One thing that never fails to amaze me on this blog is that whenever one of our writers (myself included) or a staff member either posts a review or product announcement from Heckler and Koch, said article generates 60 plus comments in a day and of course the inevitable wiseguy chiming in with “because you suck, and we hate you”. The fact is that nothing could be further from the truth, in fact the HK/American consumer relationship is like a long distance affair between two people that is being supervised by two sets of parents, represented here by the German and American governments (albeit you can substitute the American government with most gun friendly nations).

Anyways the old “you suck” thing can be dated back to 2007, when a poster on The High Road posted the classic, and admittedly funny “message from the H&K marketing director“. The message goes on to say how H&K refuses to sell to civilians, despises civilian sales, and more but after combining what I already knew and some exhaustive research I have discovered that nothing could be further than the truth. You see, in the 1980′s a brand spanking new HK93 was $550 while a Colt AR15 HBAR was $700. That is a pretty dang significant price difference. In fact, for a time in the USA the only military style semi-automatic rifles were the Colt SP1, available in 1963 and the H&K 41. However a little known fact is that H&K actually beat Colt to market with a rifle called the “G3 HK” imported by Golden State Arms in 1962:

I realize these are different calibers, but they were modern military rifles nonetheless. I know what you are thinking, “hey, that has a hole for a swingdown lower, that is clearly a machine gun”. Well, believe it or not until 1966 all semi-automatic G3 variants brought into the US had the pin hole right there until the government made them crudely weld up the hole with some sheet metal, and later eliminate the hole all together. The rifles also got a name change to the H&K 41, and most of them have been converted legally to machine guns because of the simplicity of doing so. Here is where they got their first taste of the US civilian market. It was not long before H&K began to offer a slew of hunting rifles to compliment their military style semi automatics as well, and for a time they were quite popular:

Pictured above is an individuals collection of all the hunting rifles H&K marketed! Below are a few advertisements.

So H&K realized that there was a pot of gold across the Atlantic, and civilian sales were booming. Info taken from former 20 year H&K employee Jim Schatz’s wonderful slideshow not only contributes to my own research but is quite interesting. Mr. Schatz notes that in the 1970s when the G3 rifle was adopted by 80+ countries, the company was churning out 2,000 rifles a day! Nonetheless Heckler & Koch realized that there were profits to be had in the United States to they built what H&K employees called “The Palace”. The Palace was built on 12 acres of prime real estate in the 3rd fastest growing county in the US. Four buildings planned to provide full HK production capabilities, however only one was built as it was more cost effective to just import product from Oberndorf. Regardless the new facility had three underground ranges, a classified storage vault, and imported German furniture (even German trash cans!). Sales of H&K pistols were booming too, as well as their long guns. The HK4, the VP70z, and the P7 were all flying out the door (the P7 being the most iconic of the bunch):

Call me old fashioned but I carry my trusty P7 every day. Anyways HK roller delayed blowback guns continued to sell, and the 91, 93, and 94 continued to pop up in action flicks and just about every police department had a locker full of MP5 submachineguns (Jim Schatz said that the MP5 was all the rage with LEOs and SWAT but that the onset of the 5.56 CQB rifle started making inroads to dethrone the sub-gun in the early 1990′s). However things were still going very well. HK was successfully marketing and selling pistols, rifles, and shotguns (FABARM team up) to the public. A little known company at the time even had an agreement with H&K where Heckler and Koch would handle all of their importation to the US. That company is known as Benelli. I have a pair of these old HK/Benelli M1 autoloading 12 gauge shotguns and they are fantastic:

Anyways all this success hit a proverbial brick wall in 1989 when H. W. Bush by Executive Order reinterpreted the 1968 GCA’s “sporting purposes” provision to include the importation of foreign “assault weapons” (imagine if there was a ban on importing foreign high performance vehicles!). Andrew Tuohy of Vuurwapen Blog has also done his research, and discovered the following:

The ATF consulted magazine editors, hunting guides, state game commissioners, and competitive shooting groups to determine whether certain rifles were importable under the ’89 import ban, and taking into consideration the “sporting purposes” test. On multiple occasions, the ATF asked them if rifles such as the SG550, FN FAL, AK-47, etc. had any useful “sporting purpose.” When polled directly in 1989, 0 (zero) of 14 magazine editors responded in the affirmative. When polled directly in 1997, only 2 of 13 responded that such rifles were appropriate for the hunting of medium to large game (why the ATF decided to exclude the hunting of small game from their report is not stated). Of 70 magazine articles reviewed by the ATF (again, the selection process is not described), only one described what the ATF calls “large capacity military magazine rifles,” or LCMM rifles, as being “excellent” for hunting. Two others described 7.62×39 as being acceptable for hunting. The ATF also put down the idea of action competition shooting as being sporting, for the simple reason that it wasn’t “traditional.”

What else is interesting about this position paper? Well, of the manufacturers, trade groups, and so on that received letters from ATF seeking their input, exactly one company made an active attempt to stop what they saw coming. This manufacturer placed an advertisement in Shotgun News, attesting to how useful their firearms were for various sporting purposes, and encouraged owners of their firearms to write ATF with accounts of how they use their products as sporting arms. Which manufacturer was this?

HK.

That’s right. The one company to step up and say “This isn’t right,” was none other than the much-vilified Heckler & Koch (see page 115 of the PDF linked above). The magazine editors? A few attempted to tell ATF the truth – good for them. The rest were perfectly happy to watch “those other guns” get banned.

The flow of the popular 90 series immediately stopped coming into the USA after ’89. What stinks even more is that the company had inventory sitting in port worth an incalculable amount of money. Crates of H&K 91 rifles were suddenly unsellable, and while some were crudely remarked “H&K 911″ and had a thumbhole stock put on and whatnot, many would have to be shipped back to Germany… on H&K’s dime. So this was the first time the US government crippled H&K, but it would not be the last. H&K quickly tried to drum up more business with a pistol called the “SP89″, a civilian semi-auto MP5k. However that also got banned in 1994 with the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. So twice in five years H&K got screwed over by my government.

This understandably left a sour taste in H&K’s mouth but they continued to sell their new polymer handguns and the P7, as well as some politically correct sporting rifles that were exempt from both the import ban and the Assault Weapons Ban. But it’s 2013, hasn’t the Assault Weapons Ban been expired for over a decade? Well yes, but the ’89 import ban is still in place. But doesn’t H&K have a domestic manufacturing facility so they can make semi auto G36 rifles, MP5 variants, and maybe even an MP7 pistol or SBR stateside where they make the MR556? Well no, and here is where it gets extremely complex. First of all, German export laws are just as if not more complex than our import laws. You see, the German government effectively owns the patents and export rights of all firearms made in Germany, and it takes years to get approval for the exportation of even military rifle designs to H&K USA! For example, the HK 416 was in production in 2005, but it took six years to navigate the bureaucracy of two governments and tool up here in the USA to make some of the guns components. If it were not for the ’89 ban and the German governent’s export laws, H&K might have a complete and total stranglehold on the whole piston AR15 market (mind you this is speculation).

I got this information from an employee at The Craft (the outfit that employed Chris Kyle before his passing) which is located not far from me. I had wondered how the MR556A1 I tested had German proof marks on the barrel despite the 2005 barrel ban. The man told me that they are imported as partially machined blanks and then finished here in the states, so the rifles are an amalgamation of US and German parts that increase the cost of the rifle significantly due to trans-Atlantic shipping and the cost of export permits for designs, parts, and more. The fact is that if Germany would let H&K export the G36 rifle and the US allowed them to import it, there would be plenty of civilians with semi automatic G36 rifles if a cost analyst determined there was a market and the company could turn a profit on them (we live in the world of $2,000 Tavor and AUGs that sell like crazy). Even if the German government let the plans be exported for guns like the G36 and MP7, the factory here in New Hampshire would have to be expanded, retooled, etc. to sell firearms to us normal folks who just have a good time shooting. If you live in a country like Canada where there is no such import ban (and you lucky Canucks can walk into gun stores and buy brand new Sig 550s from Switzerland) the German government is your road block and I imagine this is quite irritating to H&K, a company that employs over 600 good people and wants to make sure they all make a good living. The man at The Craft also showed me a nice post-sample G36c but explained how to meet governmental standards, H&K now requires an end user certificate on all such firearms (perhaps due to cases like in Canada where some civilians have ended up with semi automatic G36 rifles and MP7s, not to mention all those 416 uppers that popped up on the market here in the US).

So that’s that. H&K doesn’t hate you, in fact they want your business despite having been crapped on twice by the US government and even the German export restrictions in place. In my experience their customer service has been phenomenal (I asked for an O-ring for my mark 23 and they sent me a bag of five, no questions asked), their employees are incredibly easy to deal with (not many companies send you expensive rifles after you tell them “I am going to put 1,000 rounds through this and abuse it”), and they just make good stuff… that I wish I could buy.

Sources

The HK Decades

Sporting Purposes: How HK Really Does Not Suck Or Hate You

VLTOR has built quite a name for themselves by producing quality products for the firearm industry for quite a while, and we here at The Firearm Blog were very excited when we learned that they would now be producing their own rifle to sell in house (albeit using some parts procured from other outfits). The VLTOR rifle debuted on the popular History Channel program “Top Shot” where contestants used the rifle in fierce competition. The rifle was aptly named the “TS3″ to mark its premiere on Top Shot season 3. According to the VLTOR website, “The TS3 is actually the result of several different technologies that were originally developed for other specialized weapon applications: The rigid polylithic upper receiver offers remarkable stability, strength and optics mounting solutions; the improved “A5” buffer and recoil system further add to the weapon’s reliability and accuracy, while reducing recoil and making the weapon more controllable; and finally, the exclusive enhancements of the Vltor lower receiver and stock assembly make what was one of the most ergonomic platforms in history even more comfortable and practical to shoot.”

Above is the VLOTR TS3 as taken directly from the box. Let me say this, the gun just feels right. VLTOR has taken components that are proven and selected them to make a premium carbine that is perhaps the nicest M16/AR15 variant I have ever shouldered. Specs on the rifle include:

• Vltor TS3 Lower Receiver featuring a beveled magazine-well, large button magazine release and three-position, quick-detachable single-point sling mount.
• Vltor VIS-2A-AK polylithic/free float upper receiver assembly with 10-inch rail section and bolt assist.
• Geissele, Hi-Speed Nation Match, DMR Trigger/Hammer Assembly
• EMod w/A5 Enhancement Kit (Enhanced Modstock) featuring integral rubber buttpad, multiple sling attachments and storage for up to eight AA-batteries or nine-3 volt lithium batteries. A5 receiver extension offers seven different stock placements.
• Noveske hammer forged, chrome lined, 15-inch, 1-7 inch twist barrel with mid-length gas system.
• Vltor Compensator (VC-A1) permanently attached to the barrel, making the barrel length a legal 16.25 inch barrel.
• Bravo Company USA, Gunfighter Charging Handle (BCM-GFH-556-MOD4) designed by Vltor
• TangoDown SCAR Rail Panels and BattleGrip (BG-16)
• Diamondhead USA, Flip-Up “Classic” Combat Sights

So with all the above components, you get a rifle with all the stuff people usually add to their basic carbines directly from the box. However, to me the thing that makes this rifle really pop is the lower receiver. Let me say this, and don’t laugh, but the magazine release is awesome. It is funny how something so simple can make all the difference:

The rest of the rifle is beautiful as well of course:

So the gun is pretty and has some cool features, but how does she perform? Well, a range trip and 300 rounds of Fiocchi 62 grain ammunition would test both reliability and accuracy.

My friend CJ and I took to the range to test the VLTOR. I asked CJ to help me out on this one because he is a veteran F-Class shooter, and the only one I have ever known who uses an AR15 he built in .223 (giving him both caliber and semi-automatic handicaps) in a type of shooting dominated by bolt guns. We set out with 10 loaded 30 round mags and started to shoot at 100 yards after we sighted in my ACOG at 50:

The rifle’s trigger is fantastic and among the best I have ever felt on, well, any rifle!

However CJ said that he was not a fan of two-stage triggers. He still liked the layout of the rifle and enjoyed shooting it. Here his is using one of his neutered  magazines after taking some cartridges out of the mags I brought:

The only problem we ran into is that twice the gun failed to strip the first round from the magazine:

Other than that though she ran through 300 rounds with ease:

But how was the accuracy? Well, here is where it gets complicated. The Fiocchi 62 grain ammo is awful. The same day we were out there I was testing another rifle and could not get it to group either. Here is all we could squeeze out of the VLTOR TS3 with an ACOG and the Noveske barrel:

Best:

Worst:

That is an average of 2.81 inches. All in all, very, very disappointing. I left the range wondering what the heck went wrong? How could a rifle with all the right parts in all the right places perform so poorly. The consensus was the ammo, so I took the gun out again with some Privi M193 ball ammo and this is how she performed:

Best:

Worst:

Now THAT is what I am talking about. Five 5 shot groups netted me a 1.30 inch average, with a fantastic best of 0.729! Now that put my mind at ease, and I am sure with some really good ammunition I could get consistent sub-MOA groups.

So, as for my bullet points:

The Good:

• Accurate
• Reliable
• Extremely well put together
• Incredible handling characteristics
• Premium components
• AR customizability

The Bad:

•  AR15 bolt instead of an M16 bolt. Not unusual I guess, but just something I have come to expect

The Ugly

• Pinned on flash hider so you cannot add your own muzzle device or suppressor
• Premium AR at a premium price of $2,495

All in all the VLTOR TS3 is, in my opinion a great rifle at a price point that reflects all of the high quality parts that are already on it, and that many consumers buy to add to their rifles (hell, the stock/buffer on this gun alone will run you $230!) it really isn’t the most absurd price point I have seen on a premium AR15.

It is no secret that I am an unrepentant H&K-aholic. Over the years I have collected just about every one of their roller locked long guns, a ton of their pistols dating back to the HK4 and VP70z, and even a few modern implements that required quite a bit of effort to get ahold of. That being said, you can’t be an H&K guy without catching flak from your peers in the gun community regarding either “because you suck, and we hate you”, or the infamous “backwards bullet” fiasco. Well, most assuredly H&K does not hate you (albeit they certainly hate import regulations dating back the the 1989 ban on the importation of foreign military-style long guns into the US) but the backwards bullet catalog is an unquestionable blunder… and yes, these are real catalogs, not some photoshopped joke that went mainstream:

I have managed to collect three of these catalogs over the years; One I bought from an independent seller on eBay and the other two I bought from an unnamed former H&K employee. To clear up the internet lore and fiction surrounding this printed blunder, I made sure to ask the man exactly what the story was on the infamous inverted bullets. Anyways, said employee was at the 2004 SHOT Show and the catalogs got shipped directly from the printer to the show. Obviously the photographer Heckler & Koch had chosen was not a gun guy, as the most inexperienced shooters can probably figure out after looking at a magazine loaded backwards that something just isn’t right. Hilariously nobody at SHOT noticed, and the H&K booth was soon set up with their new products, some swag, and these catalogs to hand out and showcase their wares. An unknown number of these made it into the hands of attendees until someone (not an H&K employee) mentioned that the bright and shiny stack of glossy catalogs featured a spectacular blunder. It could have just been a typo somewhere in the middle of the slickly printed pages or even something out of whack in a photo somewhere near the end…. but no. This magnificent failure was featured right on the cover of their catalog at their booth at one of the worlds largest small arms expos. To add insult to injury, the old H&K slogan is featured prominently to the right of the backwards bullet.

The aforementioned H&K employee estimated that no more than a few hundred made it out before the order came down to destroy the remaining boxes of catalogs (not throw away, but destroy mind you so as to prevent “profiteers” from digging them out of the trash either to sell or slander H&K with). The corrected catalog is much less interesting by the way, as everything is the same except the bullets in the magazine have been oriented correctly. All in all, it is hard to estimate how many of these catalogs have survived (who knows how many SHOT Show attendees kept theirs as I know I usually throw away most of my swag from conventions and shows) but I have heard anywhere from as low as fifty to as high as 300 or so. Regardless, after searching the internet I have only come across one image of one catalog that someone has taken that keeps getting circulated so I assume if there were a bunch of these out there then there would be a few more digital images. Combining that with the fact that these three are the only ones I have ever seen for sale in five years or so and I think the number of survivors is low. However that doesn’t matter does it? Once you put something out there like this in the digital era then the damage is done.

The backwards bullets are not a photoshop or some H&K-hater’s concoction, but a very real gaffe that somehow made its way into circulation and will forever haunt Hecker and Koch. Shame really, within this printed blooper shows some good old-fashioned H&K products that make me yearn for the past.

Oh how I wish I could walk into any gun store in the USA and buy a new, unfired P7 variant!

Oh how I wish I could walk into any gun store in the USA and buy a new, unfired P7 variant!

And of course the back of the catalog shows the 2004 H&K pistol lineup.

So that’s it, the real story behind the backwards bullets. Next time you see an enthusiastic poster on a message board who has taken photos of their Heckler and Koch firearm with the bullets inserted backwards, you will know exactly why!

In America the AR15 is king. Damn near every shooter has one nowadays and every gun store seems to have a whole wall of them for sale at any given time. Across the Atlantic however in the Czech Republic, a nation with anomalous gun laws (relative to the restrictions of many other European countries) and a strong shooting community you will find that the people are as familiar with the VZ58 rifle as American shooters are with their AR15s. The VZ58 has always intrigued me as the Czechs managed to avoid some form of an AK variant as a service rifle during their time as a Soviet satellite state, perhaps due to their strong arms making tradition dating back hundreds of years. Nearly every Czech firearm I have ever handled has been fantastic, both hand and long guns and I have embraced all firearm “Czechnology” (horrible pun) since I have yet to get a lemon. When our editor Phil said I could review the VZ2008 from CAI I was thrilled, and I knew my curiosity would finally be settled and I eagerly awaited getting the gun so I could beat it up. I knew exactly what I was going to put this gun through too; 700 rounds, five mags at a time, and no cleaning. While the AK is famed for its reliability, I was curious to see if the Czech design was as good.

The VZ2008 is an American made copy of the VZ58 in order to get around import laws and 922r. The receiver is American, and the barrel is American, but other than that I am not sure what parts come from where. I do know that this gun is unlike any gun I have ever played with before. I assumed it would be a bit AK like with very loose tolerances, sloppy shooting and handling characteristics, etc. but boy was I wrong. In contrast to the AK, the VZ58 is better in the following ways according to Czechpoint:

• All vz. 58 rifles possess a milled receiver; the vast majority of AK-47s are stamped.
• Even with the milled receiver it is almost one pound lighter than a stamped AK-47.
• The bolt of the vz. 58 stays open after the last round in the magazine has been fired.
• The vz. 58 can be reloaded with stripper clips while the magazine is inserted in the rifle.
• The safety is more ergonomic making a faster first shot possible with the vz. 58.
• The ejection port is HUGE. There is no chance of an empty case getting stuck in the action of the vz. 58.
• The vz. 58 gas piston can be removed or exchanged without tools.
• The alloy magazine of the vz. 58 is half the weight of the steel AK-47 magazine.
• The vz. 58 is striker fired unlike the hammer fired AK-47. This reduces the number of parts and possible points of failure.

To me those are all desirable features and I can confirm them all. While it looks like an AK at a quick glance, so much so that in the film Lord of War they used 3,000 real VZ58s in a scene because it was cheaper than renting 3,000 prop guns, it shares nothing in common aside from the caliber.

Anyways lets get to it. My favorite feature is perhaps the fact that the gun can be loaded with SKS stripper clips. I wish the ammo I used came on strippers so I wouldn’t have destroyed my thumbs loading mags!

This photo shows the striker in the cocked position:

And the fired position:

The gun is also easy to disassemble and breaks down very easily. There are two pins that are captive (like an AR15) that you remove to take off the gas tube, piston, and bolt/carrier group.

As you can see above, the gun appears to be some sort of AK/SKS/Walther P38/FAL hybrid. It uses a short stroke piston, SKS style carrier, AK cartridge, and to explain the P38 bit you need to see the locking piece close up:

The small bit lowers into two grooves machined into the receiver to lock the bolt like a giant P38 or Beretta M9 (hard to explain but if you have seen an M9 barrel you can kind of visualize how it works).

