By Jeff Gurwitch It’s been 8 years since my last Competition to Combat article, written back in 2018. It was the last year of use for both the Daniel Defense 10.3 CQBR upper and the 14.5 RISII non-front sight post upper. Beginning in 2019, U.S. Special Forces started to switch over to the Giessele URGI upper with mid-length gas system …

by David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com October 26, 2022 DefenseReview’s (DR) published a lot of information about Vortex Optics combat optics and scopes AND fire control systems/smart scopes in general (see “Related Articles” below for both). However, to date, we haven’t done a piece on the US Army’s new smart scope, the Vortex Optics XM-157 Next Generation Squad …

by David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com January 14, 2022 DefenseReview’s (DR) been covering Vortex Optics combat optics for quite some time now (see the “Related Articles” section below), because, well, they rock…and they frankly just keep getting better, and cooler. Well, the mad optical scientists at Vortex Optics have just unveiled the new Vortex Razor HD Gen III …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com September 22, 2021 DefenseReview (DR) just found out about this. Apparently, well-known silencer/sound suppressor manufacturer Advanced Armament Corp. (AAC) is back in the game after being spun off from the great Remington Outdoor Company bankruptcy dissolution of 2020, and DR’s glad to hear it. AAC was acquired at auction by JJE Capital …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com March 8, 2021 An Israeli company called Smart Shooter Ltd. has a very interesting family of smart weapon sights/combat optics, or “fire control systems” (FCS) for engaging moving targets called SMASH that reminds DefenseReiew (DR) a bit of the TrackingPoint family of smart scopes, but SMASH has its own thing going for …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com November 30, 2020 Last updated on 12/01/20. DefenseReview’s (DR) been following X2 Dev Group suppressors (silencers/sound suppressors) for a few years now, starting when they were still called NG2 Defense, and they first showed us the NG2 Defense MAXFLO 3D AFD full-auto-rated zero-back-pressure suppressor. Basically, NG2/X2 designs and sells zero-back-pressure suppressors, and …

By Jeff Gurwitch October 29, 2019 Last updated on 10/29/19. In this episode, I sit down with Mike Keenan (retired Navy pilot), who served with me in Afghanistan, to go over the M4A1-type work-gun clone he built in virtually the exact configuration of the customized/modified M4A1 carbine he carried on the ground while supporting SF (Special Forces) operations down range. …

By Jeff Gurwitch October 2, 2019 Retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier Jeff Gurwitch, discusses his M4A1-type SOPMOD Block II combat/tactical AR-15 carbine clone, a copy of the carbine he used during his last combat tour in Afghanistan. The video includes everything, from the accessories he chose and how he employed them in combat, to the benefits of running a …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com May 15, 2019 Back in February, DefenseReview (DR) published a heads-up piece on the latest Midwest Industries MI CRS (Combat Rifle Sight) sets, including their new 45-degree-offset CRS. Well, DR writer/contributor and chief new-product tester Jeff Gurwitch just produced an awesome range review video (see below) on the new MI 45-degree-offset CRS …

By Jeff Gurwitch March 25, 2019 Every once in a while, I come across a really unique item that I absolutely must get my hands on to try. This was the case with the Alpha Tarac flip-up optical accessory by TACOMHQ, a flip up lens that doubles your red dot’s point of impact. Say you run a 300-yard point of …