The juggernaut of the FPS genre has returned. One thing this series has reminded us of, is humans like killing other humans. Doing it with a surgically precise, advanced piece of professional weaponry, or a vintage icon of the firearm pantheon, just makes it that much sweeter. As Infinity Ward has tweaked the graphics and game engines of the series over the franchise, they’ve made the weapons more fluid, fun and faithful. But have you ever put much thought into what makes those guns what they are? How does the Javelin do what it does? Are those bar graph ratings faithful to each weapon’s real-life counterpart?
Machine Pistol
For a firearm to be classified as a machine pistol takes specific set of characteristics. The pistol part of the nomenclature denotes it’s compact size and ability to use one-handed. The machine aspect recognizes it’s commonality with heavier, suppressive-fire LMG’s – notably it’s full-auto capability, high cyclic rate of fire and usually large ammunition capacity. It’s military capacity tends to favor vehicle crews and armored personnel as a primary weapon ideal for carrying in confined areas and occasionally as a sidearm for officers. It also filled an extremely niche role as a comfortable and easily concealed alternative to the larger and heavier SMG’s favored by secuitry forces and VIP’s such as the Secret Service. The nature of designing highly specialized, complex firearms that are reliable, durable, extremely compact and easy to use has lead to some amazing innovations in the field. Check out the sci-fi-esque Magpul FMG-9 that looks like a prop straight out of Hollywood with it’s frame that fold up like a pocket-sized multitool. A great example is the Glock series of handguns that pioneered polymer application, the manufacturing process and revolutionary concepts in component functions and controls. It’s quite simply an amazing firearm and arguably the most intriguing of firearm designs while also maintaining a beautifully classic and traditional profile.
FMG9
Manufacturer: Magpul Industries
Ammo: 9×19 Parabellum
Capacity: 32-round box
Weight: 1.1 lbs
Length: 19.8 in (10.3 in folded)
Range: 80m
Rate of Fire: 800 rds/min
Muzzle Velocity: 1,246 ft/sec
Prototype developed in 2008 for potential use with personal protection details, such as the Secret Service. As it is still in the prototype phase of development, it may or may not be manufactured in large numbers for law enforcement agencies. It is intended as a concealed carry folding submachine gun. It’s compact design allows it to be disguised as a small package or even an extra laptop battery and can in fact fit in the back pocket of most everyday pants. It’s polymer construction makes it lightweight and easy to carry. The FMG-9 prototype utilizes the semi-automatic firing mechanism from the 9mm Glock 17 pistol. With modification, it can also use the mechanism from the Glock 18 machine pistol for Class 3 or law enforcement capabilities.
MP9
Manufacturer: Brügger & Thomet, DS Arms
Ammo: 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum
Capacity: 15, 20, 25 or 30-round box
Weight: 3.1 lbs
Length: 20.6 in (11.9 in stock collapsed)
Range: 50m
Rate of Fire: 900 rds/min
Muzzle Velocity: 1,312 ft/sec
Came about due to the failure of the Steyer designed TMP’s failure and cancellation in 2001 from lack of sales and export licensing laws when the blueprints, patents and rights were bought up by the manufacturers Brugger & Thomet AG in Switzerland. Their design incorporated 19 engineering changes to the TMP and intended to bridge the gap between true machine pistols, such as the Beretta 93R or the Glock 18 that have limited full-auto fire capability due to high recoil, short barrels and high cyclic rate, and submachine guns, like H&K’s MP5 that are often too big for close protection, undercover details and entry teams operating in confined spaces. The MP9 utilizes a lower, more controllable rate of fire (compared to automatic pistols, i.e. M93R and G18) and trades a longer effective range for lighter weight and a more compact size, freeing the support hand for other tasks such as toting a ballistic shield. The polymer housing the bolt/barrel group protect those components from the elements and rough handling. MP9′s feature an integral fronte grip and right-folding shoulder stock as well as an integral Picatinny/MIL-STD accessory rail. It can also accept a manufacturer designed proprietary silencer that installs over the muzzle cap. Also, of note is it’s non-reciprocating cocking handle, the fully adjustable “ghost-ring” sight that consists of a diopter with a large aperture, the transparent polymer magazines and its availability in different colors thanks to the polymer construction. Quite unique, is the weapon’s use of three safeties – a drop safety for the trigger unit, a trigger safety itself and the ambidextrous safety/fire selector located in the grip behind the trigger in the form of a cross-bolt push button. The MP9 is currently in use by some police units in Switzerland as well as the Portugese Army and the Mumba Police of India.
