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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Smith & Wesson Introduces New Walther SP22 Sport Pistols

Smith & Wesson has introduced their new SP22 sport pistol from Walther. Designed with the flexibility and performance features needed for competition or plinking, the SP22 offers various expansion options through a four-model family. Each SP22 model is chambered in .22 LR and offers a variety of accessories for all levels of sport shooting. The SP22 pistols will be offered at multiple price ranges from entry level to high-end. The SP22 pistol is manufactured with a high-strength aluminum housing with all-steel internal components. The pistol will be offered in four unique models – the SP22 M1, SP22 M2, SP22 M3 and SP22 M4. The basic version of the new pistol is the SP22 M1. The M1 is equipped with a 4-inch standard barrel along with a two-stage trigger complete with adjustable trigger stop. The base model is manufactured with an adjustable steel rear sight and a three-width adjustable front sight. Medium sized polymer grips are standard on the M1 model with smaller grip sizes also available. For shooters wanting a longer barrel, the pistol is also available in a second model – the SP22 M2. Designed with the same standard features that are found in the M1 model, the M2 pistol is standard with a 6-inch barrel for increased velocity and accuracy. For competition shooters, the pistol is offered as the SP22 M3. The M3 model features a 6-inch match grade barrel along with an adjustable match trigger with trigger stop. The M3 pistol comes standard with removable Picatinny-style rails on the top of the slide and underneath the barrel for quickly and easily adding optional accessories. For quick loading and unloading during competition, the M3 is standard with an extended magazine release. The M3 pistol is equipped with medium sized polymer grips along with an adjustable rear sight and a three-width adjustable front sight. Also available to competition shooters is the SP22 M4. The M4 model retains the same standard features that are found on the M3 model but includes a medium sized adjustable wooden grip with hand support. Optional Picatinny-style rails can be added to the M4. Providing the ultimate in flexibility, the SP22 will be available with a variety of optional accessories to match each pistol. Allowing users to tailor the pistol to all shooting sports disciplines, the SP22 can easily cater to every user group from beginners to expert competition shooters. Accessories for the SP22 include: an interchangeable 6-inch barrel system, Picatinny-style rails for the 4 and 6-inch models, junior polymer grips, adjustable wooden match grips, TruGlo sport sights, laser sights and a variety of optics. In addition, the M2, M3 and M4 models can accommodate an under barrel weight that can be individually removed and positioned to suit user preference resulting in customized balance. For more information please contact Smith & Wesson, Dept. SAR, 2100 Roosevelt Avenue, Springfield, MA 01104. Phone: (413) 747-3286. Fax: (413) 747-3317. Their website is www.smith-wesson.com.

Ruger Introduces
the 22 Charger Pistol

The Ruger 22 Charger Pistol delivers the fun, versatility and reliability of the time tested Ruger 10/22 in a handgun. The 22 Charger features a 10-inch precision-rifled barrel mounted in an ergonomically designed, warp-proof, laminated stock. The adjustable bipod that ships with every 22 Charger pistol provides added control and stability on the range or in the field. A new extended magazine release allows easy removal of the legendary Ruger 10-shot rotary magazine. Whether you prefer a high magnification scope for long-range varmint shooting or a red dot sight for quick and sure target acquisition, a combination Weaver-style and “tip-off” sight mount allows your choice of optics. Either way, it is a great new pistol for long-range target shooting. The Ruger 22 Charger pistol has an overall length of 19-1/4 inches and weighs 3-1/2 pounds, without the supplied bipod. The matte black finish compliments the black laminate stock and completes the weather-resistant package. It comes with a gun rug bearing the Ruger logo. For more information please contact Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc., Dept. SAR, 1 Lacey Place, Southport, CT 06890. Phone: (203) 259-7843. Fax: (203) 255-5201. They can be found on the web at www.ruger-firearms.com.

Lone Wolf Distributors Unveils New Glock Accessories

Lone Wolf Distributors’ SIDERLOCK is the new security trigger for use with all Glock pistols. This unique cross bolt security trigger replaces the original Glock trigger providing an infallible stop to any rearward trigger movement.

SIDERLOCK works under a simple concept: Quick, positive deployment of a cross bolt safety pin that allows simple and fast displacement in either direction. Pushing the safety on restricts rearward trigger movement and pushing it off allows the trigger to work as intended. Easily installed or removed, it works for left or right hand use and provides additional assurance avoiding any accidental discharge. There is a lifetime guarantee on materials and workmanship. Also available from Lone Wolf is their new Custom Slide Cover Plates featuring basically most anything you want. Let your imagination run wild. They have thousands of images, names, and numbers to choose from. If they don’t have what you want, they can do it with custom engraving available for an additional fee. They also have a full line of Glock accessories as well as trigger work and barrel porting. If you need anything for your Glock, contact them at Lone Wolf Distributors, Dept. SAR, 57 Shepard Road, P.O. Box 3549, Oldtown, ID, 83822. Phone: (208) 437-0612. Fax: (888) 279-2077. Their website is http://www.lonewolfdist.com/

In a continuation of SAR’s coverage of the annual ATF & the Imports Community regulatory meeting held last August, in this issue we present a statistical chart containing the most recent details on NFA Weapon Types in Each State as of March 20, 2007

The author publishes two of the small arms industry’s most widely read trade newsletters. The International Firearms Trade covers the world firearms scene, and The New Firearms Business covers the domestic market. Visit www.FirearmsGroup.com. He may be reached at: FirearmsB@aol.com.

Arizona Class Three dealer Tom Stewart had always wanted a Colt Thompson submachine gun. Unfortunately, this “trench broom” envisioned by General John T. Thompson in 1917 and later invented by Auto-Ordnance Corporation engineers Theodore H. Eickhoff and Oscar V. Payne has become one expensive piece of weaponry. Tom decided to take the plunge in late 2006 when he answered an advertisement on Subguns.com concerning a Colt Thompson. Tom was just like many other Thompson enthusiasts; he was familiar with the history of this famous American invention and he wanted one. The story of Tom’s purchase has uncovered for Thompson collector’s around the world a piece of Thompson history that has been heretofore unknown – a Colt Thompson with a 15,000 serial number. Only 41 Colt production Thompsons bear a serial number in the 15,000 serial number range.

The Model of 1921 Thompson submachine gun was manufactured by the Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company and was the first commercial production of this now classic firearm. The initial production run by Colt, under contract to the Auto-Ordnance Corporation, New York City, was for 15,000 Thompson Submachine Guns.

The first serial number used when manufacturing began was No. 41 and this first Colt Thompson was delivered to the Auto-Ordnance Corporation in March 1921. The last serial number used on this initial production run was No. 15040 manufactured in July 1922. Tom’s Thompson, No. 15025, was not the last Colt Thompson as fifteen other Colt Thompson submachine guns have a higher serial number – but none are currently known to be on National Firearms Act (NFA) Registry. However, it is the highest serial numbered Colt Thompson known to exist in the United States at this time.

The original 15,000 Thompsons manufactured by Colt were all Model of 1921. The commercial marketing of these firearms was less than successful. In the ensuring years, Auto-Ordnance modified the Model of 1921 Thompson in hopes of finding something that would be more marketable. The Model of 1923 Thompson was the first modification – an attempt to make the Thompson into something similar to the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Several variations of this Model of 1923 Thompson were built, but in the end this effort was a complete failure. Only a handful of authentic Model of 1923 Thompsons exist today and all retain the original Model of 1921 markings.

The adoption of the Cutts Compensator for the Thompson in 1926 could also be termed a modification. Even with the added cost, the compensator was a very popular accessory when offered on the Model of 1921 Thompson.

The next modification was the Model of 1927, converting the Thompson submachine gun into a semiautomatic carbine. This met with some limited success in that a small number of these Thompson carbines were built from existing stocks of Model of 1921 Thompsons and sold mostly to prisons as guard guns. These are easy to distinguish because the “Model of 1921” and “Thompson Submachine Gun” markings were removed and re-stamped “Model of 1927” and “Thompson Semi-Automatic Carbine.”

