sorted in a general way for two specific issues: primer type and origin.

Europe adopted a primer type developed by U.S. General Berdan, where the anvil is part of the case. These have two flash holes inside the case, offset from the center. They can be reloaded, but it is a very messy and slow job, perfected by Europeans with depriming, using hydraulic or pneumatic pressure. Unless it is in a rare caliber, like 7.62×45, it is not worth the trouble. The U.S. adopted a primer system invented by Edward Mounier Boxer, where the anvil is part of the primer, and the case has a central flash hole. These are easy to de-prime, and most are suitable for reloading.

As you gather the brass, once you identify any brass with the Berdan priming, look at the headstamp—the markings on the base of the cartridge. It is simple enough to discard all the cases with that headstamp. As you look at the headstamp, look to see if the caliber is marked there. Commercial brass will always have the caliber, the name or initials of the maker or some other distinguishing mark. There are several books cataloging makers’ marks if interested. If the case is a military origin, there will be no caliber marking, but usually two digits for the year and a letter or number maker code. If it was made to NATO standards, it will have a circle with a cross in it, the NATO symbol.

What is the difference in the brass? Military brass is usually thicker to withstand the rough handling in the gun of fully automatic fire. As a result, it has less interior volume and can generate higher pressures than the same load in commercial brass.

As you pick up the brass, shake it in your hand. If you hear a high musical note, there is one or more cracked cases in that group. Discard all cracked cases, even if the crack is tiny and just in the mouth of the case. The crack could allow the bullet to seat too deeply during the loading cycle, massively increasing the pressure—perhaps to unsafe levels. You will also need to sort the brass by caliber—remove the .380 brass from the 9mm, 8mm from .30-06, .38 SPL from the .357 Magnum, etc. They can look the same but be very different. Continue to check the brass every time you handle it, weeding out the wrong and cracked cases.

The next step in processing the brass is to clean it—no matter the source. The author had some “fresh from the maker” brass, which still had some oil on it from the manufacturing process. Even the first round fired in your clean gun needs to be cleaned, as some of the products of combustion will cover the exterior of the case. You can use a rotary tumbler, a vibratory cleaner or an ultrasonic bath, each with advantages and disadvantages.

Primers

Primers are the ignition tools for ammunition. They contain a tiny amount of an impact-sensitive explosive, which shoots sparks into the powder charge, which then burns. Primers come in two sizes, large and small, in two types, rifle and pistol, and a variety of special uses—regular, magnum, Match, Benchrest and others.

The large and small deal with the size of the primer. In pistols, large cases usually take large primers, which contain more priming compound to set off the large powder charges. Rounds such as .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP or .45 “Long” Colt take large primers. 9mm, .38 Special, .357 Magnum and the like take small primers. Your reloading manual will direct which size you need.

Some powders have deterrent coatings to slow the burn rate and take Magnum primers to insure uniform ignition. Again, the loading tables will note which kind of primers were used for which powders. The Match and benchrest primers are made with closer tolerances and greater uniformity and generally cost more.

Both rifle and pistol primers are the same size in large and small. In order to avoid confusion, the author uses one make with nickel-plated cups for rifle loads and a different make with copper-colored cups for pistol loads. The cups for rifle loads are thicker, to withstand the high pressures in rifles. Loading a rifle primer into a pistol case may cause a misfire. Loading a pistol primer into a rifle case may result in a pierced primer and all that high-pressure gas flowing into the action of your rifle and into your face—definitely NOT RECOMMENDED! 

Where I’ve Been and Where I’m Going

The author began reloading in the 1960s and continues to reload about 10,000 rounds per year. He loads for 16 different calibers (both rifle and pistol) on both single-station and progressive tools. He has been a professional reloader and is an NRA-certified reloading instructor. His next Small Arms Review installment will cover powders, bullet selection and putting it all together! 

In the years after World War II, there was no need for new weapons in Austria. Both Russia and the Western Allies provided large quantities of their weapons, such as the PPSh-41 or M3A1. It was not until the mid-1960s that efforts were again made to develop domestic and more modern submachine guns. Unfortunately, the desired success was denied.

Austria’s armaments industry had suffered great damage in the last years of WWII and lay largely in ruins. So for the time being it was not possible to think about its own weapon production on a larger scale. However, the armed units that were gradually set up could be equipped without any problems, thanks to a large number of wartime weapons, mainly of foreign production.

On August 1, 1952, the B-Gendarmerie was officially established. Unlike the police force, which was usually armed with old pistols and carbines, the B-Gendarmerie received light infantry weapons from U.S. stocks—especially M1 Carbines and M1 Garands including accessories. At the end of 1953, the B-Gendarmerie consisted of over 4,000 men. Due to the existence of this organization, it was possible to build up the new Österreichisches Bundesheer (Austrian Armed Forces) relatively quickly after the conclusion of the State Treaty on May 15, 1955. Its armament again came from Allied depots.

The MPi 69 is kept relatively smooth; there are only a few protruding knobs or screws. For cocking, the carrying sling is attached to the bolt. There is no conventional cocking handle.

