Category Archives: weapons

Checking out the KelTec SUB2000 in 5.7

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KelTec recently added a 5.7x28mm chambering to its popular third-generation SUB2000 carbine line, and we have the full review.

Introduced in 2001 with a host of different common magazine well choices, the SUB2000’s biggest claim to fame is that it folds neatly in half for storage.

Evolving into a second and currently third generation since then, the pistol-caliber carbine had previously been offered in 9mm or .40 S&W, with KelTec adding 5.7 to the catalog late last year, followed by 10mm Auto more recently.

The 5.7 SUB2000 uses common 20 and 30-round FN Five-seveN pattern magazines. It can also accept aftermarket mags such as ProMag’s 55-round drum. Running from a blowback action, standard features include lots of integrated M-LOK and Picatinny rails for accessories and optics. It is also threaded (1/2×28 TPI) for easy suppressor use.

The KelTec SUB2000 Gen 3 Carbine in 5.7 is 30.45 inches when fully extended and ready to go. We added the 2 MOA Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic on a QRP2 mount. Weight, so equipped, is just 4.86 pounds.

Folded, the SUB2000 Gen 3 runs just 16.15 inches in overall length and can be deployed in seconds.

We had issues with FTEs early in testing on the factory-supplied magazine. This problem abated the more we shot the gun, and with the use of FN-made mags. The second half of the test proved it to be more reliable. Lightweight, in most configurations, the gun remained under 6 pounds even when loaded and sporting a light, suppressor, and optic. It is simple and intuitive to use, functional and deploys rapidly.

For the rest of the review, head on over to my column at Guns.com.

Revolutionary War Company Madness

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The 700 British regulars under Lt. Col (later MG) Francis Smith that sortied out of Boston to Lexington and Concord some 250 years ago this month did so in a bewildering array of units. Smith’s force included the Grenadier and Light Infantry Companies of the 4th (King’s Own), 5th, 10th, 23rd (Royal Welch Fusiliers), 38th, 43rd, 47th, 52nd and 59th Regiments of Foot, Grenadier and Light Infantry companies of the 1st Battalion of Marines, and also the Grenadier company of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot.

For those keeping up at home, that’s at least 21 companies for what would today be viewed as a light battalion-sized force.

Why?

Robust and agile Grenadiers and “Light Bobs” from various regiments and Marines made up the British force that marched on Lexington and Charleston. They were typically drilled and trained to skirmish with the enemy from behind cover, provide reconnaissance, and protect the army’s flanks, whereas more traditional line infantry companies from the same regiment were of the “stand and deliver” style force that would provide massed musketry in a set-piece battle (NPS photos)

The reason for the variety was that Smith, looking to move fast, had the cream of the Britsh regiments in Boston, the elite Grenadiers and the skirmishers of the Light companies, with each of His Majesty’s regiments of foot organized into 10 companies: eight line, and two flank (Grenadier and Light). The picked men of each regiment. Smith’s main striking force would be the Grenadiers, screened and supported with the assorted Light companies.

It was a good choice, as his exhausted force would have to cover 18 miles from Boston to Concord and back, with the way back under a fierce fighting retreat, in 22 hours.

Each British infantry regiment of the time numbered 477 men in 10 companies, with each of the latter typically containing no more than 49 men: a Captain, two Lieutenants, two Sergeants, three Corporals, a Drummer, two Fifers, and 38 Privates. As basic math would have given Smith a force of well over 1,000 on paper, the discrepancy (700 marching out of Boston), shows how understrength through illness, death, and discharges the Brits were.

King George III only had a 48,647-strong Army- deployed around the globe- in 1775, organized in 46 regiments of infantry and 16 of cavalry as well as an array of independent companies and support units. Of those 46 regiments of foot, an impressive 18 were deployed to America. At the start of the war, the only regular cavalry in the Americas was the 17th Dragoons, numbering just 288 sabres in four squadrons.

In all, only 8,580 British regulars were in America at the start of the Revolution.

