Stephen M. Katz photos | The Virginian-Pilot
Posted on 10/13/2007 2:06:00 AM PDT by csvset
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| Tom Maffin, senior gunsmith for Transformational Defense Industries Inc. demonstrates the company's revolutionary Kriss Super V 45 caliber submachine gun at a range on the Blackwater USA campus in Moyock, N.C. Stephen M. Katz photos | The Virginian-Pilot
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MOYOCK, N.C.
His Ford Crown Victoria disabled by hostile fire, driver Tom Maffin scrambled from the car, crouched behind the hood and sprayed a target with automatic gunfire to cover for a passenger.
Maffin's weapon: a KRISS Super V .45-caliber submachine gun.
If you're military or law enforcement and haven't heard of it, chances are you soon will.
Maffin is senior gunsmith for Transformational Defense Industries Inc., a weapons technology firm that conducts its research and development from a Virginia Beach office park near Lynnhaven Mall. Watch video of the KRISS Super V submachine gun.
By early next year, the Washington-based TDI plans to open a production facility in Virginia Beach to begin manufacturing the submachine gun for police and military use and a .45-caliber semi automatic carbine for the commercial shooting market.
Industry experts say the weapons are unlike any other now on the market and could shake up the firearms world.
What makes the weapons special, company and industry officials say, is a new patented operating system that substantially reduces recoil and muzzle climb when fired.
The recoil, or kick, of a conventional weapon is directed backward into a shooter's shoulder, causing the gun to rise off target. TDI's "Super V" bolt-and-slide mechanism directs the energy downward in front of the trigger.
Company tests indicate the mechanism reduces recoil by 40 to 60 percent and muzzle rise by about 95 percent over conventional gun operating systems.
At a Thursday demonstration for media at a Blackwater USA firing range in Moyock, officials said their system improves accuracy and reduces user fatigue. The submachine gun can be fired with one hand and remain on target.
"This is the future of weapons right here," said Andrew Finn, TDI's senior vice president.
TDI has worked with the Army and special operations forces to develop the technology. It uses Blackwater's facilities to field test the weapons.
Officials set up the disabled vehicle scenario to demonstrate the maneuverability and firepower of the .45-caliber submachine gun, which TDI says is ideal for close-quarter situations the police and military encounter in urban settings.
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The gun, which weighs about 5 pounds unloaded and collapses to a length of 16 inches, can be easily carried in helicopters, Humvees and other vehicles, said Maffin, a retired Marine who began working at TDI's Virginia Beach operation about a year ago.
"Seeing this product for the first time in my interview, I was sold," Maffin said. "It's got the knockdown power a lot of guys want."
Members of the media at the Thursday event, heavy in such trade publications as Guns & Ammo and Small Arms Review magazines, were allowed to shoot the submachine gun and the carbine.
"The reduction in recoil is absolutely amazing," said Wendy Henry, who works in Pennsylvania for Women In Scope, a TV series that promotes women's awareness of firearms. "It's very easy to maintain your control over it."
Frank Borelli, a law enforcement and military consultant in Maryland, said the weapon is "going to rock the firearms industry." He has fired the TDI submachine gun but did not attend the event.
"What they're doing is very different," Borelli said.
Some industry experts question whether the company will make significant inroads with military and police, which have moved away from submachine guns - in part because their pistol-caliber rounds can't pierce body armor. The gun's price tag - now expected to retail in the $1,200-to-$1,300 range - also could chill sales.
Company officials said interest is high, noting that they worked with the Army's Picatinny armament research and development arsenal in New Jersey to develop the technology.
These guns are the first product that TDI, a five-year-old subsidiary of Switzerland-based Gamma Research and Technologies Holding SA, has brought to market.
Chuck Kushell, TDI's chief executive officer and director, said the Virginia Beach operation, dubbed Viking Works, will grow once production starts in January or February.
 Prototypes of the KRISS Super V .45-caliber submachine gun and carbine are displayed at TDI’s production facility in Virginia Beach.
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Currently, eight engineers, machinists and gunsmiths work in a 4,000-square-foot facility. Kushell said he expects to more than double the space and add 15 to 20 employees as the company ramps up over the next few months.
To reach the civilian market, the company developed the .45-caliber carbine. Plans call for marketing it primarily to shooting enthusiasts who would use it for competitions and target practice, but it also could be used for hunting.
"This is not going to be a gun for everyone," Kushell said.
Company officials said the Super V mechanism can be adapted to any caliber weapon. Work currently is under way on a 12-gauge shotgun. And the company has won an Army contract valued at a little over $1 million to develop a lighter-weight, more user-friendly .50-caliber machine gun, Kushell said.
