What is a STANAG magazine?

In our last article, we looked at what the deal about teflon-coated bullets was about. In this next post, we will look into STANAG magazines. So what's the big deal about STANAG magazines and why are they called that anyway? This article aims to clear all that up.

Two STANAG compatible magazines. Left is a 20 round magazine made by Colt, right is a 30 round "High Reliablility" magazine made by Heckler & Koch/

Click on image to enlarge.

Image licensed under GNU Free Documentation License v 1.2 or later, by user Raygun on wikipedia.

Back when NATO was first formed, they agreed to develop a set of common standards that all the member countries could use, in order to ensure that the various countries under the NATO umbrella could share arms and ammunition. These standards were called STANdardization AGreements, or STANAGs for short and many were published for various military hardware. We start our story in 1980, soon after NATO had standardized on using the NATO 5.56x45 mm. cartridge for their assault rifles. STANAG 4172 was the document that specified the standards for the NATO 5.56x45 mm. cartridge.  Soon after this, STANAG 4179 was proposed, which described the standards for how the magazines were to be made. Now for the real amusing part: STANAG 4179 was a document containing a proposed standard for magazines, but was never officially accepted by all the member countries and therefore remains as a "Draft STANAG" to this date! Therefore, calling these magazines as "STANAG compatible magazine" is not technically correct.

Nevertheless, many manufacturers started making magazines to the standards proposed by the document, even before it was officially ratified. Some people are under the impression that the STANAG standard specifies the magazine capacity, along with the dimensions of the magazine, but this is an incorrect assumption to make. Even though most of the magazines made for military purposes are usually 20 or 30 round capacity, there exist other STANAG compatible magazines that hold 40, 50 or even 100 rounds. The shape can be different as well, as there are drum magazines and box magazines that are both STANAG compatible. The STANAG 4179 document only specifies some of the dimensions of the magazine and also doesn't specify the materials to be used or manufacturing standards. Therefore, different manufacturers can make the magazines to any length, with different kinds of material (e.g. aluminium, steel, plastic etc.), and still claim to be STANAG compatible. This causes production quality from various manufacturers to differ.

There are now many rifles that can take STANAG magazines, such as AR-15, M-16, Heckler and Koch G41, FAMAS G2, Tavor TAR-21 etc. and some other rifle models such as SIG 556, H&K G36, IMI Galil etc. can also use them with a magazine adapter.

What's the deal with teflon coated bullets?

During the early 1980s, there was quite a bit of controversy about teflon-coated bullets. Some news articles even went so far as to label them as "cop killers". The reader is probably thinking at this point, "Teflon? Isn't that the stuff that they coat non-stick cooking pans with? Why is that so dangerous?" This article aims to clear up the mystery.

Teflon coated bullet

Our story starts in the 1960s, when a company called KTW Inc. (named after the founders last names, Kopsch, Turcos and Ward) from Ohio was trying to develop a bullet with better penetration characteristics. Common handgun bullets which were largely made of lead, had the problem of deforming upon hitting a hard surface, such as a car door or a windshield, and became less effective after they deformed. KTW was trying to invent a better bullet for use by police departments (in fact, one of the founders, Daniel Turcos, was a police sergeant at that time and the other two founders worked in the coroner's office of the Ohio police department).

They eventually settled on a bullet design that consisted of a steel core, with an outer jacket made of hardened brass. This bullet offered much better penetration than older lead bullets, but it had a problem because of the hardened brass layer on the outside of the bullet. This hard layer did not engage the handgun's rifling very well and the friction caused the barrels to wear out prematurely. To reduce the barrel wear, the inventors coated the outside of the bullets with teflon, because teflon is very slippery and is one of the best lubricating substances known to man (the same reasons why teflon is used to coat the surfaces of non-stick pots and pans).

In 1982, NBC ran a special television report on these bullets where they argued that these bullets were a danger to police officers (many police departments had requested NBC not to run that program). After that television show, many American gun-control groups started to call these bullets as "cop killers" because they could penetrate the ballistic vests that many policemen used to wear at that time. Unfortunately, many of these reports wrongly reported that the teflon coating was the reason that these bullets had better penetration, rather than the hardened brass jacket which was the real reason. Movies and TV shows continued to spread the myth that coating ordinary bullets with teflon suddenly made them capable of piercing armor plates.

Because of the publicity, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon and Oklahoma have laws that make it illegal to possess teflon coated bullets, while Virginia makes it illegal to use teflon coated bullets to commit a crime.

