Ship's Locker: Out of the Closet

Sudayev's PPS-43: Submachine Gun Simplicity Perfected

The PPS-43, designed by Alexei Sudayev based on a previous submachine gun design by I.K. Bezruchko-Vysotsky, was the Soviet replacement for the PPSh-41. The Shpagin submachine gun was a very effective combat weapon, but was time-consuming to produce and required specialized manufacturing tools. The Soviet military wanted a weapon that was cheaper and faster to make, and which could be produced at small shops not experienced in firearms production. The Sudayev design fit these criteria extremely well, being made almost entirely of simple bent mates components.

Production of the first prototype Sudayev submachine guns begin in 1942 in the besieged city of Leningrad, where guns were quite literally taken from the factory door to the front lines and put into service. A few minor flaws were discovered and corrected, and by the time the siege was broken the gun was suitable for mass production. It was designated the PPS-43, and while it was theoretically a replacement for the PPSh-41, it never did actually replace the former weapon. It was decided to continue PPSh-41 production in the factories already tooled up for it, while making use of the PPS-43’s simplicity to put it into production as a range of new factories that did not have the technical capacity to make more complex weapons.

Mechanically, the PPS-43 was a simple blowback gun, using basically the same conceptual operating system as the PPSH-41. However, Sudayev resolved the most significant practical problem with the PPSH-41 by abandoning its unreliable drums and developing his own new double stack, double feed 35-round box magazine. The PPS-43 magazine is simpler to load, more reliable in used, and much smoother to insert and remove from the weapon that then PPSh magazines. The improvement was substantial enough to justify the use of different and incompatible magazines in the two guns. In conjunction with the discarding of the drum magazine, Sudayev also designed his gun to have a lower rate of fire than the PPSh, to better manage ammunition supply. However, the roughly 600 rpm rate of the PPS-43 is actually relatively difficult to control in that light weapon, where the PPSh-41 was substantially smoother shooting despite (or perhaps because of) firing faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGGguFuFln4



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I'm not sure if there's a simpler, combat proven, submachinegun in existence.

The trick appears to be getting a good box magazine. And capable ammunition before that.
 
7 Reasons Why a Steyr AUG is Better than an AR-15 (or M16)

Which is better? That AUG or the AR-15? Let's hear your opinion with this poll before James gets started: https://forms.gle/xei8FeLqgRo7f3rMA

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves goes over seven reasons (OK, really just six) that the Steyr AUG bullpup is better than the AR-15/M-16/M4 carbine. Relying a little on personal experience but mostly on an intense 1985 weapons trial put on by the Australian Army, James tells you how the AUG bests the mighty M-16. The 1985 trial between the Colt M16A2 and the Steyr AUG A1 pitted the two venerable rifles against the other in mud dunks, dust storms, sand dragging, rainstorms, and other forms of government-funded torture-testing.

Even though the original 1985 T&E report was declassified in June, 2019, the .pdf was split up into three non-OCR disorganized volumes interspersed with blank pages. James has OCR'd (made the document searchable) and combined the report, organized it, and eliminated the blank pages. He then uploaded it directly to The Firearm Blog so you can read it and download it at no charge. See here for the complete report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9NF99PG_M0



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Advanced Combat Rifle; add constant recoil.

Environmentally friendly: less carbon monoxide emissions.
 
Hi Condottiere,

I can only answer questions 2 and 3 of the poll. The Steyr Aug is better than the AR-15/M-16/M4 carbine looking and no I'm not Australian.

For me to agree which weapon is better I would have to perform the tests under the same exact conditions to be able come to the same conclusion as the Australian military.


Condottiere said:
7 Reasons Why a Steyr AUG is Better than an AR-15 (or M16)

Which is better? That AUG or the AR-15? Let's hear your opinion with this poll before James gets started: https://forms.gle/xei8FeLqgRo7f3rMA

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves goes over seven reasons (OK, really just six) that the Steyr AUG bullpup is better than the AR-15/M-16/M4 carbine. Relying a little on personal experience but mostly on an intense 1985 weapons trial put on by the Australian Army, James tells you how the AUG bests the mighty M-16. The 1985 trial between the Colt M16A2 and the Steyr AUG A1 pitted the two venerable rifles against the other in mud dunks, dust storms, sand dragging, rainstorms, and other forms of government-funded torture-testing.

