Denmark Looking To Adopt New 7.62mm Machine Gun



The USO M60E6 is not your fathers (grandfathers?) M60. US Ordnance have been tweaking, lightening and improving the performance of the M60 for decades. The most recent well known iteration of the M60 is the M60E4 aka. the Mk43 Mod 0/1 which went into production in 2000. This newer iteration of the design shaves some weight from the Mk43 while adding an improved rail system and bipod. The M60E6 in the photos looks to be the standard model with a short barre (albeit it with a new black/FDE color scheme which I have not seen before). It weighs 9.27 kg (20.44 lbs) unloaded and without accessories.

H&K HK121

The HK121 is a brand new design which recently won the German competition to replace their aging MG3 machine guns. The HK121 is being promoted by H&K in a number of different configurations. The version pictured above looks to be an HK121 I (Infantry) model with the forward rail borrowed from the HK121 U (Universal) and for some unknown reason, maybe to keep the weight within spec, the barrel heatshield has been removed. I cannot determine the exact weight of this particular HK121, but for comparison the HK121 I weights 12.4 kg (27.3 lbs) unloaded and without accessories installed



US Ordnance (USO) M60E6

The Royal Danish Army have been running a competition to select a new GPMG/medium 7.62mm machine gun. I was told that all the well known manufacturers of 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Guns entered into the competition, but my source is bound by an NDA and could not tell me exactly who entered. What he could tell me is that the two finalists are the Heckler & Koch HK121 (pictured below) and the US Ordnance M60E6 (pictured above





Information on home-made pistol sought

The man pulled over by armed police and found with what appears to be a home-made pistol is remaining tight-lipped over its origins.

Now police are appealing to the public for information on the weapon, which they believe is a .22 calibre.

On Monday night, police were contacted by a concerned member of the public who had been shown the pistol by a man in the Dunedin wharf area.

While they were interviewing the informant, " a car of interest" - a white sedan - with a male and female occupant drove past and was pulled over by armed police in Fryatt St, Constable J Wagstaff said.

A search of the Dunedin man revealed he had possession of the pistol, and he was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.

The 47-year-old man appeared in front of justices of the peace at the Dunedin District Court yesterday and was bailed to appear later this month.

Const Wagstaff said the pistol was not stamped with a make, and appeared to be home-made by someone "gifted at engineering".

"This works completely. If I was to load this now, you would not want to be in front of it." The man remained tight-lipped about where he sourced the pistol from, he said.

 

3D-printed guns: inaccurate and vulnerable to catastrophic failure

We should not be complacent about 3D-printed guns, but for the time being it is the user who faces the greatest risk

The Liberator printed gun made headlines around the world in May, but it is a rudimentary device only capable of firing one shot. Photograph: EPA

Finding 3D-printed gun parts in the Manchester suburb of Baguley, as the police have claimed, seems like a fearful omen of the future. Greater Manchester police hailed it on Friday as a significant discovery, but with the current state of the technology, the person most in danger was probably the owner the "gun" themselves.

In fact, the police don't actually seem to have found gun components, 3D-printed or otherwise. The two items they showed at their press conference on Friday appeared instead to br 3D printer parts. Officers maintain, however, that the haul is disturbing, given that they also seized gunpowder during the raid.

The concept of a 3D printer that can print a 3D printer is itself vaguely concerning (isn't that how Terminator starts?) but it is still a relief compared with the prospect of downloadable weaponry on every street corner.

But we should not be complacent. Even if this case turns out not to be a printed gun, there will be one in Britain soon. The technology is already fairly cheap and widespread, and getting more so all the time.

For the time being, however, the risk from a 3D-printed gun is mostly hypothetical for two reasons: they aren't very good, and you can't print bullets.

At its heart, a gun is a simple machine. The cartridge goes in one end. A firing pin hits it, gunpowder explodes, and rapidly expanding gases push the bullet out of the barrel very, very quickly.

The principles are so simple that by the 1950s, zip guns had become the scourge of New York. Street gangs would hammer together wood, antenna housings and elastic bands, buy (or steal) real bullets, and fire them at one another.