KTW stopped producing these bullets in the 1990s and they're not encountered as much these days. However, there are other manufacturers who coat their bullets with other lubricating substances, such as molybdenum disulfide, wax, lubalox etc.

A History of the M1911 Pistol

The M1911 pistol is a legendary design that is still going strong well into the 21st century. We will study some of its history in this post.

Click on images to enlarge.

First, we go all the way back to 1884, when Hiram Maxim, an American inventor, was living in England. A couple of years before, he recalled that as a child, he had once tried to fire a rifle and was knocked over by the recoil. This gave him the idea that perhaps he could harness some of the recoil force to automatically extract the old cartridge and chamber a new one. He started work in 1882 and by October 1884, he had a prototype that he could demonstrate publicly.

While Hiram Maxim formed a company to manufacture machine guns, the principle he had demonstrated could also be used by pistols. By 1896, several companies began to manufacture pistols using the same concept of using recoil to automatically load subsequent cartridges.

Fast forward a few years and over in Asia, the Philippines-American war had broken out in 1899 and by 1904, Moro tribesmen in the southern Philippines had started a rebellion. US soldiers, who were then using the issued M1892 revolver, found to their horror, that the .38 Long Colt cartridge that it used was insufficient to stop charging Moro tribesmen, who were reportedly high and filled with religious fervor. Some servicemen found that the older M1873 revolver model, which used a bigger .45 Colt cartridge was much more effective at stopping the tribesmen. Word got back to higher ups and the Chief of Ordinance, General William Crozier, authorized some tests to determine a new sidearm for the US army.

Colonel (later General) John T. Thompson (of Thompson submachine gun fame) declared that among his requirements for the new firearm was that it should fire at least .45 caliber ammunition and should be capable of semi-automatic operation. In 1906, firearms from six different companies were submitted for trial and four were eliminated early on, leaving only designs manufactured by Savage and Colt for final trials. The Colt design was designed by the legendary firearms designer, John Browning. During the final tests conducted in 1910, the Colt design passed through the tests with reportedly no malfunctions, whereas the Savage design had 37 failures. Therefore, the Colt design was officially accepted in March 1911 and designated as the M1911 pistol.

While the military liked the Colt design, they suggested a number of improvements to it. Among them was the addition of the grip safety and the manual safety. After World War I, a number of minor changes were authorized and these were incorporated into the M1911A1 design in 1924. Among these changes were shorter trigger, wider front sight, longer grip safety spur, shorter hammer spur etc. These changes are relatively minor and people who are not very familiar with the design cannot really tell the differences.

Since then, the design has been manufactured by many other companies around the world, with a variety of different materials. Examples of manufacturers include Smith & Wesson, Taurus, Norinco, Wilson Arms, Les Baer etc. They can vary in prices from about $300 to over $5000 for custom made models.

The demand of this classic design is still going strong -- in July 2012, the US Marine Corps announced that they were looking to purchase 12,000 M1911 pistols for use by various personnel.

Clay Pigeons

With the London Olympics just around the corner, one of the events held there is the Olympic Trap Shooting competition. In this competition, shooters armed with shotguns attempt to shoot at clay plates that are thrown in the air. These plates are called "clay pigeons" or "birds", the machine that throws them is called a "trap", a hit is referred to as a "kill", a miss as a "bird away". So what are the origins of such terms.

A clay pigeon target made by Remington Inc. Note the name "Blue Rock".

Click on image to enlarge. Image released to public domain by user Jeff Weiss at Wikipedia.

To understand some of these terms, we must go back to the end of the 1700s, when shooting sports were popular among the rich people of England. At that time, the targets were often live pigeons and the first record of such events dates to the 1750s when flintlock firearms were still popular. By the 1830s, it was a well known sport and several shooting clubs were operational around London. Firearm manufacturers even began to manufacture specialized firearms called "pigeon guns" for this purpose and these were often double-barreled percussion shotguns.

One of the oldest shooting clubs from that period was called The Old Hats public house on Uxbridge road at Ealing, near London. The name "Old Hats" derived from the way that the pigeons were held before releasing: small holes were dug into the ground and the birds were put into these holes and old hats were put on these holes to keep the birds in the dark and prevent them from escaping. A system of ropes and pulleys were used to pull the hats away and release the birds when required. The "Red House" in Battersea was another famed London club known for wager shooting. By 1856, the hats were replaced by box traps which had sliding doors operated by ropes. This is why the sport is now called "trap shooting" and not "hat shooting". The Hornsey Wood House club was the first one to start using traps (incidentally, the Hornsey Wood House club was formed in 1810 and was the first dedicated pigeon shooting club).

Now we can go into the origin of some of the terms that are still with us. In the old shooting clubs, when the shooter was ready and wanted a bird to be released, he would yell "pull" to tell the assistant to pull the rope and release the trap door. Modern shooters still yell "pull" when they're prepared to shoot a target for this reason. As you've probably guessed, this is why the target is still called a "bird", a hit is a "kill" and a miss is a "bird away".

If you look at the picture of the clay target above, note that it is named as "Blue Rock". There is a history behind that name as well. The favorite type of bird used in England for pigeon shooting was the Blue Rock pigeon.

The Blue Rock Pigeon. Image taken from W.W. Greener's The Gun and its Development, which is now in the public domain.

According to W.W. Greener's book The Gun and its Development, the preferred variety was the Lincolnshire Blue Rock, which came from the Lincolnshire district of England. These birds were raised by farmers in Lincolnshire in cotes close to the coast, which made for a particularly hardy bird which was small in body size, but quick in flight and tough. Other Blue Rock pigeons were bred in Oxfordshire and Yorkshire, but were deemed inferior to Lincolnshire birds. Many birds were also imported from Antwerp, but they were not as game as the English birds, per the author. The second best preferred bird was the English Skimmer, which along with the Antwerp birds, were used in the second-rate shooting clubs.

The sport of trap shooting spread from England to Europe and America and became so popular that it became hard to obtain live birds. Therefore, enthusiasts started to make artificial traps to cover the shortage. The first artificial targets were glass balls and these were used from around 1865 to 1880 or so. Glass ball shooting originated in England and rapidly spread to the US. The platter shaped clay pigeons were first made around 1880 by Mr. George Ligowsky in Cleveland and began to replace glass balls almost immediately. These clay traps also gradually began to replace live traps as well and by the 1900 Olympic games held in Paris, trap shooting was an official Olympic sport. Incidentally, the 1900 Olympics had two additional shooting event as well, one using live pigeons as targets and another one that involved shooting running game. It was the only Olympics to have these two events. By 1921, it became illegal to use live targets in England and the clay traps were then used in all shooting contests since. A popular hand trap throwing device was invented in 1927 by Emile Laporte of France, which also gave a huge boost to the sport. This was a spring loaded device that gave a spinning trajectory to the clay pigeon and made the target stable in flight for at least the first 50 meters or so. Trap shooting is still a part of the Olympic games.

Interestingly enough, between 1900 and 1992, the Olympic sport of trap-shooting was one of the few sporting events where men and women competed against each other in the same event. It was the 1996 Olympic games that made separate events for men and women.

Unusual Firearms: Russian Space Pistol

We have discussed many mainstream firearms over the months on this blog, but we haven't looked at too many unusual ones yet. We will start with the amazing Russian Space pistol, the TP-82!

Click on images to enlarge

This three barreled weapon was in service with the Russians since 1986 to 2006 and has been carried by their cosmonauts on several space missions. The two top barrels are side-by-side smoothbore barrels that can fire shotgun shells and signalling flares. The bottom barrel is rifled and fires more conventional 5.45x39 mm. ammunition (the same as that used by the AK-74 assault rifle)

So why carry a firearm into space? Are they expecting an invasion of little green men from Mars? Well,  the real reason is to protect their cosmonauts from earth-based predators. Here's why the need for a firearm came about.

In the 1960s when the US and the Soviets were both trying to win the space race, both countries were launching spacecraft that returned the astronauts to earth via parachutes. In America's case, the landings were often over water (specifically, oceans) and the US Navy had the job of recovering the astronauts after splashdown. In the Soviet case, they had vast underpopulated areas and would try to land their capsules in their own territory. However, they often had issues where the space capsules would land well away from the intended landing zone.

In 1965, on the Voshkod 2 mission, Alexei Leonov became the first man to walk into space. This feat made major headlines worldwide. What is not nearly well-known is the number of glitches that happened in this mission: Leonov's space suit inflated too much during his spacewalk, he had to bleed some air to get back in the hatch, got stuck, overheated and nearly died out there. On the way back to re-entry on earth, the automatic landing system malfunctioned and Leonov and his fellow cosmonaut, Pavel Belyayev, had to take over with manual controls, which meant that they could not return to their seats immediately and disrupted the center of gravity of their capsule. All this meant that they landed over 350 km. (about 220 miles) away from their intended landing zone, in the middle of the Ural mountains. There were not too many people there, but plenty of wolves and bears! While the Soviets had a rough idea where they had landed, they could not dispatch helicopters immediately to their rescue. The two cosmonauts allegedly had to stay inside the capsule for several hours, while a hungry pack of wolves was prowling outside, trying to get into the capsule.

The solution to this issue was fairly simple. The next Soviet space mission added to the survival kit, a firearm that was known for its reliability and simplicity: the AKM assault rifle (this is per a former Soviet defector named Vladimir Rezun (who writes under the pen-name "Victor Suvorov") in one of his books.) and all Soviet space missions since 1965 have always carried some sort of firearm into space.

AKM and AK-74 rifles were reportedly carried along during Soviet space missions in the 60s and 70s, all the way to the mid 80s. The TP-82 was developed in 1982 and came into service around 1986. It combines the capabilities of a shotgun (to hunt birds and small animals), a flare pistol (to signal rescuers where they are) and a rifle (to shoot bigger predators and larger game) in one firearm. It has three barrels, two side-by-side smoothbore barrels and a rifled barrel underneath. The two smoothbore barrels can fire 12.5x70 mm. shells (approx 40. gauge) and the rifled barrel can fire a 5.45x39 mm. AK-74 round. The rifle barrel has been tested and found effective to kill elk, deer, wild boar, ibex, antelope and other large animals weighing upto 200 kg. (440 lbs.) for distances up to 200 meters and the shotgun barrel has been used effectively against rabbits, foxes, partridges, ducks, geese, pheasants etc. The stock is detachable and contains a machete inside it, to cut wood and build shelters. The stock can also double as a small spade or shovel to dig holes in the ground. The entire firearm with the stock weighs about 2.4 kg. (5.3 lbs.) and without the stock, it weighs 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs.). The three types of ammunition for this weapon come on a belt that is attached to the gun.

The TP-82 remained in service until 2006 or early 2007, when the ammunition that was made for it degraded and became unusable. Since then, the Russian missions have reportedly carried a semi-automatic pistol (reportedly, a Makarov PM) for self-defense.

Reloading Ammunition: Procedures

In the last few posts in the series, we've talked about all the equipment needed for reloading. Now we will discuss how the process of reloading works. At this stage, it might be a good idea to state a few points:

1. While reloading ammunition is legal in the United States and Canada and some other countries, it is also illegal in some countries around the world. In some countries (e.g. Germany), people need to take a course and pass a state exam before they're allowed to reload legally. In other countries, reloading is completely banned. If you are from one of these countries, you should probably stop reading now.
2. Many firearms manufacturers will refuse to honor warranty if non-standard loads are used.
3. Some lawyers recommend against using reloaded ammunition for home defensive use. This depends on jurisdiction though, so it is best to check if it is an issue in your area or not.
4. Don't always believe everything you read on the Internet (including this blog). If you want to get into reloading, it is best to consult an experienced person on the subject face-to-face.

With that said, let's look into all the equipment used for reloading. If you'd been reading the previous few blog posts carefully, you should have no trouble identifying the equipment in the movie below, and the purposes for which they are used:

The above post shows some of the basic equipment that a reloader needs, along with an explanation of what each tool does. The movie basically goes over what we covered in the last few blog posts.

The next video also goes over equipment (although much more quickly) and shows the process of reloading:

This gives a fairly good idea of the reloading process with a single stage press.

In the next video, we see another person reloading using a more advanced press and tools.

Happy viewing!

Reloading Ammunition: Equipment: Reloading Kits

In the last few posts in this series, we looked at various individual tools and materials needed to reload cartridges. For many of these tools and materials, we looked at the prices at which they could be purchased. However, it must be noted that if a beginner were to start reloading and purchase these items individually, they would cost a considerable sum of money. Not to worry though: many manufacturers also sell reloading kits, which contain the basic tools that a beginner would need to do some reloading.  Buying one of these is a lot cheaper than purchasing the individual parts.

At  the low-end, we have hand-reloading kits for specific pistol and rifle calibers:

A basic 9 mm. reloading kit from Lee Precision Inc.

This is a cheap loading kit designed for reloading 9 mm. Luger ammunition only, that sells for about $38.00. Note that it doesn't come with any reloading press, the powder measure is a simple scoop and it comes with a couple of tools that look like long screwdrivers to perform decapping and capping operations. A couple of dies are included to size the case and load the bullet. The user is expected to purchase a rubber mallet to use with this kit, as there is no press. There is also an included instruction manual that gives step-by-step instructions on how to use this kit, along with information about powder types and loads that should be used with it. Lee Precision claims that a user can load about 50 cartridges an hour with this kit, which is probably a little on the high side.

