#416

The Commandant of the United States Marine Corps (CMC) has stated his approval for an overhaul of the front-line infantry Marine’s gear – including the fielding of the Heckler & Koch M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle as a standard issue rifle, to replace the M4 Carbine. The move comes after considerable debate as to what the USMC’s next infantry weapon configuration should look like. From Military.com’s KitUp!:

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.

France has just adopted the HK416 as its new standard infantry rifle, replacing the FAMAS, and Germany is on a path to a new weapon, aiming to divest herself of the controversial G36. This raises the question: Will Germany and France adopt a unified arm? These two nations, historically enemies but often partners after the Second World War, could possibly standardize on the excellent Heckler and Koch HK416 rifle, derived from the American AR-15 with the HK-designed male-piston short stroke high strength operating rod. Polish writer Remiguisz Wilk, writing for IHS Jane’s writes a short report:

If any of you still had doubts about the HK416’s rumored win of the French AIF (Arme Individuelle du Futur – Future Individual Weapon) contract, doubt no more. The French DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement, their defense procurement office) has released the final decision for the contract, naming Heckler & Koch as the winner. The press release is replicated in machine-translated form below:

In the ongoing controversy about the G36 assault rifle, German gunmaker Heckler & Koch have won a major victory against the German federal government, as the Koblenz court where the company’s lawsuit against the government was tried ruled that the company was at no fault for the G36’s design. Reuters reports:

The Portuguese Army has recently put out a tender for a procurement of 10,225 light machine guns, rifles, submachine guns and handguns according to a recent report by Jane’s Defense (in an article very poorly edited for what they usually put out). The procurement will be in the ballpark of $90.2 million, and is intended for the Army to replace three entire battalions worth of small arms. The report states that the Army previously canceled its former standing tender from 2005 wherein the service declared it needed 30,000 small arms, and is now going with this current one. It also mentions that gear procurement and “light armament”  are being looked at as well. It looks like this means personal Infantry equipment and with that it seems the plan is to bring the Army up to speed across the board. From the report-

France, one the world’s first adopters of the bullpup rifle, will officially be abandoning the stockless rifle concept for good, it seems. The competition to replace the venerable FAMAS bullpup rifle has moved forward, and the only competing bullpup design, HS Produkt’s VHS-2, has been eliminated, along with Swiss Arms’ SG 550 and Beretta’s ARX-160. The downselect means that the next French standard rifle, replacing the four-decade old “Bugle”, will be either the Fabrique Nationale SCAR or the Heckler & Koch HK416, two heavyweight competitors on today’s rifle market. Sputnik News reports:

Alright so it is no secret that I am an H&K guy, and if you have followed my previous articles then you can definitely see that I have taken a liking to them over the years. Hell, the US Government will not let H&K import modern sporting rifles due to the ’89 import ban so I went out of my way to build a semi-automatic G36 clone out of an SL8 and even a title II UMP want-to-be out of a USC carbine. That being said, it came as a shock to me when I got selected to review the new H&K MR556A1. You see, the way us writers get selected to review products (when it comes to firearms) is done by rotation rather than intentional selection so I was thrilled when I got the word. I was also pleasantly surprised at how easy H&K was to deal with; I got in touch with a delightful H&K employee via e-mail and she had a shiny new MR556A1 rifle at my FFL within a week.

Ten rounds.

Two months ago I blogged that Zel Custom would soon be selling an upgraded 3rd Gen version of their Tactilite AR-15 upper. The Gen-3 receiver is now the standard receiver across the Tactilite product line and available in .338 Laupa as well as .50 BMG and .416 Barrett.

No doubt J. Rigby did not for a moment think that hundreds of years into the future a battle would be brewing for control of his name, reputation and proud legacy.

Zel Custom Mfg. have developed a new model of their Tactilite AR-15 Upper Receiver chambered in .416 Barrett. Like the .408 Cheyenne Tactical that I mentioned yesterday, the .416 is also a long range sniping round that sits between the between the .338 Lapua Magnum and .50 BMG. Over the .50 it offers greater energy past 1000 yards and is California compliant (it is fortunate that the Cali legislators do not understand ballistics).