The Liberator, the 3D-printed gun that made headlines around the world in May, works on the same principles. Except for the firing pin, which still needs to be made from metal, the entire gun is printed in 15 separate parts, the plans for which can be downloaded from a number of sites, including the filesharing hub The Pirate Bay, using a 3D printer. It all sounds futuristic, but at heart, the Liberator remains little more than a zip gun.

The gun is designed only to deliver one shot. It is inaccurate, with a short barrel that struggles to point the bullet in the right direction. That short barrel also means it is underpowered, even for a handgun, with most of the explosive energy dissipating harmlessly around the edges. To top it all, the guns are still vulnerable to "catastrophic failure", as New South Wales police discovered when testing the plans earlier this year.

"We fear that the next story will be about a child blowing their hand off while experimenting with a 3D-printed gun," wrote Jason Rowley on the 3D printing blog Digits2Widgets. "This type of accident is the immediate danger of the project and will happen long before anyone is deliberately killed by one of these tools."

Cross Dominant Shooting – Left Handed and Right Eye Dominant?

If you are reading this article, it is likely that either you or someone close to you is cross dominant. While this may seem like a big problem, don’t worry, cross dominant shooting is just a temporary inconvenience that can be easily overcome.

If the cross dominant person is new to shooting, the easiest way for them to overcome cross dominance is to have them learn to shoot with their dominant side. So, if they are left eye dominant they shoot left handed, and if they are right eye dominant they should shoot right handed. It may feel weird at first, but new shooters can pick this up much more easily than someone who has already developed shooting habits. This will be the best bet in the long run for the new shooter.

If you’re not a new shooter, then you’ve got a decision to make. Before I give any suggestions, here is how I dealt with my own cross dominant shooting.

My cross dominant shooting story:

Being primarily left handed, I grew up learning to shoot left handed and thus aiming with my left eye. When I was in my mid 20′s, I learned that I was right eye dominant. I never really remembered having a problem aiming as a kid, but when I learned I was right eye dominant and tried to aim with my right eye, I was pretty amazed at how much more clearly I could see my sights and target with my right eye. But, I had grown up shooting left handed and aiming with my left eye, and over time my eyes had adapted so that aiming with my left (nondominant) eye had become a natural reflex. In the end, I decided to keep shooting left handed / left eyed, mainly because I could already shoot well this way and I had done it this way for so long that it just felt natural.

Now, if you’ve already been shooting cross dominant but you’re determined to make the switch, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you don’t actually have to make much of a change in regard to pistol shooting. To switch eyes when shooting a handgun, all you need to do is tilt your head slightly so that your dominant eye lines up with the sights. Not really a big deal.

Now the bad news. Making the switch with long guns will not be that easy. You are going to have to re-train your muscles and eyes to hold a rifle or shotgun to the opposite shoulder that you’re used to. One thing I’ve noticed is that operating a pump shotgun on your weak side can be especially difficult to master. This will likely take a while for the switch to feel natural, but if you think making the switch is your best bet than by all means go for it. It is definitely doable. One tip to help you learn to shoot with your other eye is to put a piece of scotch tape on your glasses over the focal point of your non dominant eye. This will prevent your non dominant eye from focusing and will help you train your dominant eye. They do make special shooting glasses for this, but a budget solution is the scotch tape method which works just as well.

Now that I’m into competitive pistol shooting, I’ve recently decided that I want to start teaching myself to shoot with my weak hand (right), basically just for the heck of it. Plus, it would be nice to know that I could shoot effectively with either hand should I ever find myself in a crazy SHTF scenario. I haven’t done any actual weak hand shooting yet, just dry firing in the house, but the cool thing is that since I’m already right eye dominant I am finding target acquisition to be pretty easy when shooting with my right hand / right eye. I’m really looking forward to the day when I can shoot a match left handed and then turn around and shoot another match right handed and compare the two.

