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Kramer Defense, the company that introduced the 6.8x45mm UCC cartridge based on the .378″/9.6mm diameter case head of 5.56mm,  filed a patent on Aug 14, 2014 (approved Sept. 1, 2015) that has recently sent shockwaves through the 6.5 Grendel and cartridge wildcatting communities. The patent relates to bolts of larger diameter than the standard AR-15 bolt, coupled with cartridges of larger size and bore diameter. The most relevant section of the patent is below:

Dust, mud, dirt, sand: Ideally, a firearm should be kept clean and free of debris so that it functions optimally at all times. After all, the user’s life may depend on the firearm working properly!

What if the Mini-14 had arrived over a decade earlier, and been a pound lighter? Would it have still played second-fiddle to the AR-15, or would US troops be using classically-lined rifles of wood and steel right up until today? Was there really an alternative to the “Buck Rogers” space-gun-like AR-15 in the late 1950s and early 1960s?

The most consistent request I received in the comments of my Weight Omnibus posts (if you didn’t catch them, here are Part I, Part II, and Part III) was to continue to expand the content of this series, both in the guns measured and the analysis of them. Further analysis will have to wait until another day, but earlier this week I received the chance to weigh six more firearms to add to the 58 I weighed for my original three posts. So, here is the TFB Weight Omnibus Part 3.1: Stragglers!

This article is an English-language translation of an article written for Мир увлечений: Охота & Оружие (World of Hobbies: Hunting & Weapons) magazine, by Andrey Donets and Dmytro Adyeyev. TFB reader dnepr0mike graciously aided the blog with his translation skills to bring this to our readers. The article and its images are used with permission from Hunting & Weapons magazine.

OK, so with the clickbait title out of the way, we’ve seen how the M1 Garand and the AK-derived Galil ACE fare in mud, but what about the legendarily reliable AK itself? Well, Ian and Karl’s recent round of mud testing continues, and next in line is Mikhail Kalashnikov’s masterpiece:

The title of this article is an Anglicized version of the title of the article linked below.

Though rare in the wild, mostly seeing use with special units and some police departments, is a favorite of Hollywood movie-makers and Triple-A video game developers, thanks to its compact size, striking looks, and fully automatic firepower. The gun itself, however, was originally intended to be an inexpensive, compact, and unobtrusive weapon that would be better for troops far from the front, the MP7 eventually became a weapon more commonly associated with the tip of the spear, direct action teams, and SWAT officers.

In the early 1980s, German gunmaker Heckler & Koch began to design a new submachine gun that would improve on the existing MP5, in response to a US Navy solicitation for an advanced submachine gun as part of the Joint Services Small Arms Program (JSSAP). The SMG I, which was the product of this development, is not the focus of this article, so instead I’ll refer readers to the HKPro article on the weapon:

Gun blogger and MVD agent KardeN released some rare high-definition photos of the unique Russian PP-2000 submachine gun. This lightweight select-fire weapon was designed as a concealable PDW and CQB weapon for VIP protection and special police and military units. KardeN’s blog is here, but for whatever reason his post on the PP-2000 does not appear to be present. However, the photos are still available:

In November of last year, we blogged about an early Soviet encounter with the MKb.42(H), the open bolt machine carbine that would become the famous closed bolt MP/StG.44 assault rifle. Ensign Expendable, author of the Soviet Gun Archives blog that provided the material for the previous article, has posted another, probably even earlier source on the Soviet reaction to the weapon:

Another new rifle from the Islamic Republic of Iran was being shown at the 15th IPAS Exhibition. It is a modern-looking weapon, distinct from the very modern looking Fateh announced in 2014. It was developed by the state-owned Iran Defense Industries Organization, and while its name has not yet been announced, it is chambered in either 5.56mm or 7.62×39. The rifle apparently accepts AK-pattern magazines; steel Galil-type magazines are shown in the 5.56mm variant, while polymer AK-100-series magazines are shown with the 7.62x39mm variant. Very little additional information is available, however, photos of both the new rifle and a KPOS-like chassis for what is apparently a Glock handgun or clone, are available at Defence.pk. Some of the photos are embedded below:

George Kellgren is certainly one of the most inventive small arms designers alive today, although his company Kel-Tec has unfortunately become known for their QC troubles and availability problems more than how inspired the designs are. The latest offering from Kel-Tec is no less inventive than previous designs; it is an intermediate-caliber bullpup designed to eject brass downwards, away from the shooter’s face, while being as simple as possible. The way this is done is perhaps better seen than read, so below is embedded a video of Tim from the Military Arms Channel taking a first look at this unique rifle:

Czech small arms manufacturer Česká zbrojovka has introduced an improved, lighter variant of its 805 Bren rifle, called the 806 Bren 2. Altair.com reports:

The first new rifles in the prototype batch made by Sako in Finland have been issued to Canadian Rangers, and initial reports are positive. The rifle, which has been designated “C-19”, will replace the venerable but aging .303-caliber Lee-Enfield rifles that have served the Rangers since 1947. The Canadian Armed Forces website reports: