Thursday’s Gun News

The new Micro Dynamic Rifle (MDR) from Desert Tech remains on track for delivery in 2015.  The company showed the multi-caliber, ambidextrous rifle at the 2014 SHOT Show, and has continued to develop the rifle.

Right now, it looks like there will be two versions: the standard MDR and a compact version (MDR-C).  The MDR-C will be 20″ overall with a 10.5″ barrel.  The standard MDR adds 6″ to both measurements.  The rifle can be quickly converted from .223 Rem to .308 Win, 300 BLK, 6.8 SPC and 7.62×39 for an incredible amount of caliber flexibility.

SilencerCo announced the Harvester Big Bore 338 sound suppressor was now shipping.  This silencer drops the noise from a 26.5″ barrel Sako TRG 338 to 138.3 dB.  Nice.  The can is 10″ long and weighs 21.8 ounces.  With a thread mount, the suppressor carries a MSRP of $1,600.

According to the company, the sound in this video has not been manipulated in any way.  What you hear is what you hear.

The US Army is looking to duplicate the Joint Strike Fighter fiasco with the “joint Modular Handgun System.”  Looking to replace the M9 and M11 handguns, the Army would also like to replace the handguns in other branches of the US armed forces.  Isn’t that nice of them?

According to an article posted at Monderno (which you should really be reading anyway), the US Army wants to dump the M9 because the 9mm isn’t powerful enough.

Frankly, it sounds like the Army wants to dump the M9 and figures they can get better congressional buy-in by touting the gun as a service weapon for all of the services.  Just like the F-35 cannot duplicate the functions of both the F-16 and the A-10 while incorporating the vertical capabilities of the Harrier, neither can a single handgun duplicate all of the possible needs of the entire US military.  Let’s not confuse political expediency with tactical necessity.

Of course, the “more powerful handgun” argument is crap anyway.  Until the US military starts using something other than FMJ ammo in their pistols, performance will always be sub-par.  If they want to see better handgun performance, improve the ammunition selection.  Try any number of 124 grain +P JHP rounds from Speer, Remington, Federal or Winchester.   I don’t believe the relevant international treaties on warfare apply to shooting terrorists, but I’m not an international law attorney.

The Army should really have a “bring ’em if you got ’em” policy toward handguns anyway. I recognize that could cause some heartache for trainers and NCOs. However, the services could adopt a list of approved sidearms like many police departments do. For example, the list could include the existing M9 along with quality options from Smith & Wesson, Glock and SIG SAUER. All three companies make reliable, striker-fired pistols that have proved to be durable enough for the vast majority of servicemen.

Let’s just hope that if the Army gets Congress to fund their joint service pistol that the darn things won’t catch fire as often as the F-35.

(Update: Fast forward from the time of this article – summer of 2014 – to present day. The Army did select a variant of the SIG SAUER P320. A lot of people seem to like these guns, though the company is currently defending itself against legal action and publicity regarding the guns allegedly discharging if dropped.)