Tag Archives: springfield

Forget Threading: The 1960s Tech That Screws Today’s Better SMG and PCC Suppressor Mounts

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Fact: Tri-Lug Barrels are the oldest, easiest, and one of the best ways to quickly mount a suppressor.

However, the attachment style is also limited in what it can do and, sadly, is overlooked.

Where did Tri-Lug or 3-Lug come from?

In Oberndorf, Germany, in the early 1960s, Helmut Baureuter, Manfred Guhring,  Tilo Moller, and Georg Seidl cooked up probably the most mature sub gun of the 20th Century– the Heckler & Koch MP5. Recycling a roller-locked action first used on legendary machine guns in WWII and carried over to the G3 7.62 NATO battle rifle, it proved durable enough to become legendary.

It also had a funky, albeit innovative, barrel accessory mounting system on the muzzle: three equal-sized (roughly 0.310-inch) raised external lugs, spaced equally about 120 degrees apart center-to-center around the outside of the barrel, and ramped towards the muzzle.

These lugs were not an afterthought, welded, screwed, or pinned in, but something machined directly from, or forged with, the same piece of steel as the barrel.

Tri-lug, as seen on a Springfield Armory Kuna (male) and SilencerCo Spectre 9 and 36M (female). (Photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Even back in 1966, when the HK MP5, developed from the HK54, was introduced with its slimline handguard and straight waffle-pattern 9mm magazines, it had a tri-lug barrel.

old HK MP5
Talk about a blast from the past…

The tri-lug barrel endured through the Cold War and into the GWOT era and is still seen on classically styled MP5s and other SMG/PCCs.

HK MP5 Afghanistan
Seen above with casual SF types in an Afghanistani aloha snackbar joint in 2003. (Photo: National Archives, magnification by Guns.com staff). 

The funny thing was that the tri-lug barrel wasn’t meant for attaching a suppressor. The lugs were originally for affixing accessories (Zubehör) such as a flash-hider (Feuerdampfer), a blank firing adapter (Manoverpatronengerat), and a sleeve for a 22mm cup-style tear gas grenade launcher (Granatfuhrung) fired with a blank round.

Thus:

HK MP5 accessories
Via an early HK MP5 manual. 

Over the years, the accessories fell away while the MP5’s use with suppressors skyrocketed, especially after N (Navy) model MP5s entered the market in 1986, which included both a threaded barrel and tri-lug.

By 1988, inventor Timothy Bixler, with AWC Suppressors (Dr. Phil Dater’s old company) and Knights Armament, took out a patent (US4893426A) for a rotating collar utilizing Tri-Lug, and the rest is history.

How to use Tri-Lug

First off, Tri-Lug is a left-on (clockwise), right-off (counter-clockwise) kind of thing. Remember, “Left gets tight, right takes flight.”

trilug attachment
Align, press down, turn to the left, release. Reverse to take off

Align the lugs, push in to depress the spring of the mount, twist about a quarter turn to the left until it passes the detents and stops, release the spring by letting go, boom. You are locked in. Reverse it to remove. Easy on, easy off, but still rock solid while in use.

Example:

Plus, with the Tri-Lug, you don’t have to worry about the suppressor backing off or loosening under rapid fire as you do with more common threaded-barrel models.

Tips:

  • You can’t attach the can to the muzzle by twisting in the wrong direction, as the geometry won’t work, so don’t freak out about that.
  • Also, new mounts and/or new barrels will likely be super tight, and the spring stout, so be sure to lube up and work them in on a safe firearm before heading to the range and trying it for the first time. Nobody gets confidence from the guy tugging on his can in the corner.

Not HK-only anymore

Besides assorted Heckler & Koch MP5/SP5 models and the myriad of clones such as the Century/MKE AP5 and SDS MAC-5, you have offerings from PSA like the AR-V and variants of the B&T APC9, GHM9, and SPC9 that sport in-spec Tri-Lug direct from the factory. Plus, you can get adapters from folks like SilencerCo that convert standard threaded muzzles to Tri-Lug.

SilencerCo’s Tri-Lug male muzzle adapter. As long as you are 1/2x28TPI, you are good to go. Other companies such as Angstadt, Griffin, and Rugged also make such adapters. 

