O.k, here’s the second installment highlighting the excellent "AK Mania" issue of SAR(Small Arms Review), Nov., 2002. By the way, this is a really great AK issue for all those Kalashnikov lovers out there. In this DefRev installment, we’re going to discuss ASD Firearms LLC’s authentic-looking AK variants, both full-auto and semi-auto only. The SAR story we’ll be discussing this …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com October 5, 2002 I don’t know about the rest of you, but there’s just something about a 7.62x39mm caliber Mini-AK the size of a subgun that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Who cares that it’s semi-auto only? Who cares that it doesn’t have a shoulder stock? It’s small, …

by David Crane defrev@gmail.com September 03, 2002 Well, the folks at Leitner-Wise Rifle Co., of Alexandria, VA, have certainly been keeping busy over there. They’ve just come out with two new weapon systems speciifically geared for military Spec-Ops and LE tactical use. We’ll start with the Leitner Wise LW15.499 Mini-.50(or .499), a.k.a. Multi-Level Threat Response System (MLTRS). As this is …

The QBZ-95 bullpup infantry rifle from China, a.ka. Type 95 rifle, fires the proprietary 5.8x42mm round. Many small arms experts consider the ideal infantry/light machine gun caliber to be between 6mm and 6.5mm in diameter, and between 39mm and 45mm in length, making the new Chinese caliber very close to the ideal dual-purpose infantry round. Click here for pics and …

This just in: The Shrike 5.56 LMG(Light Machine Gun) upper, by ARES Defense Systems, LLC, is in production and currently available for pre-order(both in select-fire and semi-auto-only configurations), and the ARES Defense Systems site is up and running. If you remember, DefRev reported on the Shrike 5.56 and ARES Defense Systems some time ago. If it works as advertised, the …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com A little while back, we reported on Paul Liebenberg opening up his own custom shop, Pistol Dynamics, now located in Indialantic, FL. Well, the July/August 2002 issue of "American Handgunner" contains a rather lengthy article by Cameron Hopkins about both Paul and his new "Limited Signature" Model 1911 he created in retro Armand Swenson/Richard Heinie style …

Russia’s making some pretty neat stuff lately. DefRev found a page on Milparade’s site that highlights some of the new weaponry. Weapons featured are the GSh-18 pistol(which looks a lot like the Steyr M/S series pistols and holds 18 rounds of 9x19mm in the magazine), RMB-93 forward-cocking shotgun(with magazine tube ABOVE the barrel), AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher, RPO-A Shmel rocket …

Described by noted gun writer Al Paulson as "an inspired cross between a Mini Uzi and MP-5", this new Polish submachine gun offering, made by Radom, looks very interesting. The difference between the PM-98 and PM-98S models is that the PM-98S lacks the former’s recoil reducer. The PM-98 fires at 640 rpm, while the PM-98S fires at 770 rpm. The …

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 …

Stephen Hunter has written a sort of shockingly gung-ho and entertaining article(gung-ho for a Washington Post writer, at least) with regards to small arms. It deals with infantry weaponry, and it’s worth reading. The article does contains one error regarding the caliber of the Russian PPSh-41 submachine gun, which, for the record, is 7.62x25mm, not 9mm(as the article states). Click …