by David Crane May 6, 2009 The April 2009 issue of Special Weapons for Military & Police (SWMP) (Gun Buyer’s Annual #74) has an article on the Smith & Wesson (S&W) M&P15R 5.45x39mm Russian (a.k.a. 5.45x39mm Soviet a.k.a. 5.45x39mm Kalashnikov) semi-auto tactical AR-15 carbine. It’s an interesting offering, since the 5.45mm Russian is an interesting little cartridge, and combining it …

By Michael Pannone This article is the follow-up to the author’s first article on the subject, titled "M4/M4A1 Carbine Reliability Issues: Why They Occur, and Why They’re Our Fault!". March 15, 2009 If your Explorer gets a flat does that mean "Fords are unreliable"? If you put bad fuel in your Tundra does that mean "Toyotas run crappy"? Stay with …

by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com March 20, 2008 DefenseReview was one of the first publications to report on the results of the Fall 2007 M4 Carbine "Extreme Dust Test". We published that story on December 18, 2007. Well, on December 19, 2007, we received two email communications (below) from one of our professional contacts in U.S. Army …

By Charlie Cutshaw For those of you who may have been on another planet for the past three or four years, our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are having serious reliability issues with the M16 rifle and M4 Carbine, especially the latter. The basic problems with the M16 and M4 are nothing new. M16 reliability issues date to the mid-1960s …

by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com All photographic images contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and they are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. All photos were shot with a 7.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot digital camera (Model #: DSC-P150). December 27, 2007 The February 2008 issue of Guns & Weapons for …

By Charlie Cutshaw Revolutionary is a word that is occasionally inappropriate, but sometimes it is about the only word that fits. Suppose we told you that we had fired a new AR based rifle that didn’t need lubrication? And suppose we told you that it really didn’t need regular cleaning, either? Finally, suppose we told you that this new AR …

by Zak Smith DEMIGOD LLC With optics ubiquitous on fighting rifles, the old rule that long barrels – with their longer sight radius – are needed for accuracy and longer-range capability is turned on its head. It’s possible to get one-moa mechanical accuracy from 18, 16, 14.5, 12.5, and even 10.5-inch barrels, perhaps at a higher cost. Thus, with even …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Back in January (2005), DefRev published a short article on the recently-introduced DSA Z4-GTC (Gas Trap Carbine). At SHOT Show 2005, we got a chance to view and handle the weapon. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to test fire it. We hope to remedy that soon. The Z4-GTC is a piston-driven semi-auto carbine in an …

by David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com February 7, 2004 Last updated on 10/23/12. Some of you may remember the original “Hissatsu” that was manufactured for and marketed by Ancient Edge/Bugei Trading Co. in very limited numbers several years ago. Well, it’s back. Once again, it’s brought to us (in slightly modified form) by Ancient Edge/Bugei Trading Co., only …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Included in Gary Paul Johnston’s October 2003 "Soldier of Fortune" article is some great info on both the Armalite Mid-Length Carbine and A.R.M.S. Mid-Length S.I.R. System. The Armalite Mid-Length Carbine was designed specifically to overcome the long-known gas system-related problems associated with the standard M4/M4A1, problems that have been plaguing end-users for years. These include greatly …