Now it looks as though where the iconic RPK led, MagPul follows.  Today they announced their 40-round M3 PMAG, specifically designed to be fully compatible with many types of AR and NATO STANAG platforms….

The 40-round PMAG is only 2 1/8″ longer than its 30-round brother but gives you 10 more rounds.  The M3 PMAGs feature a re-designed bolt catch notch and a protruding lip on the magazine spine to prevent over-insertion into the mag well – which would cause a stoppage.

The M3 PMAGs also incorporate new material technology and manufacturing processes for enhanced strength, durability, and reliability to exceed military specifications.

Finally, modified internal and external geometry permits operation with a wide range of non Colt-spec platforms such as the HK® 416 and MR556A1, M27 IAR, British SA-80, FN® SCAR™ MK 16/16S, and others.

Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price is $19.95.  The 40-Round M3 PMAG is prohibited in several states and is also an ITAR restricted item.

www.magpul.com

In 1914 Ernest Shackleton was recruiting for what would eventually be called the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. His pitch included the following statement: “Officers wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”

Legion Firearms believes candor is a Good Thing, even if the facts aren’t particularly palatable. We want to put the best weapon possible in your hands, but we’ve been having trouble doing so. We’ve made mistakes, been hobbled by others’ mistakes and hampered by our suppliers’ constraints, but we’ve striven to rectify the former and are working to mitigate the latter.

Legion builds guns every day but Sunday. We shipped 15 rifles last week, 15 the week before and will ship at least that many this week. Our ability to produce a finished weapon is entirely dependent upon certain components, current demand and our exacting standards.

To that end we’ve sourced new manufacturers and built new facilities. Hundreds of uppers, lowers and other parts will now be built in-house. Eventually we’ll own almost all production ourselves, but will remain limited by the limits of man hours worked and our quality control.

Availability for current backlogged orders:

• The LF-10D is not in stock, and customers are looking at a solid 8 weeks before they are. Unfortunately one of the major players bought up all 7.62 BCGs and they’re just now starting to trickle in.

• We encountered a similar problem with the LF-4. When FN shipped the CHF barrels to our supplier they sent carbine length rather than mid-length barrels.

• We’re acquiring CHF barrels from quality sources, but supply is limited. We’ve created the LF4 MOD1 and LF4 MOD2 by customer request to speed delivery times, but the LF-15C and LF-15D will still come sooner (though that may still be 12-14 weeks).

Photos of Legion Firearms’ new LF4 MOD 1 and MOD 2 variations of the LF4.

Our barrel supplier’s factory was shuttered by a Land Reclamation act earlier this year, and though we’re receiving lots of barrels we’re keenly aware that we are way behind where we hoped we’d be.

“In a month or so we’ll literally have hundreds of parts coming off our own line,” says Adam Morehead, CEO of Legion Firearms. “We’ll be providing 15Ds and 15Cs in greater quantity than ever have before. The 15 Deltas particularly will be shipping in great numbers. There’s just no way to build faster and maintain our level of consistent quality. Lead time for new orders is a solid 20 weeks.”

LF series rifles will remain available on a first come, first served basis. As hard as we’re working to catch up with demand, we would still urge those interested to order now and mitigate the delay. We appreciate your understanding.

Respectful regards,

The Staff of Legion Firearms

]]> http://www.strikehold.net/2013/06/17/state-of-the-union-statement-from-legion-firearms/feed/ 0 http://www.strikehold.net/2013/06/16/four-guys-guns-is-giving-away-a-nemo-omen-300-winchester-magnum-ar-rifle/ http://www.strikehold.net/2013/06/16/four-guys-guns-is-giving-away-a-nemo-omen-300-winchester-magnum-ar-rifle/#comments Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:36:58 +0000 Strike-Hold http://www.strikehold.net/?p=10045 Continue reading →]]> Yes, that’s right – they are GIVING AWAY one of the most powerful rifles ever built on the AR platform.

But wait, there’s more!

In addition to the rifle the winner we get an all expenses paid trip out to NEMO Arms in Montana for a 2 day training class for long distance shooting! The class will be conducted by Max Ordinate Academy (MOA) and will include 2 days of training to shoot the OMEN out to 1000 Meters.  The OMEN itself retails for around $5,700 without the optics -when you add in the free trip and the free training, this is a VERY enticing offer!

The training team from MOA, Ryan and Tyler are two prior United States Marine Corps Snipers that have been hosting training classes and participating in sniper competitions around the United States. They have a combined 19 years in the USMC and 11 years of training experience. They have a strong background and this event will launch the new branding of their already strong portfolio under MOA. Check out the MOA Facebook page for developments.

FourGuysGuns has an entry form up on their website where you can enter daily with 4 simple steps to ensure you have a chance at one of the best giveaway packages social media has seen.  Check them out and stay glued for the announcement of the winner when they get 40,000 “Likes” on their FaceBook Page.

These are all Westernized / Tactical AK’s, fitted with accessory rails, flash-hiders, ergonomic pistol grips and Crane-type shoulder stocks.

No details have been provided at this point, but based on looks alone my favourite is the TX-MIG version – it reminds me of the latest development from Krebs Custom.

www.lctairsoft.com

First up this week was Soldier Systems Daily reporting that, contrary to the rumor that was generally agreed to be true, the Secretary of the Army would NOT  be announcing today the results of the US Army’s massive camouflage improvement initiative.  The fact that this was hot on the heels of yet another Congressional intervention into this sorry state of affairs led some to believe that the delayed / lack of an announcement was perhaps caused by Congress – although the Secretary of the Army’s rationale appears to be all about budgeting and his concerns about the possible negative PR ramifications of announcing a new program during a time of spending cuts.  Meanwhile of course the very real negative PR ramifications of doing nothing get ever louder…

The fact that Congress is so interested in what type and color of camouflage patterns our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines are wearing on their backs speaks volumes about how FUBAR and farcical this situation has become.

Venturing even further into the outer limits of reality was the article from US News & World Report in which the Secretary of the Navy expressed his own amazement at the number of different camouflage patterns authorized for wear by US Navy personnel.  He particularly singled out the so-called “blueberries” camo uniform for criticism.  The article is a good read – we highly recommend it.  As a footnote, the Navy also announced at the end of last month that it was adding fire-resistant coveralls to sailors’ sea-bags because they have apparently only just discovered that the infamous “blueberries” are also rather flammable.

But we’ve saved the best for last – and this really will make you think you’ve passed through the wormhole and into an alternative universe.  Time.com’s Battleland column published a piece last month, appropriately entitled “Uniform Insanity”, in which an anonymous Airman details his / her adventures in uniform procurement for duty in Afghanistan.  That story will really leave you shaking your head in disbelief, check it out: “Thoughts of a Military Fashion Victim.”

Meanwhile, it looks like we’ll have to now wait until October to see the official announcement of the Army’s choice of new family of camouflage patterns.  And when we do, I predict that it will rhyme with MultiCam, and that it will also be announced that ALL branches of the services will be phasing it in – along with a new common ground combat uniform.

I’m not going to go into the full back-ground to the Improved Carbine Competition (ICC) – as its been covered extensively elsewhere – but I will start by clarifying / highlighting a few of pertinent points:

• the M4A1 was not included in this test regime – not even as a baseline comparator
• competitors were free to enter rifles in any caliber they wanted to, but all submitted test rifles were chambered for standard 5.56 x 45mm ammunition (competitors would have had to supply their own ammunition for the testing if they submitted a rifle in a different caliber)
• the baseline requirement of 3,592 Mean Rounds Between Stoppages (MRBS) was taken from the M4A1′s tested performance using M855 ball ammunition
• initially, the ICC requirement stipulated performance criteria using M855 ammunition – this was later changed to the M855A1 round
• in the Army’s tests leading up to the issuing of the M855A1 ammunition, the M4A1 has achieved an MRBS result of 1,691 (thanks to SSD for verifying this figure) using this ammunition – much less than the MRBS result of 3,592 required of the ICC participants
• finally, the performance of the M4A1 continues to be measured against the original requirements published in 1990 – bear this in mind when you hear the Army state that the M4A1 “meets requirements” – and by the way, the MRBS figure in those req’s is 600

So, what was the Army looking for with the ICC?  Apart from some rather out there sounding objectives, like “hyper burst”, the Army basically wanted to see if there was an industry solution that would provide a marked improvement over the current M4A1 in the following categories:

• increased range
• increased lethality
• increased accuracy
• increased reliability

And you’d be right to question how they could achieve the range and lethality objectives without a caliber change, or the accuracy objectives without either an ammunition or sighting system change.  So, it basically came down to a question of reliability – as measured by Mean Rounds Between Stoppages – and this is where none of the competitors managed to meet the baseline requirement of 3, 592.

When I asked the question of why none of the submitted rifles were in a different caliber – such as 6.5mm Grendel, 6.8mm SPC, .300 Blackout, or even 7.62mm NATO – I got the reply that I’d have to ask the vendors that question.  But whilst that would certainly be the best sources for a full response, industry insiders that I’ve spoken with have said that it was clear from the start that the Army wasn’t interested in any other calibers at this point because it would introduce too many variables into the equation.  Fair enough, but I seriously doubt that the “caliber question” is going to go away anytime soon.  The Army’s ammunition decision-makers may be satisfied with the M855A1 round at the present time – but how many other times through-out the AR platform’s life-cycle have they been “satisfied” with the current ammo – only to improve it again later?

The other point that generated a lot of questions and discussion during the media briefing was the following statement in yesterday’s press release:

Army officials reinforced repeatedly today their position that the M855A1 is a proven and “soldier-accepted” round, and that in other tests there have not been any unacceptable issues in the M4A1′s performance with this ammo.  Remember though that the M4A1′s MRBS result with the M855A1 is 1,691 – nowhere near the 3,592 MRBS result demanded of the ICC participants.

Army officials also stated repeatedly, and emphatically, that further in-depth forensic analysis of the data needs to be conducted on each of participants’ rifles in order to determine the exact nature and cause of the stoppage issues that caused them all to fail.  They also stated that those findings would be proprietary and only shared with the companies that participated in the competition.

So, where does this leave things now?  The definite concrete outcomes are that the Individual Carbine Competition has been concluded, not cancelled, because none of the competitors achieved the baseline performance required in order to progress to the next phase of the program.  What’s also certain is that the Army will continue to proceed with the other arm of their “Dual-Path Strategy” – that is the upgrading of more than 400,000 M4 Carbine’s in the Army’s inventory to M4A1 standard with a heavier barrel and a full-auto (rather than 3-round burst) selector switch.

What is less clear is what the Army’s future path for a new rifle / carbine looks like – particularly in these times of budgetary pressures and the winding down of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Officials today repeated that they are only really interested in “leap ahead technology” – but didn’t elaborate all on what that might mean.  Unfortunately, the US Army doesn’t exactly have a great track-record when it comes to “leap ahead” programs:  remember the Future Rifle, SPIW, ACR and OICW programs?  To say nothing of the political and technical quagmire that the XM-8 became…  And what about LSAT?

So, in the end – the only certainty appears to be that the M4A1 will remain the US Army’s standard-issued, primary, individual weapon for quite some time to come.  In the meantime, I’d suggest that the Army uses the funding that’s been freed up from the conclusion of the ICC program towards fielding an improved camouflage pattern uniform for the troops.

—————-

Lawrence

Strike-Hold!

Legion manufactures, sells and distributes their own-brand nylon gear and is also the official Malaysian distributors for Helikon-Tex, Milspec-Monkey, Z-Tactical Communications, and SAR-Products UK.

On the manufacturing side, only mil-spec Cordura, webbing, thread, Velcro, etc. is used – and the work is done to ISO 9002 standard.  Their body armour products are exported to and used by various friendly countries, including the Hong Kong SDU and certain Middle Eastern countries.

Legion is also a milsim paintball team that showcases all of this gear by participating in milsim paintball skirmishes and by doing film projects too.

For more info, visit Legion on their Facebook page.

FT. BELVOIR (13 June 2013) Following extensive testing of vendor-submitted carbines, the Army announced today that the Individual Carbine (IC) competition will formally conclude without the selection of a winner. None of the carbines evaluated during the testing phase of the competition met the minimum scoring requirement needed to continue to the next phase of the evaluation.

In lieu of a new competition for an IC, the Army will continue fielding and equipping Soldiers with the M4A1 carbine, which consistently performs well and has received high marks from Soldiers. Given limited fiscal resources, the Army’s decision would free IC funding to address other high priority Army needs.  This decision is also consistent with recent testimony by the Department of Defense Inspector General (DODIG) before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which questioned the value of an IC competition in light of existing upgrades to the M4 carbine.

The IC program consisted of a three-phased competitive strategy to determine whether industry could provide a best-value, improved alternative to the M4A1 carbine.  Phase I consisted of reviews of vendor proposals and non-firing evaluations of bid samples.  All vendors successfully met Phase I criteria.  In 2012, the Army commenced Phase II of the competition, which subjected IC candidates to rigorous evaluations that tested the extreme limits of weapon performance in such areas as weapon system accuracy, reliability, and durability. For Phase III, the Army planned to award between zero and three contracts for weapons meeting Phase II requirements for further environmental and operationally oriented Soldier testing. Upon completion of all testing, the Army planned to conduct a cost benefit analysis between the top performing competitor and the M4A1 carbine.

At the conclusion of Phase II testing, however, no competitor demonstrated a significant improvement in weapon reliability — measured by mean rounds fired between weapon stoppage. Consistent with the program’s search for superior capability, the test for weapon reliability was exceptionally rigorous and exceeded performance experienced in a typical operational environment.

Based upon Army analysis, test results may have been affected by interaction between the ammunition, the magazine and the weapon. The Army’s existing carbine requirement assumed use of the M855 ammunition; the weapons tested in the IC competition all fired the next generation M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) currently in fielding.  The use of the M855A1 round likely resulted in lower than expected reliability performance.  These effects are unique to testing conditions and are not known to affect the reliability of any weapon in the operational environment.

The Army’s decision not to pursue a new carbine competition was reached following careful consideration of the Army’s operational requirements in the context of the available small arms technology, the constrained fiscal environment, and the capability of our current carbines. The Army remains committed to the development of future competitive opportunities that support Army small arms modernization.

——————————-

The industry entries were:

Colt Defense – ACC-M

Heckler & Koch USA – HK416

FNH-USA – FNAC (SCAR 16)

Remington – ACR

Adcor Defense – BEAR Elite

MOJAVE Desert Boots

YUKON Trekking Boots

As you can see, both of these models are being made in Poland, and will be available very soon.

Check out the Helikon-Tex website for further details.