In the meantime, much had happened internationally in the field of weapons technology. Austria, too, was striving for more modern armament from the 1960s onwards. Attempts to convert the Russian PPSh-41 to 9x19mm caliber and replacing the worn wooden stocks with plastic ones were only half-hearted. At the traditional company Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, the two engineers Karl Wagner and Karl Moser had been working on a new submachine gun for some time, with particular attention to production costs and functional safety. In 1968 the Austrian Army received three prototypes of this weapon for evaluation.

Apparently, the submachine gun made a good impression, because the following year the Austrian Army ordered another 50 units for a more extensive troop trial. There were two magazines for each weapon, one with 25 rounds and one with 32 rounds. The Heeressport- und Nahkampfschule (Army Sports and Close Combat School) of the Jagdkommando (JaKdo) was provided with 30 submachine guns. The Jagdkommando is a special unit of the Austrian Army, stationed in Wiener Neustadt. Its tasks include the rescue of hostages abroad, the fight against terrorism, as well as building protection of Austrian embassies and operations in war or crises zones. The 20 other weapons were sed for testing as emergency armament for the crews of the tank destroyer Kürassier (Jagdpanzer K), also newly developed and built by Steyr-Daimler-Puch.

In reference to the year of its first use, the submachine gun was given the designation “MP 69.” The design of the weapon was a simple blowback mechanism, firing from the open bolt. The receiver with a square cross-section is made from sheet metal. The complete pistol grip and a large part of the receiver are coated with impact-resistant plastic. Thanks to a swivel-mounted piece of sheet metal at the rear end, there is no unscrewable end cap to lose. The breechblock encloses the barrel with its front half, so that a large part of its mass is located in the center of gravity. This saves on length of the receiver, and the weapon is more pleasant to shoot in fully automatic mode. A push button allows switching between safe (right position, white S), semi-automatic fire (middle position) and full-automatic fire (left position, red D). A noteworthy feature is the manner of cocking the weapon: the carrying sling is attached to the bolt. There is no common cocking handle. The shooter simply grasps the sling and pulls it back. 

During the troop trials, the MP 69 made a good impression, and the soldiers involved were satisfied with it. Steyr-Daimler-Puch seemed to have had little doubt at the time about its imminent adoption in the Austrian Army and was already producing stock. In 1970 there were already more than 5,000 pieces ready for delivery, but orders from Austria were still missing. On the other hand, the export business performed a little better: Greece bought 415 weapons for the Athens police; Thailand also ordered for its police; and larger quantities were sold to the Near and Middle East, where they still today occasionally show up in the hands of local fighters. 

More than 10 years later, minor improvements and modifications of the MPi 69 led to the visually very similar MPi 81. The most striking difference is that it again had a conventional cocking handle on the left side of the receiver. In addition, a scope with 1.5x magnification could be attached. For this purpose, two disc-shaped mounting points were permanently glued on the top of the receiver as standard. A sheet metal strip above the ejection port served as an empty case deflector and guided the cases downwards. Breakthroughs in the two struts of the scope mount allowed aiming over the rear and front sight if necessary. By means of an extension sleeve that could be clamped onto the barrel, the weapon could also be used for shooting from special hatches in armoured vehicles. A bayonet was issued, but it was mainly used as a tool. The firing rate of 750 rpm was significantly higher than that of the MPi 69 with only 400 rpm.

Exports went to Argentina, Greece and Saudi Arabia. In Austria, the MPi 81 was only used to a limited extent. Steyr-Daimler-Puch itself was partly to blame for the poor sales of both models in its own country, because since the late 1960s, the new Armee-Universal-Gewehr AUG (Army Universal Rifle) in bullpup design and caliber 5.56x45mm had been in development there. Among other things, the MPi 69 was intended to replace the submachine guns, and understandably, potential customers wanted to wait and see the result of this development before purchasing larger numbers of MPi 69s. In 1977, the Austrian Army decided to introduce the AUG as the new standard assault rifle with the designation “Sturmgewehr 77.” Due to its different variations, there was no longer a need for an extra submachine gun. 

TECHNICAL DATA 

German Military Rifles and Machine Pistols 1871–1945 

• Author: Hans-Dieter Götz 
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 
• ISBN: 978-0-88740-264-7 
• Copyright: 1990 
• Hardcover, with dustcover: 8.5”x11.5”, 248 pages, B&W only photos and illustrations 
• Available from publisher website or Amazon 

Although this book is now 30 years old, it is still a great resource. It covers a specific time frame (beginning just after the Franco-Prussian War and the creation of the German Empire, and ending at the end of WWII), so it does not become stale with the introduction of current weapons. 

Originally published in German under the title Die deutschen Militargewehre und Maschinenpistolen 1871–1945, author Hans-Dieter Götz describes all the rifles and machine pistols (submachine guns) in service or developed and tested during this time. 

The book begins with the Werder M/69 breech loading rifle, a design that uses a dropping block action similar to the Peabody and Martini actions. The M/69 fires a brass cased 11x50mmR cartridge, rather than paper cartridges of earlier service rifles. 