In 1928, the most popular Thompson modification was adopted by Auto-Ordnance and resulted in the best selling Thompson to date. This modification is known as the Model of 1928 Thompson, commonly referred to by collectors as the Navy model or the 28 overstamp. At the request of a good customer, the United States Marine Corps, Auto-Ordnance designed a heavier actuator that resulted in a slower rate of fire. During this same time period, the U.S. Navy took note of the Marines effective use of the Thompson in the jungles of Nicaragua in 1926 and began procurement of the Thompson. This heavier actuator along with a new recoil spring and guide, horizontal forearm, sling and Cutts Compensator later became the U.S. Navy, Model of 1928. Thompsons were taken from inventory and the 1921 markings were changed with the stamping of the number 8 over the number 1. This overstamping appears to many as the letter B, but it signifies a Model of 1928 Thompson. The words “U.S. Navy” were not added to every Model of 1928 Thompson. No. 15025 is a Model of 1928 Thompson; the number 8 stamp over the number 1 is very distinct but there are no US Navy markings present on No. 15025.

No. 15025 has a unique marking on the receiver. The letter “A” is stamped beside the overstamped 8 thereby making the model nomenclature read Model of 1928 A. The purpose or reason for this “A” marking and who applied it to No. 15025 is unknown. Gordon Hergistad, renowned Thompson researcher and author of the excellent reference book, Colt Thompson Serial Numbers, reported that he has never seen a Colt Thompson with only the “A” marking after the model nomenclature. Mr. Hergistad has observed five Colt Thompsons with “U.S.” markings before and “A1” markings following the model nomenclature. These markings were applied by the United States military when the Army adopted and procured this gun in very limited quantity.

An examination of No. 15025 reveals the upper receiver and lower frame have matching serial numbers. The first noticeable exception to No. 15025 is the misalignment of barrel alignment markings. This is because No. 15025 was dewated (deactivated) in the past and later activated with another Colt barrel. A close inspection of this replacement barrel reveals the letter “H” to the right of the barrel alignment marking. This “H” marking makes for the second unusual letter stamping on No. 15025. The replacement barrel appears to have a modern Auto-Ordnance Corporation, West Hurley, New York, compensator that has been pinned. Fortunately, Tom has acquired the original dewat barrel, and more importantly, the original Cutts Compensator. The buttstock has the upside down anchor marking indicative of the correct buttstock, but the pistol grip and vertical foregrip may not be original to this Thompson. Tom has reported all the internal components appear to be original Colt parts. The rear sight is of special interest as it has the very rare “METER” markings, an indication No. 15025 may have been originally prepared for sale to a foreign government or customer. The right side receiver markings show the 1922 patent dates, something only found on Colt Thompsons with serial numbers over 14500. Aside from the past dewat/rewat and re-barrel procedures, this Thompson only shows the normal signs of scratches and wear. Tom believes No. 15025 still retains the original finish.

Tom filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on No. 15025 to learn more about the history of this historic Thompson. From the redacted documents provided by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, we learn No. 15025 began life on the National Firearms Act (NFA) Registry via a Form 2 (Notice of Firearms Manufactured or Imported) dated June 30, 1939. It appears No. 15025 was one of the last Colt Thompsons sold by General Thompson’s Auto-Ordnance Corporation. On July 21, 1939, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Thompson Automatic Arms Corporation with J. Russell Maguire firmly in control of the Thompson.

Deciphering redacted government forms is at best a guessing game. However, it appears No. 15025 may have belonged to a governmental agency until 1969 or 1971 when it was acquired by a Class III dealer in Michigan. It was deactivated sometime in 1971 or 1972 and then transferred to a private individual on September 1, 1972. It remained with this individual until February 2006 when it was sold to another Class III dealer. It was re-activated in August 2006. The transfer of No. 15025 to Tom Stewart was approved on January 12, 2007.

Recently, Gordon Hergistad discovered another Colt Thompson with a slightly higher serial number than No. 15025, outside the United States. Gordon will report on this discovery in the next edition of his book.

Many years ago the author was talking to then noted Thompson expert Roger A. Cox about Colt Thompsons with serial numbers in the 15,000 range. Roger told the author that his examination of some very poor condition Auto-Ordnance sales records revealed only one in the United States. Roger would not reveal the location because he was going to attempt to acquire this Thompson. In Roger’s now classic book, The Thompson Submachine Gun, he references No. 15036 as being sold in the United States by Federal Laboratories. Is it possible No. 15036 never made it on to the NFA Registry? Could No. 15025 be the only 15,000 serial numbered Colt Thompson in the United States on the Registry? Or could another one or two be hidden away in a police department gun vault or private collection? Only time will tell.

Whether a troop, a cop or a civilian, magazines are the key to the weapon’s reliability and knowing which magazines to buy will keep your rifle firing reliably when you need it most. The magazines we will examine here are magazine that have proven themselves through time and service. One is relatively new to the market but may prove to be the leading polymer magazine.

Capacity

Military magazines generally come in 20 and 30-round capacity. When the AR-15 first appeared in the early 1960s, they were equipped with a steel 20-round magazine known as the “waffle” magazines due to the pattern of the magazine. These magazines were quickly replaced in Vietnam with the aluminum magazines. The steel magazines would corrode and cause malfunctions amongst many other problems. These magazines are rare and often found in the hands of collectors. These magazines should not be used for defense purposes.

Soon after the weapon went into service, the aluminum 20-round magazine was introduced and remains in government inventory to this day in limited quantities. These magazines were manufactured by many different companies and came anodized in a grey, silver and green finish utilizing aluminum magazine followers. The base plates were locked in place by a leaf spring. Common practice was to only load them with 18 or 19 rounds due to them being difficult to load into the rifle with a full capacity if the spring was fully compressed. By removing one round, the follower/ammunition stack could lower into the magazine body enabling the magazine to be easily inserted with the bolt closed. These magazines worked well but their problem was they only held 20 rounds compared to the AK47 rifle’s 30-round magazines.

The standard aluminum 20-round magazines introduced in Vietnam are reliable and are still in use by military and law enforcement professionals; although now they are preferred by operators firing prone or off a bench. Newer 20-round magazines use a plastic follower. The longer profile 30-round magazines can cause difficulty when trying to remain low to the ground. These magazines are used with the SOCOM Mk12 special purpose sniper rifles. These magazines have been out of production for some time so any magazine should be tested before being used in a duty weapon. The feed lips on the 20-round magazines are more easily damaged than the 30-round magazines as the feed lips on the 30-round magazines are supported all the way to the rear of the magazine. Most of the 20-round military magazines will be manufactured by Colt, Adventure Line and Universal Industries.

The 30-round magazines were introduced during the middle of the Vietnam War and did not really see wide distribution until the end of the war. This higher capacity magazine was requested due to the fact the enemy AK rifles had 30-round magazines. These remain the standard issue magazines. The 30-round magazine is curved for a reason. If you were to lay fifteen 5.56mm cartridges, one on top of the other on a table, you would see they will curve. This is their natural position and they feed more reliably this way.

Colt does not manufacture magazines in house. They subcontract them out primarily to Okay Industries of New Britain, Connecticut. Okay Industries has manufactured 30-round magazines for Colt going back to the 1970s. This is a precision manufacturer who is the primary U.S. Government contractor producing more than 140,000 magazines a month as of their recently completed contract for the military. Current production Okay Industries magazines can be identified by their CAGE code appearing on the left side of the magazine, 33710 and underneath a month and year code. This will be found on magazines regardless if they have Colt or Okay Industries floor plates on them. Based on a U.S. Army report, during the Global War on Terrorism, the Army restricted magazine issue to troops in theater to only use Okay Industries/Colt magazines due to production problems with other subcontractors. Okay Industries make them off of the Colt Technical Data Package and are held to Mil-Spec standards that insure their quality. Okay Industries, by DoD request, has made magazines for the FNMI as well. The military has had difficulty in quality control with many of their sub contractors and have rejected many lots. These are what are commonly found at gun shows. There are no surplus magazines. These rifles are in service and the government gets all the magazines they can get their hands on. Okay Industries/Colt magazines are among the most reliable in the industry and are often the magazines chosen by law enforcement and military. They are also the most difficult to get.