Skorpion
Manufacturer: Zastava Arms
Ammo: .32 ACP (7.65x17mm Browning SR)
Capacity: 10 or 20-round curved box
Weight: 2.8 lbs
Length: 20.4 in (10.6 in folded)
Effective Range: 25m
Rate of Fire: 850 rds/min
Muzzle Velocity: 1,050 ft/sec
The Škorpion vz. 61 (Samopal vzor 61, translated “submachine gun, model 1961″) was designed by Miroslav Rybář of Czechoslovakia in 1959 and released two years later as a personal sidearm for lower ranking army staff, vehicle drivers, armored vehicle personnel and security and special forces use. It is also built under license in Yugoslavia as the M84 featuring a synthetic pistol grip and is currently in use by 11 countries armed forces primarily as a sidearm. The weapon utilizes the standard service round of the Czechoslovokian security forces, the 7.65x17mm Browning pistol cartridge more commonly known as the .32ACP. This ammunition produces a very low recoil impulse, thus allowing a simple, unlocked blowback operation to be employed. The compact dimensions of the Škorpion is possible due to the telescoping bolt assembly that wraps around a considerable portion of the barrel. Considering the relatively lightweight of the bolt, the manufacturers decided to integrate an inertial rate reducer inside the wooden pistol grip to lower the cyclic rate from 1,000 rds/min to a more manageable 850 rds/min. The select-fire lever allows for 3 positions – safe, semi-auto and full-auto. Iron sights are of a open-type, consisting of a flip-up rear sight with notches for 75 and 150 meters and a mechanically adjustable forward post that also contains a “protection capture” which serves the purpose of locking the metal-wire shoulder stock when it’s folded up and over the reciever. The Škorpion can be carried one of two ways : over the shoulder using the supplied lanyard or in the included leather holster, like a traditional pistol, when equipped with the short, 10-round magazine (two long, 20-round mags are also included). Three variants were developed in the 1960′s chambered for different cartridges but never produced – the vz. 64 firing the .380 ACP (9x17mm Short pistol round), the vz. 65 for the 9x18mm Makarov and the vz. 68 in a 9x19mm Parabellum chambering. The Škorpion was later chambered for the .380 ACP and Makarov rounds in the 1990′s with two variants developed by Česká Zbrojovka known as the vz. 83 and vz. 82 (with an extended barrel) respectively. A variant vz. 61E was also offered, the only difference from the vz. 61 being the replacement of the wooden pistol grip with a plastic type, along with the semi-automatic only CZ-91S for the civilian market. The 9mm chambered variants (vz. 82, vz. 83 and CZ-91S) use a straight box magazine rather than the original’s curved type.
G18
Manufacturer: Glock Ges.m.b.H.