Even though the original 1985 T&E report was declassified in June, 2019, the .pdf was split up into three non-OCR disorganized volumes interspersed with blank pages. James has OCR'd (made the document searchable) and combined the report, organized it, and eliminated the blank pages. He then uploaded it directly to The Firearm Blog so you can read it and download it at no charge. See here for the complete report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9NF99PG_M0



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Advanced Combat Rifle; add constant recoil.

Environmentally friendly: less carbon monoxide emissions.
 
The best weapon is the one that's available to you at the right moment, functions without too much fussing, and takes down what it's aimed at.

I've always believed its the ammunition and magazines that count, which means cross compatibility allows them to used on any firearm of that type that's available, so that the actual difference would be the performance of the platform, due to customization, tweaking, attachments, peripherals, and/or material science.

In Traveller, unless there's some form of interstellar polity mandate, chances are each planet, possibly each continental region, have distinctive, at best, semi compatible, ammunition.

Three dee printing should permit a limited run of the exact ammunition you're looking for, probably at two or three times retail.

The exception might be twelve gauge, which could also act as container for more futuristic payloads, or whose barrels can accept tube adapters for locally available ammunition.
 
The Most Incredible Octopus You’ve Never Heard of: The Blanket Octopus

All octopuses start out as teeny, tiny plankton, and most grow up to settle down on the seafloor. The blanket octopus, however, never settles down, and spends its life wandering the open ocean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saMq36vh9ls



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Director at Home | Monty's Beret | The Tank Museum

Join the Museum's Director, Richard Smith, as he discusses one of his favourite objects in The Tank Museum's collection: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's Beret. Monty was the commander of the British Eighth Army during WW2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyXFxTdmYSI



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1. Planet of hats.

2. Professional, and dignified.

3. The Sergeants taught us how to fight, and the Officers taught us how to die.

4. Professionally alive, or morally dead.
 
Beer may lose its fizz as CO2 supplies go flat during pandemic

Coronavirus drop in gasoline demand has side effects in beverage industries

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES - Dwindling supplies of carbon dioxide from ethanol plants is sparking concern about shortages of beer, soda and seltzer water - essentials for many quarantined Americans.

Brewers and soft-drink makers use carbon dioxide, or CO2, for carbonation, which gives beer and soda fizz. Ethanol producers are a key provider of CO2 to the food industry, as they capture that gas as a byproduct of ethanol production and sell it in large quantities.

But ethanol, which is blended into the nation’s gasoline supply, has seen production drop sharply due to the drop in gasoline demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gasoline demand is down by more than 30% in the United States.

The lack of ethanol output is disrupting this highly specialized corner of the food industry, as 34 of the 45 U.S. ethanol plants that sell CO2 have idled or cut production, said Renewable Fuels Association Chief Executive Geoff Cooper.

CO2 suppliers to beer brewers have increased prices by about 25% due to reduced supply, said Bob Pease, chief executive officer of the Brewers Association. The trade group represents small and independent U.S. craft brewers, who get about 45% of their CO2 from ethanol producers.

“The problem is accelerating. Every day we’re hearing from more of our members about this,” said Pease, who expects some brewers to start cutting production in two to three weeks.

The quality of CO2 is generally managed by the supplier. Brewers have a role in ensuring their CO2 supply is free from contaminants, and appropriately handled in the brewery. https://www.brewersassociation.org/brewing-industry-updates/understanding-and-ensuring-co2-supply-quality-for-brewery-use/ …

In an April 7 letter to Vice President Mike Pence, the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) said production of CO2 had fallen about 20% and could be down by 50% by mid-April without relief, CGA CEO Rich Gottwald said in the letter. Meat producers are also feeling the pinch, as they use CO2 in processing, packaging, preservation and shipment.

Orion Melehan, CEO of Santa Cruz, California-based LifeAID, a specialty beverage company, said two of his production partners are looking for alternative CO2 sources.

“It does have us up at night figuring out what our options are,” Melehan said. “It highlights the laws of unintended consequences.”

A spokeswoman for National Beverage Corp, whose products include LaCroix, said the company sources from a number of national CO2 suppliers and does not anticipate a supply issue.

Coca-Cola Co (KO.N), SodaStream owner PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O), wine and beer seller Constellation Brands Inc (STZ.N) and several bottling companies did not respond to requests for comment

Walker Modic, environmental and social sustainability manager for Bell’s Brewery, said the Comstock, Michigan-based brewing company had “not experienced any curtailments or changes in the source of our CO2.”

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/beer-may-lose-its-fizz-as-co2-supplies-go-flat-during-pandemic



The real Corona crisis.