Colt 30-round magazines went through an evolutionary change with the development of the M16A2. A new follower was introduced commonly referred to as the “green” follower. This follower was designed as a reliability enhancement for the M16A2 by the Marine Corps. Due to the cyclic rate, it was possible for the nose of the projectiles to be pushed into the front of the magazine and the bolt to push the round forward causing the bullet to impact the front of the magazine and subsequently push the bullet into the cartridge case. To remedy this, the green follower extended the legs on the front of the follower to prevent the follower from coming out of alignment with the magazine body. All GI magazines are now produced this way for the U.S. military. A sure bet to see you have a newer produced mil-spec magazine is to look for the manufacturer CAGE code.

Heckler & Koch High Reliability Magazine

Not a company you would expect to design a M16-type magazine, the famous German firm probably manufactures the finest magazine in the world for the M16-family of weapons. The High Reliability magazine stemmed from H&K’s attempt to fix the horrendous deficiencies in the British SA80 (L85A1) rifle program. As previously stated, the M16’s weakest link has always been the magazine, normally due to abuse and reusing over and over again when they were not intended to. The H&K magazine is designed precisely with constant use in mind. As with most German engineered weapons, the magazine is over designed. It is the sturdiest magazine of the lot.

The High Reliability magazine is made of steel instead of aluminum and coated with a special maritime finish to keep it from rusting as well as having self lubricating properties in the inside of the magazine that aid in feeding. The feed lips have the same strengthened design as the standard 30-round magazine. The profile of the magazine is somewhat different from the standard magazine that has two bends. The magazine has a constant curve to it, which H&K claims is another improvement in the reliable feeding of the magazine. The follower is made of steel as well. The follower is 100% anti-tilt inside the magazine body. H&K has used this magazine with their HK416 weapon system. Additionally, a rubber plug was inserted underneath the magazine, behind the floor plate. The purpose of this plug was to prevent unintentional release of the floor plate when firing the M203 grenade launcher without any rounds in the magazine.

Without doubt, these are the Cadillac of the magazines available anywhere. But along with that goes the price. They are normally 3 times more expensive than the standard magazines. You do get what you pay for. However, is it worth it? Well, it depends on your funding. In an ideal circumstance, this would be the best combination but when the funds are not there, the standard magazines are just as reliable when used as intended – they are just not as durable over the long haul and rough handling. H&K provided two of these excellent magazines for testing. More than 600 rounds were fired through each of them with no malfunctions at all in a Colt M4 carbine. Most of the fire was fully automatic.

Diemaco (Colt Canada) Polymer Magazine

Most early testing has shown that polymer magazines are not nearly as reliable as the standard aluminum magazines. Many attempts have been made. The first successful attempt was by the Canadian firm, Diemaco, now called Colt Canada. In the initial stages, the magazines did not fare too well and were, in fact, rejected by the Canadian forces in favor of the aluminum magazines. Not too long after that, Diemaco completed the design and worked out all the bugs producing the first combat reliable synthetic magazine. These magazines are identified by the maple leaf on the side of the magazine. Depending on the die, it could appear on either side. This should not be confused with the after-market look alike. They may look the same but they are not where it counts. These magazines have been sold too many other nations militaries by Diemaco including Denmark and the Netherlands. They have been used in many theaters of operations throughout the world. They are also in service with many Canadian Police Agencies. The only catch is that they are not available in the United States. While some may find their way south of the Canadian border, they are not sold directly into the U.S.

The Lancer “Green Magazine”

The Lancer magazine was developed in part by using the Colt M4/M16 magazine technical data under a technology license from Colt Defense. The prototype Lancer magazine examined is made of green translucent polymer but could be made in smoke, tan or any other color. There are labels marked “20” and “30” to let the shooter know how many rounds are in the magazine and when it needs to be changed out. The magazine uses the mil-spec green magazine follower. Metal feed lip inserts are molded into the polymer on the magazine. Disassembly is accomplished by use of a plastic tool that pinches the sides of the floor plate, releasing it. The floor plate, spring and follower are then removed. This will increase the maintainability aspect in sandy environments. Initial testing has yielded positive results in terms of reliability and durability. These magazines are manufactured by Lancer Systems, a manufacturer of plastic and composite products for military markets.

MagPul PMag

Although very new to the market, the PMag has a bright future ahead of it. Of all the polymer magazines examined, the PMag is the most sturdy and solid of the lot. As of this writing, the first production magazines are being shipped. They debuted at the 2007 SHOT Show. The factory reps were throwing the magazines on the ground, stomping on them and grinding the heels of their boots into them to show the durability of this magazine. The PMag will withstand any drop test. One of the supplied magazines was dropped from 6 feet with the magazine feed lips striking concrete. The feed lips were not damaged and functioned normally through a Colt Law Enforcement carbine (LE6920).

Currently, there are two different versions of the magazine. The other model is the model with two witness windows showing the number of unfired cartridges. This magazine has a magazine spring that is colored orange on a specific coil. When the orange is shown at the top of the window you are either out of ammunition or just about out of ammunition.

MagPul is offering their PMag in some different colors as well. The traditional black magazine, the new trendy earth tone as well as forest green. Additionally, they will be offering a completely clear magazine with a smoky tint to it.

Another innovative feature of the PMag is the introduction of a cover that fits over the top of the magazine. This does two things; first it protects the feed lips from damage and dirt. The second and most important, when installed, the cover pushes downward on the top cartridge, releasing tension from the top cartridge pushing upward on the feed lips. This gives a long storage life to a fully loaded magazine. The PMag is also designed to be a 30-round magazine which can be inserted easily into a rifle with a closed bolt. Some magazines are so stiff on the 30th round that it is difficult to insert the fully loaded magazine in the rifle. The PMag also has a proprietary magazine follower that is 100% anti-tilt. This is a major reliability enhancement. The alignment of the cartridges are straight and supported preventing failures to feed. When looking at standard GI magazines, you can push the front of the follower into the magazine body and it will stick. The PMags will not do this.

MagPul provided 5 sample magazines for testing. Of those, 4 were taken out to the range and more than 1,000 rounds were fired through those in a Colt Mk18 Mod O 10.3 inch barrel. Of those, most of the rounds were fired fully automatic. No malfunctions were experienced with the magazine or weapon. The fully loaded magazines were easily inserted into the weapon with a closed bolt. MagPul is currently working on a shorter 20-round PMag for use by bench shooters/snipers as well as patrol carbines.

The magazines are the heart and soul of any firearm. Care should always be taken to protect them. The standard GI magazines are extremely reliable but do have a service life. When used in the field, attention should be given to be sure the magazines are not dropped on the feed lips nor stepped on. With the recent controversy of the performance of the M16/M4 series weapons under scrutiny, the main problem is, and always has been, the magazine. This is not due to a design flaw. It is a design intent versus application issue. When Gene Stoner first developed the AR-10 with lightweight magazines, he designed them to be lightweight and disposable enabling the soldier to carry large numbers of preloaded magazines. But the key word is disposable. They are not designed to be loaded an indefinite amount of times and left loaded for months at a time without cleaning and inspection. The main issues coming back from the Gulf from the small percentage of troops who had problems all described their problems as double feeds, bolt over base and failure to feed. All of which are due to damaged magazines. The other issue brought out was failure to extract, which is caused by sand getting in-between the cartridge case and the chamber. Any weapon with this scenario will experience the same failure. The same soldiers interviewed claimed to be issued old magazines out of bins in some depot and carried them throughout his entire tour. The magazines were never gauged or checked for bent feed lips or magazine bodies and he never received replacement magazines. Many soldiers interviewed brought personally purchased magazines from home or ordered them through catalogs to insure reliability. The Army has had difficulty re-supplying troops with new magazines on a regular basis. Part of the way the Army is combating this is to have Colt Defense provide seven new magazines with every M4 they ship to the Army. Troops also do not clean the magazines at regular intervals to prevent the followers from seizing with sand. This type of detailed disassembly is really unique to the desert environment. Users need to keep in mind the design of these magazines as they are a disposable commodity. They should be replaced as often as possible and every magazine should be tested prior to it going in an ammo pouch. This will insure you do not find out you have a damaged magazine in a firefight.