Facing 4,000 alerted Massachusetts militia who began surrounding Boston on the morning of 20 April- an 11-month siege that would eventually lead to the evacuation of the city by the British in March 1776- you can see how thin the King’s hold on the colony really was.

A Cold, Yet Professional Brew Up

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Happy National Tea Day!

The old Bootneck maxim: whenever possible brew up.

Falklands Campaign. A Royal Marine Commando pictured “brewing up” in the mountains around Port Stanley, June 1982. His weapon, a 5.56mm Armalite, indicates that he may well be a member of the Mountain and Arctic Warfare (MAW) Cadre.

IWM (FKD 2032)

Experts in operating in cold and rocky environments, it made absolute sense to tap the Mountain Leader Training Cadre instructors under Captain Rod Boswell and recently-graduated students from the RM’s MAW center at Stonehouse Barracks when 3 Commando was heading to liberate the Falklands.

The 36-man provisional MAWC, operating as sort of an LRRP unit in the space between the British and Argentine battleline, participated in several missions during the conflict including reconnaissance patrols, observation post establishment, and the skirmish at Top Malo House on 31 May 1982– where a 19 member det tangled with 13 Argentine special forces operators from their 602 Commando Company.

Via Royal Marines – From Sea Soldiers to Special Forces by Julian Thompson:

As he crawled forward over the bare landscape, Captain (Rod) Boswell tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, conscious that his and his companions’ green disruptive-pattern camouflage uniforms stood out on the snow-covered ground. The dark window on the upper floor of the house where an enemy Special Forces patrol was holed up was like an eye watching them as they inched forward. When Boswell judged they were close enough to the house and in full view of their own fire group out to a flank supporting them, he ordered, ‘Fix bayonets,’ and fired a green mini flare, the signal for the fire group to fire 6 66mm light anti-armor rockets at the house. At the first bang, a sentry appeared in the window on the upper floor. Corporal (Steve) Groves shot him with a sniper rifle. The house burst into flames as the 66mm rockets slammed in.

Boswell and his assault group charged forward, halted, fired two more 66s into the house, and charged again. Their quarry ran out of the house into the small streambed nearby, firing as they ran. Sergeant (Terry) Doyle fell, hit in the shoulder, followed by Corporal (Steve) Groves, wounded in the chest. Ammunition in the building exploded, the assault group momentarily recoiling in the blast, before running forward, now shielded from their opponents in the stream bed by smoke billowing from the burning building. The enemy commander, trying to make a break for it, was killed by two 40mm projectiles fired from M79 grenade launchers by Corporal (Matt/Barney) Barnacle and Sergeant (Mac) McLean.

Their adversaries stood up and threw away their weapons. Five enemy dead, and twelve prisoners, including seven wounded, was the score for a morning’s work by the Mountain & Arctic Warfare (M&AW) Cadre, in its wartime role of the Reconnaissance Troop for 3rd Commando Brigade, Royal Marines.

Nerding out on 1775 firepower

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We’ve been digging into the ballistics and history around the battles of Lexington and Concord, which are now 250 years in the rearview.

Of interest, we found that a .69 caliber spherical musket ball of 584 grains, pushed by 110 grains of modern 2F black powder out of the barrel of a Land Pattern musket, was still able to zip through 32 inches of 10 percent FBI ballistics gel and keep going through two water jugs into the berm!

That’s no slouch.

Photos by Paul Peterson, Guns.com

Looking back at the outfitting of the local militia, in the Journal of Arthur Harris of the Bridgewater Coy of Militia (n.d.), Arthur Harris states that in 1775, Massachusetts forces were required to have with them:

A good fire arm, a steel or iron ram rod and a spring for same, a worm, a priming wire and brush, a bayonet fitted to his gun [at this time Minute Companies were outfitted with bayonets while many Militia Companies were not required to use them], a scabbard and belt thereof, a cutting sword or tomahawk or hatchet, a…cartridge box holding fifteen rounds…at least, a hundred buckshot, six flints, one pound of powder, forty leaded balls fitted to the gun, a knapsack and blanket, a canteen or wooden bottle to hold one quart [of water].

Many of the guns at those battles that were carried by the militia were “long fowlers,” or hunting pieces, of assorted calibers, along with a smattering of British (.77 caliber) and Dutch-made (.78 caliber) martial muskets and some French infantry muskets (.60 and .62 caliber) captured in the French and Indian War.

Meanwhile, the British regulars were armed with 46-inch-barreled Long Land muskets and 42-inch-barreled Short Land muskets in .75 caliber. As bullets of the age were often molded to much smaller diameter than the bore (for instance the British used .69 caliber balls in their .75 caliber muskets), to aid in rapid loading as part of a paper cartridge, this only adds to the curious array of balls recovered not only in this early battle but in many Revolutionary War sites.

A sampling of the British and Colonial musket balls recovered from Lexington and Concord. One analysis of just 32 balls recovered at the Parker’s Revenge site spanned from .449 to .702 in diameter. 

When the smoke cleared, the Massachusetts provincials lost 49 killed, around 40 wounded, and 5 missing out of roughly 4,000 who answered the drum. The British lost 269 killed and wounded out of 1,800 regulars engaged.

A deep dive into those on the ground there, as interpreted by Lt Paul O’Shaughnessy and Pte Nick Woodbury of the 10th Regiment, and Steven Conners of the Lexington Minutemen:

Joker’s Wild

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It happened 80 years ago today.

Mindanao Operations, Philippines, 1945. Original period Kodachrome. Official caption: “PT boats speed through Polloc Harbor, Mindanao, while supporting landings there, 17 April 1945.”

The boat in the background appears to be PT-150. Note the twin .50cal machine gun in the foreground and 40mm/60 Bofors single over the stern.

NARA 80-G-K-4342 via NHHC

An 80-foot Elco boat, PT-150 (dubbed at various times by her crew as Lady Lucifer, Princessr, and Joker) was built by EB in Bayonne in 1942 and shipped to the Southwest Pacific to join Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron EIGHT (MTBRon 8). After seeing action in New Guinea- they fired a torpedo that missed the Japanese submarine I-17 but managed to strafe the conning tower with .50 cal before it submerged- the mosquito boat became part of MTBRon 12, a squadron that earned a Presidential Unit Citation.

Following operations in the Philippines, she was burned along with dozens of her type there in Samar in October 1945.

Junk Force at 60

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It happened some 60 years ago this month.

Official caption: “Ensign Le Quy Dang, VNN, and Lieutenant Tylor Field, USN, look for suspicious fishing boats while Lieutenant (J.G.) Phu, Commanding Officer of Junk Division 33, communicates with other units of his division during a patrol. Ensign Dang holds in his hands a powerful little equalizer, an M-79 grenade launcher. April 1965.”

At the beginning of 1965, the VNN Coastal Force consisted of 526 junks assigned to 28 Coastal Force divisions spread out along the entire coast of the Republic of Vietnam. The force included 81 command, 90 motor-sail, 121 motor-only, and 234 sail-only junks.

The command junks were the most capable vessels. Armed with one .50-caliber and two .30-caliber machine guns, these 54-foot junks could reach a maximum speed of 12 knots. At least one American adviser sailed with the Vietnamese crew.

At the end of the day, the operational effectiveness of the junks depended on the motivation and actions of the Vietnam Navy personnel, and this was a weakness the advisers were only too aware of.

