IWI – The Armourers Bench

Last week Matt attended SHOT Show 2020 and spotted a pair of Tavor cutaway demonstration guns at the IWI booth. Above is a quick video, put together on the fly, looking at the cutaway guns and showing how they illustrate the Tavor’s working parts and operation.

Developed in the mid-1990s to meet IDF requirements for a reliable and compact rifle to replace the M16s & M4s in service. The rifle had to be shorter to deal with the close quarter urban fighting the IDF often found itself in.

The Tavor or TAR-21 uses a long strike gas piston system inspired by the AK and has a rotating bolt. The bullpup configuration gave the desired compact weapon without sacrificing barrel length.

A closer look at the gas piston system, the barrel, chamber and the bolt face (Matthew Moss)

The cutaway rifles on display at the IWI booth were actually civilian, semi-auto only, Tavor SARs but they give us a good look at the rifle’s internals and how the Tavor functions. We can see the gas piston system, the charging rod and the barrel at the bottom. Moving back we can see the chamber, the bolt carrier group, the sear assembly and the bolt hold open mechanism.

In this photo we can see the cutaway magazine as well as the mainspring at the top of the photo and below it the bolt carrier group and the bolt release mechanism (Matthew Moss)

They also cutaway the magazine so we can see the spring inside. At the top of the weapon we can see the mainspring that stretches back into the butt. The model was fully functional so on pulling the trigger the connecting rod acted on the sear release to trip the firing pin.

Additionally, the bolt release, just behind the magazine, also functioned and when operated the bolt went forward onto battery. The Tavor entered service in the early 2000s and has been superseded by the X95 and joined by the 7.62 chambered Tavor 7.

We will have a more in-depth video on the Tavor in the future.

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This week Vic brings us both a video and blog on the Micro UZI

The Micro UZI was an oddball in the UZI family, it was derived from the UZI Pistol which was itself born of an idea to get another IMI product introduced into the US civilian marketplace after the success of the full size UZI carbine by the then importer Action Arms. To get around, or at least comply with the strict US BATF regulations as to what a pistol constituted, a miniaturised variation of the full size UZI was proposed. It had to have the ‘look’ of an UZI but be manageable to handle and shoot with one hand. This required more work than had been involved in the development of the Mini UZI.

The pistol had to have a closed bolt and only fire semi-auto, no buttstock could be fitted on the pistol as this would contravene BATF regulations. The bolt was based on the Mini UZI bolt and the striker but redesigned to be more compact to fit the much shorter receiver. A blocking catch similar to the then recently released model ‘B’ UZI Carbine, was fitted to the bolt. This was a safety device that prevented the gun firing ‘out of battery’. The receiver was the same height and width as all the other UZI family but considerably shorter. To reduce weight the receiver stampings were of 1.5mm material and not 2mm as per the full size & Mini UZI.

The UZI pistol was introduced onto the civilian market around 1984. It eventually was sold in the following calibres: 9mm, 9x21mm (Italian market), .41 AE, and .45 ACP.

Argentine Special Forces. — A joint service special forces team member from Argentina, with a Micro Uzi, posts security during a multinational amphibious beach assault training exercise in Ancon, Peru, July, 2010. (source)

In 1985 IMI realised that the UZI Pistol could be modified to be a compact and effective SMG. To convert it to full-auto fire the lower lip of the bolt which was milled off during manufacture of the semi-auto pistol was left in place. The selector block on the trigger assembly was removed and a folding stock, which was smaller than the Mini UZIs was fitted. The open ‘U’ notch rear sight from the pistol was replaced by a traditional ‘peep’ sight, and finally the barrel from the pistol was lengthened to 5.25″ and compensator notches milled into it to reduce muzzle flip and help control the gun whilst firing. The Micro UZI had a phenomenally high rate of fire at 1,800 rounds per minute, hence most guns were fired in semi-auto only (note that the example I filmed has the selector ‘blocked’ to prevent full-auto selection)!

It is also interesting to note that the Micro UZI was the first gun in the UZI family that started off as a semi-automatic gun and became a full-auto one!

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Specifications:

Overall Length: 46cm / 18 inches
Length (with stock folded): 25cm / 9.8 inches
Weight: 1.5kg/ 3.3 lbs
Action: blowback
Calibre: 9x19mm & various (see text)
Cyclic Rate: 1500-1800 rounds
Feed: 20, 25 or 32-round box magazines

Tag: IWI

Cutaway Tavor

The Micro UZI