With the advancements in synthetic materials, these are just as, if not more, reliable than the standard aluminum ones. However, the synthetic magazines (PMags, Canadian military and Green Magazines) offer some incredible improvements. Most troops will not notice a damaged aluminum magazine until they put it in their rifle and try to shoot. With the synthetic magazine, immediate signs show damage. The feed lips would be broken off and cartridges falling out. These new plastics are stronger than the aluminum ones and will not bend or dent. The magazines will be less expensive to make as well. All of the synthetic magazines examined in this article are simple to maintain and the MagPul PMag and Canadian magazines are proving themselves in combat. The Army has issued a magazine improvement program. This program calls for improved followers such as the ones MagPul is manufacturing which are 100% anti-tilt. The program calls for synthetic magazines as well as a standard go/no go gauge. Many defense contractors as of this writing are developing synthetic magazines though it is expected that the MagPul PMag will be the standard in synthetic magazines.

I would like to thank Matt Nassar (H&K Defense), Colt Defense, Matt Kirkpatrick of Colt Canada, Drake Clark from MagPul and Okay Industries for all their assistance with this article.

By Frank Iannamico

The fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989, and subsequent collapse of Communism, had little initial impact on U.S. firearm enthusiasts. However, soon many former ComBloc firearms, rarely seen in the United States, would become available and at bargain prices. Many machine gun parts and part sets that had sat idle in warehouses for decades became available, all to the delight of collectors.

In the last few years, Kalashnikov AK rifles have experienced a revival in popularity due largely to availability, low pricing and an abundance of inexpensive ammunition. Formerly unobtainable rifle part sets, magazines and accessories from a number of former Warsaw Pact and Soviet satellite nations have now been imported. This availability has spawned a new compilation of AK clones and a new generation of AK enthusiasts with many inspired to duplicate the original rifles down to the smallest detail and many going as far as using the correct style of rivets as used by the original factory for assembly. Along with this renewed AK popularity came a strong market for accessories. To help sustain their companies, many former military contractors began to offer their products to the civilian market, exposing U.S. collectors to military-quality equipment previously only seen in photographs.

As long as there are no more than 10 foreign made parts in an AK rifle, it is 922R compliant and legal to have many of the features that had been previously banned. A number of U.S. companies began the manufacture of both stamped and milled AK receivers and components to make the rifles compliant with federal laws. AK part sets that had become available now allow collectors to build or purchase an AK clone from the country of their choice. Many of the new generation AK rifles being made are including an optics rail riveted onto the left side of the receiver to mount a night vision or other type of optical device.

In prior conflicts, optical devices to enhance accuracy were limited to purpose-built weapons to be fielded by highly trained marksmen. This trend has changed drastically with many U.S. combat troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan having optical devices mounted on their service weapons to enhance their effectiveness. Although a variety of sights are currently being fielded, one of the most effective designs for quick and accurate target acquisition has been the red-dot. Red-dot sights are far different from the traditional military sniper scopes that magnified the target and used cross-hairs to achieve accuracy.

Modern red-dot designs use refractive or reflective optics to generate a collimated image of a luminous or reflective reticle. This collimated image appears to be projected out to a point at infinity, which makes the image of the reticle appear to the user to be projected onto the target. A huge advantage of the collimated image is that the scope can be placed at any distance from the eye without distorting the image of the target or reticle making red-dot sights readily adaptable for use on a variety of small arms. However, red-dot sight designs do not provide for any magnification of the target image. Magnification is impractical because such a feature would make it difficult to hold the weapon steady enough for quick target acquisition, which is the primary function of the red-dot design. The lack of magnification also permits the operator to keep both eyes open when locating a target. The shooter’s eye that sees the reticle image will automatically superimpose that image with the image from the other eye, giving the shooter normal depth perception and full field of view.

Most red-dot sights are designed to compensate for the natural parallax effect created when the shooter’s head moves in relation to the sight, allowing the reticle image to be close to the actual point of projected impact even if viewed at an angle.

The Russian Kobra Collimator Sight
The Kobra sight is an open collimator combat optical device that has been fielded by the elite Russian Spetsnaz Special Forces and the Russian Internal Police. The Kobra uses laser technology to generate a red-dot, or several other reticle patterns, superimposed onto a clear filtered lens mounted on top of the weapon. The heads up display (HUD) of the Kobra was designed to be used with both eyes open. Kobra scopes have been continually improved and upgraded from feedback gained through combat experience in Chechnya. Early variations like the EKP-1S-01 utilized standard AA batteries that limited use of the device before the power supplied by the batteries would be expended. A new generation of the scope designated as the EKP-8-02 was designed. The new model has a redesigned frame and sight body and uses an easily obtainable CR series 3-volt lithium long-life battery for power. The earlier rubber sight hood has been replaced by a new plastic design formally only available for military use. In addition to the standard Russian side rail mount system, a new model has also been introduced for attachment on the popular Weaver and Picatinny type mounts that have been fielded on M16 and FN FAL rifles.

The sight is constructed for rugged military use from aluminum alloy and steel with a non-reflective flat black finish. A rotary style on-off switch is located on the left side of the unit to power up the reticle. There are four different reticle patterns for the operator to choose from: a dot, chevron, chevron with a dot or a T-bar. These are easily selected by simply pressing a small button that allows the operator to scroll through the patterns. The brightness of the reticle can also be easily adjusted as ambient light conditions warrant. To keep the scope reliable, a glass lens is used to protect the laser exit port.

The sight is fully adjustable for elevation and windage. These adjustments are made by two separate wheels that are positioned on the top and on the right side of the unit. Both of the wheels are numbered from 0 to 7 in each direction. The adjustment wheels cannot normally be turned past the numeral 7, but if additional adjustment is needed to zero the scope, the tool provided can be used to loosen the slotted adjusting screw allowing the wheel to be removed from the stud and repositioned. Each number on the dial represents 3.1 centimeters at a distance of 100 meters, which translates to approximately 1.1-inches at 100 yards. Once the sight is zeroed, the wheels can be adjusted to read 0 for reference so that after subsequent adjustments the sight can be returned to the operator’s original zero adjustments. Adjustments to the reticle as it appears on the lens are virtually impossible to detect with the naked eye.

The Russian designed receiver mounted RSSAMS (Russian Standard Small Arms Mounting System) optics rail system and clamp system provides a solid mount for the scope allowing removal and reinstallation with no loss of zero once the sight has been adjusted to that rifle. The scope mount will fit on virtually any AK equipped with an optics rail. The sight’s mounting clamp is adjustable to allow for manufacturing deviations in any particular rail. If your AK isn’t equipped with a side rail they can be obtained from a number of sources. There are several designs on the market that are secured by rivets and others are available that can be secured to the receiver with screws.

SAR recently received one of Inter-Ordnance’s new STG-2003-C rifles for testing that had the Soviet-pattern optics rail riveted to the left side of the receiver. The STG-2003-C is a replica of the short-lived East German Wieger AK rifle that was chambered for the West’s 5.56x45mm (.223) NATO cartridge. It was decided to mount the Kobra scope on the STG-2003-C to see if it lived up to its reputation. The scope slid perfectly onto the rail and locked tight with no adjustments to the clamp. After firing several boxes of Wolf’s Classic Military 5.56x45mm cartridges to get the scope zeroed, we were ready to resume the evaluation.

The first thing one finds when using a red-dot scope of this type is getting acclimated to keeping both eyes open while aiming. At first this seems unnatural, but with some practice it is easily mastered and the effort is well rewarded.

Using the red-dot scope at a range of 50 meters, a target could be engaged and hit approximately 1.2 seconds faster than aligning the standard iron sights and aiming. Equally fast follow-up shots could be fired. As long as the red-dot was on the target, the bullet would strike where the dot was, even when the shooter’s eye was not perfectly aligned with the sight. If the dot was on the target, firing the rifle would score a hit and there were no parallaxes or eye relief problems. The reticle could be easily seen even in bright sunlight.

Also on hand for future test and evaluation by SAR was a highly modified AK provided by Mark Krebs of Krebs’ Custom. This rifle, chambered in 7.62x39mm, was fitted with a MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail used to mount the Weaver/Picatinny screw-mount model of the Kobra. The scope fit perfectly and after sighting it in gave the same performance as the rail-mount Kobra.

The Kobra scopes are manufactured in Russia by Izhevski Motozavod, Axion Holding Company, associated with Izhmash small arms works, and marketed in the U.S. by Kalinka Optics Warehouse. These are true mil-spec scopes made for the Russian military famous for insisting on simplicity, ruggedness and reliability. The Kobra has been battle tested by Russian Special Forces in Chechnya and is the perfect accessory for any AK owner interested in enhancing their target acquisition time.

The Kobra package includes the sight with integral clamp, lithium battery, adjusting tool, instruction manual, sun shield, lens cloth and Russian camo pattern storage/carrying case with belt loops. The Kalinka Optics Warehouse also offers a full 12-month factory warranty and 15-day, money-back guarantee.

Special thanks to: Kalinka Optics; Mike Eros at Kalinka Optics; Inter-Ordnance. Inc.; Mark Krebs at Krebs’ Custom; and Val Shilin

Kalinka Optics
254 Junco Circle
Longs, SC 29568, USA
http://www.kalinkaoptics.com/

• Designer of the Maxim Machine Gun
• Steam engineer, had heavier than air plane before Wright Bros
• Invented the light bulb and many electrical systems before/concurrent with Edison (lots of dispute on that dateline), contemporary of Edison and Tesla. Invented a menthol inhaler for bronchitis sufferers, and of course, a common mousetrap still in use today.

Hiram Percy Maxim, Sr.

Born 2 Sept 1869, died 17 Feb 1936

• Son of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim
• Credited as “Father of Amateur Radio” as the co-founder of the American Radio Relay League in 1914, also founded the Amateur Cinema League in 1926.
• Credited as the inventor of the silencer for firearms – 1909 Patent on the Maxim Silencer
• Invented some muffler systems for cars
• Wrote two books; A Genius in the Family: Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim Through a Small Son’s Eyes (a quite humorous rendition of growing up with Sir Hiram and his sense of practical humor), and Horseless Carriage Days which discussed his experiences in the early days of automobile design.

Hudson Maxim

Born 3 Feb. 1853, died 6 May 1927

• Brother of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim
• Inventor and patent holder regarding various explosives and especially smokeless powders.
• Wrote four books; Defenseless America was his call to arms in 1916 where Hudson described America’s need to prepare for a coming war; The Science of Poetry and The Philosophy of Language was Hudson’s 1910 book on his scientific analysis of language and how good poetry always followed certain rules that were related to science; Dynamite Stories in 1916 about his work and experiences with explosives and The Rise of an American Inventor (his autobiography).

Hiram Percy Maxim, Jr.

Born —, died Nov. 1992

• Son of Hiram Percy Maxim
• Built suppressors with his father in the 1920s
• Was the resource for J. David Truby’s focus on the Maxims
• Father of Hiram Percy Maxim III

In Part I and II of this Interview (SAR Vol. 11, No. 5 and 6), Jim Sullivan filled in the blanks on ArmaLite and the AR-15 project, the Stoner 63 project, dug deep on the Ichord Committee regarding M16 failures in Vietnam, covered the Ruger Mini 14 and M77, as well as his work on the 7.62mm Chaingun, the EPAM, Chiclet Guns, caseless ammo, Italy, Somalia, Gordon Ingram, the Beta C-Mag and the Ultimax 100. We now rejoin the Interview.

L. James Sullivan’s favorite quotes on preparedness: 1918 – Will Rogers on the US lack of preparedness for war: “If this war lasts any longer, we’ll have to buy another machine gun.”

SAR: You’ve freelanced on a lot of different projects, Jim. What did you work on in the late 1980s?

Jim Sullivan: Bill Ruger asked me over here in Arizona a couple times, back to look at a new project. He had bought a new Uzi designed submachine gun. Uzi Gal had gotten a company in Canada, the same company that makes the M16 up in Canada, Diemaco, I think it was, to try to put his new submachine gun design into production. Anyway, they tried to, and they had all the tooling, but it didn’t work very well. Ruger had bought the thing kind of “as is” and asked me to come over and take a look at it. I went over a couple times on that project. That was the MP9. A submachine gun to me is a big waste of time anyway.

SAR: Why’s that?

Jim Sullivan: Because almost everything you need a submachine gun for, something like an M4 Carbine will do better. The M4 has got its own problems, but it’s got three times the power and is far more accurate. So if you put a guy out there in a combat situation, you’ve got to make sure he’s better armed than with a submachine gun. Nine-millimeter isn’t too bad, but .45 ACP of course makes a very poor submachine gun round.

SAR: (Dan visibly twitches) OK… let’s get back to the M4.

Jim Sullivan:(Laughs) So you’re a .45 fan, huh? (Laughs again) The M4 is of course an M16, and they’ve changed the back end and the front end, and both of those changes, I mean they sound like minor changes, just a shorter barrel and buttstock, but every change means re-thinking it all. Remember, we designed this as a system. The front end, now they’ve moved the gas port further back so it’s closer to the chamber, and therefore it’s higher pressure. When the bullet passes the gas port, there’s higher pressure which that gas port has to endure, and frankly, it doesn’t survive it. Frequently guns that might work as they come out of the factory won’t work properly 1,000 rounds later. What happens is that it’s starting to, it’s like it starts trying to unlock early, and that’s a no-no, you just don’t want to do that. The M16 was always kind of marginal on this, and as the gas port erodes, it’s throwing more and more energy into the bolt, so the bolt cycles faster, that makes it try to unlock even earlier. You start getting cartridge cases that are stuck in the chamber because they haven’t had time to relax, and you get extraction problems again. That’s what’s happening because of the change in the front end. At the back end of the M4, remember, it’s an M16, but they’ve shortened the stock tube that the buffer goes back into, and they had to shorten the buffer so that the bolt has the same stroke length as the M16, and so they lost some of the weight and the potential to increase that weight. Now you’ve got less weight that you’re throwing to the rear, and you’re throwing it to the rear faster, and what they end up with was exactly the same extraction problems that they had solved in ’67. It was their solution; it was the buffer we talked about earlier. They’ve lost much of its effect.

SAR: You designed that system down from the AR-10 and worked that all out, so you have an intimate understanding of where the roots of this system are.

Jim Sullivan: Pretty much. I have a good idea of what’s being done wrong with it now. There are a few things they solved right: there was a certain amount of distance that we kept in front of the gas port, which was projectile travel time that translated into keeping the system pressurized, time under pressure for the gas system. In the Sixties they started cutting back the barrel to eleven and a half inch barrels, to ten-inch barrels, shortening that length in front of the gas port, and they had a lot of problems. I don’t know how the old M1 rifle ever got away with it. Well, I do know. That gas port is about an inch back from the muzzle. That just doesn’t work, unless you are very careful about testing every lot of ammunition for exactly the right gas port pressure, and they did for the M1. They accepted that. On the M16, and everybody else does this too, you move the gas port back as far as you can, so that you’ve got the time the bullet takes from the gas port to the muzzle as long as you can possibly give it, because that gives you continuity. Every shot operates the gas system the same. That’s very important in a gas-operated gun. On the M4 carbine like on the original rifle, it’s about 4.5 inches of travel. You need to maintain that distance when you make a carbine and they did that on the M4. If you cut the muzzle further back, you’ve got to move that gas port further back or the gun won’t cycle reliably. It’ll be different cycles for each shot.