As far as making your suppressor Tri-Lug ready, there are adapters for that as well from Banish, Dead Air, SilencerCo, and others, so that’s not a problem.

SilencerCo’s Alpha Tri-lug coupler. 

A new model to the market introduced earlier in the month is a dedicated Tri-Lug barrel version of the Kuna, a dependable roller-action that is fast becoming one of the most popular large-format 9mm pistols on the market.

The new Tri-Lug barrel Kuna, right, compared to the standard model. 
The Springfield Kuna Tri-Lug in its natural environment, with a SilencerCo Spectre 9 attached. 

MSRP for the unbraced model is set at $1,179, and the FSA-braced model’s MSRP is set at $1,330. Low-capacity 10-round options will also be available for those unfortunates living in restrictive states.

So, is Tri-Lug Perfect?

No.

As the design doesn’t support boosters (Nielsen devices), Tri-lug is tied to its original platform type: pistol caliber SMGs, PCCs, and large format pistols with fixed barrels. While primarily a 9mm offering, you also see Tri-Lug adapters for .45ACP (reverse to .578×28, 5/8×24, 9/16×24, and M16x1 LH threads), but that is about it. Plus, since the mounts are spring-based, they can wear out with extensive use, requiring new springs at some point in the distant future.

Still, for those classic MP5 styles and new offerings from folks like B&T and Springfield, the old standard can be a king when it comes to quick-detach.

Here’s to more Tri-Lug in more places.

New Springfield Armory Optics-Ready TRP AOS 1911

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Back in the 1990s, the FBI was in the market for a pistol to equip its elite Hostage Rescue Team and regional SWAT teams, and the contract went to Springfield in 1998 for 500 M1911s crafted to very tight specs via meticulous hand fitting in the SA Custom Shop. Shortly after, the Marines ordered a batch of 150 similar pistols for its MEU(SOC) units. The HRT contract gun soon morphed into the Professional Model and eventually the TRP, which has gone on to become legendary over the past couple of decades.

SA’s Professional 1911s

Standard features on today’s top-shelf TRPs– going beyond the careful selection and fitment of components– include front strap checkering at 20 lines per inch, forward slide serrations, sighting plane serrations, the company’s Gen 2 Speed Trigger, a skeletonized hammer, premium sights, a straight mainspring housing, and G10 grips.

New for 2025 are eight optics-ready models, all equipped with an Agency Arms optics sighting system and offered in 9mm- both a first for the TRP. Priced at $1,999 across the board (we told you these were Springfield’s top shelf 1911s), there are full-sized all-steel 5-inch railed models in either black or Coyote Brown and in .45 and 9mm, as well as a lightweight Commander-length (4.25-inch) Carry Contour series in the same calibers and color options.

Springfield sent me a Coyote Commander-length Carry Contour TRP AOS in 9mm in this review; light and optic are not included.

In a nutshell, we found it to look good, feel great, and run like a gazelle. The slide-to-frame fit is legit, and the gun has no slop. The AOS system allows for lots of different optics, and it is great that SA is now making the TRP in a 9mm option, even if some consider such a thing in a 1911 platform to be an abomination.

The only rocks we can find to throw on this one are that the asking price of $1,999 is a bit steep, even in today’s inflated dollars, and that, perhaps a direct mount ACRO footprint would be a bigger hit.

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

The Gun Glock Should Have Made

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For the neat 30-year span between 1988, when the Glock 19 was introduced, and 2018 when the SIG P365 appeared, the 7.36-inch long, 4-inch barreled, 15+1 shot, 24-ounce unloaded G19 was the magic box of dimensions that every pistol maker chased.

Today, we have the new Springfield Armory Echelon 4.0C, which is 7.25 inches long with a 4-inch barrel, uses 15+1/18+1 magazines, and is 24 ounces, unloaded.

Unlike Glock, the Echelon has a chassis system that can be swapped around multiple grip modules of varying size and color and has a far better and more adaptable optics mounting system than Glock’s MOS plates.

Plus, it’s reliable, has ambi controls, a decent trigger, and much better sights.

The Echelon 4.0C could offer a good multi-purpose pistol for either home defense, especially with a good weapon-mounted light, or carry.

