Here are a couple of shots from a recent trip to the range. The prototype MagPod is fantastic and allows you to do something unattainable with standard magazines. It is very lightweight and adds a great deal of stability to the weapon when the magazine is used as a monopod; hence the name. This isn’t something I would see you running on every magazine but it’s a definite must have add-on for your patrol mag.
Way back in June of last year the US Army issued a pre-solicitation for the purchase of an additional 70,000-100,000 M4A1 carbines. The idea was that it was going to be a free-for-all and anybody, including incumbent Colt Defense could bid. The actual solicitation hit the street in August. Now, there’s an award, but it was issued at 6:20 PM and the announcement was under the innocuous title of, “GUNS, THROUGH 30MM” which is the Federal Supply Class (10) they weapons are categorized under. Too late for the daily DoD Contract award announcements. Odd? Absolutely, considering the size and commodity involved.
Here’s the content of the award notice –
Notice Type:
Award Notice
Contract Award Date:
April 20, 2012
Contract Award Number:
W56HZV12D00560001
Contract Award Dollar Amount:
$16,163,252.07
Contract Line Item Number:
0004AB
Contractor Awardee:
REMINGTON ARMS COMPANY, LLC,14 HOEFLER AVE,ILION,NY,13357-1816
Synopsis:
Added: Apr 20, 2012 6:20 pm
No Description Provided
Contracting Office Address:
U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND, WARREN, MICHIGAN 48397-5000
There’s another award (W56HZV12D0056) to Remington Arms Company for a “Max Potential Contract Value $180,000,000.00” for the generic “GUNS, THROUGH 30MM” issued about an hour before the award mentioned above. Remember, that $180 Million is a contract ceiling and allows the Government to purchase their full requirement over multiple years without competing multiple contracts.
Notice the contract numbers. The base contract is W56HZV12D0056. The additional 0001 would denote an initial order meaning there will be more to come.
These carbines will be produced in accordance with the Colt Technical Data Package. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. In the mid-80s FN began producing the M16A2. However, access to the Colt TDP will certainly give Remington a leg up. Hopefully, these Remington guns will be better than the early FN M16s which were of low quality.
Formed by a couple of former Special Forces Weapons Sergeants, Bravo 18 has an refreshing take on the gun business –
“At Bravo 18 the operator is mission one. We manufacture, modify and repair all types of weapons for the purpose of providing warriors with the weapon enhancements they require from mission to mission.
Bravo18 will absolutely never tell you what you need. We don’t know your mission, we just know weapon systems and how to modify them to best meet your requirements.”
With over 60 years of aggregate gunsmithing experience they tend to specialize in the AK family of weapons, but they work on ARs and Shotguns as well as the M14/M1A family as well.
Warrior Grips, a small Arkansas based company that customizes weapon grips, rifle magazines and other kit, was spotted in Houston at the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association this morning. Here’s a picture of an attendee carrying a Springfield Operator 1911 sported a set of the Warrior Grips “slags” in the lobby.
AMTEC Less-Lethal Systems is the only COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) manufacturer of stun munitions and they are displaying three at the TTPOA Conference. The Tactical Blast Munition puts off about 7-8x the over pressure of a regular flashbang ~5 psi at 7 feet, whereas the typical bang produces .7 psi at 5 feet. The Magnum Stun Munition is designed for larger rooms, auditoriums, etc. producing 10psi at 7 feet; anyone who has been banged before during training, or followed a standard NFDD into a room on an entry, will no doubt recognized what a thump that would be.
The Tactical Blast Strip produces roughly the same overpressure as the Tactical Blast, but it’s flat and light. It’s a command initiated munition that can be slid under a doorway and takes just 2 volts to initiate. The Tactical Blast Strip comes with a preset 15 cord although it can be wired longer than that, daisy-chained, mounted to the front of a ballistic shield or whatever. The entire strip is consumed when it deploys; there’s no shrapnel or fragmentation and the only thing that will remain is the cord. One instructor used a battery from an insulin pump to deploy a Blast Strip, so it does require and grounding to set up.
For more information check lesslethal.com
-DR
The Pyser-SGI Small Arms Collimator (SAC) series represents one of the most crucial battlefield optical implements available today. The Small Arms Collimator is a precision optical device that allows shooters to confirm zero/ or re-zero weapons in the field, to a high level of accuracy, without live fire. Confirming zero or re-zeroing a weapon is very important in the field. Weapon sights and optics can shift zero from many different factors including airborne insertions, falls, explosions, etc. But, the SAC can also be extremely useful when changing optics, in our case: swapping a day scope for a night vision scope in the field.
Until now, laser boresight devices have been the default means of confirming or re-zeroing weapons without firing a shot. The problem with this is that laser boresighting equipment is inherently inaccurate, causing an M4 to be off by as much as 8 MOA. On the contrary, the SAC is one of the most accurate devices of its kind (accurate to 0.25 mil, 1 MOA). Manufactured in countless variants, the SAC works with irons sights, optical sights, day scopes, and night vision scopes. They are available for rifles, carbines, submachine guns, machine guns, sniper systems, and grenade launchers. Additionally, laser SAC’s are available for use with laser aiming devices.
The Small Arms Collimator has been in use by the British military for over a decade with fantastic results. They are so good that they have caught the eye of many units within the US Special Operations Community and other allied nations. The SAC is easy to use with very little training and does not require a “master weapon.” It does not emit light or any other signature, nor does it require a down range target. A single SAC can be used on any “like” weapon system.
The Pyser Small Arms Collimator is one of the “must have” pieces of kit for any combat unit. The ability to quickly and accurately check a zero or re-zero a weapon without firing a shot is paramount to mission success in non-permissive environments. We are talking about operator safety here. Weapons and their optics can lose their zeros due to anything from a rough insertion to normal battlefield abuse. Without the ability to achieve accurate hits, a Warfighter’s combat effectiveness is substantially reduced. The SAC is the most accurate and proven method of confirming and re-zeroing a weapon. No unit or team should deploy without them for all their weapon systems.
The SAC is extremely rugged and requires no batteries. We especially like this system for its use in swapping a day scope for night vision scope. No longer does a separate night vision-equipped rifle need to be brought into the field. A lot is mentioned about “must have” kit. Well, this is actually one of those must-have items.
www.tnvc.com/shop/pyser-small-arms-collimator-sac-5-56mm
www.tnvc.com/shop/pyser-small-arms-collimator-sac-7-62mm
Here’s another sneak peek from our friends at Bulldog Equipment. This time it’s a new Mortar Carrying System. As you can see, it accommodates the tube as well as baseplate and is adapted to the venerable ALICE frame. It’s pretty innovative and they’ve already been issued a SOF specific NSN for this item (8465-01-605-2256).
Bulldog Equipment has been working on a couple of cool projects including an Assistant Gunner Pack for the M240 GMPG. More info is coming but here are a few sneak peeks.