Ammo: 9x19mm Parabellum
Capacity: 10, 17, 19 or 33-round box
Weight: 1.37 lbs
Length: 7.32 in
Effective Range: 50m
Rate of Fire: 1,200 rds/min
Muzzle Velocity: 1,230 ft/sec
The G18 is part of a series of handguns designed by an engineer from Austria named Gaston Glock and manufactured by the company he founded, Glock ges.m.b.H. The Glock 18 variant was developed as a selective-fire alternative to the original Glock 17 per request of the EKO Cobra, an Austrian counter-terrorist unit. In 1980, the Austrian military announced it’s intent to replace their Walther P38 of the World War II era and established a criteria for the selection. The criteria required a self-loading design chambered for the NATO 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge at a minimum capacity of 8 rounds and a magazine requiring no assitance for loading. The muzzle energy must at least meet 441.5 J(oules) when firing a 9mm S-round/P-08
Hirtenberger AG. They also demanded one-handed operation (right and left) for any necessary actions pre or post firing. Also of importance was a tool-free design for disassembly, maintenance and cleaning with no more than 58 individual parts (equivalent to the Walther P38; the Glock 17 tested had 34) fully interchangeable between pistols and no guages, measuring or testing devices necessary for long-term maintenance of the firearm. Safety concerns stated under no circumstances should the user be endangered by case ejection and the weapon be absolutely secure against accidental discharge from shock, stroke and drops from a height of 2 meters onto a steel plate. To top it all off, they also needed a complete set of engineering drawings and exploding views with all the relevant details concerning the production. After proving that their weapon could meet these criteria, the firearm would be tested for reliability by firing 15,000 rounds. Upon successful completion (that included a minimum of 20 malfunctions at the 10,000 rounds threshold, not even a easily cleared minor jam), the pistol will be checked for wear and then required to fire a overpressure test cartridge generating 5,000 bar(73,000 psi), compared to the normal maximum operating pressure of 2,520 bar for the 9mmNATO cartridge. If after the overpressure test, the critical components aren’t up to specifications or don’t function properly, the pistol will be disqualified. The firearms would be scored on all aspects of the criteria and a pistol with a sub-70% total would not be considered for military use. When Gaston became aware of Austria’s planned procurement, he assembled a team of Europe’s leading experts from all shooting fields to define the most desirable characteristics in a combat pistol. Within three months, a working prototype was developed that made extensive use of synthetic materials and modern manufacturing technologies for the added benefit of cost-effectiveness. The Glock 17 (named due to it being Gaston’s 17th patent) emerged as the winner after passing all the exhaustive endurance and abuse tests and entered service in 1982 as the P80 (Pistole 80). A little over a year later, the Glock brand had generated worlwide interest, and to a lesser extent acceptance, and earned it a classification as a NATO standard sidearm with it’s own stock number (1005-25-133-6775). Prior to the original Glock 17 prototype, Gaston Glock had no experience designing or manufacturing firearms but did have extensive knowledge in the use of advanced synthetic polymers, instrumental in their introduction of the first successful polymer-frame pistols. They also introduced ferritic nitrocarburizing into the industry as an anti-corrosion treatment for metal gun parts (the process, known as “Tenifer”, produces the matte-gray, non-glare surface with a hardness rating that rivals an industrial diamond!). The polymer frames are a high-strength, nylon based creation of Gaston’s known as Polymer 2. The material can withstand thresholds of shock, caustic liquids and temperature extremes that would leave traditional steel/alloy frames warped and brittle. Initially, there was significant resistance from the market due to reliability a nd durability concerns over a “plastic” gun. They’ve since went on to become the company’s most profitable line of products, commanding 65% of the market share of handguns for United States law enforcement agencies, as well as numerous national armed forces and security agencies worldwide. The pistols are also well known for their “Safe Action” safety system that consists of two internal pieces and an external lever integrated within the trigger. When pressed, the lever activates the trigger, allowing full rearward movement. A steel pin that functions to block the firing pin, is pushed out of the way by the rearward movement of the trigger, along with the drop safety that prevents the trigger’s movement unless direct pressure is applied to the lever. The three-components automatically disengage one after the other when the trigger is squeezed and automatically reactivate when the trigger is released. In 2003, the manufacturer introduced the ILS (Internal Locking System), a cylindrical, manually-activated lock that provides a visual and tactile indication to the lock’s status with a tab that protrudes from the rear of the grip. When active, the pistol is unable to fire or disassemble and also of note is Glock’s claims that each key is unique. It is available as an option that must be factory built in Austria and cannot be retrofitted. Also available from the factory are a selection of tactical lights, infrared and laser sights, various polymer holsters and matching mag pouches, and three alternatives to the standard iron sights. There are 38 variants of the Glock pistol design, that mostly differ in caliber and variations of compact and sub-compact dimensions. The Glock pistol is produced for 10mm Auto, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, .380 ACP, .45 GAP, .357 SIG as well as the original 9x19mm Parabellum. The Glock 18 found in MW3 is forbidden for the civilian market due to it’s full-auto capability but it wasn’t intended for the general public anyway. It’s typically used with a 33-round extended magazine though it’s compatible with the 10, 17 and 19-round magazines from the Glock 17. Though it maintains characteristics equivalent to the Glock 17, the slide, frame and certain fire control parts of the Glock 18 are not interchangeable with other models.
Loading ...