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How To... Drink Tea in a Tank | The Tank Museum

In the 1st episode of The Tank Museum’s brand new “How To” series, Wargaming’s Richard Cutland and historian James Holland explore how British tank crews managed to drink tea, while in a tank!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyGVR95P8t0



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Ultimate Weapons- Magpul FMG9

One of the most-viewed firearms videos in YouTube history with over 4 million hits, the Magpul FMG9 is a transforming submachine gun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq2YnexkdUw


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Light him up.
 
The Honey Badger

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-y3cZn924w



The AAC Honey Badger PDW is an integrally suppressed personal defence weapon based on the AR-15. It is chambered in .300 AAC Blackout and produced by Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC), a subsidiary of Remington Outdoor Company. The weapon is named after the honey badger.

Design[edit]
Both the rifle and the cartridge used were developed in close co-operation with American Special Operations units to create a suitable and effective replacement for the HK MP5 and similar close quarters combat weapon systems. The rifle is designed to be very convenient for military use where M16s are issued and in common use, since many similarities would exist in the fire controls, weapon manipulation, and magazines. Despite the weapon being integrally-silenced, it can be made even quieter by using 14.26 g subsonic .300 Blackout ammunition.[1]
The Honey Badger was designed to be a combination of the quiet MP5SD and the lethality of the M4. Kevin Brittingham, the founder of the AAC, wanted to design a weapon which had the ease of use of an AR-15, but the portability of an MP5.[2]

The Honey Badger was developed with a standard M4 upper and lower receiver, a short barrel with a very short gas impingement system and fast rate of rifling twist, integrated detachable customized silencer, and a proprietary buffer tube and collapsible stock featuring two prongs.[1] Whilst with the added silencer, it is 7.62-15.24 cm longer than the MP5SD, the mass is nearly identical unloaded.[3]

Replacement[edit]
As of 2013, AAC is focusing their efforts on the production of silencers. Whilst in transition to silencer production, the project was shelved and SIG Sauer launched their SIG Sauer MCX products that has replaced the Honey Badger as the versatile PDW.[4] “We made the decision that we are getting out of the rifle-making business,” stated Jeff Still, Director of Accessories and Silencers at Remington Outdoor Company. “We are going to focus all of our efforts on silencers and related accessories.”[5] In 2017, Kevin Brittingham founded a new company named "Q". Along with silencers and a bolt-action rifle of their own design, Q has also developed and marketed an improved Honey Badger.[6]



The SUGAR WEASEL a 7-inch direct impingement pistol chambered in 300 BLK that was made at the request of some poor folk who can’t afford the Honey Badger.

It’s built on clear anodized M16 spec receiver set (no forward assist), and features the same fast-twist barrel, Cherry Bomb muzzle brake, adjustable gas block, and 6-inch M-LOK handguard as the higher priced Honey Badger. It uses a 6-position receiver extension (AKA “buffer tube”) that houses a carbine length action spring and buffer, and is topped off with a custom grey SB Tactical™ SBA3™ Pistol Stabilizing Brace® (PSB).

Poor folk jokes aside, the SUGAR WEASEL is bad ass, and you should be proud to rock this shit at the range.



The Sugar Weasel cares.


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Gauss Firearms

It does make me wonder what kind of sound and flash signature an elctromagentic rail accelerated slug makes.
 
New Official Army M-26 Modular Shotgun: To Mount or Not?

The Army's favorite buzzword "modular" went to town on this new M-26 MASS Shotgun. You can stick it under your M-4 Rifle or you can make it a stand alone shotgun that you whip out of your backpack. The US Military loves their lethal accessories.

Breaching and entering during urban operations is difficult. This M-26 shotgun makes it a lot easier.

Sure the M-26 isn't exactly brand new. It's been around since 2012. But It's relatively new compared to the Mossberg 500 shotgun which has been around since the 1960's. The Mossberg 500 has been used by military and police forces to great effect since then. It's a legendary piece of equipment.

The real question is should you mount this shotgun to the bottom of your M-4 rifle or not?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5GKoHTqHvg



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Gaming Embedded | My Month As A Fuel Rat

In Elite: Dangerous, players can be left stranded and without fuel, sometimes thousands of light years from civilization. For stranded commanders, the Fuel Rats are a lifeline out of interstellar dead ends. Give them a call, and they'll refuel your ship and send you on your way. For a month, I joined the Fuel Rats and took part in their rescues, learning how the group worked and why they do what they do.

...

