FN Herstal announced that a conversion kit is now available to users who wish to upgrade the FN MAG to a polymer buttstock. The transition requires some modification.
FN’s MAG 7.62 x 51 machine gun is considered by many to be the world standard for a machine gun in its class. It has been adopted by 93 countries around the world and serves successfully in a variety of applications including mounted and remote weapon stations. The FN MAG is known by various designations MAG58, GPMG, M240, L7A2.
The howling you hear in the background is not Louisiana Bell toning the phone lines, it’s the coyote hunters when they get their hands on Streamlight’s HP series of weapon mounted lights!
The TLR-1s HP (High Power), the subject of my review…
It’s been a long time since we’ve done a “Top n reasons where n can be any real or imaginary number.”So, here it is!
FOG HORN’s Top ”n” Reasons Where n Can Be Any Real or Imaginary Number Why You Should Consider Losing Weight.
10. You leave your boyfriend breathless after sex.
9. You’re refused service at a Chinese buffet.
8. Victoria’s Secret talks about you.
7. The airlines bust you for trying to smuggle an extra carry-on.
6. People ask you to raise your arm so they can tell if you’re walking or rolling.
5. TSA agents won’t pat you down.
4. Bally’s asks you for a security deposit.
3. David Letterman starts taking an interest in you.
2. The shoe salesman won’t look up your dress.
1. Biff Henderson thinks you’re thick.
There is no substitute for a well designed anything! The Linchpin™ assault pack from Camelbak is no exception to that sweeping statement, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find anything at its price point that comes even close to it!
Check out my review…
Je tiens à remercier le Président sortant Nicolas Sarkozy pour renforcer les liens entre la France et les Etats-Unis. Nous vous souhaitons bonne chance!
Nos félicitations au Président élu François Hollande.
A large part of the design problem associated with bringing gear to the soldier operator is ensuring that the system being introduced does not get in the way of the job, and eye protection is a clear example of that. Soldiers involved in search and destroy or clearing operations continuously transition from extreme bright light to near complete darkness as they move in and out of dwellings or caves. Wearing dark glasses requires them to either remove their eye protection indoors, or not wear eye protection at all. Revision has addressed that need with their new Photochromic Sawfly… Sal Palma
Complete review coming your way this June!
Cambelbak’s Linchpin™ featuring the Futura Harness by Mystery Ranch will let you load up a 1 bedroom apartment yet feel like you’re carrying a change of underwear…
Sal Palma
Review coming your way 7 May 2012!
Revision based in Essex Junction, VT, USA has just announced that its highly acclaimed and greatly anticipated Batlskin Modular Head Protection System is now available. The system is designed for use with the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH).The initial size offerings will be in Medium and Large with Small and X-Large scheduled for later in the summer.
What’s exciting about Batlskin is its modularity. Operators can configure Batlskin to suit the mission; thus eliminating excess weight and bulk.
Available now are the following ACH-compatible Batlskin components: the Batlskin
Front Mount (MSRP $89.99); the Batlskin 3-Position Visor (MSRP $279.99); and the
Batlskin High-Threat Mandible Guard (MSRP $479.99). Any of these items can be purchased at Revision’s online store and through select military retailers across the U.S.
Readers interested in a snap shot (no pun intended) of Usama bin Ladin’s thought processes will enjoy reading these letters. They were made available by USSOCOM to the CTC, Combating Terrorism Center, at West Point. These letters are available in the original Arabic and English translation. There is a total of 17 letters that account for 197 pages of text.
Please download them here.
Original BFM1 A1
Burnished Versions
By the way, these knives are great utility knives complete with an integrated marlinspike. If you’ve ever had to handle wet knotted line or make a splice, or an eye, you’ll quickly come to appreciate the value of the marlinspike.
It simply amazes me how often organizations, ranging from law enforcement to military – including SF units, struggle with the quest for a “universal” sniper platform. The term “universal” is symptomatic for “…I don’t know what I really need so what I get has to do everything, just in case I do need it.” I suppose that with the unlimited availability of budget dollars from Congress for Base and OCO budgets, during the height of Iraq and Afghanistan, you could get away with that; however, the chickens are coming home to roost and effective immediately you’ll need to account for every dollar spent under increasing scrutiny. The job will still require a variety of tools but the accounting departments and oversight committees will be looking at your capital expenditures with increasing tenacity.