Anyways enough technical details. It was time to open the spam can and get to work. I dug out a can of “Mil Spec” ammo from Russia for this that was just Brown Bear packaged so you have to use can opener to get to it.

So I opened all the packages and went to the range with a total of 700 rounds. First I wanted to get the accuracy test out of the way so I set up some targets at 100 yards to see how she would do.

I shot a total of five 5 shot groups at the far paper targets in the photos above and the results were decent. The sights were way, way off (it was hitting several feet high) and I did not have a proper sight tool, so I had to use some Kentucky windage, aiming at a set point low on each target to get on paper. Regardless I thought it did okay for an amalgamation of surplus Cold War parts and US made components. It is definitely minute of man but I would like to get the sights dialed in and try again.

Best:

Worst:

So at least the rifle was consistent with an average of 3.720 inches. Again though, I expect I could do better if it was less windy, the sights were dialed in, and I really, really went out with the intention of testing for accuracy rather than reliability. However, when it comes to service rifles I generally place more emphasis on the reliability section of the reviews and test accordingly.

The accuracy test took 25 rounds, so I had 675 more to go and blew through the first set of mags with no problems at all, getting more and more familiar with the recoil impulse and handling characteristics. I also had no cameraman, so all the action shots in this article were taken by setting my camera’s timer to 10 seconds and just hoping for the best:

Notice I started wearing gloves because the grips got very hot very fast and the bakelite or whatever the furniture is made of seems to be a damn good conductor of heat. I had a great bit of fun nailing bowling pins, steel gongs, self healing targets, and rapid firing into paper silhouettes. Anyways I made it through 350ish rounds and thought I would tear her down to see what the buildup looked like on the internals and the piston. I was surprised at how clean the gun was:

Anyways I let everything cool down and got back to it. Man were my thumbs sore as I had to load 23 mags up as I depleted them, but the shooting more than made up for the inconvenience!

I have not had this much fun with a semi-auto rifle in a while and putting all 700 through the VZ2008 was incredibly fun. I was sad when I got to this point:

But happy that it made it through all 700 rounds, in quick succession with no cleaning or oiling of any kind. Here are some photos of the guts after the test was complete:

For 700 rounds, that is not much buildup at all and I was impressed to say the least.

Now for the bullet points:

The Good:

• 700 rounds, no cleaning, no problems at all
• Battle rifle accuracy that I am sure I could improve
• At $699.00 this rifle is an absolute steal
• Came with a bayonet, scabbard, sling, five mags, and a cleaning kit
• Minimal buildup after shooting
• Easy to take down
• Surplus parts available for low prices
• Ejects to 1:00 consistently, away from other shooters

The Bad:

• Not nearly the aftermarket of the AK platform (the dominant 7.62×39 platform)
• Not super friendly for left handed people (the mag release only has a provision to be accessed on one side)
• The furniture gets very hot very fast

The Ugly:

• Not enough people know about these!

So that’s that. In my opinion at $699.00 the VZ2008 is one of the best deals on the market today if you are in the market for a semi-automatic 7.62×39 rifle, and I know that I will be buying one to add to my collection.

Every time the 5.7x28mm cartridge comes up in a discussion, you always hear someone talk about its ability to penetrate a row of Abrams tanks and then continue on into the next county, but there is not a lot of information out there to prove the manufacturer’s incredible claims about the round’s ability to penetrate armor. Of course the commonly available sporting rounds, such as the hollow point SS195 or the blue tipped SS197 are not touted as armor piercing ammo by FN, but the mean little SS190 FMJ round is. So for this test, both SS197 and SS190 were used in a Five-seveN pistol and an AR57 rifle with a 16 inch barrel against a surplus kevlar helmet and a level IIIA US Palm vest to see if the 5.7x28mm round can in fact defeat armor.

Here are some mean little SS190 rounds. These rounds are restricted for sale to government bodies and law enforcement agencies by FN, which is why I conscripted my friend Chris to help with the test. Chris is an Army reservist, an FFL/SOT, and owner of Campbell Defense so I was happy to have him out there to help with this experiment.

So first we loaded the blue tipped SS197 sporting ammunition in the pistol. Chris is here standing and ready to fire. Again, this is not the armor piercing ammunition…

…and as such it did not penetrate the helmet:

What about SS190 FMJ from the pistol?

Consequently, it also failed to penetrate the helmet!

Well what about a rifle? The 16 inch barrel surely helped the velocity of the round. Here is the sporting ammunition:

And again, it failed to penetrate:

Next up is the armor piercing stuff from the long gun:

And boom, the round did make it through the helmet!

So the helmet held up surprisingly well to the round, but what about a new, unexpired IIIA vest with 4 years of life left? Well I was really excited about this one and I set the armor up on a cinder block. We would be shooting through the block’s hollow cavity to see if we could penetrate both sides of the armor:

So first up, Chris took aim against the rocky security guard with the pistol and sporting ammunition:

And we had a direct hit:

However the sporting ammunition failed to penetrate and was successfully stopped:

Next up is armor piercing ammo from the pistol:

Another good hit this time:

And with the armor piercing ammunition, the round DID penetrate the armor on one side, but flattened out against the backside!

So with SS190 armor piercing ammo, the round did in fact defeat the armor. As for the long gun, we first decided to try the sporting ammuntion:

And the armor did not stand a chance. Even with sporting ammunition, the round went through both sides like butter:

So that is that for the 5.7x28mm penetration test. To surmise:

• SS197 sporting ammunition from a handgun will not penetrate IIIA armor
• SS190 armor piercing ammunition from a handgun will defeat soft body armor
• 5.7 from a 16″ barrel will slice through body armor, but only FMJ will defeat stronger stuff
• Surplus German helmets are really, really strong

Pretty cool stuff. All in all the 5.7x28mm round when used with ammo not readily available to regular folks has some really nifty armor defeating capabilities, but be wary of those who exaggerate its performance.

H&K USA has just released new polymer 30 round magazines for the AR15/M16 platform:

Oddly enough, there is not much competition in the way of transparent M16 pattern magazines. The biggest player has been the Lancer L5 mags, which cost $19.99 from Brownells and I can say that I do have some and they work quite well. However, the new H&K mags directly from the H&K Web Shop cost only $19.95, saving you $0.04 over the Lancers! Ok, so that isn’t exactly enough of a price difference to justify one over the other, but keep in mind that those are direct from HK prices, and I imagine if/when retailers get ahold of them the price will drop significantly (like how companies run $10 Magpul magazines from time to time yet you can buy them from Magpul for their suggested retail price).

Anyways, it is pretty obvious as to where these new mags draw their inspiration from:

The magazine with the coupling attachment points is a G36 magazine that I use in my SL8 to G36 conversion. The magazines feel just as stout at the G36 magazines too, and the magazine well relief cut was definitely made to be compatible with the H&K 416 assault rifle. However I decided to see if it worked with some other platforms on the market today.

Locked in and worked great with a generic AR15 variant:

Worked with my short FNC:

Worked with an ACR:

And even with a SCAR 16s. You see, the SCAR is notorious for hating Magpul magazines and using pre-generation 3 mags can cause significant damage to the rifle because it props up the bolt catch just enough to rub the bolt head. To see if this problem was evident with the new H&K polymer magazines, I took the lower off and inserted a loaded magazine:

The magazines in no way raised or otherwise interfered with the bolt catch.

So great, they lock into all sorts of rifles and serve as a huge window into how many bangs you have left, but how do they work? Well, I figure any magazine worth its salt should be able to handle fully automatic fire…

I enlisted the help of my friend Chris, a class II manufacturer of firearms to bring out a post-sample M16 lower with a shrike upper that I was more than happy to help him break in:

The M16 with its high cyclic rate ate the magazine up like candy, but I wanted to see how they ran in my FNC so I let Chris do a mag dump with it:

It also worked perfectly as I have come to expect HK products to.

So that’s that. They are $19.95, they are clear, they work, and they are for sale now.

Meet Ken Clark and Matt Sidley. These men are the proprietors of a modest shop and gunsmithing operation called TPM Outfitters in the town of Carrollton, Texas and between them have two decades of experience tinkering and working on firearms. While there are many gunsmiths and custom shops in America, the men who run them typically seem to be much older guys who act like it is a privilege for you to be doing business with them, not to mention their absurd turnaround times. I have never written about a gun shop or gunsmith before, but after having utilized the services of TPM Outfitters and been given quick shop tours and a look into how they do things, I was blown away by these guy’s attention to detail and services offered. Before I get into it, let me lay out a bit of history.

Ken worked professionally in the steel industry for six years in Europe before moving back to the States where he worked for none other than Murray Urbach. For those who don’t know, Mr. Urback was to H&K guns what Carroll Shelby was to Mustangs. He was well known for his attention to detail, quality builds, and good nature. Ken began working for Urbach in 2002 for a sum total of six years, where he learned the skills necessary to start his own operation when Murray retired. Matt’s background is also interesting; Before his foray into TPM he was a stunt driver, which he still does on the side! While that doesn’t necessarily prepare you for gunsmithing, he also came from the steel industry and did work for Urbach. The one negative thing people have to say about Murray Urbach was his turnaround times, so what Matt did was found out about the backlog (which included many of his own firearms) and got to work on them. Now I have called gunsmiths to inquire about the status of a firearm before, but I have never felt compelled to say “hold it, I am coming up there to help you guys”. After working together, Matt and Ken decided to start their own operation out of Ken’s garage in 2008, but in 2009 moved to the current Carrollton site and TPM Outfitters was born.

The way I found out about TPM was very serendipitous too. When I was working on my SL8 to G36 conversion I was browsing a local message board looking for someone who could pull the barrel and do plastic welding on it. A man responded who is a local and reputable AK builder saying that he could probably do it, but after we exchanged a few emails he said I should probably take it to Ken and Matt. I had no idea that some of the country’s best H&K specialists were just short drive from my house, and this was the first time I met them. I must say that I was expecting a pair of grumpy and condescending guys and a 6 month turnaround time, but when I walked in the door I was greeted with a smile and congeniality. Matt and I talked for a while about my gun and what needed to be done, but he also was happy to show me other wares, even post-sample stuff that is only available to law enforcement and military buyers. If you have read my G36 conversion article, you can see that it turned out great and the turnaround time on their work was about a month and a half or so.

The second time I used their services, I dropped off an MR556A1 upper I bought to have cut down to 10.4″ and given the 416 treatement (which includes welding and refinishing the gas bleed-off port). Turnaround time on this: a day. Not even kidding here. I dropped of the upper, and got a call the next morning from Ken saying that my upper was done! I was blown away by this, and the upper looks perfect.

So what, America has plenty of gunsmiths and gun shops, what makes this operation unique? Well, any gun lover would walk in and have to wipe the drool off their mouth after seeing their inventory:

The funny thing is that this is only a portion of it, as it was all I could fit into a photo! TPM stocks transferable machine guns and all kinds of other NFA items, which in it of itself is very unique. They even make their own in house suppressor that has outperformed cans from many popular and big name manufacturers:

I of course also had to stage a photo op with their Beretta 93r. These guns are just too cool!

And I couldn’t resist doing the same with the SAW. Boy do I feel bad for the guy in the squad who gets chosen to lug one of these around instead of an M16 variant!

However, as I said that these guys both have experience with Murray Urbach, their bread and butter remains the 90 series. They can work on or build from scratch the entire series of roller delayed blowback guns, and of course do conversions (such as converting a 93 to a 53 and properly remarking it).

Here is an example of a G3 type rife they built from scratch. This gun features one of the old polygonally rifled barrels too, as well as the newer shell deflectors:

They also had a stack of conversions ready to go back to customers that I snapped a photo of:

Those six barreled receivers will undoubtedly result in six very satisfied customers too!

Of course you can’t call yourself an H&K builder without being able to make stellar MP5s, and TPM certainly does that:

They will even make an MP5/SD, and I had the opportunity to see one in the process of being built for a customer. The holes in the barrel are there to bleed off excess propellant gasses in order to make every round subsonic. This receiver is also going to be remarked:

They even had a real MP5/SD can laying around. This is the only authentic one I have ever seen. While they unfortunately cannot sell this to the public (the 1968 Gun Control Act ruled all foreign NFA items as not suitable for sporting purposes, and thus not transferable) it was very cool to see:

Their work goes beyond typical H&K stuff however, as they had some really cool prototypes in the works that they plan to market and sell. While not unheard of, here is an HK51 they whipped up with a ludicrously high capacity magazine. If the 7.62×51 round doesn’t do the job, the flame/muzzle flash should:

Now that has been done before, but this hasn’t:

That’s right, Matt and Ken are in the process of making an MSG90 Kurz DMR type rifle! I cannot wait to see how this turns out, but the idea itself is very cool.

Also on the docket is an integrally suppressed 300 blackout HK53 type rifle:

However when I asked them about this one, they said that they really wanted to place the suppressor farther back into the handguard, so they have made their own barrel in house with threads set farther back:

Again this is another very cool concept that I cannot wait to see come to life.

Now here is where things get real. If you are an HK guy you know that there are many gunsmiths out there that do conversions, upgrades, and modifications. I looked both the guys in the eye and asked why should a customer choose them over another builder. Their response was “let us show you”.

To remark, say, an HK94 with MP5 you have to TIG over the existing rollmarks, grind the weld down, and then remark it properly. Ken has devised a way to dissipate the heat from welding over rollmarks (to prevent any changes in the receiver’s integrity) that is a little trade secret of his. Also, to make the new rollmarks look perfect, Ken and Matt use one of these whetstones… for four or five hours:

These guys are perfectionists to a level that I have not seen before. Without naming any names, they blasted other builders for taking shortcuts such as leaving the factory cocking tube on an MP5/SD conversion. Of course this is something most enthusiasts would not notice, but Ken and Matt would so they make/modify their own cocking tubes in house:

Going this extra mile to make things right has obviously paid off too, as the duo told me that their business has been generated almost entirely by word of mouth, and in my experience this is the mark of a quality operation.

So these guys really know H&K stuff, but that is by no means all that TPM does. Matt was anxious to show me an RPK they built. This is a post sample full auto gun that is graced by some of the most beautiful furniture I have ever seen on an AK variant:

With so many post-sample guns around the shop, I asked if they do many sales to the government or law enforcement, and they said absolutely. One of their hot sellers is their integrally suppressed Ruger pistol that they said local police use to take out lights and such!

Lastly one of the coolest services they offer is incognito barrel threading. To explain this term you need to see it. This precision rifle is hiding a little secret:

Ken and Matt use the end of the barrel as the thread protector so it looks nice and flush with the gun:

And this is a service they offer for all kinds of different rifles:

So that is a quick look into TPM Outfitters and some of their wares, and I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for these guys. If you would like to learn more about TPM, visit their website at http://www.tpmoutfitters.net/ and have a look. You can contact them via their website to inquire about any of the services listed above or if you have something special you need done. I am sure they would be more than happy to try their best to help you out!

What if one of your friends came up to you with a grin on his face and told you that he went out and intentionally bought the worst pistol ever produced? Well, I happened to be that guy in this instance. I was watching one of my old favorite shows the other day called Tales of the Gun from back when the History channel actually had some history on it and the episode was about Japanese firearms before and during World War II. The Japanese produced some really stellar firearms (like the ludicrously strong Arisaka rifles) along with some really, really awful ones. When the program got to the segment on pistols, I was reminded of a gun I had long been quasi familiar with, but never really given much thought. That gun is the Type 94 pistol designed by Kijiro Nambu chambered in 8mm Nambu. Tales of the Gun said that the Type 94 is a collectible “not to shoot, but to ridicule” and with that I knew I had to have one.

A few days later I went to a gun shop close to me that specializes in antiquities and collectible arms and they had not one, but three Type 94 Nambu pistols. Believe it or not, the firearm pictured above was not the worst one of the three! They had a “last ditch” gun that actually looked worse, and an early pre-war gun that looked very nice, but I settled for the mid-grade gun that was made just before the point when “last ditch” guns started being produced:

Isn’t she a beauty? Ok, so that is pretty much the ugliest firearm I have ever seen as it looks like it was made by a man with a grinder and a file. I stretched the title by saying that the Type 94 is the worst pistol ever, but I can probably declare without much criticism that the Type 94 is the worst service pistol ever adopted. Even the late gun writer Ian V. Hogg had nothing positive to say about it, noting that it was one of the world’s worst automatic pistols. Regardless, I was really excited to shoot this thing. The problem however is that 8mm Nambu is an extinct and obsolete cartridge, but I did manage to find a company online that produces it by resizing .40 S&W brass:

Oddly enough the round looks a lot like .357 Sig but delivers only as much energy as .380 ACP. This makes the 8mm Nambu cartridge significantly weaker than other service pistol calibers of the day, such as the 9mm Luger, .45 ACP, or 7.62×25 Tokarev. Regardless the 8mm Nambu served the Imperial Japanese armed forces for 41 years.

After I sourced a box of this expensive ammunition I was ready to see how this thing performed. I dragged my friend Chris to the range and we set up a paper target at about 10 yards or so.

Here I am shooting the Type 94:

Let me say that I spent many a weekend in college shooting pistols competitively, so I am not a terrible shot with a handgun. At this distance I would expect a group of about two or three inches max with any off the shelf automatic pistol, but the Nambu did not do so well. I shot two groups, one in the center and one in the top right:

All in all the pistol did work and poke holes in paper, and it did as well as could be expected from what people consider the worst pistol ever made. Aside from its appearance, what makes this thing so bad? The fatal flaw is that this gun has an exposed sear… that when pressed fires the gun. That’s right, if you press the side of the gun it will fire. I got this on camera too …

This gun could, in theory, go off when holstered, handling it, handing it off to someone, etc. There are stories of Japanese officers handing the pistol over when “surrendering” and then pressing the sear bar to get off one last suicide shot. I have not been able to confirm any of these stories or find anything official, but it is very possible. Here I demonstrate on video how it works:

Scary stuff isn’t it? But that isn’t the only place where the Type 94 falls short. The gun has only a 6 round capacity and the grip is incredibly small. The slide does lock back after the last shot is fired, but a tab on the rear of the magazine follower is responsible, so when you remove the magazine the slide slams forward! The pistol has a magazine disconnect that just raises a small bar to prevent the trigger from moving backwards, but with a little practice you can just depress the lever with one finger and pull the trigger with the other. The gun also is a real pain to clean, almost to the point where three hands are required to take it apart! The sights are very crude as well and are a milled portion of the gun so no adjustment is possible. Lastly I had about five failures with this thing as it failed to reset the sear if I pressed the trigger too hard. All in all I do not imagine I will be using this thing for an IDPA match anytime soon, although that would be pretty damn funny.

I dumped the rest of the rounds into the center and made a nice pie plate sized group:

It is not nearly as accurate as, well, pretty much every other pistol I have ever wielded, but it can still throw lethal lead in the desired direction at the desired target. Shooting the Type 94 was exciting, especially by pressing the sear bar. I proudly show the gun off to my buddies when they swing by the shop but the Type 94 is little more than a curio.

I do my bullet points for every gun I review so I might as well do them for this one:

The Good:

The Bad:

The Ugly:

• Worst pistol you can buy
• Underpowered and anemic cartridge
• Ugly as sin
• Dangerous as can be
• Tiny grip
• Finding ammo is a problem
• Incredibly difficult to take apart for cleaning

Regardless of the above bullet points, the Type 94 is a unique collectible pistol. But that is all it is. It now rests on my display rack of collectible hand guns and long guns as a monument to how bad a gun can be.

There was a period of time in the 20th century when H&K was producing 2,000 G3 battle rifles a day. These rifles served not only the West German armed forces, but many of the West’s armed forces and remained the top competitor with the FN FAL as far as proliferation is concerned. The MSG90 is the highest evolution of the G3 battle rifle, and is itself a PSG1 rifle with a few more features to make the rifle more than a stationary precision rifle.