Following a detailed look at numerous variants of the Werder M/69, it then tackles the long evolution of the Mauser rifles, from the M/71 infantry rifle to the K98k (Karabiner 98 “kurz,” meaning “short”) that played such a prominent role in WWII. This long list of variants includes the M/71, M 71/84, Infanteriegewehr (infantry rifle) 88 (the “M” prefix was dropped at this time), 88/97 rifle and the 98 rifle and carbine. 

During WWII, Germany explored the idea of building a self-loading battle rifle, no doubt inspired by the U.S. M1 Garand and the Soviet SVT-40 rifles. Actually, in the mid-1930s, Germany had begun to consider a semi-auto rifle before the War, but it didn’t go very far. Several designs from different factories were tested. The three designs that did see combat testing were the Mauser G41 (M) and the Walther G41 (W), followed by the G43. The “M” and “W” suffixes are the initials of Mauser and Walther, as both share the same year. The G43 was an improved version of the G41 (W) and was also designed by Walther. Götz covers these three rifles in detail. 

At about the same time as the Army was pursuing a semi-auto rifle, the Luftwaffe was also in search of a selective-fire rifle for their paratroopers. This eventually became the Fallschirmjägergewehr (paratrooper rifle) FG 42. Seven pages are given to this intriguing rifle. 

At the same time as the German Army was developing a self-loading rifle that fired the full power 8x57mm cartridge, work was also taking place on a new class of firearms that fired an intermediate-sized round. This eventually became the Sturmgewehr 44, or StG 44. 

The StG 44 is covered, of course, and so too is the long path leading to its adoption. The concept of a select-fire weapon firing a medium powered cartridge had been suggested and rejected several times before finally been accepted. 

A chapter is given to the development of the intermediate round (more powerful than a pistol round, but less than the full power 8x57mm cartridge). This became the 8x33mm cartridge. Also part of the StG 44’s development path was the adoption of sheet metal stamping for more efficient manufacturing. This is briefly touched on as well. 

Lesser known prototypes such as the Vollmer M35 machine carbine, the Haenel MKb 42(H) and the MKb 42(W) by Walther are covered. These are of interest because features from both the Haenel and the Walther design found their way into the StG 44. 

While the majority of the book discusses rifles, there is a smaller section that deals with submachine guns, Machinenpistolen in German. This section begins with the Bergmann MP18 designed by Hugo Schmeisser at the end of WWI and his later MP28/II. It then looks at designs such as the ERMA Machine Pistol (EMP), the Austrian Steyr-Solothurn MP34 and the Bergmann MP35, as well as others. Naturally, the iconic MP38 and MP40 subguns are covered; although I had hoped for a more detailed examination. Five pages do not do this design justice. The subgun section ends with a look at the MP 3008, also known as the Gerät Neumünster as well as the elusive Gerät Potsdam. The Gerät Neumünster was a close copy of the British STEN gun, while the Potsdam was an exact copy, including English receiver markings. While there is plenty of speculation, there seems to be no actual verified explanation for this. 

Along with the technical details of the various arms covered, the author Götz explains the political history, business dealings and other issues of the day that shaped the choices made. As Götz says in the Introduction, “This book, therefore, will not tell of great technical achievements alone, but also of missed chances, mistakes and misdeeds.” 

In addition to the various firearms examined, Götz also profiles several of the inventors behind the designs. Profiled are Wilhelm and Paul Mauser, Carl Walther and his son Fritz and Hugo Schmeisser, along with some lesser known inventors. 

As this book is a translation of the original German language book, there are a few technical terms that didn’t translate properly. A receiver is called a case or casing, magazine well is called insertion socket, and my personal favourite, muzzle blast is called puff. I noted about a dozen such terms. Having said that, I do consider this a very solid reference for those interested in German small arms. A few awkward terms should not be a deal-breaker. 

For those interested, note that Schiffer Publishing has a large selection of military and aviation history books listed on their website (schifferbooks.com). 

With thinly staffed Front lines, the gaps between the individual sentries must somehow be closed. Especially in dark, rainy or windy nights, the moving shadows and the sounds of enemy soldiers are hardly to be noticed at a distance. Simple alarm devices with trip wires have proven themselves in such cases. At some distance from the Front line or at particularly difficult-to-monitor terrain, the wires are placed near the ground, well camouflaged, and when touched by enemy soldiers they activate an alarm signal.

Depending on the situation, a silent alarm can be useful. For example, an empty shell casing is fitted with a metal hammer and hung up as a bell at the next post. A pull on the tension wire in front of the position reveals enemy activity in time and gives the sentry an opportunity to inform his comrades; for example, via an extra alarm wire to a rearward camp place. The system had probably proved itself in WWII, as written in a German instruction: “In this way it is not only possible to get along with small guard positions and to relieve the often overstretched troops, but also to organize the surprise of the sneaked in enemies and to bring in prisoners.”

