Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Legend of AK-47



Mikhail Kalasnikov

Heckler & Koch HK XM25 IAWS


Designation: Heckler & Koch HK XM25 IAWS (Individual Airburst Weapon System)
Classification Type: 25mm Smart Grenade Launcher
Manufacturer: Heckler & Koch GmbH - Germany; Alliant Techsystems - USA
Country of Origin: United States
Weight: 6.3kg (without munition)
Range: 500~1000m
Munition option: 4 25x40mm grenade (HEAB, flechette-laden, thermobaric)
Extra Feature: TAFCS (thermal imaging sight/scope)
Current Status: Under USMC field test
Expected Active Duty: 2012
Main Purpose: Rangefinding and delayed munition detonation. User activate laser rangefinder untuk measure distance, then fine tune detonation delay 25mm punye projectile

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Type 03 vs Type 92 Machine Gun

Type 03 and Type 92 machine gun (Japan)


Type 03 machine gun


Type 92 machine gun, spade grips folded
Image courtesy of James D. Julia auction house, Maine, USA


Type 92 machine gun, spade grips in combat position, tripod is mounted with carrying "stretcher" type handles
Image courtesy of James D. Julia auction house, Maine, USA


30-round rigid strip with 7.7mm Type 92 ammunition, as used in Type 92 machine guns

Type 03 machine gunType 92 machine gun
Caliber 6.5x50SR7.7x58SR Type 92
Weight26.5 kg (gun body) + 24 kg (tripod)28 kg (gun body) + 24 kg (tripod)
Length1200 mm1156 mm
Barrel length737 mm720 mm
Feed Rigid strips, 30 roundsRigid strips, 30 rounds or semi-rigid belt 250 rounds
Rate of fire450 rounds per minute450 rounds per minute

The first domestically designed Japanese machine gun was the Type 03 Taisho which appeared in 1914. It was somewhat similar to the French Hotchkiss medium machine gun, although General Kijiro Nambu, the designer of the gun, made numerous changes to the feed, fire controls and locking system of the weapon. During the late 1920s and early 1930s the IJA decided to improve the lethality and effectiveness of its machine guns by adopting a more powerful cartridge to complement the mildly powerful 6.5x50SR ammunition then in general use. In 1932 the IJA adopted the 7.7x58SR Type 92 ammunition and the Type 92 medium machine gun to fire it. The ammunition was a semi-rimmed version of the British .303 round (7.7x56R), and the gun was a slight modification of the Type 03 machine gun. The new round obviously increased the capabilities of infantry machine guns, but it also made Army logistics more complicated. The Type 92 machine gun (known among WW2-era US soldiers in Pacific as "woodpecker" for its peculiar slow-rate firing sound) was the main medium machine gun of Japanese army through the WW2.

The Type 03 machine gun is a gas operated, air cooled, automatic-only machine gun. The barrel of the gun is finned in its front part (ahead of the gas port). Barrel replacement requires the use of a special wrench and cannot easily be done in combat. The rear part of the barrel is enclosed within a massive barrel jacket with large radial fins. This jacket is permanently attached to the receiver and carries provision for mounting the gun to the tripod or other mount.
The basic action employs a long-stroke gas piston, located below the barrel. The gas system is provided with a manual gas regulator. The gas piston operates the strip feed (through a cam cut in its operating rod) and the bolt group, through a projection with inclined surfaces on the rear of the operating rod. The bolt only has a linear motion, bolt locking is provided by a separate wedge-shaped lock which is connected to the rear of the bolt and permitted to slide up and down. This lock has two locking lugs (one on either side) which engage locking recesses in the receiver walls. To lock the bolt, the lock is lowered through the interaction with the inclined surfaces on the hook-shaped projection of the operating rod. To unlock the bolt after each discharge, it is lifted by a cam surface on the operating rod during the early rearward movement of the gas piston / operating rod. The locking wedge has a channel in the center for the firing pin, which is operated by the projection on the operating bolt once the bolt group is fully in battery and locked. The shape of this channel prevents forward movement of the firing pin unless the lock is fully seated in the receiver and thus the bolt is safely locked. Firing is from an open bolt, in automatic mode only.
Firing controls include dual spade grips with interlinked dual triggers. No manual safety is provided. The Type 92 machine gun featured an updated fire control group which includes folding horizontal grips with a single thumb-trigger in between, and the addition of a manual safety.
Feed is via Hotchkiss-type rigid metal strips, feed direction is from left to right only. Since the gun mechanism provides no primary extraction, an integral oiler is built into the feed unit. Each cartridge in the strip passes below a brush built into the top feed cover. When the cartridge is drawn across the feed, it pushes the oiler valve and small amount of oil is squirted into the brush and then transferred to the cartridge before it reaches the feeding position.
The standard mounting is a solid infantry-type tripod with traverse and elevation mechanisms. The tripod can be adapted for the AA role with the introduction of a special adapter rod. The tripod is unusual in that it has provision for the attachment of carrying poles at the two front legs and a special carrying fork at the rear leg. That way, the gun on its mount can be carried across the field by two or more soldiers, like a stretcher.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Background Checks on Firearms Buyers