Jon W. Glass, (757) 446-2318, jon.glass@pilotonline.com
Hmmmm in the episodes of Shootout and a National Geographic special Critical something er other.....on the BOA incident I remember that both times it was a point in each show about having to go to a local gun shop for AR’s off the shelf..... one said B&B the other did not. If my memory is correct they even spoke with a counter commando or the owner of B&B in at least one of the videos I watched.......
Every force has an opposite and equal reacting force. You cant make a force turn down like that without a reaction...that means a reaction that goes up. Basically what they did was remove the recoil mechanism from above your wrist and put it vertically infront of your knuckles. This enabled the barrel to be positioned lower and also infront of your knuckles. That crap about making the force turn down is a big fat load of crap that their marketing shysters are shoveling down all the idiots throats.
Eat it up fools. Then go back an freshen up on your basic highschool physics.
I would hazard a guess that holding this gun in one hand with arm extended while NOT shooting is more difficult than doing so with another equally sized weapon. The reason is this gun has most of it’s mass INFRONT of your hand. A MAC 10 for instance has your hand around the magazine and the main recoiling mass is above your wrist.
That idiocy about turning the force 90 degrees to a downward direction is just that...IDIOCY.
Amazing!
I watched a documentary on it and they made a note of the police who went to a local gun store for higher powered weapsons. I believe it ended before they had a chance to use them.
I stand corrected...just went through the Shootout episode again. They did mention it....now i gotta go eat crow on itunes :o(
It was a total shot in the dark. Sorry you outed yersef ;o>
LOL.....Uncle Bob made all my carry knives , folders and fixed way back when....he’d get pissed at me for not using his fixed blades opting for Randall 14 or 16 depending on the weather......
I told him it was not natural to have such a beautiful folder (his ACTF) and possibly leave it stuck in something ugly someday......Mastadon Ivory and stainless folders aren’t real rugged no matter who the builder is......
Terzoula’s work is second to none for beauty & design. But for EOD work I used a Randall 14 or 16....never broke one regardless of the duty tool it was used for .
Stay safe .......ya got me ! I am off the net for the nite !
One has to go during commercials...easy too miss !
Nite !
I guess there are few documentaries out on it. The one I saw made no mention of civilian rifles obtained by LE.
I can’t remember the title of the documentary I saw. It was on NatGeo a few days back.
I’ve seen a few reports/documentaries over the years. As time passes, they get more sanitized. Early ones showed one perp shooting himself in the head and falling; later ones lead up to his last few seconds, fade to black, and say something ominous.
The one I saw on Nat Geo last week showed the first guy shoot himself in the head with a pistol, but didn’t mention the civilian ARs at all. The head shot was from actual helo TV footage, clear as day.
Do you have a link so I can check it out?
Not exactly. Information on them has been so thoroughly scrubbed from the web that it seems...well...almost intentional.
Here at pengun.com is the only location of pictures that I can find on the web.
The guy running this site claims these were never produced, at least never by American Derringer.
I do remember when they were for sale and have kept some downloaded pictures on my PC. (I guess I must like my gunporn kinky because I have to keep my own folder of images of hard to find firearms curiosa...)
Unlike the many pictures and refs to the Braverman Stinger penguns, the only other references I can presently find to the revolvers(FPR22 and FPR32)are of someone showing off his Folding Pocket Revolver on TFL (pictures no longer available there) and a pictureless trace that a sale of an FPR32 that had been made at Gunbroker item 36599367.
For some reason for which I have never read an explanation, these Braverman designs rolled through ownership by a couple of companies in quick succession. Who actually had gotten around to producing the few that are out there? I havent a clue...
Yeah. Too bad the empty cases don't dump in the same direction. And it could use a 50 or 100-round magazine, preferably axial with the barrel to obviate snagging on vehicle interiors.
Watch the brass fly out the bottom, ahead of the pistol grip:
Interesting, sort of reminds me of my father’s M-3 “Grease Gun” he carried when he was in Korea (1955/56) but he later carried an M1911A1 to lighten his load since he was a photographer.
Soft body armor has just become way too commonplace, so I concur. Though against adversaries in t-shirts, 80 yards is right where the SMG shines- it's out around 150 that I begin to want something with a flatter traqjectory and longer sight radius.
Back in the Vietnam days, the M3/M3A1 greaseguns and MAC10s were prized for their 30-round magazines, which at least offered parity with the opposition AK47s at a time when the M16A1 was fielded with 20-round mags good only for two or three good bursts on full auto. The 9mm Swedish *Swedish K* that used a 36-round mag was even more prized, and was oft found around spooks, aviators and senior officers.
The gun biz got a whole lot less interesting following the death of Mitch Werbell of cancer, in 1983 or so.
Concur. Or a very well-placed first surprise shot.
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