Meet APC9 – The United States Army’s New Submachine Gun

From time to time, military armament is “updated,” which is to say, the DOD requests new stuff to be made, and/or invented for their use. Sometimes, new armament is justified, but not always. This is not one such case.

The M-16, which was originally monikered as the AR-15, has been in use by the United States Armed Forces since the Vietnam era, and when it was “field-tested” in the heat of battle in the jungles of Vietnam, it failed miserably. It was necessary to be kept meticulously and spotlessly clean, because any debris could cause it to fail catastrophically, most often and unfortunately in the heat of battle. In stark contrast, the rugged Russian AK-47 was a weapon that was not only inexpensive to construct, but would operate even after being dropped in the mud and rice paddies of Vietnam and Cambodia. No soldier could honestly say that the American AR-15 was a weapon which they felt secure with, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that it continuously jammed – which is why the firearm has a device called a “forward assist” which

AR-15 forward assist device

“is used to push the rifle’s bolt carrier groups closed. To actuate it, you press the button on the forward assist assembly. This moves the bolt forward and chambers a round. The intended effect is usually to force a round into the chamber if it hangs up for any reason, sort of like the old trick of hitting the slide of a semi-auto pistol with the heel of your hand in the case of a failure to feed.

“The AR-15 forward assist was added to the rifle at the behest of the Army as Eugene Stoner (and the Air Force) actually didn’t believe it was necessary on his original design that became the M16 rifle. Colt created the forward assist assembly, including a pawl (the thing you press) a plunger (which engages with the receiver to send it forward) a spring and a roll pin. To actuate it, you press the pawl, pushing the plunger forward. That engages with teeth on the bolt, pushing it forward.”

Changing battle conditions require changing armaments to meet the need. But here’s an irony: The AK-47 is the world’s most enduring, most rugged, most feared, most deadly, and most popular assault rifle. And, having been designed in 1947, it has been around 10 years longer.

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The American subsidiary of Swiss gunmaker B&T has won a multi-million-dollar contract to supply the U.S. Army with a variant of its 9mm APC9 submachine gun. For almost a year, the service has been evaluating a number of proposed weapons as part of an effort to give personal security details added firepower.

The Army quietly announced that it had awarded

Guess Which One?

Which one’s which?

Find the M-16 and the AR-15.

And, did you know?

ALL parts are interchangeable on the M-16 and the AR-15.

Every single one of them.

Why is that?

When Eugene Stoner (1922-1997) of the Armalite corporation originally designed the weapon, it was at the behest of the United States Department of Defense which sought a firearm that was lightweight (under 6 pounds) had a high-capacity magazine (30 rounds), and could penetrate BOTH sides of a steel helmet at 500 yards. It was called the AR15, for Armalite Rifle version 15. There had been several previous iterations to the rifle, all of which were intended exclusively for military use.

The .223 caliber round (the bullet, not the shell/casing) had been introduced to market and made available to the civilian market by Remington, which commercially introduced the .222 Remington as a varmint cartridge in 1950 – a round intended for pest control.

Bullets are measured in size, which is called “caliber,” and refers to its diameter/circumference, and weight, which is measured in “grains.” So, a 60 grain bullet would weigh 3.887935 grams.

Sometimes also called “ball ammo,” bullets so described are lead bullets completely covered with metal, also known as FMJ, or Full Metal Jacket. Unlike hollow point bullets – bullets which have a hollowed-out center – ball ammo/FMJ bullets do not expand upon impact. Instead, they penetrate a target and quite possibly even penetrate the object behind the target.

There are also numerous varieties and shapes of ball ammunition which range from “boat tails,” flat nose (sometimes called dum-dum bullets), and ones with truncated cones. Each shape has a specific use, but all are made for one purpose in mind: Penetration.

Though the years, the development of the .223 caliber round, and the Armalite Rifle proceeded. The military was increasingly interested in both.

In 1957, events began to accelerate with development of both. Eugene Stoner had developed a rifle called the AR-10 in response to the Army’s request for a “small-caliber, high-velocity” (SCHV) cartridge – the entire shell casing and round, filled with gunpowder, a primer, and bullet. And that year, the Infantry Board had agreed upon the preliminary specifications, which called for a 6 pound, select-fire .22″ rifle with a conventional stock and a 20 round magazine. The proposed chambering had to penetrate the standard issue steel helmet, body armor, and a .135″ steel plate at 500 yards, while maintaining the trajectory and accuracy of M2 ball from a M1 Garand, and equaling or exceeding the “wounding” ability of the .30 Carbine.

In January 1963, just as the Vietnam “conflict” was simmering slightly below a boil, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered the AR-15 adopted to replace the M14 which had been the standard issue infantry rifle, and standard issue for all branches of service for several years. His decision was based upon