Lee sells a number of these kits at the same price (about $38.00), each one designed for a specific pistol or rifle cartridge caliber, e.g. 9 mm. Luger, .44 magnum, .357 magnum, .45 ACP, 30/30 Winchester, 303 British etc. In many of these kits, Lee Precision does state that some considerable force will need to be applied for reloading larger cartridges, which means that these kits are not easy for everyone to use. Still, these are the cheapest type of reloading kit available.

The next step up is a reloading kit that can be used to reload various types of ammunition. Such a kit comes with a single-stage press:

Lee Precision Breech Lock Challenge Kit. Click on image to enlarge.

This kit comes with a single-stage "O" press, an automatic powder measure, a set of powder scales, a powder funnel, a hand operated spring-loaded priming tool, a set of shell holders that will fit 115 popular cartridge types, case cutter and deburring tool (case-length gauges for specific calibers can be ordered with this kit for an additional $6 per gauge). Included also are a case lubrication kit and a couple of primer pocket cleaning tools.

If the above parts are purchased separately, they would cost around $215 in total. However, buying this kit costs only $172. Of course, the user will also need to purchase sets of dies corresponding to the cartridge calibers that they need to reload, which cost an additional $40 per set. Additional tools would include calipers, some cleaning brushes, a reloading data book etc.

A single stage reloading kit from RCBS

The above image is another single-stage loading kit from RCBS Inc. This one also has a single stage "O" Press, a set of powder scales, a powder funnel, case lubrication kit, a loading block, primer tray, case cleaning brushes, deburring tool and a reloading manual written by Speer (for non-American readers, Speer is a well-known ammunition manufacturing company in America). A kit like this costs about $180. As with the above Lee kit, this one also needs the user to purchase sets of dies corresponding to the cartridge calibers that need to be reloaded, which cost about $40 per set. In addition, the user will also need to purchase some shell holders corresponding to the cartridge calibers being reloaded, calipers etc.

Single stage kits like these allow the user to reload about 250 rounds per hour.

Next up, we have turret press kits, such as the one below:

This value turret press kit costs about $115 and just requires 4 pulls of the lever to complete a cartridge. It comes with a turret press, auto powder measure, scale, case cutting tools, primer pocket cleaner and deburring tool. All that is needed is a set of dies for that caliber and optionally, calipers and loading blocks. This particular kit is only suitable for handgun cartridges though.

Turret Press reloading kits by Lee Precision and RCBS. Click on images to enlarge

The next two images are turret press reloading kits geared towards reloading both pistol and rifle ammunition. These kits are in the $300 - $400 range and contain all the common tools needed for reloading. The manuals that are supplied with these kits contain instructions to load a very wide variety of cartridges. The user only needs to additionally purchase die sets and shell holders for the cartridge calibers to be reloaded + calipers if needed.

These kits are easily capable of loading about 250 cartridges an hour

Finally, we have kits that contain progressive presses.

Hornady Lock N' Load Ammo Plant reloading kit. Click on image to enlarge

A kit like this costs about $1200 - $1400 and comes with a progressive press, automatic bullet feeder, automatic case feeder, die bushings, cartridge catchers, primer pickup tubes, a monitor to ensure that it will warn when the hopper runs out of gunpowder etc.  The only things left to purchase are shell holders, dies and perhaps some additional die bushings (if the ones that are already supplied with the kit don't fit), a set of scales and calipers.

RCBS Progressive reloading kit. Click on image to enlarge

The above kit costs about $900 and comes with a progressive press, automated priming and powder dispensing systems, case trimmer and cutter, deburring tool, case lubrication kit, brushes and cleaning tools and a Speer reloading manual among others. Note that the scale is electronic and can be used to measure the powder as well as the completed cartridges. The kit also comes with a set of calipers, so the only thing that the user needs to purchase is a set of dies and shell holders.

One last thing to mention is that many of the prices mentioned in this article and the previous ones are new equipment prices, as of time of writing of the article. It is possible to buy many of these tools in used condition from gun shows, at much reduced prices. Some tools like presses or dies generally tend to last a very long time, so a used press may perform very similar to a new one, but only cost $20 - $30 whereas the same model in brand-new condition could cost $70 - $80. Similarly, dies tend to last a very long time, so used dies can be purchased for much cheaper than new ones and while the used set may have some minor scratches and blemishes, it could still perform as well as a brand-new set.