#ARX-100

Way back in July 2015, we reported that Adcor Defense had launched a lawsuit against Beretta USA for the use of proprietary information used in the development of the ARX-100. At the time the two companies had entered into an agreement for Adcor to produce components for 100,000 rifles but the deal fell apart and Adcor filed a suit for “damages for breach of contract, unfair competition, fraud, civil conspiracy and other claims.”

DefenceWeb recently released a video overview of the new Steyr / Rheinmetall RS-556 assault rifle. The rifle, a sort of hybrid between an AR-15 and a Steyr AUG, was submitted to the Bundeswehr’s System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr trials, competing against both Heckler & Koch’s HK416 and the new HK433 assault rifles. The RS-556, mechanically, is substantially different from a basic AR-15, and therefore occupies an interesting spot in-between being an AR-15 variant and a completely different weapon. The upper receiver is a single piece forged unit, with an AUG-style fixed extension/trunnion and quick change barrel. An AUG-style short stroke tappet gas system and connecting operating rod replace the AR-15’s direct impingement system. In the upper, a steel insert, rather than the aluminum receiver itself, guides the bolt carrier group. This feature is supposed to increase upper receiver life, and improve its maintenance characteristics, although it does make the rifle significantly heavier.

Representatives of the German gun manufacturing company Heckler & Koch confirmed today that the company has submitted both the HK416 assault rifle and the new HK433 modular assault rifle to the Bundeswehr’s System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr (SSB) rifle trials,  which are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018.

The G36’s replacement is now known to be one of five guns – or at least that’s the report coming from reputable defense outlet IHS Jane’s. Competing in Germany’s System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr (Bundeswehr Assault Rifle System) will be the Rheinmetall RS556, Heckler & Koch HK433, Haenel Defence MK556, SIG MCX, and FNH SCAR. For four contestants, no known 7.62mm variants exist; only the FN SCAR has a 7.62mm variant – the SCAR-H – that is known publicly. This means the Bundeswehr will likely not be going back to .30 caliber infantry rifles any time soon.

The timeline for the replacement of the troubled G36 rifle with a new yet-to-be-selected weapon has been announced by the Bundeswehr. The German System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr (SSB)program was announced on February 3rd, 2016, with the solicitation itself being released on April 19th, 2017. According to Polish gun magazine MilMag, the testing and evaluation segment of the program was begun in July of this year, and is expected to be completed by November 2018. Between December of 2018 and April of 2019, the Bundeswehr will deliberate on the winner of the contract, which is expected to be awarded the following month in May. Final testing and troop trials will be conducted over the course of the next year, and fielding is expected to occur starting in September of 2020. Notably, it seems the new weapon is certainly not considered an “interim” item, as it is expected to serve through 2046.

Thanks to a recent leak exclusively to The Firearm Blog, we have now become aware of a new tender for rifles issued by the Pakistani government. According to the tender document, the Pakistani Army is looking for 75,000 “modern 7.62x39mm caliber weapons”, presumably as part of the program to replace their aging fleet of G3 and Type 56 assault rifles. The specifications for the tender are given below:

ShootingSightLLC modifies firearms in a different way than most. He adds LEDs inside the firearms to give them a futuristic look. He says the guns are 100% real and functional. However he does not know how well the electronics will fair with live fire. Kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me.

Debris testing has been done to death. Here at TFB, we’ve covered mud and sand tests conducted by  InRange TV, Guns & Ammo TV, and the Military Arms Channel on everything from the AK,  AR-15 to the Vz. 58. So what about ice, instead?

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!

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!

TFB stopped at the Beretta Defense booth, where they were exhibiting the new ARX-200 7.62x51mm select-fire rifle. We reported on the rumors, and subsequent release of this rifle last year, but details remained hazy, and there was no word of a US market release.

India’s rifle competition may be on the verge of cancellation. From Jane’s:

Tim of the Military Arms Channel recently took a trip to Beretta USA’s Accokeek Maryland facility. Beretta is the oldest major firearms manufacturer in the world with over 500 years experience making guns, but has only had a presence in the United States for 35 years. The Accokeek facility was set up to support production of the US military’s M9 service pistol, based on the Beretta 92 handgun. The video overview of MAC’s tour is embedded below:

Three years ago, we broke the news that Beretta was working on a dual-caliber 7.62x51mm/7.62x39mm rifle, which reportedly would be available in 2013. This never came to pass, but Beretta apparently has continued work on the rifle, which has in common only the trigger group with its 5.56mm ARX-160 carbine. From Jane’s:

I recently posted an article evaluating the Beretta ARX-100 rifle, and the feature that I feel was most detrimental to the shooting experience was the trigger, which actually maxed out a trigger pull gauge. My friend CJ is serious about distance shooting, reloading, and is quite handy when it comes to trigger work and as such he has a gauge.