ASSAULT RIFLE UPDATES PAGE

 

Last updated 10 August 2006

 

This page is for building up a record of the (hopefully minor!) errors in the first edition of the book, plus recording additional information. Errors are shown in black, additional information in green, and the most recent updates in red.

 

Thanks are due to the following for their comments and corrections: Sven Ortmann, André Mund, Hans-Christian Vortisch

 

A review on amazon.co.uk is HERE


PAGE 10

Should be "Bergmann", not "Bergman"

 

PAGE 11

The White Rifle was not British but American. And there were two of them! They were never seriously considered but only given a brief test: see HERE for details.

 

PAGE 56

Table of Salvo 2 ballistics: the last velocity entry should read 686 m/s / 2,251 fps

 

PAGE 65

More details on the 6.8mm Rem and the 6.5mm Grendel HERE.

 

PAGE 69

Bottom photo caption final entry: ‘4.7mm G11 caseless (4.7 x 21)’ should be ‘early version of 4.7mm G11 caseless (4.7 x 21)’

 

PAGE 70

Top photo caption: ‘A different pattern of caseless ammunition for the 4.7mm G11…’

should be ‘The final (4.7 x 33) version of the ammunition for the HK G11 …’

 

PAGE 71

In the diagram of the sectioned Steyr SCF flechette round, the 'Annual primer' should be 'Annular primer'

 

PAGE 78-79
The cyclic rate of the Steyr ACR was 2,200rpm. However, the rifle was not capable of "full automatic fire", but fired 3-round controlled bursts only. Also, it couldn't be "set" for auto fire, since it used a pressure trigger like many Steyr weapons, ie, mild pressure would fire single shots, continued pressure bursts.

 

PAGE 82
An order for 70 F2000 rifles has been placed for Belgian Special Forces, and the gun has been showing up in various places. The biggest confirmed order so far (in June 2006) is for an initial batch of 6,500 for the Slovenian Army, which is expected to entirely re-equip with the F2000. It has also reportedly been ordered by the Peruvian Army, and Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in buying 55,000.
 

PAGE 85

The photo is clearly not of the F2000 rifle - the picture of the FNC has been duplicated.

 

PAGE 91

China has developed a new rifle in 5.8 mm calibre, the QBZ-03, with a  'traditional' rather than 'bullpup' layout. It is not known whether this will be adopted by China or will be offered for export only.

 

PAGE 105

‘Paul de Kiraly’ should be ‘Pál Király’

 

PAGE 106

German pre-WW2 developments included the Vollmer Machinenkarabiner M35, a gas-operated weapon designed around a Geco 7.75x40 cartridge. This fired a 9.5 g bullet at 720 m/s (147 grains at 2,362 fps)
 

PAGE 112

The full Finnish designation for Rk/60 should be "Rynnakkokivääri" instead of "Ryannakkokivaari"
 

PAGE 112
"Bundesgrentzgeshütz" should be "Bundesgrenzschutz" (federal border guard)
 

PAGE 113
The HK41 wasn't a true civilian version of the G3; it was a so-called "reservist's rifle", ie intended for Bundeswehr reservists, who could buy it for private training. It was quickly taken off the market when such rifles were used by RAF terrorists during the 1970s.
The HK91-series (HK91A2 and HK91A3) was probably only offered in the USA.
 

All relevant prototypes (including the final G11K2 and the ACR) fired the 4.73x33mm DM11 round, not the 4.7mm. It is also not the 4.7x21mm round in the appendix. That was one of the prototype rounds.

The sources referred to who stated that a "first batch" was actually issued to the Bundeswehr were not correct. There were no more than 100 rifles made, including the 15 ACR variants.

The G11's rate of fire should be 450 rpm not 600 rpm as stated.

The final prototype (G11K2), ie the one that had actually been adopted, weighed 4kg empty, not 3.6kg.

 

PAGES 114 and 118

The photos on these two pages have been transposed (the captions should be exchanged)

 

PAGE 116
Top photo (G3A2) caption: ‘plain handguards’ should be ‘ventilated handguards’

 

Other variants of the G3 were the G3A3A1 and G3A4A1; these are re-built older rifles fitted with the new-style ambidextrous grips.
 

PAGE 119
The MG36 was not adopted and did not enter service.
There are also the G36A1 and G36A2 as well as G36KA1 and G36KA2. These feature various product improvements. The photo shows a G36KE, not a G36K.
 