April 26, 1965 Chief Gunner’s Mate Edmund B. Canby, underway in one of the command junks of Junk Division 33. He carries an M2 carbine

330-PSA-5-65 (USN 711489) Junk Force personnel load infantry troops aboard the small craft for a seaborne assault against the Viet Cong 1964. Note the M1 carbines and garands

Lookout watch crew member of a unit of Vietnamese junk force maintains vigilance over Viet Cong shipments in search of contraband, May 1962 USN 1105176

Vietnamese Junk Force stand lookout for craft which might be suspected of carrying weapons and other gear to Viet Cong collaborators, May 1962. USN 1105071

Junk force. His tattoo “Sat Cong” means “kill Viet Cong.” Photographed by SFC Bill Curry, before February 1965 USN 1109225

South Vietnamese Coastal Junk Force personnel inspect a boat they stopped in South Vietnamese waters M1 carbines duck hat and sneakers 66-3818

Junk of the South Vietnamese junk force on patrol at Vung Tau, Vietnam, March 1966 USN 1114950

Junk force man alert with Thompson as his junk prepares to move alongside suspicious fishing junk in search of Viet Cong contraband, May 1962 USN 1105074

Engineman First Class Carl L. Scott, advisor to the Vietnamese Coastal Junk Force 1964. Note the mix of pajamas, M1 Garands, and M1 Thompsons

Vietnamese Junk Force Crewmen searching a Viet Cong fishing boat in search of contraband and arms, May 1962. Note the Tommy gun. USN 1105078

Vietnamese Junk Force sailors. Note the sheilded M2 50 caliber machine gun and “evil eyes” on the trawler. Co Van My 15 Mar 1966 K-36321

Junk Force Station, Phu Quoc 1966

Lt. Taylor Field and Edmund B. Canby LIFE junk force April 1965

Hai-Thuyên Force Junk Force Vietnam, putting a WWII-era M1919 to use

Hai-Thuyên Force Junk Force Vietnam. Note the M1919s

For more information on the Junk Force and the Brown Water Navy of the Vietnam War, read War in the Shallows:  U.S. Navy Coastal and Riverine Warfare. 

Meet the New Springfield Armory Kuna

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After leaving cookie crumbs around the world for months, Springfield Armory on Tuesday announced that the Kuna large format pistol platform is available in the U.S.– and we’ve been kicking one around for a few months.

Designed by popular Croatian gunmaker HS Produkt, the Springfield Armory Kuna (Croatian for “Pine Marten,” the national animal of that country) sub-gun first surfaced last October when it beat the top-shelf B&T APC40 and Steyr M40 for a contract with the PMESP, the Sao Paulo Military Police – the largest police force in Brazil. Chambered in .40 S&W, it also appeared at EnforceTac in Germany back in February with a promised 9mm variant inbound as well. The word was that the svelte little burp gun, using an advanced roller-locked system of operation, had been developed with international counter-terror teams in mind.

Now, it is available in a semi-auto pistol variant in the U.S., initially just in 9mm. It will be sold at launch in a standalone pistol variant as well as a more deluxe version sold with an installed Strike Industries side-folding stabilizing brace. The MSRP varies between $999 to $1,149, with the braced model running higher.

The overall length of the brace-equipped Springfield Armory Kuna is 24.5 inches with the brace deployed and a more compact 15.5 inches folded. The gun can be fired in either position. (All photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Nobody was looking for the Kuna to roll into 2025 and instantly turn heads. Well-made 9mm large-format handguns in the SMG/PCC style have been increasingly popular in recent years, and it is clear that the folks behind the Kuna did their homework and did it well. You get a smooth-shooting and reliable platform that allows easy use with suppressors, lights, and optics for right around $1K. Taking notes from the Echelon, Hellcat, and Hellion when it comes to ergonomics and sights, Springfield is playing the hits here. It feels like a smoother and more updated version of the MP5K on the range.

The full review is over in my column at Guns.com.

The Sweet Swag of Ramstein Flag 2025

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Ramstein Flag 2025 (RAFL25) just wrapped up. The NATO Allied Air Command exercise was, despite its name, based out of Leeuwarden Airbase in Holland but stretched across RAF bases in England to Danish bases (Skrydstrup) and Luftwaffe installations in Germany, involving more than 90 aircraft from 12 bases supported by 18 nations.

As detailed by U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa:

For two weeks, U.S. Air Force aircraft and personnel from various bases in Europe will participate in NATO Allied Air Command’s Ramstein Flag 2025 exercise. Ramstein Flag 2025 is a multi-domain, tactical-level live fly exercise to train, demonstrate and advance combined warfare capabilities including agile combat employment, integrated air and missile defense, and counter anti-access and area denial in a simulated Article 5 scenario.