As stated, the MSG90 is based on the famous PSG1 which was developed after the German government’s failure at the 1972 Munich Olympics at which 17 people (including 11 Israeli coaches and athletes) were killed due to a very bungled response. The Germans recruited marksman who were not professionally trained, but rather police officers and such who shot recreationally on weekends, and equipped them with G3 rifles with iron sights. The men selected even declared that they were not sharpshooters, but regardless they were placed several hundred yards away and a lot was expected of these individuals. The Munich Massacre unfortunately resulted in the loss of many innocent lives, but as a result, the Germans realized they needed to be better prepared for something like this in the future. Many things were created in response to Munich, including the P7 pistol, the elite GSG-9 counter-terrorist unit, and a new rifle to aide in precision shooting; The PSG1.

The PSG1 gave marksmen a tool that they desperately needed in order to neutralize a threat with success at a distance. The Germans realized they needed a semi-automatic rifle with a large capacity too for quick follow up shots, so a bolt gun was out of the question. In response, H&K took what they had (the G3 platform) and radically altered it to shoot more accurately. The PSG1 has:

• Receiver reinforcement rails to increase strength and reduce flexing
• A special trunnion that wraps around more of the barrel to reduce whip
• Special bolt group that includes serrations for the bolt closing device and a special locking piece
• A polygonal cold hammer forged barrel that is free floated
• An extended cocking tube with the handle placed far forward
• Half moon shaped “rollers” for consistent lockup and bolt gap
• 6x Schmidt and Bender optic

With these modifications the PSG1 was a true sub-MOA rifle that was quite remarkable for a semi-auto in the early to mid 1970s. Considering that roller lockup is very crude compared to a system with a rotating bolt, it is impressive that precision rifles based on the famous HK roller delayed blowback system can perform the way they do.

So where does the MSG90 play into this? Well, all the above points are true of it as well, but the MSG90 is a lighter and more mobile version of the PSG1. The rifle that is the subject of this review is the MSG90A1, a rifle that was commissioned by the United States Government to arm the Marine Corp Security Force and FAST teams. The A1 features a 10x Schmidt and Bender optic, iron sights borrowed from the HK21 machine gun, an improved stock, and a barrel that is threaded and has a harmonic stabilizer to reduce barrel whip. The rifle is still in production too, but the MSG90 has never been made available to civilians due to one simple fact: it features a swing down lower and the ATF considers any of the G3 derived firearms with a swing-down to be a machine gun. However, twenty year HK emplyee Jim Schatz has said that there are four MSG90s out there in civilian hands and that the ATF originally deemed these not machine guns, so who knows where these are today?

Anyways on with the show. Here we can see the side profile of the MSG90 with its silent bolt closing device, which works wonders relative to the noise produced by the “HK slap”.

Notice also how the scope is mounted to two picatinny rails welded on top of the receiver rather than the old claw mounting system.

Here you can see the trunnion:

Very odd looking compared to a G3′s (which ends inside the receiver).

Next up is how the barrel is free floated. The cocking tube is extended and the traditional H&K 3 ring front sight tower is not present. It looks like they just cut one in half and welded it on!

And lastly, here is a close up of the bolt head with the exposed rollers. The rollers are made of titanium and are crescent shaped rather than true cylinders:

For comparison, here is a regular G3 bolt and carrier:

So the MSG90 has some really cool features that would make a G3/91/PTR/JLD etc. owner do a double take, but how do these contribute to accuracy? Well for that I would have to arrange to get this gun out to the range.

Let me preface this by saying that I have very little experience with precision rifles. I have no formal training, have never shot in bench rest or an extreme accuracy oriented competition, and have never really been behind a big fancy DMR/precision rifle so I was really excited about this one. I bought some SSA 168 grain ammunition and went to town. I figured me behind the trigger would be a good measure of accuracy since I am not a complete newbie, but new to this kind of rifle (I have always been an “accuracy by volume” kind of guy).

First of all I feel bad for the designated marksman who would have to lug this around; The MSG90A1 weighs 15.4 pounds (7 kilos), just a pound and a half shy of the M249 SAW. I got a quick crash course in how to shoot this thing properly, and proceeded to get behind the rifle, using the factory equipped bipod and my shooting bag as a rest for the stock.

The trigger breaks at 3.3 pounds and is very comfy with the nice wide trigger boot. I had set a target at 100 yards to perform five 5 shot groups on after I got comfy with the gun (I dialed it in and put a hurting on some steel first).

Here I am ready to try and shoot:

And here the rifle is in full recoil flinging brass into the next county:

I must say that the big rubber recoil pad helps significantly with felt recoil, and the rubber grommet on the scope prevents any possibility of leaving the range with a nice big scope kiss on your noggin. Shooting this gun was a real pleasure, and I had a lot of fun doing it, but how did it perform?

Well the calipers don’t lie! Here is my best of five:

At 0.444 inches that translates to 0.424 MOA, making this a legitmately sub-half MOA rifle, especially in hands more capable than mine. The best part however is that I was able to consistently shoot sub MOA, with an average group of 0.625 inches! I feel that I could have done better with more magnification too, but the fixed 10x optic is very clear and adheres to the DMR principle.

So onto the bullet points:

The Good:

• Accurate
• Reliable
• Great trigger
• Fun to shoot
• Familiar G3 controls

The Bad:

• Fixed 10x magnification
• Heavy rifle to field
• Mangles brass (like all G3 type rifles)

The Ugly

• The ATF considers these semi-auto rifles a machine gun
• Not importable into the USA for civilians to own due to the 1989 ban
• A set of the special titanium rollers are $300!

So the MSG90A1 is a fantastic rifle that provides an incredible shooting experience, and it is a real bummer that this thing has been deemed a machine gun by the United States.

CAI is now producing a splendid AK74 clone that they have dubbed the M74 Sporter, and I asked our great editor Phil White if I could review one. Let me tell you, we deal with a lot of companies here at The Firearm Blog, but CAI is really on the ball when it comes to reviewing one of their products. A single email sent by Phil to the manufacturer results in a gun at my FFL, with accessories and all kinds of cool ancillary stuff in about 4 or 5 days! To me this speaks well of their organization as far as the administrative side goes, and to me that is an indicator of a good company overall, and there I must give them some serious credit. That being said, I was very excited to have to opportunity to test their AK74.

The M74 Sporter is built on a surplus excellent Bulgarian parts kit (many hold the Bulgarian kits to be among the best out there) and it just looks great. The original furniture is retained (not sure what parts they used for 922r compliance aside from the trigger group, receiver, and barrel but this gun looks fantastic!) as well as most other components. The gun came with the original muzzle brake and bayonet too, which is just awesome! The Bakelite bayonet really adds some charm and I would love to have one just because I think it looks neat. Also after some reading, the Bulgarian “Circle 10″ magazines seem to be held in high regard by the AK community and they definitely work well in the rifle, as did all other mags tested.

I got to the range on a chilly afternoon and set the target up at 100 yards to get a feel for the accuracy. As usual I shot five groups of five shots.

The trigger on the M74 is a single hook Tapco group that breaks extremely well and I was pleasantly surprised by the light trigger pull of the rifle.

After the accuracy test I walked up and inspected the target. All five groups were consistent 3 to 3.5 inch patterns, which is about what I have come to expect of an AK with iron sights in my hands. I am a good shot with traditional western peep sights and rabbit ears, but I have never been too good with the notch and post sight on the AK platform. That said, I am sure with a scope rail and an optic I could have shot better groups with this rifle. Regardless, a 3 inch group with iron sights and surplus 5.45 ammo is definitely minute of man and I was satisfied with that.

After the brief accuracy test it was time to beat on this thing with some rapid fire. Luckily I brought out a 45 round RPK magazine and really cranked some rounds out, then tossed in another loaded mag to really get the gun nice and hot!

The gun throws the spent casings very far to about 2:00, which is away from other shooters. I was also really working the trigger and trying to get a nice “brass rainbow” going:

All in all I fired about 300 rounds through the gun, and it performed as I expect AK variants to: flawlessly. Recoil is also virtually non-existent due to the low caliber 5.45×39 round and the M74′s extremely effective muzzle brake. I also found the furniture to be comfy and I like the bulge in the front handguard as it gives the shooter a bit more material to grab on to.

After I got back to my shop, I stripped the M74 down to get a look at how dirty the internals were. Of course I did not fire as many rounds as I did in the VZ2008 test, but I like to see how clean guns run anyways:

Isn’t that bayonet awesome? It also has a built in can and bottle opener!

Really the piston is the only part of the gun that had much residue on it, and the inside of the receiver was especially clean:

So the M74 is a great rifle at a great price. I also saw that JG Sales has them for $569 which makes this rifle a real bargain, especially considering that 5.45×39 ammunition is very affordable. If you are either a die hard AK guy or just someone looking for a nice gun to begin your collection with, in my opinion you cannot go wrong with the M74. Here is something interesting too; I have a 5.45×39 AK made by Arsenal, specifically an SGL 31-61 and if you were to ask me why the Arsenal cost me $830 and this gun is almost $300 less, I would not really have a great answer aside from the fact that the Arsenal uses all new parts and is a real “Russian” gun… but who really cares if you are just buying a shooter? Had I known about these back then or had the opportunity to buy one of these, it would have been a no-brainer!

Anyways, onto my bullet points:

The Good:

• Great price
• Cheap ammunition
• Great looking AK
• Great trigger
• Low recoil
• Very fun to shoot!

The Bad:

• Not the most accurate AK I have ever shot, but I am not sure if I can entirely blame the gun
• The 1,080 round cans of 5.45×39 are a little harder to find now, but even new ammo is affordable

The Ugly:

• Big builders like CAI have had some trouble with things like canted sights in the past. While the one I got was free of issues, try to look one over before you buy if at all possible.

So that’s that. This gun is a great option if you are in the market for a fun semi-automatic rifle that shoots affordable ammo, and with Christmas around the corner I may just have to buy one for myself!

I guess the good part about 300blk is that it uses the same bolt and magazines as a .223/5.56, but the bad part is that is uses the same bolt and magazines as .223/5.56. This happened 12/17/2013 when I was at the range with a buddy doing some recreational shooting.