PAGE 123

Iran may now merit an entry. They have been using the 5.56mm 'S-5.56', which appears to be a copy of the Chinese CQ rifle, which is in turn a copy of the M16A1. However, they have now announced the KH-2002 rifle (or Khaybar) which is a bullpup design, also in 5.56mm. It bears a resemblance to the Chinese QBZ-97, although the large whole-hand trigger guard and carrying handle/sight rail look more like the FAMAS G2. The mechanism is reportedly based on the M16. It is offered with three interchangeable barrels - 78, 73 and 68 cm - and the weight of the 78 cm version plus an empty 30-round magazine is given as 3.7 kg. RoF is 800-850 rpm. It can be fitted with a bipod and a bayonet. Its exact status is not yet clear

 

Israel has ordered 15,000 Tavor rifles with the aiming of re-equipping its front-line infantry units. A further order for 40,000 is expected to provide for the reserve forces.

 

PAGE 150
'9m' should be '9g'

 

PAGE 152
To clarify, the shortened carbine version of the SA80 never entered service. However, an even shorter-barrelled 'K' version of the SA80 A2, designated the L22A1 carbine, has recently been adopted for issue to tank crews (and possibly others needing a compact PDW later on). This features a barrel shortened by 152mm (6 inches), with the gas port modified accordingly, and 20-round magazines. Interestingly, photos released show it fitted with the SUSAT despite its short-range purpose.

 

PAGE 177

‘in Chechnya in 1999’ should be ‘in Chechnya in 1996’

 

PAGE 192
The US Army's planned acquisition of the XM8 has hit the buffers as a result of several recent developments. The first was in May 2005, when it was decided to change the requirement for an automatic rifle (an XM8 with a heavy barrel and a bipod, but still magazine-fed) to a belt-fed LMG to replace the M249. This led to a decision to put the selection of the new weapons family out to competition, with a tight deadline. The second development came in July 2005 when it was decided to delay the competition in order to consider the requirements of the other services (presumably mainly the USMC), in the hope of developing a tri-service weapons family. The third development in the autumn of 2005 was to postpone the competition in order to take into account the lessons to be learned from recent conflicts, especially Iraq and Afghanistan. The final blow came in April 2006 when it was announced that the competition for a new 5.56mm small-arms family was to be postponed for at least five years. Instead, a shorter competition for an 'off the shelf' carbine and an LMG in 5.56mm calibre is to be held in order to tide the US Army over the next few years. It is suggested that the reason for this is that the Department of Defense Inspector General's office has long been sceptical about the whole programme and has questioned whether the expenditure would produce any real improvement in capability.
 Probably true, but if they were to adopt the 6.8mm Rem or 6.5mm Grendel instead...

 

The XM8, the rights to which have been sold by HK,  has also attracted criticism - particularly for melting its handguard after rapid fire - and its current status is unclear.

 

The SCAR development has been won by FN with weapons based on their FNC design. This has not been affected by the developments described above, with the initial operational capability of the SCAR 'Light' in 5.56mm expected at the beginning of 2007, with the 'Heavy' in 7.62x51 expected to follow on..
 

PAGE 205
The only distinction between the M4 and M4A1 is the fire mode; the detachable handle is common to both. Only the very first M4 carbines were R720 patterns with fixed handle; almost all actually in service are R920 patterns, which share the detachable handle with the R927 (M4A1).

 

.PAGE 208-11

Additional entries:

 

Service Cartridges

Metric calibre

Rim diam

Body diam

Cntry

Proj. wt

Sect.

dens.

MV

ME

Recoil

Comments

9 x 39

11.3

11.2

CIS

16 / 247

0.281

290 / 950

670 / 500

45

SP-5 / SP-6 round used in SR-3, OTs-14, AS 'Val'

Experimental cartridges

Replace Metric Calibre ‘4.7 x 21’ with ‘4.7 x 33’

6.5 x 39

11.3

11.2

USA

7.97 / 123

0.269

792 / 2,600

2,500 / 1,860

76

6.5 mm Grendel (current)

 

 

PAGE 220
Wollert/Lidschun's book is called "Schützenwaffen Heute: Illustrierte Enzyklopädie der Schützenwaffen aus aller Welt. Band 1 und 2.", and the third author is spelled "Kopenhagen."

 

GENERAL

German-language designations never use hyphens. "G-41", "MP-5"  etc are not correct. The SIG designations are rather erratic, only the format SIG SG550 is correct. Similarily, the "AK-4" is only correct as Ak4 (Automatkarabin 4), with lower case "k" and no hyphen. Also,  "StG.45" should be "StG 45" or "StG 45 (M)".  "HKG11" is wrong, "HK G11" is correct.

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