Truvelo, a South African company is best known internationally for manufacturing traffic lights, also makes firearms - notably the infamous NEOSTEAD Bullpup shotgun and the Raptor rifle.
I was very pleased to see that the Raptor has been given a makeover. The older stock made it look like a cheap toy rather than a real rifle.
The old style stock ... they need to update their website.
Truvelo claim the gun provides excellent controllability during full auto fire due to the recoil and bolt system. It also features is the ability to easily switch between 5.56mm NATO and 7.62x39mm.
| Specifications |
|
| Calibre |
5.56mm NATO and 7.62x39mm |
| Weight empty |
4 kg |
| Barrel length |
9" (Carbine) and 12" (Assault Rifle) |
| Length |
530 mm (stock folded), 790 mm (open) |
| Magazine |
30 Rounds |
| Flash hider |
standard |
| Foldable stock |
standard |
| Rate of fire |
650 rpm |
A big thank you to Lusaka for the information and photo he provided.
This interesting grenade, manufactured by Bulgarian firm ARCUS Co., is designed to combat frogmen. The AR476 is fired from standard 40mm launchers at the area where combat divers are suspected to be underwater. When the projectile hits the water, a time deployed fuse is activated.
Many thanks, again, to Lusaka for the photo and info.
Another new gun on display at DSEi was this H&K HK416 sub-carbine / PDW. What is very interesting about this gun is the buttstock and upper receiver design.
It has a much shortened buffer tube and a collapsible stock in the H&K G3 / MP5 style.
This firearm appears to be positioned in direct competition to the Sub-Compact Weapon (SCW) that Colt is developing. The SCW features a similarly shortened buffer tube.
Colt SCW. Photo by SMGLee.
I think the H&K design is much more elegant. The H&K stock pull straight out, while the Colt stock must be unfolded out and then down before it can be adjusted for length.
A close-up of the H&K Stock.
Now if H&K would just stop hating us and start selling this nifty upper to us civilians!
Big thank you to Lusaka for the information and photo.
UPDATE:
REMOV has kindly provided me with these photos that he took of the new H&K. The gun has a 9.3" barrel.
Many thanks REMOV!
This Glock 17 pistol, with thumb safety, was designed by Glock for use by the British Army. It was on display at DSEi '09.
Safety in the on position (the safety is the button above the magazine release)
This is not the first Glock designed with a manual safety. Glock has previously designed a Glock 17 for the Tasmanian Police force that featured a standard 1911-style thumb safety.
This safety works differently. In order to engage the safety, it is pushed through the frame with the thumb, much like the magazine release. Disengaging the safety is done with the trigger finger.
At first I thought what a ridiculous mechanism this was until it was explained to me that the SA-80, the British Army service rifle, has a very similar safety which is manipulated in the same way. Glock designed this safety so that it would be familiar to British troops. Very clever!
One problem I do see is an operator going for the magazine release and accidentally engaging the safety. At best it would make the magazine change take longer, at worst the operator could forget to disengage the safety and pull the trigger at a bad guy only to find nothing happens.
I do not know if the British Army are considering replacing their current service pistols or if Glock is just making sure they have a model ready if they do in the future.
Big thank you to Lusaka for the information and photos.
You saw it here first! I had no idea that Sig Sauer were making AR-15 / M16 rifles but my DSEi spy spotted this prototype SIG516 1 PDW at the DSEi 09 expo. It features a 7" barrel, putting it firmly in the PDW class, and chambers the 5.56mm NATO.
Markings indicate manufacture at the Sig Sauer plant in Exeter, NH, USA
I do not know if Sig plan on a civilian carbine version. If they did it would compete directly with their Sig 550 line of full length and short barreled rifles.
UPDATE: jcmiller points out that the lower receiver is semi-automatic. A production PDW would have to be fully automatic. Maybe Sig are thinking of civilian sales.
UPDATE:
The SIG516 Tactical Rifle line has three different models:
- SIG516 PDW : 7" barrel. A personal defense weapon (pictured above).
- SIG516 CQB : 10" barrel. A Colt M4 Commando equvelent.
- SIG516 BASELINE CARBINE : 14.5" barrel. A M4 Carbine equvelent.
- SIG516 Patrol. 16" barrel.
- SIG516 Tactical Marksman: 16" barrel A squad level sniper / designated marksmen rifle.
- SIG516 Precision Marksman: 20" barrel. Possibly a true sniper rifle, or designated marksmen rifle.
They are all piston operated and feature an adjustable gas regulator like the Ruger SR-556.
| Specifications |
|
| Caliber |
5.56mm NATO |
| Fire modes |
single shot, 3 round burst and fully automatic (except marksmen models which are semi only) |
| Controls |
Ambidextrous |
| Gas system |
piston system with 3 or 4 position gas regulator |
| Upper Receiver |
Flat top with picatinny rail |
| Lower Receiver |
forged 7075-T6 aluminum |
| Trigger |
Milspec for all models except the Marksmen which have 2-stage match trigger |
| Capacity |
Takes standard AR-15 magazines |
| Finish |
black hard coat finish |
| Barrel |
chrome lined, cold hammer forged, nitrate finish |
| Barrel Twist |
1:7" right hand |
| Stock |
collapsible SOPMOD buttstock |
| Weight |
6 lbs. (PDW) - 7.28 lbs (Patrol) - 8 lbs (Precision Marksman) |
| Rails |
Free floating aluminum alloy M1913 picatinny quad rails |
| Sights |
flip-up BUIS (backup iron sights) |
| Magazine |
Ships with 30 round AR-15 magazine. Marksmen models ship with 10 or 20 round magazine. |
| Other Features |
0.5x28TPI threaded muzzle |
| MSRP (Price) |
not known |
Upper receiver assemblies will be sold. Just before anyone gets their hopes up, while it is likely that Sig will sell civilians models, this has not been confirmed.
Big thank you to Lusaka for the information and photos.
On display at the DSEi 2009 defense expo was this cut down Benelli Super Nova pump action shotgun. Apparently it is popular with South American Law Enforcement.
In this short and stock-less configuration it is more like a pistol than it is a shotgun.
The information and photo were kindly provided by Lusaka who took the time to hunt for, and photograph, new and interesting arms on display at the expo. Thanks Lusaka, your efforts are appreciated. More cool guns from the show will be posted tomorrow.