Pictured is is my friend’s .223 FS2000 that he accidentally shot a 300blk round through. This was his first time shooting the gun. He is an avid reloader and a big fan of both 5.56 and 300blk, so one could see how a round or a magazine may have gotten swapped by accident. When he pulled the trigger a very strange noise could be heard and smoke started billowing out of the gun’s trap door behind the picatinny rail and the bolt seized. The case blew out into the bolt face so hard that we were not able to remove it.

I was wondering to myself how the round even chambered and it is quite simple. Reloaders make 300blk by cutting the neck off of a .223 case and resizing/necking it down to accept a .30 caliber bullet. The projectile used was a very short and lightweight bullet (125 or 130 grain) with no jacket on the rear. I assume that this allowed the bullet to fit in the chamber, and when it was fired I imagine the projectile expanded to be three inches or so.

When a bullpup catastrophically fails, it can be quite terrible because the action is right next to the shooter’s face. The fact that the gun did not explode and injure my friend I believe is a testament to FN’s quality of materials, especially their legendary cold hammer forged barrels. We inspected the gun and could find nothing out of the ordinary:

However the firearm no longer functions as the extracted rounds will not properly enter the ejection chute that is parallel to the barrel.

So 300blk fans, be careful and make sure this doesn’t happen to you. It could result in a broken gun, or serious injury.

First and foremost I would like to thank everyone involved in helping get this series of articles together. Without Phil (our T&E Manager and Senior Writer) helping bridge the connections between KRISS USA and myself, without the good people at the DeSoto Police Department (especially officer Tyndall), and of course with the support of our readers this would not have been possible. I know it took at least three or four months of planning, several date changes, and 250 emails on my end alone to get this together, but in the end it was one of the neatest events I have ever been a part of.

On August 30th, Phil sent me an email saying that I would be reviewing the KRISS Vector SMG for the blog. There was a miscommunication at some point because he believed I had my SOT (Class III dealer of firearms) where in reality I do not. Rather than let this get in the way of me getting my mits on a Vector, I sent an email back saying that I have a good rapport with a local police department and that they might be interested in testing the Vector. Typically here at the blog writers are not allowed to contact manufacturers directly (in order to keep us as unbiased as possible) but when it comes to an event or undertaking like this, especially involving NFA items, it becomes necessary. Phil gave me the go ahead to get in touch with KRISS USA, and from that point I got in touch with Michael Hou who was all for coming to Texas with some of his company’s products in tow for myself and the DeSoto Texas PD to test. I went a little rogue too and invited our friends from TPM Outfitters to bring out a fully automatic H&K UMP to go head to head with the Vector SMG. The officers at the PD also requested me to bring, and I quote “anything I have that is cool,” so I knew we were in for a good range day!

On December 11th I arrived at the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department range to begin setting up for the demo. I had brought along some personal firearms for the officers to compare against the Vector, including a Mac 10, Uzi, and an MP43. I arrived one hour before the demo and the guys from KRISS showed up a few minutes after with not just one, but a literal crate of KRISS submachine guns! Here are Mike and Phil with their flagship product equipped with their in house Defiance suppressor:

A few minutes later, Matt and Ken from TPM Outfitters showed up with the UMP and a few other toys for the officers to play with (including their awesome integrally suppressed .22lr pistol). They also surprised me and brought along an MP5 that they built for me that I commissioned them to build around the time I did my article on their operation! It was great to have an MP5 out there too, as it is pretty much the standard when it comes to sub guns:

So us five gun guys laid everything out for the officers to look at as they trickled in to the range classroom.

The officers varied in shape and size, which was great because it would allow for a smattering of different outlooks and opinions on the different firearms at the event:

From left to right we have officers Lorenzo Garza, Andrew Wood, Cindy Tyndall, Vanice Mitchell, and Brett Evans. Everyone was eager to get to the range and punch holes in paper, but first Mike gave a quick instructional and sales pitch showing off the Vector and Sphinx pistol.

While KRISS is famous for the Vector SMG, the Sphinx pistol is an absolutely stellar sidearm. As funny as it may sound, despite all the radical fully automatic firearms around, people still gravitated too and wanted to shoot the Sphinx (myself included).

Anyways onto the range.

We set up all the firearms on a small shooting table and set up metal targets for everyone to shoot at.

Even Mike was impressed with our spread, as evidenced by his phone photography.

To kick off everything, I asked which officers were most experienced with sub guns, and it was pretty unanimous that officers Garza and Wood were equally good marksmen with long guns. Officer Garza was given a crash course it how to operate the Vector, and then he got right to it:

It was interesting watching him run the Vector, as the cyclic rate is incredibly fast. The firearms two-round burst setting sounds almost like a single shot, and the rounds land in damn near the same hole. Officer Garza rattled off a few bursts, and then hit the selector to fun-mode and landed all of his shots on the steel silhouette. Instantly the recoil mitigation technology in the Vector is evident even to an observer, as you can barely see the operator move even while doing a mag dump. In fact the rearward recoil and muzzle rise is so minimal that it allows the user to do this:

All in all officer Garza was very impressed by the Vector. That said, it was time to put the UMP to the test to see how it compared. It is worth noting that the DeSoto PD has four MP5 submachine guns for use by their tactical team, so the group admitted that they were more familiar with the controls of the UMP (all operated by your thumb). The UMP is also laid out more traditionally whereas the Vector is unique in its form.

Here is Officer Garza running the UMP:

While most of his shots landed on the steel, you could tell that the UMP gave his shoulder a little more trouble and the slow cyclic rate caused it to jump around a little less predictably.

So now for the good part. I asked which gun he liked better and why? The answer was without a doubt the Vector. Garza said that while he is used to the controls of the UMP more (he is a seasoned AR15 shooter as well, which has controls similar to the HK series when it comes to selector and mag position), the Vector’s recoil reduction system makes it exponentially more comfortable to shoot.

Officer Wood had the exact same opinion when we performed the same experiment with him:

As stated, officer Wood had the same opinion as officer Garza. And I of course shared their opinions when I shot the guns back to back. Note also how I am an H&K guy, but it is without question that the Vector is a better submachine gun to shoot than the UMP:

Even Phil had to give the UMP a go to see how it compared against his company’s product. Of course he has a vested interest in the Vector, but after experiencing the harsh recoil of the UMP on full auto, I think his faith in his own product grew even bigger:

After this short test, it was time for a “free for all” so to speak, and we all went weapons free, shooting the Vectors, UMP, and everything else we had brought.

And of course I myself had to get in on the action with my newly built, TPM MP5!

They also threw on a Knight’s Armament can that made the gun even more fun to shoot (I will do a full traditional review on this gun in the future):

Vanice also liked the MP5 and was nailing the targets dead center with it. It is worth noting that this day was her first time ever to shoot a machine gun, and she definitely had the “machine gun smile” on her face the whole time we were out there:

Throughout the next couple of hours the officers were comparing the various firearms against the KRISS Vector. The biggest hit next to the Vector seemed to be the Uzi (ironically made by a company called Vector), which officer Garza jokingly called “the Cadillac of submachine guns” because it was nice, built well, and comfy… but also slow which gave me a good laugh. Everyone had a go on the Uzi in order to use it as a benchmark against the Vector:

The Uzi’s slow cyclic rate makes it a very easy to control sub-gun, but it is nowhere near as sophisticated as the Vector or UMP. As the Uzi fires from an open bolt, it lacks the accuracy of the MP5, UMP, or Vector and even officers Wood and Garza had a bit of difficulty hitting the small hostage plate behind the steel silhouette. While the Uzi does have less recoil than the Vector due to its 9mm caliber, it isn’t that much less especially when you consider that the Vector fires nearly twice as fast as the Uzi.

As a bonus everyone also got to shoot the Sphinx pistols, which were a hit among the officers.

The fit and finish on these is excellent, and I am seriously considering buying one for personal use.

Also as requested I had brought out some cool stuff, which included the granddaddy of the modern Assault Rifle, the MP43 Sturmgewehr:

As the testing came to an end we all had a short talk about the Vector, and all of the officers agreed that it was one awesome weapon system. I myself am a seasoned sub-gunner and have my own bullet points regarding the system:

The Good:

• Incredibly low recoil
• Accurate as can be due to its closed bolt firing system
• Uses commonly available Glock magazines
• Has burst and full auto settings
• Very compact
• Easy to maintain and disassemble
• Virtually no muzzle rise

The Bad:

• The safety and fire mode selectors are two different switches
• The guns layout takes a bit of getting used to due to its radical design
• As of now it is available in .45acp only (conversions are on the way)

The Ugly:

• Due to being made after 1986 (the machine gun cutoff), the fully automatic version is only available to police and military

Even though the KRISS Vector SMG is not available to civilians, they do make carbines and factory SBRs for consumers. Even in SBR form the Super V recoil reduction system is awesome, and I would love to have one. Matter of fact, I foresee a pistol to SBR project in my future!

Again, many thanks to all involved in this test, and stay tuned for part two: Dallas SWAT and the Vector SMG!

 Continue reading Part 2 here.

As seen in Part 1 of the KRISS Vector test with the DeSoto Police Department, I promised a part two with the guys you call when the expletive hits the proverbial fan: SWAT.

After testing with DeSoto was concluded, the Sheriff’s SWAT team pulled up in two squad cars. This was the only time in my life when I have been shooting machine guns, seen two squad cars pull up, and had no fear of having to provide a lengthy explanation!

It was extremely cool getting to see these guys do their thing too. They could move and shoot, communicate, work as a team, and they were all expert marksmen. From 50 yards away they were able to pick up a gun they had never shot before (the Vector) and land all thirty rounds on the 6 inch steel ringer (and then modestly brush it off like it was not big deal). For privacy I have decided to obscure faces and names for this test.

Again Mike did his thing and gave the officers a crash course in how to operate the Vector.

It is worth nothing that these guys all use MP5s and M4 carbines on the job, so the Vector’s layout was very foreign to them all. Nonetheless they took to it quick and were drilling the steel on semi, burst, and fun.

I had them perform the same back-to-back style UMP/Vector test to get some feedback from men who could potentially use these firearms to save lives and stop the bad guys.