The aircraft and patches, as detailed by NATO photographers, are awesome including F-35As from Denmark, the U.S., and the Netherlands; German Eurofighter EF2000s, Finnish F-18Cs, assorted F-16s (including Greek, Turkish, and the first Romainian birds), the Swedish and Hungarian Saab JAS 39 Gripens, and the French Rafale RAF-C.

Turkish F-16 Ramstein flag

Greek F-16 Ramstein flag

Romanian F-16s Ramstein flag

French Rafael Ramstein Flag

Ramstein Flag 2025 Finnish F-18

French Rafael Ramstein Flag

Danish F-35 Ramstein Flag

Members of the Royal Canadian Air Force travelled to the Netherlands to partake in EX Ramstein Flag, a NATO training operation in which the CC-150 Polaris was deployed along with a Tactical Command and Control Team, Air Battle Managers, along with Maintenance and support enablers to conduct combined air operations with multiple foreign allied nations. Two Finnish F-18 Hornets go through refueling operations alongside the Canadian CC-150 Polaris over the Netherlands on 2 April 2025. Photo by: Corporal Luk

JG71 Eurofighter Ramstein flag

F-35 Dutch AF photo Ramstein flag

Hungarian JAS 39-Gripen Dutch AF photo Ramstein flag

 

Rock and Roll

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A U.S. Navy Patrol Boat, Riverine (PBR) crewman mans his twin M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun mount as the craft patrols the Vung Tau River in Vietnam on 14 April 1966, “in anticipation of trouble with the Vietcong.” Note the alternating mix of M20 red-over-silver-tipped armor-piercing incendiary tracer (API-T), silver-tipped M8 AP-I, and M1 incendiary (light-blue tipped) ammo in his belts.

Journalist First Class Ernest Filtz Photographer, NARA – K-31263

While the war of a million sorties from Yankee Station gets the most attention from Navy historians, the “Brown Water Navy” of the River Patrol Force and Mobile Riverine Force on Operation Market Time and Operation Game Warden involved the efforts of more than 30,000 Bluejackets and deserves to be remembered.

City of Music at the foot of Uncle Joe, courtesy of Lend Lease

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The 6th Guards (Order of Red Banner) Tank Army of Colonel General of Tank Troops Andrei Grigorievich Kravchenko– who had earned a Hero of the Soviet Union title after Kursk as head of the 5th Guards Tank Corps– was formed in Ukraine in early 1944 and, earning its “Guards” title after suppressing the the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket and smashing West during the follow-on Iassy-Kishinev Offensive, entered Hungary on the Debrecen Offensive on the 2nd Ukrainian Front by the end of that year. Still pushing as part of Stalin’s steamroller, it helped smash the last German offensive in the East (Frühlingserwachen under Sepp Dietrich’s 6th SS Panzer Army) along the shores of Lake Balaton in March 1945 and, after brutal street-to-street fighting, by 11 April had outflanked and entered Vienna, which was fully captured by the 15th.

There, in all its majesty, the great 6th Tank Army showed off all of its fine Detroit muscle, courtesy of Lend Lease, M4A2(76)W Shermans in the lead.

Going on to capture Prague by 12 May, the 6th Tank Army was pulled from Central Europe and shipped 11,000 km across Siberia to the Transbaikal. There, the 1,100 armored vehicles of the 6th Tank Army were ready to take on the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria by 9 August 1945 and would fight the last armored battle of WWII, famously racing 150km across the Gobi Desert in the first day of the offensive against the Japanese, seizing the passes of the Greater Khingan mountains and effectively bottling up toughest remaining Japanese units in its wake on the Manchurian plain.

Soviet Japanese Defeat of the Kwantung Army, 1945

Kravchenko was made a Twice Hero of the Soviet Union and, surviving Stalin, would retire from the military in 1955 and pass in 1963.

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