SAR: Thus the M4 carbine has the long barrel distance in front of the front sight.

Jim Sullivan: It does, yeah. But now the gas port is closer to the chamber, and the pressure is higher. It just sends that bolt flying backwards. Well, okay, one immediate control of that is you make a smaller gas port and that does solve that problem until the erosion of firing rounds off the corners of the gas port where it meets the bore of the barrel. The gas just flows faster and faster and faster, and the gun speeds up. We didn’t dare let it happen in the M16, and an M4 is worse. The M4 inherited all of the M16 extraction problems and made them worse. The M4 is a very unreliable gun. The extraction problems are related to the pressure problems that we’re talking about. We did experimentation to find out what the pressure curves were in the gas system.

SAR: There was always the “gun lore” that the gas pressure goes up on a certain timeline, and then after the bullet exits the bore pressure comes down on a similar timeline. Bob Irwin told me stories about his tests where the pressure dropped immediately on the bullet exiting the bore, that event actually evacuating the gas system.

Jim Sullivan: That’s right. It doesn’t evacuate it by having a vacuum. It’s just the pressure that’s still in the gas system just blows it out once the pressure has gone out of the barrel. It drops very quickly, almost instantly. The idea of a slow lowering of pressure is part of a misunderstanding a lot of people have on how much time under pressure that system has. For consistency, you want the maximum amount of time, but it’s the amount of time that you can get out of bullet travel, which is so tiny that you need all the length you can get. The time that it takes for the cartridge case to relax is not that closely related to the pressure in there. The pressure is completely gone, maybe not completely, that takes almost forever on the timeline we are viewing. It’s down to just a couple hundred psi or so for a long time afterwards and that doesn’t hurt anything. That isn’t what makes the cartridge case tight in the chamber. All cartridges seize in the chamber, and then relax. That’s why cartridge brass is a magic material… It’s called objuration. A brass case in objuration doesn’t just move out and seal the chamber, it has to move back in and unseal before it can be extracted reliably. That’s what cartridge brass does that nothing else does as well. It takes time, and if you’ve been firing a long burst like in a machine gun, the hotter that chamber gets, the longer it takes for that cartridge to relax, because it’s gaining heat, and it doesn’t shrink back as fast.

SAR: Which makes for a resistance to extracting.

Jim Sullivan: Correct. The case seizes in the chamber when you’re trying to extract it and the extractor either slips off or tears the case, and that’s what caused the main failures in the M16 in the Vietnam War. Again, as we have discussed, it wasn’t really the fault of the gun, it was the fault of the ammunition change, the powder change. The gun was too close to being “wrong”, but it worked fine with the ammunition that we designed for it. Remember, we designed the ammunition too, not just the gun, we designed them together. Most weapons systems are designed that way.

SAR: What you’re hearing back from people using the M4 in combat today, it sounds like the same basic problem…

Jim Sullivan: Yeah. No question. It’s not exactly the same because the M16, without gas port erosion, ran into a problem with the powder change that the army imposed on the system. They didn’t check with Colt, the manufacturer, they didn’t check with the army, no one asked the designers and manufacturers, “Do you like this?” Procurement people just decided to change the powder. Colt found out in the newspaper. I think it was a quality control guy, an inspector that worked for Colt, and he read it in the newspaper. They didn’t even know that the army had changed powder. The army really didn’t even know it. In a way there’s two parts to the army. There’s the guys that do the fighting and the guys that sit in offices and they seem to screw up everything.

SAR: Come on, Jim, there are lots of good people working in support and procurement. SAR has focused on a lot of the programs in the past. Interesting stuff.

Jim Sullivan: Well, that may be true, but there are certainly a lot of roadblockers in there keeping the weapons from being what they should be. Half the time it’s the same guy, just different parts of his life, I guess. I don’t know what happens to them, going from combat to where they lose the big picture. It’s worse in a big army, I’m sure, I don’t know much about the small ones.

SAR: What do we need to do to fix our weapon systems today?

Jim Sullivan: To fix small arms, you have to take it out of the hands of Army Materiel Command. Their record on small arms development is criminal. They are the epitome of, the perfect example of what President Eisenhower warned everybody about, “Beware the military-industrial complex.” Army Materiel Command’s handling of small arms in the last 50 years has just been horrible. It’s wiped out the infrastructure of what had been the best small arms producing country in the world. It wiped out the US small arms industry, there was nothing like it anywhere else, the US small arms industry was magnificent. We’re the only major industrial country that has to buy most of our pistols, rifles and machine guns from foreign sources. We’ve become dependent on it. We can’t control ground wars anymore. We couldn’t control the second half of the Vietnam War, we couldn’t control Mogadishu, which was just a microcosm war, but nonetheless it had the same problems. It was an infantry war. We’ve become this arrogant superpower who thinks that we’re invulnerable because we’ve got the best ships, planes and tanks in the world, and I don’t doubt that. But, we’re not fighting naval, air and tank battles. We’re fighting riflemen, and we’re fighting riflemen that have got AK-74s, the latest AKs. Those weapons have been out-hitting the M16 by two-to-one for 20 years. There’s 100 million AKs in various shapes and sizes that have been given to our enemies, and that was for the specific purpose that the United States can’t win a ground war anymore. That was to ensure it. Russia didn’t participate in making 100 million AKs because they have a big army. The biggest army there was probably 12 million. They participated in making 100 million to give to our Third World enemies to stop us from winning ground wars. Russia looked the other way at the other countries that were making the Kalashnikovs, reverse-engineering them. They didn’t come out and say, “Stop making our design,” and today they are looking to stop this, and get royalties on the design. Just a bit late. It was all about flooding the world with AKs and stopping the US’s programs. The Russian design in this had a lot to do with compromising the American military on the ground by arming up all the small conflicts in the world.

SAR: How about the Kalashnikov itself?

Jim Sullivan: It’s an excellent weapon. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot more rugged than the M16. The M16 was always a fussy weapon. But the AK lacks some refinements. For instance, there’s no last round stop or hold open device on the basic Kalashnikov. You can mechanically lock the bolt open, but it doesn’t just lock open automatically. In combat, that saves a couple seconds of reload time. The man armed with an M16 has a firepower advantage over the man armed with the Kalashnikov. The Kalashnikov’s original cartridge stunk. It lost energy almost as fast as shotgun slugs. It was very inaccurate on semiautomatic because there was very little cylindrical portion of the bullet, it tilted and if you looked at them, depending on who they were made by, the bullets weren’t even pointed on the axis of the cartridge, they were tilted from the manufacturing process and came that way to the field. Their accuracy was very poor. The controllability was pretty good. The M16 wasn’t bad for its light weight, but the M-16 design pretty much stood still, and the AK-47 went from the AK-47 to the AKM, which was a change in material in making it. It went from a machined out receiver to a sheet metal receiver. That was the AKM. (Fact check) Then it went to the AK-74, which was their 5.45x39mm cartridge. Where it is now, the M16 is hopelessly outmatched against that one.

SAR: What country’s got the best small arms development right now?

Jim Sullivan: It used to be FN in Belgium. Now, I would say it’s probably H&K in Germany. They put an awful lot of money into R&D, and they got some pretty good stuff, but it’s based on 50-year-old technology. Just look at the G36. You make a gun out of a different material, now it’s different? The core of that gun is very much the M16/Stoner63/AR18 family. That doesn’t do anything new to the enemy.

SAR: What about the Chinese? They have a lot of neat stuff in their secret squirrel arsenal don’t they?

