by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview has been interested in the Nikonov AN-94 "Abakan" assault rifle for a pretty long time, now. I believe I first read about it in 1994 or 1995. Designed by Russian small arms designer Gennadiy Nikonov, the AN-94 is an interesting rifle, as it enjoys one of the same (major) advantages as the Ultimax 100 Mk3 …

This one’s kind of interesting. It’s another Israeli offering. Basically, it’s classic M1 Carbine meets Tavor-2 subcarbine. At least that’s how it looks. The HEZI SM-1 PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) is chambered for the .30 Carbine (7.62x33mm) round which was utilized to mixed effect by troopers in WWII with their M1 Carbines. The HEZI SM-1 PDW is… manufactured and marketed …

by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com There’s a new .50 BMG sniper/anti-materiel rifle in town, and it’s called the Cobb FA50(T). The "FA" stands for "Fast Action". The "T" stands for "tactical". The following is an email letter DefRev received from Cobb Manufacturing, Inc. President, Skip Patel, on the Cobb FA50(T) Fast Action .50 BMG rifle: "Dear David, …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com This company has just come across DefRev’s radar. Troy Industries, Inc. appears to be a specialized small arms manufacturer with a specific focus on Special Operations applications and the CQB (Close Quarters Battle) role. According to the company, the Rock SOPMOD (Special Operations Peculiar Modification) M14 Commando Carbine has been designed under contract for the Naval …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com A lot of gun people I know down here in Florida wear cargo pants. This is because cargo pants are lightweight and comfortable, and have big pockets into which you can put lots of stuff. As it happens, my personal philosophy is "the more pockets the better." When you combine this outlook with my "the more …

by David Crane defrev at gmail.com August 17, 2002 The bulk of this story is basically a re-printing of a post reply I made to a thread at TheFiringLine.com(a.k.a. TFL), along with a couple little changes and additional material and commentary. The title of the TFL thread is "Why the HKP7 is Superior to the Glock", and it was posted …

Alright, first report from the show–we’ll start easy. Caspian has some new components, and Wilson Combat is the beneficiary of one of these items. This, of course, relates to Caspian’s new 1911 single-stack Recon frame with tactical light-mounting rail. So, for Wilson Combat customers that want a 1911 with integral light-mounting rail, things are looking pretty good. Caspian is also …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Pete Kokalis has written an article in the latest issue of SAR(Small Arms Review) on a new rifle that’s designed to be sort of a quick-fix for the Colt M4 carbine. Anyone intimately familiar with the M4 carbine knows that it has some serious problems. These include reliability problems which involve gas system blow-outs, barrels wearing …

Most people are familiar with the phrase "Glock Perfection". It’s on Glock’s brochures, and mimmicked by Glock owners everywhere, whose numbers are legion. And, it must be said that those claims are pretty accurate. While not perfect, Glock pistols are just about as close to perfection as can reasonably be achieved via mass production. That said, if there’s one feature …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com November 17th, 2002 Every once in awhile, as the editor of Defense Review, I have the rare and somewhat distinct pleasure of handling and firing a firearm that is not only brand spanking new, but actually manages to knock my socks off. Please keep in mind that I did not expect Heckler …