While it serves as the venue for a global trade fair for sporting
weapons every spring, the Internationale Waffen Ausstellung (IWA)
in Nuremberg, Germany, also attracts customers from other segments
of the small-arms market. Law enforcement and military customers
from all over the world attend this major exhibition, looking for
new and different products. They are rarely disappointed.
During dry spells in military spending, companies often look to
commercial and law enforcement sales to sustain the bottom line.
Also, military forces are taking on more peacekeeping missions and
including tactics previously associated with law enforcement.
While the vast majority of displays at this major international
trade fair catered to the civilian market, there was evidence of
the dual-use aspect of this commodity. Large displays focused on
law-enforcement requirements, with the latest in tasers, pepper
sprays, less-than-lethal ammunition and protective equipment.
The largest number ever from the American small-arms community
came to the IWA this year, evidence that exports are becoming an
important part of U.S. marketing strategies. A total of 122 American
companies attended, overtaking the Italians as the largest foreign
contingent and becoming second in size only to the German exhibitors.
Companies ranging from major manufacturers, such as Smith &
Wesson, to accessory makers, such as holster maker, Phalanx, of
Boca Raton, Fla., were on hand.
American companies planning to sell in Europe recognize the importance
of having their products on display at IWA, according to Bernd Kietz,
senior commercial specialist from the U.S. consulate in Munich,
Germany. The U.S. government has been assisting with the American
pavilion at the IWA for 12 years, Kietz said.
Despite the strong dollar, Kietz encouraged American companies
to “stick with it” and retain their now-dominant position.
Over the past three years, half of all imports in Germany’s
civilian hunting and sport shooting market—which amounted
to more than $410 million in 1999—came from the United States.
According to Kietz, figures indicate a consistent trend of 2 to
3 percent increases in sales over the past three years.
Mikhail Kalashnikov’s first-time visit to the show provided
further evidence of the link between market segments. The designer
of the well-known AK-47 assault rifle was at the IWA to announce
the establishment of a new gun store and indoor firing range bearing
his name in central Moscow.
Kalashnikov and his collaborators browsed the exhibition halls
along with other business executives from around the world, looking
for products to stock the new store and take note of the latest
trends and fashions in civilian small arms. Kalashnikov said he
hopes his store and firing range will encourage young people to
study the history of small arms and their proper use.
Russian manufacturers present included several ammunition and small
arms producers, such as Vyatskie Polyany Machine Building Plant
(MOLOT), IZHMECH, maker of the Makarov pistol, and IZHMASH, home
to Kalashnikov weapons. MOLOT, which also builds Kalashnikov-designed
weapons, makes sporterized versions of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
In addition to its line of assault rifles, IZHMASH makes high-precision
target rifles for Russian Olympic shooters and has adapted Kalashnikov’s
designs to several sporting shotguns in calibers ranging from 410
to 12 gauge.
Items of interest included new developments in ammunition. Several
manufacturers had products with possible law enforcement or dual-use
applications.
The Czech company, Libra, a.s., had a high-velocity small-caliber
round. Libra also featured its shotgun ammunition for the sporting
market, including a round with an unusual oval dispersion. To demonstrate
its research and development capabilities, Libra showed an unusual
4.7 x 30 mm cartridge. A company representative said the round had
been designed for an unnamed company that is in the early stages
of developing a new personal defense weapon in that caliber. Muzzle
velocity of the new all copper round is 860 m/s.
Eurofier, s.a., of France, was looking for partners to continue
development and manufacturing of a 12-gauge cartridge that is both
lethal and non-lethal and offered in two versions. One version is
an anti-armor penetration round, and the other is a special police
round designed primarily to defeat body armor. Both are lethal at
close range, but can be used as less-than-lethal rounds against
long-range targets.
Designed in collaboration with the French Logistics National Police
Research Center, the Limited Action Projectile (PAL) is a special
saboted round, encased in a standard 12-gauge shell. The plastic
sabot helps reduce barrel wear from the all-brass projectile inside.
The 15.5 grain bullet is a projectile inside a projectile.
When the main projectile impacts against a hard target—body
armor, a door or windshield—the smaller “dart”
inside keeps going to penetrate the target. The low charge of the
round gives it a maximum range of 200 meters with no ricochet effect
and low recoil. Jean-Pierre Denis, designer of the new ammunition,
said tests has shown the round was non-lethal at 150 meters.
In addition to the PAL, Eurofier had the Armor-Piercing and Antipersonnel
Projectile, which is based on the same concept as the PAL. The armor-piercing
brass and steel projectile is heavier, weighing in at 23 grains.
The central steel dart, which is encased in a larger, all-brass
mass, weighs 6.55 grains.
When the round hits the target, the brass housing breaks into four
3-gram secondary fragments, to increase overall effects of the round.
At the same time, the steel dart continues its travel to penetrate
the target. Velocity at 2.5 meters is between 510 and 520 meters
per second and drops to 420 to 430 meters per second after traveling
10 meters. Effective range against body armor is 50 meters, but
at 200 meters, it is considered a non-lethal round, with just 35
joules of energy.