Tactical Arms

Guns, guns, and more guns. In each episode of Tactical Arms, our experts examine one modern weapon from the inside out. From machine guns, to battle rifles, to shotguns, to handguns - they go through a metric ton of ammo to show you the anatomy, performance, origins, and use on today's battlefield that make these Tactical Arms the best of breed. kwshooting

The submachine gun enjoyed a brief moment in the sun as an important weapon during WW II. Most of the warring nations fielded a version of this compact, easy to produce weapon for paratroopers, tank crews, and home defense. The material challenges of the time led to some uniquely efficient designs, and we will examine them all.

Starting with the legendary Sturmgewehr and still continuing to this day, German arms manufacturers have created some of the finest assault and battle rifles of the last one hundred years. We'll trace the lineage, testing them all to separate fact from fiction.

The all purpose battle rile the M-110 is profiled.

When most people think of Russian Soviet-era small arms, they think of the world famous AK-47. However justified this may be, the fact is the USSR produced a host of excellent infantry firearms, including the two we look at on this episode: The AK-74, the carbine version of its legendary big brother, and the SVD, the Russians long-serving sniper rifle.

The pistol world changed forever when Glock introduced its polymer-framed hand guns, and we'll explore why on this must-see episode for Glock fans. You'll see all the variants in production today and learn how to properly shoot, care for, and customize your Glock.

FN's SCAR-Heavy represents the next stage in battle rifle evolution, with a host of features and capabilities never before seen. We will put this rifle through it's paces, and also examine the sniper variant, the SSR, pitting it against a general purpose machine gun to see who does a better job of stopping a mass attack.

The FAL is one of the most widely used battle rifles in history, adopted by over 90 countries. Host Larry Vickers will take an unblinking look at why this full sized combat weapon has impressed so many soldiers for over fifty years.

The MK 48 is the latest and most advanced machine gun being made today. Designed specifically to provide a huge amount of firepower for NAVY SEAL teams, we'll see if it lives up to the hype. We will also put it up against one of the oldest designs in the class, Kalishnokov's PKM, to see if newer really is better.

Our investigation of America's rifle continues with Part Two of our M4 investigations. Host Larry Vickers will provide maintenance and shooting tips, and he'll head to Fort Bragg to see how the Green Berets train with and use our nation's longest serving assault weapon.

FN has fielded a number of unique weapons firing the 5.7 round. Using ballistic tests and other real world scenarios, we'll see if these niche weapons really fill the roles they are designed for. Defensive shooting tips round out this episode of Tactical Arms.

The prolific battle rifle that served the U.S. military for over 3 decades is profiled.