-Some of the images shown are from the Fuel Rat Knowledge Base: ”The Rats don’t want clients to get lost down that rabbit hole." If you need fuel, follow the above link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MepXqkG5ES0



The Universe pays us, and it's good karma.

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How it Works: The Alofs Reloading Magazine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbXOFkmKyiY


A Series of Tubes: The Alofs Reloading Magazine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNIkca8k1UQ


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This seems something you build in your garage; maybe some form of picatinny rail attachment, which would allow you to detach it, and possibly violate firearm regulations regarding maximum magazine capacity, assuming you extend the tube.
 
Aliens: Colonial Marine Equipment Breakdown (feat. Mark Rolston)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN210yl0eH0



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Always ensure you will have a ride home.
 
We Still Don’t Know Why Glass Exists, Here’s Why

Glass is an integral piece to many parts of our modern lives—it is in our smartphones, high-speed fiber optic cables, windows, and so on. And though, we are surrounded by glass in our everyday lives, scientists remain puzzled by the material and why it forms the way it does.

Silica is the type of glass you are probably most familiar with, but there are many more types of glass beyond silica. Glass is mysterious, in that it is technically any rigid amorphous solid, which means its atoms and molecules are not arranged in an orderly structure but instead exist in whatever random arrangement they happen to be in when the material cooled and solidified.

Decades ago, researchers came up with an idea: If glass could still flow and settle, then maybe it could reach a hypothetical ideal state where the randomly flowing molecules happened to arrange themselves as dense and orderly as possible. This “ideal glass” could explain why glass is a liquid with molecules that can’t flow.

Researchers are determined to find this ideal form of glass, but it might not be attainable.

Read More:

Ideal Glass Would Explain Why Glass Exists at All
https://www.quantamagazine.org/ideal-...
"For decades, physicists have dreamed of this perfect amorphous solid. They desire ideal glass not so much for its own sake (though it would have unique, useful properties) but because its existence would solve a deep mystery. It’s the mystery posed by every window and mirror, every piece of plastic and hard candy, and even the cytoplasm that fills every cell."

To Make the Perfect Mirror, Physicists Confront the Mystery of Glass
https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-mak...
"Ideal glass, if it exists, would explain what’s happening in all glass; it would be the state that molecules in regular glass are trying to reach."

The Nature of Glass Remains Anything but Clear
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/sc...
"Understanding glass would not just solve a longstanding fundamental (and arguably Nobel-worthy) problem and perhaps lead to better glasses. "



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Szecsei & Fuchs Double Barrel Bolt Action Dangerous Game Rifle

Normally in big game rifles, one has the choice of either a double barrel or a bolt action (semi autos being generally eschewed as not reliable enough). After the surely unnerving experience of being charged by three elephants simultaneously, however, Hungarian hunter Joseph Szecsei decided he wanted both the immediate followup shot of the double barrel and the capacity of the bolt action all in a single rifle. So working with Fuchs Fine Guns in Austria, he created just that - a double barrel bolt action rifle.

The system uses six locking lugs on the rear end of the bolt to lock two bolts and chambers, and a dual magazine which holds three extra rounds for each barrel. The guns are made to order for the very high end of the market, and are available in pretty much your choice of caliber - this particular example is in .416 Remington Magnum. Interestingly, Fuchs also makes an over/under pattern of this system as well as a miniaturized rimfire pattern. Neat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSEMz3iaSxo



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How A Toy Gun Became DOOM’s Iconic BFG - Loadout

The BFG 9000 is an iconic part of DOOM's identity. It is as recognizable as the Super Shotgun or Doomguy's form-fitting forest green armor. But how exactly did a Toys R Us purchase in the early 90s lead to one of the most recognizable of all video game weapons?

Join us as we track the evolution of the BFG from the Creatoy Roargun through to the latest incarnation in DOOM Eternal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoTo61_UeDQ



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How Games Get Grenades Wrong - Loadout

Most games and movies get grenades wrong. Whether it’s tactically cooking a frag in Call of Duty, throwing grenades back in Battlefield, or the huge fireballs we see in blockbusters like Commando, games and movies have totally exaggerated the humble hand grenade.

While there is a grain of truth in how games and movies depict the handheld explosive, the vast majority of depictions blow its impact out of proportion, so where does the truth end and the action movie trope begin?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrh5uuOLtY



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Imagine my amusement when I found out that the topic of this article was not about what I thought it would be about, but instead focused on mostly very small guns with really short barrels.
 
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