Jim Sullivan: I don’t see much there, really. Same principles we have been doing, dressed up differently. There are four important things that should have evolved in firearms. Up until 50 years ago, when the Army Materiel Command got their hands on our innovation process, guns evolved all over the world. Every year there were minor improvements, and maybe you’d go for 10 or 15 years before there’d be any major sea change. But 50 years ago, it just stopped dead. Even up until then, there were only two real innovative countries in small arms; most designs were either American or German. It was either Peter Paul Mauser and his contemporaries or John Browning and Hiram Maxim. Almost all of the stuff came from that group. John Garand had the first truly successful semiautomatic rifle. There’d been a lot of them tried out. Actually, it’s not really true to say that everything came from America or Germany. England, France, Belgium, and others…there’s places that would surprise you. Mexico had some brilliant work done – the Mondragon and that was 1908. Sweden, Nepal, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and don’t forget the Brits did a lot of interesting things. The Sten gun was not only the cheapest, but one of the best submachine guns ever made. However, the SMLE that was their longest production gun, it was designed by an American, I don’t know if he did it here or not. James Paris Lee was an American. He was born in Scotland, but he was American at the age of two. (Fact check)

SAR: I wasn’t aware of that. That’s going to get our British readers upset if they didn’t know. I mean, an American is one thing, but he was also a Scotsman!

Jim Sullivan: Well, their Bren gun, which is a masterpiece, started out in Czechoslovakia at BRNO as the ZB26.

SAR: You like the Bren?

Jim Sullivan: Oh yeah, it’s a beautiful thing, one hell of a good weapon. They did that right.

SAR: What’s your favorite machine gun?

Jim Sullivan: The Maxim, history-wise. Of course nothing ever equaled it. The technology too. It’s brilliant work in there that Maxim did. For instance, the water jacket. If you tilt it, I mean after 1,000 rounds it begins to steam off water. Well, if you tilt it down, you don’t want that steam driving the water that’s left out. If you tilt it up, you don’t want it driving it out this way. So what he did, he had a sliding valve in there, and when you tilt it up, the steam escapes at this end. When you tilt it down, the steam escapes at this end. If you look at the taper of the barrel, that’s the taper of the water jacket. He checked things out. This seems impossible, but he checked out how much water offset how much damage do you do to a steel barrel in firing. He said that to turn five pounds of water into steam takes the same number of BTUs, or takes more BTUs than to melt five pounds of steel. I looked it up in the machinery handbook. It does. They don’t put it that way. Since there were no war records on how to use machine guns effectively, Maxim said you want to fire continuously. He had stuff on there so the gunner could just turn the gun on, and it just stayed as long as you had this firing mechanism locked. The caissons held 3,000 rounds and the right number of jerry cans to this 3,000 rounds based on the fact that you would fire a 3,000 round burst.

SAR: What’s your favorite rifle?

Jim Sullivan: The M1 Garand, history-wise. Technology wise? It’s a toss-up between the M16 and the Kalashnikov. For handguns, personally, I like a revolver, but I don’t have to fight a war with it. If you’re facing an infantry squad, a revolver’s good, if you’re just going to die. [laughs] I think technology-wise, it’s still the old .45. I don’t think anybody’s made a better one. His FN HP was probably better.

SAR: When you look around at small arms today and people doing designs, what catches your eye?

Jim Sullivan: I don’t think they’re doing anything. I think once the main competitor, the United States, went out of business, everybody quit working as hard over at FN. They haven’t come up with anything really new. The FN-FAL, that’s all 50 years old, the MAG 58, their predecessor to the M240 series, that’s 50 years old. The M16 is 50 years old. The AK47 is too. Most of the systems that dominate the battlefield today are 50-year-old technology if not more. Ma Deuce (M2HB) is out there, and that’s 80 years old, from John Browning. The DShK is 50 years old, the PKM, 40. There’s an evolutionary change in firearms every 40 or 50 years, usually, you’d think we’re about due.

SAR: Let’s get back to the four things you were saying that should have been the focus of designers…

Jim Sullivan: I’ve got four things I’ve been working on that I think are the next steps, and I have been working on them for years. One is constant recoil, improving it. As I mentioned earlier, there was a one hundred to one advantage, but the most I’ve ever been able to get out of it is about eight to one. I’ve got some systems I’ve worked out that’s a lot higher now. Another problem with it was the long stroke needed that if you tried to scale it up to 7.62, it wouldn’t fit in a comfortable gun package anymore. I’ve got it now where I can do an 11-pound 7.62 light machine gun that is far shorter than the M240 and knocks 15 pounds off the package. That’s the equivalent of 330 rounds of 7.62 ammo. The soldier can carry twice as much ammo as his opponent.

For the second major innovation, remember, belt fed guns are damn near impossible for a walking man to reload. He’s got to set it down. He’s got to make sure that that last link is either out of the gun, or the bolt is forward when he lifts the feed cover or the link drops down in, and the only way he can get it out is to turn the gun upside-down and shake it. We timed a walking man firing and reloading his M249. It took 17 seconds from the time the guy fired his last round until he fires his next round. Anybody walking with 30-shot magazines on an M16 can fire more rounds than that. The Ultimax, the concept of the expendable 100-shot drum magazine you only use once, come fully loaded. The operator tears open the paper bag and snaps the thing into the gun. I wanted to be able to do that just as fast, only have it belt-fed. All magazines have to be expendable, because they are anyway. One of the problems with the BAR showed up in Korea. After these gun battles, they realized that they had to go out and crawl around out in no-man’s land trying to find BAR magazines. They tried to court-martial men for not pocketing empty magazines in the middle of a firefight. That would be suicidal! What the army finally had to do was issue fresh empty magazines with every issue of ammunition for the guys to load them.

SAR: You see part of the fundamental changes needed being a pre-packaged magazine, ready to go?

Jim Sullivan: Yes. That means you’ve got to do the math again, you’ve got to make sure the springs can’t set too long.

I’ve got a belt-fed rifle in the works and it’s got a precise quick change barrel. That’s the third part of the technology that needed to be developed, so that you can use it accurately as a carbine, a rifle and also as a real light machine gun. What I have is a split feed where the driving half is part of the gun, and the holding half is part of the expendable drum magazine. Snapping it into place completes the feed. So all these things come from a factory already loaded, and the soldier never handles or even sees the belt. This gets rid of six of the eight reloading tasks, and a walking man can reload his belt-fed weapon with 100-shot magazines as fast as changing a 30-shot rifle magazine. In fact, if we want to go the extra design distance, it’ll eject it, and the guy can continue to pull the trigger, and he just keeps slamming magazines in the gun. We can do all of that: I’ve done it.

Fourth, you’ve got to be able to fire that weapon from the closed bolt as a rifle, and the open bolt when you select a full auto. That’s a very necessary part of controllable full auto, and it also reduces cook-offs. Semi-auto fire needs closed bolt operation for accuracy, and quick change barrels are necessary for the machine gun. You’ve got to have the barrel change, but in order to make this work properly; you’ve got to have a precise barrel change. If you take that barrel off of that gun and put it back on, it’s got to remain in zero. It’ll take a couple more design tries, but this weapon that I showed you the drawings of, it’s got a precise quick barrel change, and I know that you can get it working because of that one I designed over in Italy.

There’s too many things wrong with the weapons systems out there, and all of them are fixable. When your people can go out into the field and they carry twice the ammo of the other guy, it makes a difference. And when you can out-hit him at three times the range, it makes a difference. All of these things are where the technology should be, but we don’t have it nailed. The technology I’m talking about has been done, projects I have worked on, but they need to be moved ahead.

SAR: What about changing the actual form of what we do? For 150 years we’ve been basically taking a metallic sheath with powder in it and driving a projectile down a rifled bore. We might do it faster, more accurately, fully auto, whatever, but it’s still basically the same cartridge idea. Do you see anything changing in that part of the system?

Jim Sullivan: Certainly, by getting into light-weight cartridges. I don’t mean using aluminum. Everybody thinks that’s what light-weight cartridges has to mean and it isn’t. Aluminum’s light, yeah, but it age hardens and cracks in this use, and can’t properly hold a primer pocket.

