#Seal

Welcome back to  Wheelgun Wednesday, our weekly article series where we cover everything related to revolvers. Today’s topic is the technical challenge of effective sound suppression of revolvers. In Part 1 we looked at mechanically sealed revolvers, today we’ll focus on “Gap Sealing Cartridges”, an uncommon approach with plenty of potential.

Welcome back to  Wheelgun Wednesday, our weekly article series where we cover everything related to revolvers. Today’s topic is the technical challenge of effective sound suppression of revolvers. While we all know that the cylinder gap prevents proper suppression, we will look at different workarounds, developed by designers across the world. There’s no universally accepted categorization of solutions to this problem, but for the sake of simplicity we’ll arbitrarily divide the approaches into three groups:

The Civilian Marksmanship Program has an absolute unicorn up for auction, a true Mark 13 Mod 3 sniper rifle. This .300 Win Mag looks like it could tell some GWOT war stories if it could talk. It’s not every day that a gun like this is available to the public, so let’s take a look at this rifle.

Here’s the article that no one asked for – the Magpul MDS review.

The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is seeking something a little smaller than its existing M4A1 and Mk.18 carbines: The command just released a request for information (RFI) to the industry seeking proposals for conversion kits for M4A1 Carbine receivers that turn the weapons into sub-6lb, sub-26″ .300 Blackout caliber weapons. The RFI was released on March 9th, and submitting companies have until 3 PM Eastern on April 10th to respond. The RFI’s requirements read:

The SIG Sauer P226 Mark 25 handgun was adopted by Naval Special Warfare Command after an initial solicitation by NSWC Crane. The handgun was and is still in use by a number of Sailors within this contingent, however the actual SEALs have and still are issued the standard Sig P226, rather than the Mark 25. Note that the other Sig handgun in here is actually a P229, instead of a standard P226. However for comparison’s sake, the P229 served well.

The battle for Mosul in Iraq is going on right now, being fought by Iraqi troops, Kurdish Peshmerga, and some Turkish elements against entrenched Daesh right now. However, there is a significant amount of international coalition SF groups that are helping these local forces call in air strikes, direct close air support, and otherwise facilitate assets that various nations are bringing to the table against Daesh.

Today knowledge of Operation Red Wings is fairly widespread as a result of the movie Lone Survivor, which followed on the heels of the book by the same name. Of course, many movie-goers did not and still do not realize they were watching a tragic story play out that was not manufactured by Hollywood but actually took place in the shale-strewn mountains of the Hindu Kush. It’s been a decade since those four Navy SEALs were inserted into Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, a decade since Lieutenant Michael Murphy, Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, and Petty Officer Second Class Matt Axelson lost their lives in a ferocious fight to the death against known terrorists. A decade since the one survivor, Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell, fell down a mountain, crawled to a stream, and was quite literally saved by a Pashtun by the name of Gulab. Ten years later, families continue to mourn the loss of their husbands, brothers, and sons. But in the case of the family of SEAL Matt Axelson, they’ve found a way to help his memory live on by founding Axelson Tactical.

Just in case anyone still doubted the abilities of US Special Forces to strike anywhere anytime, SEAL Team Six and Delta Force raided two countries simultaneously with the aim of capturing high-value Al-Qaeda affiliated commanders. Delta Force entered Libya and successfully captured and extracted their target. According to the US media, Seal Team Six was unsuccessful. They encountered armed resistance and decided to withdraw rather than risk civilian casualties.

Back in the 80s the US Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) procured SIG Sauer P226 pistols for the SEALs. The NSWC version of the P226 was later sold to the public as the SIG P226 Navy. Unbeknown to me, the Navy has recently given the latest version of their P226 the designation Mk25 and SIG is now selling the Mk25 to public.

Allison Barrie has published a list of the latest gadgets for military and special forces. I did not know I needed a Disposal Explosives Tool, but now I realize that I am woefully underprepared if I ever need to crimp a C4 blasting cap. At just $99, can you afford not to have a Gerber 600 with Blasting Cap Crimper?

The Army Times (via. Murdoc) report that the 75th Rangers are receiving new FN SCAR rifles:

DOD Buzz has some thoughts on the weapon platform used by the SEAL Snipers who took out the pirates: