By Jeff Gurwitch It’s been 8 years since my last Competition to Combat article, written back in 2018. It was the last year of use for both the Daniel Defense 10.3 CQBR upper and the 14.5 RISII non-front sight post upper. Beginning in 2019, U.S. Special Forces started to switch over to the Giessele URGI upper with mid-length gas system …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com January 21, 2021 Last updated on 1/22/21. “Maximum lethality with minimum burden to the US Warfighter.” That’s the basic goal of the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program. It’s certainly a nice goal to strive for, and two of the companies striving for it are Beretta Defense Technologies (BDT) and …

By Jeff Gurwitch October 29, 2019 Last updated on 10/29/19. In this episode, I sit down with Mike Keenan (retired Navy pilot), who served with me in Afghanistan, to go over the M4A1-type work-gun clone he built in virtually the exact configuration of the customized/modified M4A1 carbine he carried on the ground while supporting SF (Special Forces) operations down range. …

By Jeff Gurwitch October 2, 2019 Retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier Jeff Gurwitch, discusses his M4A1-type SOPMOD Block II combat/tactical AR-15 carbine clone, a copy of the carbine he used during his last combat tour in Afghanistan. The video includes everything, from the accessories he chose and how he employed them in combat, to the benefits of running a …

By Jeff Gurwitch March 25, 2019 Every once in a while, I come across a really unique item that I absolutely must get my hands on to try. This was the case with the Alpha Tarac flip-up optical accessory by TACOMHQ, a flip up lens that doubles your red dot’s point of impact. Say you run a 300-yard point of …

By Jeff Gurwitch December 30, 2018 With my retirement from the military back in March of 2017, the thought of being able to do another Competition-to-Combat Crossover article hadn’t really crossed my mind…until recently, that is. Thanks to photos and feedback sent from previous team members of their rifle setups, they’re currently employing overseas as of Fall 2018, I have …

By Jeff Gurwitch June 4, 2018 I first came across the M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) during my first deployment to Afghanistan back in 2012. At the time, M855A1 was only being issued in war zones, so none of us had any experience training with it prior to the deployment. While the penetration capability of M855A1 was pretty well documented …

By Jeff Gurwitch April 22, 2018 M855A1 ammunition has been in use overseas since at least 2011, and has been in widespread service at most U.S. Army bases since 2014. I myself first saw it in 2012 in Afghanistan. Now, when M855A1 first came out, like many others, I heard the stories that due to the increased pressure the round …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com February 11, 2016 Speaking of Elite Tactical Systems ETS smoke-tranclucent polymer Glock mags (magazines) and The Range 702 event during SHOT Show 2016, DefenseReview (DR) also got to view (in person) and handle the new mags, and they look terrific. If they work as advertised, ie., if they run reliably and durably …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com February 1, 2016 Last updated on 2/02/16. DefenseReview (DR) recently got a chance to try out a Beck Defense .510 Beck tactical AR carbine utilizing a suppressed Lancer Systems DGI (Direct Gas Impingement) upper receiver and mag (rifle magazine), and we came away pretty impressed with it, to say the least. Let’s …