Full review in my column over at Guns.com.

The CMP Krags Are Here (Don’t Get too Excited)

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The Span Am Monument in New Orleans on Poydras, complete with Krag. (Photo: Chris Eger)

So, as promised, CMP has announced they have a small supply of Springfield Krag-Jorgensen rifles up for sale through their normal channels and in their three retail locations.

They will be in three grades and generally do not include cleaning rods, accessories, and/or bayonets: 

CMP image

The problem is, as almost all of these came from veterans group returns (VFW, American Legion, etc) many of these rifles have spent the past 80 years in ceremonial service and, by their own admission, have “little or no original finish remaining,” or, worse, “finished in chrome or nontraditional finish,” with some that have “had barrels cut to a shorter length but are not CARBINES.” Overall condition is fair, with pitting and uneven finishes expected but on the bright side “have been checked with a FIELD gauge and function fired,” so at least they work.

The announcement:

CMP is excited to announce the release of a limited supply of Krag-Jorgensen rifles. These rifles will be available in 3 variants, distinguished by physical characteristics. Condition of all variants is best described as “Fair”, and all have been minimally inspected for completeness and general serviceability. Inventory on these rifles is expected to cap at approximately 800 units across all variants and orders will be processed on a first come-first served basis. We will provide timely notice via email, social media channels, website and forums when we have received more order requests than we have available rifles.

The CMP’s price ($1,200 to $1,350) is truly kind of meh, as sporterized Krags can be had for $300-$500, stripped receivers and barreled actions for less than that for folks looking to do a rebuild, and even complete and correct-ish U.S. martial Krags (with cartouche) for around $800-$1,000 for anything that isn’t a saddle ring carbine or rare production date.

Lots of complete milsurp Krags were sold on the commercial market for a song starting just after the Great War, a trend that would continue into the 1950s. That means a lot of these old guns are already floating around and regularly come up for sale

Yes, I know these are CMP guns and have spent their entire lives in government service or on loan to government-approved entities, rather than in the back of great-grandpa’s closet since Ike was in office, but still, for me at least, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

When it comes to captured enemy weapons, the Army never throws anything away

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I recently had the chance to tour U.S. Army’s Museum Support Center at Anniston Army Depot, the keepers of the flame for military history in the country.

The 15,200-acre installation in North Alabama was established in World War II and overhauls both small arms and vehicles for the Army. A longstanding tenant on the sprawling base, based out of Building 201, is the Museum Support Center, operated by the Center of Military History. The CMH maintains an immense collection of 650,000 historic items across 228 sites including 57 large museums that are a part of the Army Museum Enterprise. Items not yet on display, waiting for a public home, or are excess to current museum needs are stored in the “Army’s attic” in Anniston.

In secured storage at the MSC are 13,000 live weapons of all sorts, ranging from 13th Century Ottoman gear to guns captured recently in Afghanistan…and they were gracious enough to roll out the red carpet for me:

More in my column at Guns.com

Got to bump into some groovy hardware last week

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So I hung out at NRA Show for a few days last week. Got to see some cool new stuff and write about it.

Including Springfield Armory’s new XD-E hammer fired compact 9mm single stack


Which complemented FN’s new 509.

So now FN is making striker-fired guns while Springfield XD is making hammer fired. What the what?

Then there was Colt’s new 70 series Gold Cup Trophy and Competition models (yup, no firing pin block).

Those G10 scales, tho

And Savage’s Fox A Grade SXS double shotgun series, which are really sweet and feature bone and charcoal case color-finished receivers over black walnut furniture (though original Foxes are cheaper).

And nope, this one is not made in Turkey

But the coolest thing (that I am soon going to be T&E’ing, squeeeee) is Remington’s Tac-14 870 that I was able to get the first media peek at while touring Big Green’s Huntsville Factory prior to the show.

At 26.25 inches overall and with a Raptor Shockwave pistol grip, the 12-gauge’s 14-inch cylinder bore barrel is not a National Firearms Act regulated item as it is a “firearm” and not an SBS or AOW, thus no tax stamp is required under federal law, though state and local laws may apply.

I will for sure keep you posted on that one…