 

Concealed Carry True Stories – Georgia Father & Son fight off Home Invaders

Concealed Carry True Stories

Stockbridge, GA – September 12, 2012

STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. — A father and his son were hospitalized after walking in on a burglary in progress in their home Tuesday evening.

The shooting happened at around 8:30 p.m. at their home iin Stockbridge’s Lexington Park subdivision. Henry County Police Sgt. Joey Smith said the father and son, 68-year-old Ronnie Cantrell Sr., and 42-year-old Ronnie Cantrell Jr., arrived home to find two black men in masks robbing their house.

Rather than running away, the two burglars opened fire on the father and son duo. One of the suspects had a shotgun. Both Cantrells were hit, but fortunately both father and son were legally armed and fired back, hitting one of the burglars and forcing them to flee the scene.

The father and son were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and are expected to recover from their gunshot wounds.

A short time later, one of the suspects checked himself in to Piedmont Henry Hospital with a gunshot wound he sustained during the encounter. This suspect has been arrested, and police have identified three additional suspects, and warrants have been issued

The father and son are not expected to face any charges for defending themselves.

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Textron Inc. Awarded $2 million Contract To Work on LSAT Machine Gun Ammunition


I was pleased to read that the the Department of Defense is continuing to invest R&D funds into the development of the light-weight LSAT Machine Gun program. Textron Systems will continue to refine the 5.56mm LSAT Light Machine Gun and its Cased Telescoped ammunition and Caseless ammunition

HUNT VALLEY, Md. — AUGUST 6, 2013 — AAI’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) team, part of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today it has been awarded a $2.05 million contract through the Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium to further innovate both its caseless and cased-telescoped lightweight ammunition and weapon technologies.

This ordnance technology initiative includes three major thrusts. It continues to refine the LSAT 5.56mm Cased Telescoped ammunition and Light Machine Gun in support of an Army live fire experiment; advances development, testing and characterization of prototype 5.56mm Caseless ammunition; and extends Cased-Telescoped ammunition technologies to a 7.62mm cartridge.

The Department of the Navy’s Office of Naval Research, in Arlington, Va., and the Joint Service Small Arms Program Office (JSSAP), located at the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey are jointly participating in this initiative.

The updated LSAT 5.56mm system will be assessed during the Army’s Dismounted Non-Networked Experiment (DNNE), taking place this month at the Maneuver Battle Lab at Fort Benning, Ga. The caseless ammunition effort will focus on improving propellant and ignition formulations in a 5.56mm configuration. The 7.62mm cased-telescoped cartridge will incorporate mature lightweight ammunition technologies successfully demonstrated in the 5.56mm LSAT cartridge.

Contract work will be conducted over a one-year period by the AAI-led team, which also consists of Alliant Techsystems (ATK), Veritay Technology and St. Marks Powder, a General Dynamics company.

“We’re pleased to be continuing our developmental work on lightweight ammunition and weapon technologies,” said AAI Program Manager Paul Shipley. “The LSAT program team has made significant advances, and this is the next step toward delivering a scalable, affordable family of lightweight weapons and ammunition.”

The LSAT team previously developed and demonstrated a prototype weapon and ammunition that provides up to a 50 percent reduction (20 lbs.) in weight compared to the current M249 machine gun and M855 brass cased ammunition carried by infantrymen.  Its Cased Telescoped Light Machine Gun (LMG) prototype has been demonstrated at Technology Readiness Level 7. The weapon design maintains the lethality and reliability of the existing weapon while offering improved ergonomics. A compact LSAT LMG variant, developed for close quarters applications and tested in 2012 by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, features a quick-change 12-inch barrel and a folding buttstock.

The Expedient 9mm Submachine Gun displayed in Norway

An exhibit of Philip Luty’s famous homemade design previously displayed at Dortmund Bodegam in Oslo, Noway. Produced by engineer and artist Cameron MacLeod.
“A Book and a Pistol comprises of an installation, both of a homemade 9mm submachine gun and the manual that provided the instructions on how to make it. The manual was found online and the printed version which provides all the instructions required to build the gun with tools commonly found within hardware stores and plumbing supply stores.”