But often enough, the situation on-site and the number of soldiers did not allow the enemy to get that close or the own position was already sufficiently defensive. Back then, it was important to withdraw the protective darkness from the enemy in the nick of time. In the 1930s the development of a so-called “Alarmschußpatrone” (alarm shot cartridge) began. From 1936, it was manufactured by the companies Nicolaus and Eisfeld. Mounted in special holders on trees or posts, they were activated by the enemy via a trip wire. Then a 2m high flame shot up and illuminated the surroundings for about 10 seconds up to approximately 15m. The early cartridges still had moisture-sensitive cardboard cases, but from 1939 an improved model with an aluminium case and an aluminium lid for protection against the weather was manufactured. The firing of such cartridges from a flare pistol was strictly forbidden. 

In the further course of the War, in 1941– 1942, in view of the increasing use of such signal ammunition, the Heereswaffenamt (Army Weapons Office) demanded the development of a signal cartridge with a firing device as a ready-to-use unit. The result was introduced in 1943 and replaced all previous models. This device, called “Alarmleuchtzeichen” (alarm flare signal), consisted of a tin can with a diameter of 40mm, filled with a pyrotechnic charge and pre-fitted with a primer. The firing pin assembly was screwed onto it. The whole unit was attached to a mount by means of a clamp. The mount had three holes and could be nailed or tied to a tree or post. The unit weighed 250g and was delivered ready-packed in a cardboard box together with 80m of trip wire. During assembly, it was important to ensure that the device was placed in the expected direction of the enemy and that an illumination or blinding of their own positions was avoided at all costs. The illumination lasted about 18 seconds and was sufficient for a radius of about 50m at night. 

This series-produced alarm device had worked well, but the Front lacked supplies. Soldiers are quite inventive in times of need, and so they made various improvisations from all kinds of materials. The pull fuze Z.Z.42 (Zugzünder), which was available almost everywhere and had a very simple design, served as the igniter for the normal flare pistol cartridges. It basically consisted of a Bakelite tube with a spring-loaded firing pin with a safety pin. This handicraft work was not hidden from the Army Weapons Office, and the pencil pushers working there were not very enthusiastic about it. In the military, do-it-yourself magazine, Von der Front für die Front (From the Front for the Front) of June 1944, it was therefore especially pointed out that these makeshift devices were for the most part not safe to handle. For this reason, a detailed construction manual for the making of an alarm device was printed in the same issue, which “can be easily made from troop resources, is accident-proof and also works.”

But even this device, recommended by the Army Weapons Office, was unnecessarily complicated to produce. The instruction 29/5 “Mine Barriers in Winter” from August 1944 shows how it can be made even easier. A lengthwise divided piece of wood could be hollowed-out so that a Z.Z.42 and, above it, a flare cartridge can be installed. And in a suggestion of the Volkssturm issue of the do-it-yourself magazine, a hollowed-out stake with a Z.Z.42 igniter inserted at the side and a detonator were used. More was not even necessary. 

Interestingly enough, the design of various launchers for flare cartridges that were produced during the War, suggests a type of series production. The devices don’t carry manufacturers’ information or acceptance marks, or in some cases, the markings are no longer visible due to their state of preservation. Thus, it remains in the dark by whom, where and in what quantity these devices were manufactured. A model was found in France and described in the Intelligence Bulletin of the U.S. Army in the May 1944 issue, and there were also relics dug up at the Eastern Front. Today, the last surviving examples are rarities, because unlike flare pistols, such alarm devices were useless after the War and mostly went to scrap. 

The Ruger PC 9mm Carbine in its multiple iterations has gained a well-deserved popularity almost instantly. Reliable, accurate, ergonomic, compatible with Ruger or GLOCK magazines, and a take-down design on top of all that, it is a massive improvement on the old 1996 PC 9mm in every regard. With this positive introduction, we might wonder what’s left for the aftermarket producers to offer. The answer lies in the special-purpose use in which the new PC has been employed: competition shooting. 

TANDEMKROSS (TK), a New Hampshire company specializing in parts for sport shooting, came out with several improvements for the Ruger PC, all focused on improving speed and precision. These changes aren’t intended for defensive use, though some would benefit a “Roof Korean” as much as it would a sporting competitor.

In its basic form, the carbine is a plain blowback 9mm weapon that takes Ruger pistol magazines. It’s offered with a variety of stocks and forends. Being a take-down, it permits mixing and matching front and back ends to create a wide variety of configurations. In its basic form with a synthetic forend and fixed plastic stock, it weighs 6.7 pounds but feels lighter thanks to the good balance. A PPSh-like, free-floated M-LOK aluminum forend brings the weight up to 7 pounds, with the subjective feel of much greater heft. Another third of a pound provides the option of a folding telestock. Everything about this gun and its variations is robust and solid. The rear sight comes with an open notch and ghost ring options; the front sight is a post heavily protected by steel wings. The charging handle and the magazine release are reversible. The standard forend has a short rail at the bottom for a light, the free-float rail has M-LOK slots all over. What can be improved for speed shooting?

The front sight is the first part: replacing the busy three-blade sight picture with one clear post topped with a thin fiber optic pipe speeds up the sight acquisition and adds precision. Even though the peep rear sight is placed too far forward to be a true ghost ring, adding the fiber optic makes it work better than the rear V notch. The glowing red or green dot is quicker to center than the flat top of the post just above it. This sight upgrade works great for sports, but it’s completely unprotected and so not ideal for the potential rough and tumble of fighting. Using a T10 Torx wrench and a couple of minutes suffice for the installation. Since the time I tested this sight, TK has come out with a fiber optic rear sight for the PC. By putting rear light pipes at the same offset from the metal sight as in the front, TK made the notch and post sight picture as quick to acquire as the ghost ring. 

The “Victory” trigger is next up: the Ruger original is adequate, but the textured TANDEMKROSS part improved tactile feedback, also permitting a lower fingertip placement for greater leverage. As a result, the weight of the pull stays constant, but it feels lighter to the user. A built-in over-travel adjustment helps with maintaining shorter splits between shots. This enhancement belongs on sporting and combat guns alike. The replacement process requires a 5/32-inch Allen wrench and a pinch for removing pins, along with a few minutes for the swap. 

The original magazine release is excellent for a fighting rifle: it’s textured for non-slip contact and fenced again. For a rapid magazine change, a free-standing wide mag release that can be just slapped instead of pressed is quicker. The textured red or white anodized, oversized Titan button from TK does the job well. A 5/64-inch Allen wrench and a couple of minutes get it installed. Again, it’s not for field use, rather for the gun games in which every second counts but slung carry doesn’t happen.

With the fixed Ruger stock having considerable drop, the shooter gets the benefit of the minimal sight offset from the bore, an advantage for accuracy up close. The same drop stock provides additional torque on the rifle during firing, causing greater muzzle rise than an AR-15 of the same caliber would have. While the aluminum forend helps with that a little by shifting the overall balance forward, the cleverly designed TK “Game Changer PRO” compensator does the same job dynamically. Adding only 2 ounces over the standard thread protector, this brake is very effective at negating muzzle rise without much added concussion. The muzzle flash is minimal, and the powder fumes are re-directed to the sides and away from the sight picture. Installing it is simple, but this does require timing the ports. A similar design made for rimfire guns is quite effective, so it’s no surprise that the 9mm variant that has more gas to work with does an excellent job. The key to its success is concentrating on the rise compensation and not trying for the unnecessary braking effect. 

With all of these parts, TANDEMKROSS provides detailed pictorial and video installation instructions. Since the time my carbine was configured, they also added two variants of upgraded charging handles, the conical “Challenger” and the skeletonized hooked “Spartan” as alternatives to the less grippy cylindrical original part. For the lowest possible sight height over bore, TK is also offering a “Shadow” direct mount plate for micro red dot sights, to bypass the Picatinny rail on top. This plate replaces the rear sight. Finally, they have a complete, extensively adjustable “UPRISER” PC stock: it goes beyond the scope of my review, but it’s worth investigating on their website.

With all these changes and adjustments made to the two test carbines, how much did it change handling and efficiency? The same 35-round course of fire with one magazine change, consisting of three full-size silhouettes and two small plates at distances between 12 and 30 yards, could be shot in about 30 seconds compared to 40 seconds with the original configuration. The hits also were more centered. The advantage in speed was retained once red dot sights were added, with the course of fire approximating 25 and 35 seconds, respectively. Between two competitive shooters of similar skill level, the one with the upgrades would win by a wide margin. The difference in handling was especially pronounced with gloves on, as the larger, more fault-tolerant mag release button guaranteed a reliable magazine swap. 

There is an inevitable appeal to things crafted lovingly by hand. Whether it is a kindergarten Play-Doh creation we build for our moms that might resemble a leprous hippo or the priceless daisy chain gifted from a doe-eyed six-year-old daughter, the fact that somebody made something by hand is invariably moving. Stuff made on an assembly line might be cheaper, but even this deep into the Information Age there yet remains a place for Old World craftsmanship.

Origin Story

I have the gun nerd gene. Though geneticists have yet to identify the specific locus on the human genome, it is clearly a most powerful bit of DNA. My very earliest recollections were of creeping about my sundry play areas imaginarily shooting stuff with improvised firearms. You just can’t fight nature.

I bought my first two transferable machine guns on my 21st birthday (I’m old. They weren’t expensive back then). I also did my time in uniform playing with guns for real. After two more careers and a couple hundred gun articles, I finally took the plunge.

More than a dozen years ago I started a small business with a few like-minded gun buddies. They owned an extensive tool and die prototyping shop with all the bells and whistles. I had experience navigating government bureaucracy and could capitalize our initial efforts using writing proceeds. The end result was Advanced Tactical Ordnance, LLC (ATO) (ato-us.com). 

Our logo is the cross between the Alpha and the Omega. Our common faith, friendship and brotherhood served as a foundation for the business. We started out making sound suppressors and cleared just enough money to keep the business afloat. After many years of toil, we have become fairly adroit at handcrafting precision rifles. It is indescribably satisfying to take a big inert chunk of steel and transform it into something that will produce truly world-class accuracy. 

The shop that produces these rifles is a multigenerational family business. These guys literally grew up in this building. This state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is hidden away in a quiet piece of rural Mississippi. Nobody finds this place unless they are looking for it. 

This amply equipped prototyping shop is surrounded by the homes of those who labor within. Little kids scamper around the place after school. The guys running these machines are the children and grandchildren of the folks who started the business but have passed on.

One of my partners built his first ammunition reloading machine from scratch at age 12. His dad who started the shop decades ago invented the self-cleaning oven. Massive CNC mills, CNC lathes and EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) wire machines turn raw steel into objects d’art. A press the size of a semi-truck sits on one end of the building for those times when they need to make stuff that’s truly huge. They can and do make most anything here. However, long-range rifles are their true artistic medium. 

Blurring the Lines

You can walk out of most any box store with a mass-produced, bolt-action rifle that will reliably put venison on the table. Such a gun is inexpensive and will consistently shoot minute-of-whitetail at 200 yards in the hands of an experienced operator. That reliable assembly line rifle will be both cheap and effective. It will also look, feel and act just like any one of a zillion others just like it. By contrast, our guns are as much an experience as a firearm.

We build these rifles one at a time to the owner’s individual specifications. You pick the caliber, chassis, barrel, trigger, optic, muzzle device and personality. You even pick the serial number; we recently custom-built a sports “741776.” That’s obviously Uncle Sam’s birthday. Like most backwoods redneck gun guys, we take our patriotism fairly seriously.

At the end of the process, the shooter has a rifle that is a reflection of his particular skills, temperament and personality. If you want a bolt-action rifle that will group inside a jelly jar lid at 100m then go to your favorite Walmart and pick one that looks shiny. If you want to make a first-shot kill on a tangerine at 700m (true story), then come talk to us.

Raw Material

A proper precision rifle orbits around its receiver, and we build those from scratch. Each receiver starts life as a 5.3-pound cylinder of 17-4 PH stainless steel. This 17-4 stainless is a martensitic precipitation hardening stainless steel that contains around 15% chromium, 4% nickel and 4% copper. This same stuff would be right at home in a nuclear power plant or aboard the International Space Station. It also makes a great starting point for a simply superb precision rifle.

Not unlike a piece of artist’s marble, the trick is to meticulously remove everything that isn’t a superlative rifle receiver. Each receiver requires about 10 hours of machine time. The end result is as perfect as mankind can make it. Everything is true, square and smooth in every possible way.

We cut our recoil lugs out of the same stainless stock using an EDM wire machine. We then polish them to perfection with a precision grinder. This is what interfaces the receiver to the chassis, and it has got to be just right.

EDMs

In my opinion, EDMs are the coolest machines in the joint. I just enjoy watching them work. An English Physicist named Joseph Priestly discovered the concept in 1770. A pair of Russian scientists made the process practical in 1943 as an economical means of cutting ultra-hard tungsten during the War. A fine piece of brass wire is electrified as it passes through a dielectric fluid and cuts electrically conductive materials like butter. This tiny gauge wire is precisely manipulated by a computer-controlled mechanism to coax complex shapes out of steel stock.

Our receivers begin life as digital models carefully crafted in SOLIDWORKS, the shop CAD suite. Tweaking the design in its digital form is a technical skill that can be taught in a classroom. Translating that design into steel, however, takes passion, dedication and practice—lots and lots of practice. 

We get our heavy barrel blanks from several sources. The blanks come bored and rifled in either a bull or tapered contour. Different calibers obviously require different blanks. Barrels such as .234 Ackley, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 and .300 Winchester Magnum all begin life as long heavy steel rods.

These blanks become barrels after they are precisely chucked into a massive CNC lathe and have their chambers cut. The chamber is obviously where all the magic starts. Each step in the process requires the utmost patience and precision. This particular build used a Shilen 4-groove Ratchet barrel. The angry end is threaded to accept a muzzle brake or sound suppressor.

We cut our own scope mounts out of 4140 pre-hardened steel also using the EDM wire machines. The details of the mounts are scope-dependent and part of the custom building process. We cut the blanks ourselves, mill out the slots and then finish them in Cerakote to match the rest of the gun.

The Right Chassis

An integral part of the process involves determining the type of stock that will best complement a particular rifle, something that optimally suits the personality of the owner and the intended application. Providing sniper overwatch for your SWAT team requires a certain type of hardware. Nailing a record bull elk from an adjacent hilltop demands something different. 

XLR Industries (xlrindustires.com) builds professional grade chassis, rails, buttstocks and scope rings. We opted for the superlative XLR ENVY chassis to transport this custom rifle build. The ENVY is the product of years of cooperation with some of the finest trigger pullers in the world. The buttstock folds to the left for easy portage or stowage. 

There is an Arca-Swiss-style dovetail mount to interface the chassis with a camera tripod. A 5.5-inch Picatinny rail is located on the bottom of the M-LOK-compatible handguard for accessories or a bipod. The various mechanical attributes of the stock adjust to fit your particular anatomy as well as might your favorite pair of high-mileage pajamas. There is also a handy built-in spirit level just below the tang to keep everything true.

The ENVY chassis is cut from a solid block of 6061 T6 aluminum and features a multipoint, radial cut inlet that maintains the receiver in a stress-free state for optimal stability and accuracy. The integral detachable magazine system accommodates AICS-style five- or ten-round magazines. The magwell is tapered for rapid magazine changes. The angled, serrated face serves as a barricade stop. The XLR ENVY naturally accepts your receiver without any extraneous gunsmithing, and there are five QD sling sockets.

You Gotta See It to Hit It

The Sightmark Pinnacle riflescope (sightmark.com) offers flawless glass and professional features at a reasonable price. A scope of this sort is part precision instrument and comparable part rugged tool. That’s a tall order for an engineer. The Pinnacle is designed to tolerate hard use in the field under brutal recoil while still delivering surgical-grade precision consistently and reliably. The Pinnacle delivers on all counts.

The Sightmark Pinnacle 5-30x50TMD is designed for F-class competition and law enforcement applications out to 1,000 yards and beyond. This first-focal plane optic includes zero-stop elevation dials that allow you to easily set a stopping point at the chosen sight-in distance. The 34mm tube maximizes the internal adjustment range and offers improved rigidity compared to smaller scopes.

The Pinnacle’s premium glass sports superb clarity from edge to edge. The TMD-HW reticle is easy to master. This reticle is designed for quick range estimation and on-the-fly holdovers for bullet drop, crosswinds and moving targets. 

The first-focal plane design means that the reticle moves across the scope’s full magnification spectrum. This allows range finding and holdovers to remain consistent without a lot of cumbersome math. The Sightmark Pinnacle 5-30x50TMD is the finest scope for the money I have yet encountered.

Crowning the Creation

The scary end demands something special. We build our own muzzle brakes that substantially decrease the rifle’s recoil impulse. They are effective, rugged and cool.

However, if you want to do it up right you need a sound suppressor. We custom build our sound suppressors to complement particular rifles. Our heavy welded stainless steel baffles employ turbine stators to disrupt and slow the efflux gases from your rifle’s muzzle. 

A sound suppressor on a high-velocity rifle will effectively mitigate muzzle blast while also improving the gun’s barrel harmonics and general comportment. It also substantially ameliorates recoil and masks muzzle flash. While the sonic crack from a supersonic bullet is beyond our control, our high-efficiency cans gobble up the gun’s racket. Should you wish to handload subsonic rounds and work up the scope dope to support them, the gun loses a lot of range but does become movie quiet.

The trigger module is another critical piece of the equation. Triggers have personalities. There are some you just naturally like and others not so much. Some are gritty and abrasive. Others are silky smooth and fun. Matching the right trigger to your new custom rifle is part of the art. Lots of folks make them, and we have used them all. The rifle we built for this project sports a Timney Featherweight Deluxe trigger.

Lastly, pick a color. Most anything is on the table, so you can have your rifle in whatever hue suits. Each gun is a unique package that reflects the skill of those who crafted it as well as the comportment of its owner. For this build we opted to leave the piece a natural stainless.

The Standard is Perfection

Of course our holes touch at 100m. That’s kind of the point to a custom precision rifle of this sort. The shooter has to do his part, but the rifle is capable. Once we’ve printed a few close-range cloverleaves we can reach out a bit.

The application and particulars will drive the performance. Hunting guns might throw heavy game-dropping bullets accurately out to modest ranges. Tactical law enforcement rifles will demand uncompromising precision at 100m while still retaining breathtaking performance at many times that. Long-range target guns will reliably kill a piece of fruit out to a kilometer or more.

Each rifle is unique. Each creation has its own ambience. The end result is a gun that reflects a shooter’s personality. Anybody with a clean record and a driver’s license can pick up a box store hunting rifle and use it to drop a whitetail at a football field. However, if the mission is to punch tangent holes at 100m, humanely drop an elk or moose a terrain feature away or pulverize a watermelon that’s been talking bad about your momma from another grid square, then you need a rifle hand-built by artists. I’ve watched these men handcraft custom smoke poles for a long time, and I am continuously amazed.

Some artists use marble. Others wield oils. These guys conjure art from big blocks of steel. The end result will never hang in the Louvre, but it remains art nonetheless. 

Meat on the Table 
I’m just a gun nerd who likes to type—the word monkey. Dale and my other two partners, Brian and Durward, actually do the gun building. Dale is the guy who built the reloader when he was 12.
It’s one thing to build a rifle and then use it to ventilate paper targets or ring steel. That’s fun, and we all enjoy it. However, the real acid test for a custom rifle is a serious hunt in the field. Dale custom-built himself one of these rifles in .300 Win Mag for an elk hunt in New Mexico. 
He built the gun from scratch as described in this article and zeroed it out behind the shop. His first bull elk was bugling broadside at 465 yards and maybe 200 feet below him across a wide snow-covered valley. Dale snugged up behind his self-made gun and dropped the old gentleman with a single shot to the heart. The big bull fell backwards without taking a step.
Later on, a hunting buddy wounded another bull and couldn’t get back on the animal for a follow-up shot. The injured elk charged across a river and up a distant hillside, rapidly increasing the range. Dale dropped into the prone behind his rifle and got comfortable. The guide called out distance using a laser rangefinder and spotting scope.
The bull elk paused at 860 yards to take a breather. Dale laid his crosshairs on the animal’s shoulder and dialed in his scope. He knew every inch of this custom rifle, because he had built it himself. He gently squeezed the trigger and sent one. Almost a full second’s time of flight later, the big injured bull fell dead where he stood.
Two big elk. Two handloaded 210-grain Berger bullets. Two perfect shots. One at 465 and the other at 860. Neither animal took another step. That’s what happens when you take an exceptional marksman and build him an exceptional rifle—ballistic synergy and plenty of meat.
Feeding the Beast
This particular creation is chambered for 6mm Creedmoor (CM). The 6CM is itself essentially a 6.5CM case necked down to accept a .243-inch bullet. Hornady developed the 6.5CM in 2007 using the .307 Winchester as a foundation. The .307 Winchester is a fairly oddball beast developed in 1982 to feed lever-action rifles with tubular magazines. The .307 Winchester is therefore typically loaded with round-nosed bullets. Only one production rifle was ever developed to fire it.
The upgraded 6CM delivers outstanding long-range performance along with modest recoil. Both the 6CM and 6.5CM occupy roughly the same space as a .308 Winchester, so they will run in a standard short-action Remington chassis. They are also amenable to a properly configured semiautomatic AR-10.
Hornady (hornady.com) is a plank holder in modern ballistics, and they were an early adopter of the radical 6CM round. Their Heat Shield bullet tip resists the effects of aerodynamic heating. Hornady’s unparalleled experience in the field of precision bullet design and manufacture offers monotonously consistent performance. Whether the mission is hunting, tactical precision for LE or military applications or shooting fruit at a kilometer or more, Hornady makes the ammo you need to get the job done. 

DETAILS OF THE HUNT

• Place: Tierra Amarilla, NM 
• Altitude: 7,529ft
• Temperature: 25° F
• Wind: Light and variable
• Gun: ATO-built .300 Win Mag with Hogue stock and detachable box magazine
• Optics: Vortex Viper HS
• Bullet: Hand-loaded Hornady Match brass, Federal Premium .215 primer, 72.0gr IMR 7828, 210gr Berger Match VLD Hunting

This article was written at the beginning of July 2020. Word had just been received that the Fall edition of the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot was officially cancelled. This happened after the Spring show and the NRA Annual Meeting had been cancelled, along with a host of smaller shows and events. Clearly, the pandemic has had a huge impact upon the firearms community. Speculation abounds as to what the future holds for other shows, including the annual extravaganza of SHOT Show, held in January in Las Vegas. All of this is playing out against reports of records being shattered for firearms sales on a continual basis. What to make of it?

Merchants across the entire economy are taking hits—some of them severe and some of them fatal. The firearms industry is not immune to the body blows being endured by all. For many, gun shows are the life blood of their businesses. Up close, face-to-face and personal have been the bread and butter of their existence. It is not uncommon for many of those journeymen retailers to attend 30-plus shows in a year! Now, much of that dependable income stream has been obliterated. Whether the severity of the response to the pandemic was warranted or not will be written in the history books to come, and much of that narrative has yet to unfold. Is it necessary, political, draconian, misguided, helpful, hurtful? The truth remains to be seen. All we do know right now is that lots of people are affected, many have died, we have no cure, treatment is expensive, and entire livelihoods have been sundered in the name of public “security.”

Many are finding new ways to extend and maintain their businesses. E-commerce is becoming more of a thing for many in the firearms world. This should be considered a really big deal! After all, we are one of the last industries that still regularly relies upon the use of fax machines and its associated technology for daily activity. Let’s point out that the first commercialized version of the fax machine was introduced by Xerox Corporation in 1964! It is understood that embracing new technology is not the easiest mode for us, yet here we are. We are building functional websites and accepting credit cards; although that credit card thing can be a challenge for the firearms industry (NFATCA is working on that!). We are learning how to use social media, contributing to blogs and embracing new forms of promotion. Apparently, the virus has changed us in more ways than we expected.

So, what comes next? It’s entirely possible that we will have started to get a handle on things as you read this article, but it’s more than likely that we will not have achieved that handle. Infections will most likely still be occurring at an alarming rate, and people will still be dying from those infections. Debates will continue to rage about what is and is not an appropriate response to the situation. One thing that is certain: We will need more civility, especially at gun shows. Social distancing will be the order of the day, of course. Gone will be the handshakes, hugs and bon homme of the past. We will need to take extra effort to “make space” out of respect for each other and out of genuine regard for our fellow shooters’ health. We will need to pay extra attention to asking if it is okay to handle items on offer from dealers and vendors. Gloves will become mandatory when shooting your buddy’s gun. And yes, that mask will probably be a big deal, at least until we have that vaunted vaccine.

Fortunately, the mission of the NFATCA can still be mostly achieved via telework and distance interaction. We’ve said it before: What we do is not action-packed or fast-moving; it’s more like watching dry paint fade. However, our Board and our members are still committed to making meaningful change in the world of the NFA—even when that world contains a pandemic. Please help us continue the efforts! Sign up or renew your membership today at nfatca.org/join.htm.