People feel safe if armed. According to some estimates and publications, roughly 50% of the US households currently own guns, but how big may be percentage of those who acquired their firearms legally or without intentional use of the law loopholes allowing them to avoid background check they must normally go through as gun purchasers?

Do you really need to pass background check before you buy a gun?

People feel safe if armed. According to some estimates and publications, roughly 50% of the US households currently own guns, but how big may be percentage of those who acquired their firearms legally or without intentional use of the law loopholes allowing them avoid background check they must normally go through as gun purchasers?

Virginia law contains no provisions obliging gun sellers who aren't licensed dealers to conduct any sort of background check on buyers acquiring guns from them at open-air gun shows, even if the same law requires that background check is performed when they buy from gun dealers who are licensed. This obvious law loophole constitutes real threat making it possible for certain felons and/or mentally ill people to creep their way towards purchasing some firearms. Assault rifle can easily (and absolutely legally?) be bought at a gun show from an unlicensed gun dealer with no questions asked. Surely, the loophole needs to be closed so that all gun buyers at gun shows would submit to background check regardless of the type of dealers they buy firearms from.

The situation in some other randomly taken states, such as California, Arizona, Texas, or New Mexico, whose primary firearms market as of the end of 2008 is estimated to exceed impressive number of approximately 10,000 active licensed gun dealers, is not different. In these four states current firearms control laws contain only provisions for background check for buyers who would buy from licensed weapons dealers, but no background check is required for firearms sold and bought between private citizens. No criminal background check is required by the law if you buy at gun shows, over the Internet, or through classifieds.

But even in the states with stricter law provisions for background checks on gun buyers, quite surprisingly the further routing of the weapon very often can't be traced. Say, in the state of Delaware, the authorities are obligated to destroy records of approved gun purchases not later than 60 days after the successful passing of background check by someone wishing to obtain a gun. This must be done to comply with another State law prohibiting state agencies maintain databases of gun owners. But you can still perform a basic free criminal background check on person over the Internet digging criminal records available online, but this will most likely take a big amount of your time if you are not using some kind of online investigative service and trying to do it all yourself and gather all that information at your own for your background investigation.

In the USA, where private citizens across the nation own at least 200 million guns, fears that firearms held in the hands of the Americans, are hardly being controlled effectively, seem to be valid. Whatever arguments against or in the favor of the right for private ownership of guns, one thing can hardly be disputed: legislature regulating background checks on gun buyers does need improvement. As we know, the same attitude is shared by Barack Obama, who, according to CNN.comArticle Search, soon after the election proposed introduction of background checks for buyers at gun shows along with calling to impose a complete ban on private ownership for several types of military-style automatic and semiautomatic rifles that could be used by criminals.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


The author of this article, C. Dyson is one of the editors for the Internet background checkservice. He also supports several other resources that offer tips and advice for amatour investigators.