Fortunately, Desert Tactical Arms’ product planning and development was clairvoyant, and when the company developed their modular chassis bullpup system, which allowed the sniper team to configure the sniper platform for any caliber by simply installing the appropriate conversion kit, they solved the eternal struggle between the “I want it to do anything” and “you don’t have the money to do it.”
Expanding on that concept, the company introduced the HTI, Hard Target Interdiction , sniper rifle. Like their SRS and SRS Covert, the HTI consists of a chassis and several conversion kits. Once the initial financial investment is made for the chassis ( $4,800), the organization simply budgets and acquires conversion kits for the desired caliber. Caliber options include .50 BMG, .416 Barret, .408 Cheytac, and .375 Cheytac – all chamberings are capable of 2000+ yard engagements with superb penetration.
In times of austerity this level of flexibility balances operational needs and financial requirements. It achieves all this while delivering on sub minute of angle accuracy, greater compactness and reduced weight. Not too shabby!
If you are unfamiliar with Desert Tactical Arms, I strongly suggest you take that first step.
Walther PPQ Navy
Walther manufactures and sells a version of its highly successful PPQ 9mm pistol specifically designed for waterborne operations, the Walther PPQ Navy.
The firing mechanism of the WALTHER PPQ NAVY has been optimized for operations in and near water. A hole in the striker channel ensures sufficient water displacement if the weapon becomes completely flooded with water. Hydraulic resistance is offset by means of a stronger striker spring. In addition, special guides reduce the water resistance when the striker moves forward.
Walther offers the PPQ Navy in 15 or 17 round configurations and a 118 mm threaded barrel for use with a suppressor.
For additional details contact:
PO Box 4325
89033 Ulm
Tel.: +49 7 31 / 15 39 0
Fax: +49 7 31 / 15 39 109
Funny but effective Army training video addresses basic rifle marksmanship – its about 28 minutes!
If you’re ever in need of a Glock Superstore to complement your Glock Perfection, point your browser to GlockStore.com. The GlockStore is a purveyor of all things Glock, including some interesting apparel concepts like their new Tactcial Concealment Jacket. Undoubtedly influenced by Lenny Magill, their design team have come up with a truly functional design. And, it looks good too!
Lenny Magill shares the concept and design philosophy behind their new jacket.
LMT® LM308MWS Sharpshooter System
Lewis Machine and Tool Company (LMT®) has introduced the LM308MWS, Sharpshooter System for the U.S. Commercial Market. If you’ll recall, in 2009, the British MOD selected Lewis Machine and Tool Company to be sole supplier what is now designated the L129A1 sharpshooter’s rifle.
The new Sharpshooter System, like its UK predecessor, is built on a one-piece upper receiver with a free floating 16″ stainless steel, tactically flat-matte blackened barrel with a 1:11.25″ twist with the SureFire adapter mounted. The .308 Modular Weapon System features Flat Dark Earth furniture, a semi-auto carrier group, charging handle assembly, SOPMOD buttstock, two-stage trigger, an ambi-selector and ambi- mag release and flip-up front and rear sights.
LMT® packs this collector’s rifle in a Pelican case with foam cut outs and includes not only the manual, torque wrench/driver and three Flat Dark Earth rail panels, but also eight 20-round magazines, two heavy-duty push-button swivels, a .308 OTIS cleaning kit, a sliding sling mount, a chamber cleaning rod and sight adjustment tool and a Harris Bipod assembly. A complete, one-of-a-kind Sharpshooter System in one package is available for only $4,950.09 MSRP.
This offering is a limited time limited quantity (LTLQ) event so act quickly if want to pick one up.
As part of CERP, Capital Equipment Replacement Program, USSOCOM has awarded Harris Communications a $400 million IDIQ contract for delivery of its Falcon III family of radios. The FALCON III family provides USSOCOM with a networkable and integrated communications platform consisting of the AN/PRC-117, AN/PRC-152 and AN/PRC-155. These radios are JTRS SCA compliant and support SINCGARS, VHF/UHF line-of-sight, Have Quick, IW for tactical satellite communications and other combat net radio waveforms. SRW, Soldier Radio Waveform will be added sometime in 2012.
Some things in life just blow you away and this is one of those!
I exercise regularly, usually 5 days a week and sometimes 6. All my workouts are fairly rigorous, but I don’t use weights. I use my own body weight for resistance training, it works well for me. I’m usually dehydrated by the time that I’m done, so I hydrate immediately after my workouts. In addition to water I’ll squeeze several wedges of lemon into my water container, or I’ll drain the juice out of the jar that most restaurants use to keep lemon wedges for ice tea, etc.
Yesterday, I had a guy walk up to me saying ” Hey you’re the FOG HORN dude…” to which I responded “yes I am.” He then asked me “what are you doing with that lemon juice?” I explained it as best I could and I think to his satisfaction. As he departed he thanked me for the Blog and commented on how much he enjoyed it .
WOW, was that neat or what – I must say that it made my day!
In any event here’s the answer to the question.
Lemon juice is a superb – all natural – electrolyte containing no artificial sugars, sodium etc. It is citric acid with a good supply of oils. An electrolyte functions to expedite the absorption of water in your digestive track so you hydrate more thoroughly and at an accelerated rate. That’s the reason you feel so refreshed when you drink a glass of water with a lemon wedge on a hot summer day. In fact, lemon juice is so effective as an electrolyte that it enhances current flow in wet cells.
It’s certainly disheartening to see an organization as distinguished as the U.S. Secret Service get a black-eye from childish behavior by a group of individuals who clearly exercised poor judgement. The event appears to have taken the place of the George Zimmerman incident with the media, and as with George Zimmerman, before the results of an investigation are in.
I’d like to suggest one possible approach to addressing the problem.
Let’s get this incident behind us because from where I sit the only people making a big deal out of this is our media.
Vectronix AG, Heerbrugg Switzerland, introduced the NiteSpotMR, a medium range clip-on night sight that adds night vision capability (I²) to a wide variety of rifles, at DSA 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
NiteSpotMR attaches to the front of a day-sight objective and can be removed when not in use. NiteSpotMR does not affect the optical zero of the day sight, eliminating the need for re-adjustment or boresighting when changing between daytime and nighttime operations.
NiteSpotMR can be used with any rifle (up to .50 caliber). There is an optional remote control for gain and focus adjustment.
NiteSpotMR provides three optional mounting possibilities for additional attachments, providing the user with flexibility. The NiteSpotMR can be combined with Vectronix’ TACS-M, adding thermal capability to further enhance situational awareness.
We are looking forward to bringing you a comprehensive review in the coming months.
With the introduction of the TLR3, Streamlight addressed an urgent need for a durable and reliable weapon mounted tactical light to complement the cornucopia of compact and subcompact firearms setting the market on fire. The TLR3 proved to be a highly successful addition to Streamlight’s TLR line and a companion to its wildly successful and larger TLR1. However, if you needed a laser aiming module, you had no choice but to leave Streamlight or settle on their TLR2, which was a full sized weapon mounted light with an integrated laser aiming module.
Prayers were answered with Streamlight’s 2012 announcement launching the TLR4 – a compact weapon mounted light with an integrated laser aiming module.
Just got back from an extraordinary bike ride to find out that Colt Industries has entered the precision bolt action rifle business. The company made the announcement and debuted its new M2012 at this year’s NRA Conference and Exhibit in St. Louis.
The M2012 is chambered in .308 and features a 22 inch fluted stainless steel barrel on a pretty interesting chassis. I’m guessing that it won’t be too long before it appears as a 300 Win Mag as well. M.S.R.P. on this rifle will be $3799, and I’ll have more on Colt’s M2012 in subsequent posts.
We’ve got some great articles and reviews coming your way this May.
AN/PRC-154 w/ GD300
The USSOCOM’s CAR (Capital Equipment Replacement) Program was implemented to finance a series of tactical and strategic acquisitions. Towards the top of that list is communications. As USSOCOM is increasingly tasked with spearheading the low intensity asymmetric effort, their reliance on compact and effective communications integration has increased proportionally. Since much of their work is reconnaissance and intelligence, Command and Control, planners, and operators need the ability to network communications and integrate, voice, data and video. Light weight and compact form factors are equally important.
The Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) Program Office of the Joint Program Executive Office Joint Tactical Radio System (JPEO JTRS) and the US Army 75Th Ranger Regiment have been evaluating the AN/PRC-154 and PRC-155 JTRS radios from Harris. Elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment have deployed to Afghanistan with the AN/PRC-154 Rifleman Radio as their intra-squad radio, coupled with the GD300 end-user device display which the Rangers have been developing with General Dynamics. This system provides networked voice and data communications and digital situational awareness down to the individual soldier, and the Rangers’ deployment signifies the first combat use of the system.
The successes enjoyed by Harris’ AN/PRC-154 and PRC-155 in Afghanistan signals a near end to the ubiquitous multiband inter/intra team (MBITR) AN/PSC-5D.
BAE Systems announced yesterday , April 11, 2012, that it has been awarded an $11 million contract to provide USSOCOM with its mini weapon mountable IR monocular, SkeeterIR®.
The SkeeterIR uses a Wilcox interface so it can be mounted to the helmet or any other system supporting that mounting interface; this includes cantilever mounts very much like those available from LaRue. The operator then simply rotates the SkeeterIR in or out of his line of sight as the operation dictates.
The SkeeterIR displays a true 320 x 240 resolution and is configurable with dual band pointing lasers 835nm (IR) or 650nm (Visible Red). Additionally, the SkeeterIR can function as a dedicated weapon sight with selectable reticles. The unit runs on a single 123A battery that delivers 3 hours of run time.
Vectronix PLRF25C BT
It’s not often that one has the opportunity to T&E a piece of military technology that is truly excellent, and there’s certainly no shortage of laser range finders available to the warfighter; however, they generally involve compromising on size and weight to gain performance. I’m here to tell you those days are over!
When I received a green light to T&E Vectronix’s PLRF25C, I spent a considerable amount of time structuring a test scenario that would be a reliable indicator of performance; lazing steel plates at unknown ranges is simply not enough.
Review:
No two companies more closely personify excellence than Sinclair International and Brownell’s; they offer the best of everything a gun enthusiast or professional needs, and that includes world class service and fulfillment.
Sinclair International became part of the Brownell’s Group in 2007; bringing with it tremendous amounts of experience gained as a leading supplier of reloading equipment. Whatever your reloading needs are, Sinclair can meet them with expert knowledge and service to boot. So, be sure to visit booths #2408 and #2305 at the annual NRA Show held at America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, MO, April 13-15, 2012.
While at Sinclair’s booth checkout Sinclair’s latest, cutting-edge products, chat with Sinclair Reloading Technicians and enter to win daily door prizes.
By: Sal Palma
Yet another great question from a reader in N.Y. The gentleman submitting this question / comment was responding to my comment posted in my article “Why The Emphasis On Ammunition Awareness?“; where I state…
“Although our national intelligence assessments predict that our conflicts, moving into the future, will be low intensity asymmetric “type” threats, the possibility exits that we will be engaged in conflicts where our forces will face a trained and organized combatant; capable of denying air and space assets with a capacity to wage intensive cyber attacks against command and control networks as well as industrial infrastructure.”
Thank you for an excellent question, but let me disagree with you on the basis of several points.
First, India is one of the more openly corrupt governments on the planet. Indian citizens are not just neglected but in many cases are required to pay local officials bribes for basic and simple services like transferring or perfecting deeds, acquiring licenses and other essential basic services.
Secondly, there is a noticeable undertow in India’s society, especially in the outer states, of radicalization fueled by India’s disregard for its poor and less educated. India has been making huge investments in its military because it feels that it needs to project military prestige; meanwhile, the population lumbers under the weight of poverty and disease. India has the unflattering stigma of having one of the world’s highest rates of infant mortality.
Finally, in an open conflict with China, the Indian Air Force and Navy would be incapacitated within the first 72 hours of the engagement. At which time, the only thing the Indian military would be flying are kites.
Using India as a buffer between The United States and China, should that ever be required, is simply a ludicrous proposition. This is the harsh reality, and let us pray in thanks that there’s nothing in India that China wants.
Nope he’s not Rick Santorum’s kid, – probably the only person that’s not judging by Sen. Santorum’s family size – he’s Mike Mers the newly appointed Sales Manager at Advanced Armament Corporation, AAC.
Mike has been with AAC since 2009 and was part of the team that made “silence is not a crime” a household expression. In his new role, Mike will be developing business and managing key account managers.
We wish Mike the best of luck in his new assignment and we look forward to working closely with him to make sure that we get the word out.
By: Sal Palma
I have a very interesting question from a reader in the U.K. wanting to know why I placed so much emphasis on ammunition awareness.
I blogged an article on the AK-47, “Modernization of the AK47”; as part of that piece, I posted what I will refer to as “dog and pony” videos discussing a variety of topics. In one of those videos, I commented on ammunition awareness expressing a heartfelt sentiment that ammunition awareness is vitally important, trumping speed of magazine changes or any other technique.
There is some interesting research that’s been conducted by military, former military and scholars that show an exponential increase in the number of rounds fired per enemy casualty since WWII. I believe some to be reasonable numbers; others are wild eyed assessments, so for this illustration I used numbers that I felt were not precise but reasonable.
In WWII the average combat scenario required 10,000+ rounds fired per enemy casualty. That number has grow dramatically since then, with estimates of 80,000 + rounds in Vietnam and more recently 200,000+ rounds in Iraq/Afghanistan (averaged out). If I were to graph these numbers for you, this is what that graph would look like.
As the graph illustrates, this is clearly an exponential function. Why?
Well, it’s not just you and I that are curious about this relationship and the DoD, as well as NATO, are seriously looking at the phenomenon. Opinions range from deficiencies in marksmanship to improvements in logistics. The answer is probably a mix. In my opinion, it’s a combination of several variables; however, the two I weigh most heavily are a soldier’s mindset and the effects of superb logistics.
Over the ten years U.S. armed forces have been engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, our fixed and rotary wing combatants established and maintained unquestionable and complete air superiority. This battlefield umbrella made it possible for a soldier/ operator to order, if he chose to, a Domino’s pizza and have it delivered to the front lines in 30 minutes or less. That level of support plays to a mind set that says I can be resupplied in a heartbeat. Allowing that to continue in my view is a colossal error in judgment.
Although our national intelligence assessments predict that our conflicts, moving into the future, will be low intensity asymmetric “type” threats, the possibility exits that we will be engaged in conflicts where our forces will face a trained and organized combatant; capable of denying air and space assets with a capacity to wage intensive cyber attacks against command and control networks as well as industrial infrastructure.
Loosing an asymmetric conflict is an embarrassment, loosing a major conflict with a major actor is a disaster!
Therefore, in my view, our training needs to encompass simulations of operations in those environments. Developing soldier awareness and combat skills in scenarios where many of our strategic support assets are unavailable, or have reduced availability. This is critically important.
These are my reasons for ammunition awareness and management! Thank you for the thoughtful question and thank you for dropping by. I hope you return soon with more great questions or comments. Cheers!
I normally don’t get excited about camouflage. I simply wore what I was issued and that was that! However, I have to tell you that I’ve been excited about A-TACS since I first came across it at Fort Benning, GA; were I solely responsible for making the decision of what to select for a new UCP, it would be A-TACS hands down.
The folks at Advanced Tactical Concealment System are working very hard to make your experience on their web site http://www.a-tacs.com/ more useful, informative and enjoyable. The enhancements planned for 2012 will include:
Our friend over at the Firearm Blog have reported that President Elect Vladimir Putin has authorized development of taser weapons.
This is good news because it means we will see a 75 round drum magazine for electrodes!
Это хорошая новость. Мы скоро увидим мощностью 75 электроды.
We’ve got some great articles and reviews coming your way this month.
I have two weapon mounted tactical light reviews in the works; Streamlight’s TRL-1 HP and TRL-4. You’re going to love both of these lights, especially the TLR-4. It’s an ideal match for the FN P90, HK MP5 family, and HK MP7A1 as well as compact frame pistols. A super addition to your home defense sidearm.
PLRF25C Front View
There are laser range finders and then there’s the Vectronix PLRF 25C. Easy to use, fast and accurate. I had a great time working with the folks at Vectronix and I can tell you the PLRF 25C rocks.
So, Stay With Us!
Remeber to visit the FOG HORN throughout the month. We love hearing from you and don’t forget to leave us your comments; however, be courteous and constructive. We can all learn from one another!
Progressively more people and/or organizations are integrating video capture technologies with a weapon system to help them meet increasing legal requirements, in the case of law enforcement, or for the military to enhance command and control capabilities.
Strikemark recognized that need and has developed an assortment of mounting solutions for some specific technologies like GoPro and Contour.
Read My Review:
This very concept of “IPON”, so to speak, permeates CRKT’s Hissatsu Folder™. Simplicity with a purpose captured in the Kanji translation of its name Hissatsu – “strike”.
The Hissatsu folder is a collaborative effort between James Williams and Columbia River Knife and Tool.
The Army has taken delivery of the first 85 of 650 MK19 40mm Grenade Machine Guns (GMGs) under an $8.7 million IDIQ contract from the General Dynamics (GD) Armament and Technical Products. GDATP was awarded the contract in September 2011.
The MK19 is a 40mm grenade machine gun (GMG), and rather formidable crew-served weapon. The GMG is blowback operated, air-cooled and uses a disintegrating metallic link-belt-fed system. The weapon is fully automatic and designed to fire a variety of armour-piercing grenades against enemy personnel and light armored vehicles.
The MK19, although not a featherweight by any means at 72.5 lbs., has an effective range of 1600 meters and can be used by mounted or dismounted ground forces. It’s ideally suited for a HMMWV or other light vehicles as well as rotor and fixed wing aircraft.
The gun has a cyclic rate of 400 rounds per minute and fires six types of rounds that include M430 family of high-explosive dual-purpose grenades, M383 high-explosive grenade, along with practice and dummy rounds for training exercises.
A well produced video that will give you insight into just one aspect of PEO Soldier’s mission in life – sniper systems.
I’ve been around motorcycles of every description for a long time and nothing, other than the Indian, will ever replace the love I have in my heart for the Harley Davidson motorcycle. It screams American in a way no other bike can. So, when I laid eyes on Benchmade’s H-D Ti-Fender™ Monolock it was love at first sight. This is a gorgeous knife!
The 39-09 Combat is a slightly shorter, 160 mm, version of the 39-09 Operativo, which traces its origins back to World War I. The U.S. version of the Combat features a flat ground blade with a plain edge and very nicely executed serrations just forward of the hilt on the opposite side of the edge. The false edge endows the 39-09 Combat with a pugnale character, so, like the 39-09 Operativo, slicing and puncturing are excellent; as expected, build quality is Extrema throughout.
RTHD-2 Courtesy VT Miltope
Just when you thought life couldn’t get better, technology steps in shattering the illusion.
VT Miltope’s RTHD-2 is a ruggedized handheld computer that obviates a need for a smartphone. It is a, first of its kind, wireless appliance integrating a variety of functions (video, voice, data, navigation) into one rugged and compact system designed for mounted or dismounted operations.
When deployed with wireless gateways, network connectivity and routing functions will integrate with full 3G and 4G capabilities. The RTHD-2 enhances situational awarness and command and control (C2) with voice, data and video integration.
Specifications:
It is terribly tragic to see the life of a young man, Travon Martin, extinguished by a thoughtless and misguided act of bravado. Travon’s death didn’t just destroy a young man’s life it destroyed a family, and all of the wonderful and magical things associated with family life. I understand the family’s and community’s outrage.
However, I am equally outraged by the irresponsible and inflammatory actions of news outlets, principally CNN, who without jurisdiction or legal authority are trying George Zimmerman in the public’s eye. CNN’s role is to provide news coverage of the events, not conduct independent audio analysis of evidence to speculate on whether Zimmerman used a racial slur or not. CNN’s actions are not simply inflammatory, they’re reckless and impede the investigations in-progress by the State of Florida and the DOJ.
Roughly 26 states have “stand your ground laws” enacted. None, that I am aware of, are written in language that authorizes an act of aggression – they are defensive in construct and intent. Stand your ground laws and castle doctrine laws have made it possible for law abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families in the face of danger; they have saved lives and will continue to do so, and their passage reflects the will of voters living in those states. I encourage other states across the country to follow in their footsteps.
CNN needs to get out of “selective” injustice business!