SAR: Maybe they need Sulliloy.

Jim Sullivan: (Laughs) Right. I didn’t think of that. The US Air Force in World War Two had a bunch of .50 cal. aluminum cartridge cases made. There’s a hell of a lot of weight that they’ve got to fly with. It kind of worked, but the report that was written up on it, on the problems with it, got lost. When Korea came along, and these jets were really fighting at short range, so they had to be as light as possible. They had found a big lot of this .50 caliber ammo, and they tried using it. It age-hardened, and it just ate up the bolt faces on their Browning Machine Guns.

SAR: Where do you think light-weight ammunition will go?

Jim Sullivan: I have a concept, and it’ll take a lot of development work to flesh it out, but I’m pretty sure I’m right and I’m pretty sure that real light-weight ammunition can be done. With the belt-fed rifle we discussed here, you wouldn’t be stuck with 100-shot magazines anymore if we developed this light-weight ammunition. This would be in 7.62 and you can use a 600-round backpack with a flexible chute that goes around to the belt-fed rifle. I know there have been some attempts at this, but with this technology it would work. In an assault, that soldier can fire a one-minute burst, 600 rounds, and have more 100 round packs ready to go.

SAR: Jim, for the last 50 years you’ve been at the cutting edge of arms technology in the United States and a number of other countries.

Jim Sullivan: Yes. My partner Bob Waterfield and I, who I’ve invited in again on this new design, we have been very busy. While the rest of the small arms development world has just been dying out, he and I were the ones that were doing the radical changes. How do you make full auto weapons controllable, and how do you make a precise barrel change, and how do you make an open bolt, closed bolt trigger mechanism? We’ve done all that. How do you get rid of barrel heat? These are things that other people consider to be impossible. Common knowledge seems to be that it’s impossible to reduce recoil; that’s in violation of the laws of physics, the third law of motion.

SAR: The secret’s to try to comply with those laws while designing around them.

Jim Sullivan: Precisely. We figured out what it really meant. When the Law says equal and opposite, what does that mean, equal to what? Equal results in every way every time? Obviously, the soldier doesn’t kill himself when he shoots somebody else, so that isn’t equal, is it? We’re not talking anything other than the physics. We figured out what equal meant in these firearms: it’s equal impulse, and impulse is force times time.

SAR: Where are you looking to go with this technology?

Jim Sullivan: I formed a company called Arm West LLC. Right now we’re talking to Ruger, and it’s too bad Bill Sr. isn’t still around. We have spoken to a number of companies, but frequently the modern arms companies are run by people who are more concerned with how to work with stock valuations as opposed to making better weapon systems. There’s a company called GG Green that’s innovative and they make all kinds of things, including links. They’ve got some open ideas there. We’re doing design work where at least one or more service has requested change, where they’re on record saying, “We want a lightweight family of weapons and ammunition.” That’s a matter of record, where they can’t say “We don’t need it anymore.” Army Materiel Command has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on projects that they say will accomplish this, and failed. We’re in a position now where we don’t have to go through them to get the designs out. There’s the Marine Corps requirement for an automatic rifle, and a design group can go directly to the Marines and say, “Here it is, it meets all your requirements and then some.”

At least in this position, with everything we’re doing, we have the opportunity to not be caught in the same trap full of roadblocks, there are now other options.

How do you make a fully automatic pistol, a personal defense weapon? If you read Small Arms of the World, or if you read Janes Infantry Weapons, they say it’s impossible, it can’t be done. Well, it hasn’t been done yet, and it always looks like the reason is that an equal and opposite reaction is an insurmountable roadblock. Everyone’s convinced it can’t be done. In fact, the Army Infantry School went into that theme and said that it’s impossible, so therefore gun design has come as far as it can go so you have to move into explosive projectiles. That was the premise for coming up with the requirements for the OICW. They said you can’t get direct hits, it’s too difficult, and so the projectiles must explode. How much do they spend on that?

SAR:They spent a lot of money on it, and the immediate offspring was that the kinetic energy module, the breakaway carbine underneath it, became the XM8. That went away for what appeared to be political reasons. Might be coming back now, though. So you’re looking to put together a group and take another shot at some of the better small arms solutions that you have. Correct?

Jim Sullivan: Exactly. I’m getting to be pretty old, so the program, if it gets funded, will outlive me. But Bob Waterfield’s 16 years younger, and we’ve got a third guy lined up that’s ten years younger than him.

SAR: Any advice for younger designers?

Jim Sullivan: I hope they get into it. One of the biggest problems when there’s been a 50-year vacuum in small arms design is that most of the old innovators have died off. The development of small arms is a specialty. There isn’t a college to go through for this. You’ve got to learn the opportunities and the limitations of the technology you’re dealing with, because if you don’t know the limitations, you can go off on these caseless ammo scenarios. If you don’t see the opportunities, you don’t know what can be done. The only way you can do that is to just gain experience. Unfortunately, there’s no place for them to do that here with the laws the way they are, impeding small arms design, and the lack of an educational system on firearms design. I’m not sure how to advise them, how to get that experience, how to start. It’s almost like you’ve got to do what we did and move to Singapore. Now, with the Arms Export Control Act rules, you can’t do that legally. You could go overseas and design for yourself, and then bring it home, but you can’t go and design for somebody overseas. How can you finance research under these conditions?

SAR: I’m of the opinion that if people want to be involved with firearms design, military firearms in general, they need to be around where the working reference collections are. They need to go to the museums; they need to go shoot a lot of ammo. They need to take weapons out and take them apart. They need to go to Knob Creek and put a pile of rounds through a gun and see what makes it jam.

Jim Sullivan: Yeah. It’s not simply an intellectual exercise, you’ve got to get out there and study and shoot.

SAR: Mentors – you’re talking about new designers talking to the previous generation of designers and getting that knowledge, and that there’s been almost a stopping in the passing on of that knowledge. That’s a big part of Small Arms Review.

Jim Sullivan: That definitely is true. If we can get this thing started with our tiny little nothing company, it can rebuild the whole industry because we’re talking about a new level, and making every pistol, carbine, rifle and machine gun that’ll be used in the next 50 years, and we’re talking only two generations of the pistol, but three generations of this main rifle/machine gun system. There’s all kinds of work that needs to be done and it goes all through weapons design. As an example, the mechanized infantry vehicle, it is supposed to carry the guys protected by armor into the enemy territory, and they could do their fighting without leaving the protection of that armor. Well, they got all done with the vehicle, and then they realized that you can’t shoot a weapon inside an enclosed room. All modern infantry rifles side eject. Now, you’ve got to make these guns forward eject out of a tube next to the barrel. They spent billions on these vehicles, and then they found out that simple truth. Like the Russian Nikonov AN-94 does, like their NSV machine gun, but it really means a radical change in the weapon system, changing to forward eject. You’ve got to set out in the beginning to design the locking system so it cooperates with that. We’ve got soldiers over there in Iraq who are walking around out in the open and getting picked off. Half the time, those soldiers, of course they’ve got to dismount if they’re going to go in a building, but they shouldn’t be walking out in the open like that. They should be armor-protected against small arms fire. There has been a lot of that done already, but if you’ve got a fleet of mechanized infantry vehicles, they can control the road. Nobody can ever plant an IED and dig a hole and put an IED in the road if you’ve got something like that patrolling the roads night and day. It gets down to the limitation being in the small arms technology. You have to eject forward, and then you get into the ammunition. You can make everything come in expendable magazines that the gun spits out when empty. The soldier doesn’t handle anything, he just slams fresh magazines up into a funnel, so he can hardly miss it even though he is stressed, and he just resumes fire.

SAR: When you look at a small arms design, you look for what? Simplicity?

Jim Sullivan: Simplicity’s a part of it, but it really goes to the four things I said before: Rugged, Simple, Reliable, and Accurate. If you don’t have those, you don’t have anything good for combat.

SAR: Thanks again for talking with our readers.

Jim Sullivan: Glad to!