I must say this gentleman shot the guns by bursting a few times, turned around and proclaimed, “what can I say, I’m an H&K guy”. It is understandable that someone who has used an MP5 for years might gravitate to the UMP a bit more, but not to be outdone Mike asked for one more full auto mag dump on both weapons to show where the Vector’s recoil mitigation really shines:

After this the officer then grew a bit more enthusiastic about the Vector and said that he would not be ashamed to show up to the ball with either platform.

Officer two then had a go on both systems:

And the UMP:

This officer’s opinion was the same as the former. Again, they have drilled so many times with the MP5 that the layout of the UMP is just familiar to them. They were more or less equally accurate with the two platforms as well, and I imagine they would be equally dangerous to a bad guy with either.

Again I got in on the action with the Vector too:

While I will probably never use either of these guns for anything but punching holes in paper, I personally believe the Vector is a better SMG when it comes to full auto controlability.

To sum up this test, I guess it comes down to what you have trained with. While the officers from the previous test did not have many preconceived notions about either gun, these guys are so used to the HK platform that familiarity was the name of the game. They were equally accurate with each gun, but probably would have chosen the UMP because of ingrained muscle memory. They did however agree that the Vector was more pleasant to shoot, and that with some practice and training they could easily become as good with it as they are with their duty weapons.

For what my opinion is worth however, I will take a Vector please!

Continue Reading Part 3 Here.

This is the third and final part of our series where we have teamed up with KRISS USA. Part 1 can be viewed here and Part 2 here. For this portion we we decided to try and quantify the recoil reduction of the Vector verses its main competitor, the HK UMP (in this case a converted HK USC SBR was used, however it is identical except for the roll marks).

According to this company there has never been a very good way to measure recoil due to the amount of variables involved. Obviously the Vector with its Super V system is marketed as reducing recoil and muzzle climb, as the action recoils down instead of straight back (kind of like a giant upside down Luger pistol) but I wanted to try and see exactly how much relative to the UMP submachine gun. For this I asked my friend CJ what would be the best method. He suggested to me that I look into buying a load cell to place the gun on with a high sample rate and put the two guns against each other. For this I found a company in Virginia who offered a load cell with a high sample rate that expressed data graphically on a PC in the form of a simple line graph and also displayed the peak. I placed the load cell on a Lead Sled and performed the test by firing five shots, three times and taking the middle group from the three samples.

As you can see we had more firearms that we intended to test, but the guy’s flight back to Virginia was in the afternoon and we simply did not have time.

We set the vector in my device and loaded the software on Mike’s PC. Luckily, the Vector and the UMP have the same width stock, so each gun had an equal amount of material resting on the load sensor (give of take a millimeter). To eliminate as many variables as possible I took the following precautions:

• The equipment was provided by me, an impartial third party employed by no firearm manufacturer
• I would be the trigger man, as I had no vested interest in any gun performing better
• An equal amount of material from the stock would be resting on the load cell
• 15 shots would be taken total, the middle group of which would be used in final data
• An M4 carbine (Colt 6920) would also be used in order to provide our readers with some familiarity (most people have a good idea of how much a .223 recoils)
• The same ammunition from the same box would be used

On with the test.

Immediately we got feedback from the Vector and it was neat to see the data in real time.

Next the UMP:

I was anxious to see the data produced and we were all taken aback by how much less pressure the Vector exhibited on the load cell.

Now was the M4. Setting it in the rest properly with the desired amount of stock touching the sensor was difficult:

But of course we managed:

Also, KRISS flew in a member of their media department to film this testing so they can use it in promotional material. I must say that is was neat to have a microphone on talking about my experiment!

Also when you get a bunch of men together with these kind of toys, how can you not expect them to put them to good use?

I did manage to take a video of me on the Vector too:

Lastly as a joke we tried this setup to see if we could max out the load cell, but due to not having a solid mounting point it did not work out so well!

So what kind of results did the test yield? Well I was as surprised as could be.

The Vector:

The UMP

That is a 62.14% reduction in recoil. As we got the figures we all stood there pole-axed in awe of what we had just done. KRISS claims that the Super V system reduces recoil of the .45acp cartridge by 60%, but having performed a test myself first hand and being able to confirm that is amazing.

The M4 carbine exerted roughly the same amount of force as the Vector too at 21-22 pounds (I apologize for the cutoff, but the screen shot was improperly taken):

To conclude, let me say that I knew the Vector recoil was much less due to the shooting test the previous day, but the results of this test were still surprising to me. We even had one sample that showed the Vector recoil was 64% less, but as stated I used the median sample. It is no wonder that the vectors off axis recoil generated less on the load cell as well, and that the UMP’s straight blowback system alongside its heavy bolt exerted much more force on the load cell.

I tried to make this test as fair and as unbiased as possible to provide legitimate information to consumers regarding two firearms. Also note that the data expressed in pounds is not accurate as to felt recoil. It is rather all of the guns recoil forced upon an area the size of a postage stamp, so it is amplified.

Thank you for reading the series on the KRISS Vector SMG, and I hope this is the first of many manufacturer-The Firearm Blog collaborations!

Recently my friend Chris with Campbell Defense has become a Bowers retailer. He asked if I wanted to review a few of the Bowers suppressors, and it took me about a tenth of a second to respond with a yes!

The suppressors by Bowers Group are well known for their affordability and light weight, but as an added bonus they make a plethora of full auto rated submachinegun cans. I am a huge fan of sub-guns due to their low recoil, cheap ammo, and cheap parts (generally speaking), and it just seems like a suppressor is  a great accessory for any sub gunner.

Chris brought out a CAC 45 threaded for my Lage equipped M10, a VERS 9 with an UZI adapter, and a VERS 9s (a compact version of the VERS 9). Below is my M10 with the CAC 45:

As per Bower’s website, “This suppressor is also suitable for 9mm and subsonic .30 caliber applications such as the .300 Whisper. It is 11.25” overall and 1 ¾” diameter. It is strong and light, weighing approximately 18 oz.” Retail is listed at $485 as well, which is a great price for a great suppressor.

The dedicated 9mm can with UZI adapter was neat. The suppressor’s attachment point replaces the barrel nut on the UZI and installation is quick and easy. Unfortunately all we had that day was supersonic ammo, but that did not stop us from getting in some excellent trigger time!

Of course reviewing suppressors is hard, as it is difficult to describe the sound reduction, so I have shot a video to display them in action:

As you can see, the Bowers suppressor put a smile on my face, and with the new ATF eforms, transfer times have dipped back down to 2 and a half months (if you use the system rather than mailing forms the old fashioned way).

Now for the bullet points:

The Good:

• Affordable
• Quiet
• Light
• Multiple mounting systems available
• Mounts interchange in seconds with just a wrench
• Multi-caliber rated

The Bad:

• NFA hassle of $200 tax and a wait (not Bower’s fault in the slightest)
• Extra adapters are pricey, and the UZI mount is $100 more

The Ugly:

• POI shift was about a foot high and right at 20 yards

All in all, I don’t think you can go wrong with a can from Bowers Group. If you own one, I would love to hear your feedback in the comments as well!

Recenly our friends at TPM Outfitters really did us a favor by showing up at out KRISS Vector demonstration with an H&K UMP to use for comparison. I mentioned that they surprised me by bringing an MP5-N I commissioned them to build for me and I was absolutely thrilled to shoot it, and now I figure it is time to do a full review, especially considering that 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the MP5!

I showed up at TPM with a box of MP5 parts I had collected over the years that I eventually planned on building into a complete gun. I had everything I needed, and had bought a part here and there every time I found a good deal. I probably had $1,000 or so dollars in components, so I did not want to risk ruining anything by trying to bend and weld up my own receiver. After I saw the detail that TPM puts into every gun they build, I knew that they would do me right if I had them finish everything out. They told me they would do it all for $900, a price I was more than happy with considering Vector clones cost $2,200 new!

At the KRISS shoot I had the opportunity to run it for the first time and boy was I hooked. Since the gun was built for me as a pistol, it transferred normally on a 4473, but with the addition of a registered auto sear you are allowed to legally add a stock the fun is multiplied by ten fold:

I also got to run it with a Knight’s Armament suppressor, which I would like to buy in the near future. While not as quiet as an MP5/SD it was still very cool:

When the day came for me to come pick up the gun, Ken called me and mentioned that he was at the grand opening of a local premier shooting range that was setting up as a big time H&K dealer, so much so that members of the H&K corporate staff and the H&K shooting team were there. Ken said that he took my MP5 pistol there to show the guys too, and they even they were impressed by it!

As soon as I took possession of the pistol I threw it in my safe and planned a nice big range day, with the MP5 being the main focus (at the KRISS demo we were obviously more fixated on the Vectors).

On 12/17/13 my friend Chris and I headed to my shooting range with the MP5 in tow, auto sear installed.

For those wondering, the red tape on the mags are to keep my mags separate from other people’s. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a mag make it into someone else’s range bag, and a few pennies worth of electrical tape is a quick and easy fix!

This gun is equipped with an “S-E-F” trigger pack. These represent German words.

S translated to Sicher, or ‘Safe’. E translates to Einzelfeuer, meaning “single shot” but literally “single fire”. F translated to Feuerstoß meaning “burst fire” but is the German way to say fully automatic. A running joke among German soldiers is that the “F” setting for fully automatic actually means “Frieden”, or “peace” in English (who said the Germans don’t have a good sense of humor?). American shooters have of course developed their own translations for the S-E-F packs according to HK Pro:

S= Safe
E= Economical
F= FUN!

And boy was I in for some fun that day.

Chris and I started slow, doing a burst here and burst there:

I also got a quick accuracy test at 25 yards from a standing position with 115 grain S&B ammo. Here is the

best:

And the worst:

I am sure I could have done better using a rest of some kind, but as a sub-gun would almost always be used while standing or on the move, I like to try and get accuracy tests that way with them.

But of course we then moved onto gratuitous mad dumps and all sorts of fun:

Chris and I shot 700 or so rounds with the MP5 with zero malfunctions, but were left with some sore thumbs from loading mags!

Anyways, onto my bullet points:

The Good:

• Affordable for an MP5
• Accurate
• Incredibly reliable
• Full auto ready
• Unmatched build quality
• Updates received during the build process

The Bad:

• This post will probably generate a flame war in the comments, haha
• To really shine, you need to plop down the cash to SBR one of these or throw in a sear

The Ugly:

• I got nothing!

So that’s that. TPM did right by me and this gun will now be my “all purpose weapon”. Matt opened my eyes into hunting with an MP5, so it will be used for hogs, target practice, sub-gun matches, other competitions, defense, and a tool tool for farming lead!

I have been in the gun hobby since I turned 18. On their 18th birthday, many young men and women will go out and buy a tobacco product or lottery ticket as a sort of rite of passage, but I knew what I wanted: A gun. I went to my local sports emporium and picked out a bolt action 30-06 Savage rifle as a sort of all purpose firearm and the rest is history. For 9 years I have been collecting, buying, shooting, and growing my gun collection to an arsenal that would have made my 18 year old self salivate. Over the years I have kept a close eye on the gun market too. When I was in college with no money, I would always look at auction sites and big gun shop’s prices to keep a firm grasp on the market so I could, foreseeably in the future buy what I lusted after while in school. After I graduated and got a job my dreams became reality and for all intents and purposes, all of my extra money went into my shooting hobby. To people not engaged in this great pastime of ours this may seem foolish, but as of yet I have lost money on very few firearms and have always felt like they are a safe place to keep money. A gun is a complicated mechanical device that other people are always interested in buying, and as such are very liquid assets. Precious metals are fine and dandy, but with firearms you can go out and have fun with your investment rather than put it in a safety deposit box and look at it occasionally.

As stated, I have followed the gun market closely for many years so I know when a deal is too good to pass up. As such, a major online retailer was running an incredible special on VZ2008s shortly after I did my review on them. I have absolute faith in the rifle, and at the price point they were selling them at I bought all the ones I could afford. I picked them up from my FFL a few days later, put them in my safe, and was very excited to have them as an asset.

In the United States, you cannot legally buy guns to sell for a profit without a federal firearms license, and of course I had not bought these to sell but rather keep as a stable investment. It is of course not illegal to sell a personal firearm, but as stated it is a big no-no to be engaged in commerce without the appropriate license. Also in border states like Texas, multiple sales of semi-auto centerfire long guns must be reported to the ATF. My FFL simply filled out a multiple form and I did expect a call from the ATF asking what I was going to do with eight rifles like this (my friends have gotten calls for multiple AR15 lower receivers). Now I went to college in Waco, where the ATF does not exactly have the best reputation. However, my only real experience in dealing with the ATF was when I bought my select-fire Uzi SMG from an ATF special agent who just happened to be a huge gun guy. As a matter of fact, he was selling the Uzi to fund the purchase of an M16! We filled out the form 4s at my place of business and I learned a lot about his line of work.

On the 14th of November I got a call from an ATF special agent, let’s call him John, who asked if he could come by and have a quick conversation with me. I was at my shop at the time overseeing a construction project and told him that I was busy and would be unable to meet that day. He was fine with that and I said I could potentially meet tomorrow. I called the agent I mentioned above (Uzi agent) and asked what this could be about, and he said it was a pretty standard response to someone like me who has many firearm transfers on the books in a border state. He laughed and said “man, I didn’t know you were an arms dealer!” which made me chuckle as well. As the day went by and things started coming to a close I figured I could go ahead and knock it all out so I called him back up and told him I could meet that day and where he could meet me. About 15 minutes later John and another agent (let’s call him Nick) pulled up in two sedans. They were both in plain clothes, both introduced themselves kindly, and both provided credentials and business cards before I let them in. I sat the two men down in my office as I was legitimately curious as to what was going on. The men had lists of every firearm I had ever received from an FFL where I had done multiple long guns/hand guns. Since I write for this blog, I do a tremendous amount of transfers for reviewing and I also buy firearms off of popular auction sites and whatnot, so it would definitely seem like I might be a straw purchaser to the onlooker. Luckily I keep a bound book and a digital PDF copy of a firearms record I have created with all of a firearms information and a photo in case one ever gets stolen so I can report it missing. John and Nick went down the lists they had reading off firearm serial numbers, while I described the firearm by reading off information about it from my PDF document. John asked if I could print off a copy of my file for him, and I said no and that I would not be comfortable disclosing that information, which he was perfectly fine with and understood completely (hell, I did not even have to let them in as they did not have a warrant, but I did not mind).

It got down to the last one on their list, an AR15 lower receiver I bought years ago at a gun show and I did not have it (I could account for everything else). I said that I guess it was one I sold at a gun show about a year ago that had a slide fire stock on it. I built it as cheaply as possible and threw on the SSAR15 stock and when the novelty wore off I sold it at a loss (one of the only guns I have ever lost money on). They asked why I had so many transfers and I told them that I was a collector and that I write for The Firearm Blog on the side. Guns I did not have I showed them the articles I did on, and they were satisfied with that. After some hesitation, I told John and Nick that I would take them in my gun room if it would help them out. They said it would so I unlocked it and we entered. My gun room is a pretty serious gun room. While many guys have a media room with a big TV and sports memorabilia (I don’t even have cable, as it costs ammo money), I have a safe and gun rack with cleaning supplies laying all over. Pictured here is my C&R rack that greets you when you enter:

Both agents thought my rack was awesome and Nick said “now this is what I call a gun room!”. It was at this point that I guess the two men felt more comfortable and we started talking about old guns, shooting, and typical hobby related stuff. When I opened my safe they were also taken aback. “Man you have some really nice stuff Alex,” said Nick as he peered in. Now in my safe I have NFA items laying out very evidently. My Gemtech G5 is sitting in its box clearly marked Gemtech, my little MP5k is sitting on a shelf by itself, and my Mac 10 machine gun sits prominently at the front. The agents did not ask about or notice these items until I pointed them out as well as a stack of form 4s. Once they saw I was an NFA guy they really figured that I was a safe and lawful gun owner and I guess they decided to spill the beans.

John told me, “well, the reason we are here is not for multiple transfers,” which surprised me. “Typically when someone does as many transfers as you do especially with the type of firearms you have received we will do a knock and talk, but the AR15 you cannot account for has showed up at a crime scene in Mexico”. Funny how the one gun I have sold in a year was the one that made it to Mexico, and I was shocked as I was almost certain it was about the VZ2008s. John and Nick asked for any details about the gun, who I sold it to, and when. Luckily I had the man’s name, phone number, and e-mail address (call me overzealous, but in this case my cautiousness worked on my behalf). The man I sold it too was also a reserve police officer, so the agents knew he was at least not a career criminal or gun runner (while not impossible I suppose, it would be unlikely). I provided them with the information they needed and they went about their business. Since I had not broken the law, nothing came of it. They didn’t even give me a slap on the wrist, talk sternly, or give me a paper explaining the law pertaining to selling firearms (which is common in these cases).

So all in all my run in with the ATF was quick, painless, and informative. It has been instilled in our minds as gun folks that the ATF are the fun police or the proverbial boogeymen that are out to get you. In my experience (at least in Texas) these men and women are good people just doing their job. Hell, I have heard of some agents seeing illegal machine guns and they said they have seen them at the gun range. They won’t even ask if it is a legal, registered MG until bubba starts bragging about his home-built full auto (d’oh). They will tell him that he needs to destroy it and that they better not catch him with an illegal MG again. Getting let off the hook for a felony is a pretty big deal when you think about it. So folks, be weary of your multiples, but most importantly be kind and courteous and you will be treated the same way.

If you have experiences with the ATF, good or bad, I would love to hear about them below!

Alex C., one of our new writers decided that now might be his last chance to purchase Barrett M82A1, so while everyone else was out buying AR-15s he found himself an M82. Enjoy these photos …

In the world of fully automatic rifles here in the States, there is no question that the M16 reigns supreme. If you are fortunate enough to possess a legally registered M16 lower receiver the world is your oyster; You essentially have a full auto tinker toy that you can configure into any caliber or configuration that your heart desires, and parts are cheap and readily available. The downside is that an M16 these days on average will cost the buyer around $20,000 (which could put one heck of a dent in your mortgage). However, all hope is not lost for a buyer looking for a great 5.56 rifle that you can rock and roll with at the range; The FN FNC is a great entry level machine gun that costs less than half of what you can buy an M16 for these days.

The FN FNC  was designed in the 70′s by, well, you guessed it, FN Herstal of Belgium. It replaced the more expensive FN CAL rifle and became the standard service rifle of Belgium in the late 80′s. It is still in service within the armed forces of Belgium, and licensed copies of the rifle are in service in Sweden as the AK5, and Indonesia as the Pindad SS1. It is said that approximately 6,000 FN FNC rifles were imported into the USA in the 80′s, and for the price of about $750 you could buy yourself a new one. Some of these guns were converted to selective fire by registering the receivers, but S&H Arms conversions via the installation of a registered auto sear are the most common. One funny thing about the FNC sears is that there are in fact more registered auto sears in the USA than there are FNC Rifles! Anyways, you can buy a semi automatic FNC for about $3,000 and a sear for about the same price, so for about $6500 you can have a legal fun switch on a great little rifle. This quick write up is more or less to supplement a weekly gun glamor segment I would like to start. Enjoy these photos of my FNC rifles, and please do not hesitate to ask any questions. I would be more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability!

And here is a tiny piece of metal that will cost you a pretty penny! This is one of two sears I have purchased that is pending transfer to me at my SOT. I find it comical that the dealer taped the sear to the approved Form 3, and that they found a new way to spell “machine gun”.

The good people at Alliance Armament have developed a 5.56 caliber upper receiver for the MAC 10 submachine gun. MACs are the most affordable fully automatic firearms you can find in the USA, so this is great news! The Following was taken from Alliance’s announcement on Uzi Talk:

 ”Alliance has just received full ATF approval for their SABRE upper!

5.56×45 on a MAC and accepts all AR mags including BETA-C types.

Initial run is for M10′s but M11′s and M11A1′s are in the works and should be close behind.

Alliance is currently adding all the details to their website and there’ll be a list for anyone interested in getting one.”

You can see a video of the upper in action here: