Tag Archives: KAC

CANCON ’23: Quiet Suppressor Fest in the Sun

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I trekked to the Georgia coast last weekend to hang out at the fully suppressed range day and gun show that is the fabled CANCON.

Held Veterans Day weekend at the 17 South Rod and Gun Club in sunny Savannah – where the temps hovered in the low 80s in November! – the event is now in its second year. Organized by the fine folks at Recoil with the support of more than 60 industry sponsors including some big players like B&T, Daniel Defense, FN, KAC, Kalashnikov USA, Maxim, PTR, SIG Sauer, SilencerCo, and Staccato, you can bet that it had something for everyone.

Open to the public, a $50 general admission ticket got you on the range for the day for unlimited shooting at every lane with all ammo included, while VIP and Premier tickets got you into the whole weekend including night shoots with both white light and NVGs and a swag bag that included a free suppressor (not a misprint).

While I’ll have several follow-up articles this week diving deeper into some cool new developments in the quiet space that I ferreted out at the show, check out this preview to get a general feel for the event.

Who doesn’t love a suppressed M2 50 cal?

Dead Air was there doing Dead Air stuff. We call dibs on the Spiker.

What’s your pick?

B&T had their Station SIX? (AKA the modern Welrod)

As part of this complete breakfast

Gemtech, one of the oldest names in the suppressor game, was there with lots of goodies all on parent company S&W’s new stuff, including the new FPC folding 9mm carbine.

Kalashnikov USA was out in force with lots of cool guy stuff…

Recently celebrating their 15th anniversary, SiCo did a short run of Titanium Sparrows that sold out in a day. Maybe it will become a regular item. Maybe.

SIG brought lots of stuff Including the MCX line, which the Army is putting through its paces currently for the Next Generation Squad Weapon program.

More in my column at Guns.com.

KAC getting a lot of Pentagon Love

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The aircrew of the Florida-based Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron stand for a photo after the 500th recorded drug bust in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, March 11, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo. Note the M107A1 with mounted AN/PEQ-15 aiming laser in the foreground, the M110 7.62x51mm sniper rifle with can in the background, and the fact that the crew names and weapons’ serials have been blurred for OPSEC/PERSEC.

In the past week, the DOD has announced two big contracts for Knight’s Armament Company in Florida.

For those who aren’t familiar with Reid Knight’s KAC, just keep in mind that the company served as the final home of Eugene Stoner, who redesigned his original AR-10 there as the new and very much improved SR-25. That 7.62 NATO precision rifle went on to pull down the Army’s XM110 Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle competition in 2005.

The resulting M110 has gone on to be used not only by the Joes but also with the Navy EOD and Specwar community, the Marines in a designated marksman role, and the Coast Guard’s HITRON interdiction teams.

It is so well-liked that, even while the Army is picking up HK-made G28s for the new M110A1, they are still buying M110s from KAC, announcing a $13M contract for the rifles last week. 

Quiet Time

U.S. Marines assigned to Scout Sniper Platoon, Battalion Landing Team 3/2, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), conduct an M4 Carbine live-fire exercise on the flight deck of the USS Kearsarge, at sea, July 18, 2013. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Christopher Q. Stone, 26th MEU Combat Camera/Released)

And in other related news, the Marines just issued a $25M contract to KAC for 5.56 NATO suppressors for their M4/M4A1s and M27 IARs. 

When it comes to suppressor-use by its warfighters, the Marines have been consistently striving to make them the standard rather than the exception. In 2016, the expeditionary-focused service moved to equip every element of a test battalion, from combat engineers to headquarters units, with suppressed weapons after company-level trials yielded results.

By 2017, they were exploring the option of picking up enough to outfit all of their battalions. The new contract will go a long way towards that if all the options are used.