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
LOL!
Serfs can't buy stuff like this, no matter what the constitution says.
I hope the local LEO’s do take good care of these fine weapons.
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and the supremes are going to hear the DC gun rights case and that just might do it. the right should never have been taken away, but at least hopefully we'll get it back!
and i wonder if they will make it semi-auto for civilians. is it even legal for civilians to have full-auto guns anymore?
If the police had coordinated shots on the crooks, wouldn't that have had some effect? I would think that no matter what type of armor you have, getting clobbered simultaneously by ten shotgun blasts is going to hurt. They may not penetrate the armor, but then again (to borrow someone else's phraseology) neither will a Mack truck.
Neat gun. I’d want one just for kicks but I’m not sure I’d trust my life to it. Going through a bunch of rounds quickly doesn’t mean the bad guy falls dead, but it does mean I have to reload.
they just run out of ammo--
See the shady-looking character in the replied-to post.
;-P
>>The cops were as helpless as babes until the SWAT guys arrived with .223s.
Didn’t they buy/borrow some ARs from a local gun dealer?
PDW’s have their place and that is all this Kriss is IMHO. Might be a great central america or SE Asia urban rig but seems every other bad guy is clad in kevlar these days.....
I am fond of the new H&K 416 version of the M4 carbine . Add the Knight Armament Corps 9 inch version of the M203 and it’s perfect package for LIC missions and small unit ops IMHO.
I’d still snag a old simple MAC-10 w/ a can or a HK UMP vs this KRISS given the choice.
Right now my primary gear is a M1A and a 1911A1.....Old school , proven and reliable for my local needs. Different environments and regions require different tools. One should not be “set” on their choices and train and equip for those arenas they will have to work in.
But ya’ll already know that I’m sure.....;o)
In the Hollywood BOA incident, one cop with a shotgun was about 80 yards from the bad guys, directly across the boulevard, taking cover behind a kiosk. He got off several solid shots from his 12 gauge, which had zero effect due to the bad guys’ full body armor. The bad guys then riddled the kiosk with AK rounds, which went right through it, wounding some officers.
In the exact same situation, a .223 instead of a shotgun would have penetrated the bad guys keflar body armor and probably would have ended the incident long before the SWAT guys showed up.
I just saw a documentary on the North HOllywood shooting, and they never mentioned any cops getting guns or ammo from civilian gun shops. They just showed the SWAT guys belatedly showing up on the scene. I’m not sure if the civlian gun shop story is an urban myth (false) or if the documentary whitewashed it out.
wow, you really did NOT watch the utube video, did you!
I believe that picture was worth thousands of your words, but then, you are a lawyer!
That’s on the Wiki page, for what little that’s worth, but I’d definitely heard it before. Your options (urban myth or whitewashed out) pretty well nail the likely truth.
I really don’t know if it’s true or a myth.
Googling around a little, I come up with a gun shop name and owner who supplied the weapons to the LAPD, a Bob Kahn of B&B Sales. That shop name shows up in other contexts, as well.
The grease gun was lighter and fired slower. Perhaps that was why it was more liked and more accurate. I carried both in Nam. ( along with an M-79, M14, M16, 45, etc.
I have reliability concerns with that manufacturer......but yes that concept.......gotta have a kevlar punch these days.
That company makes the little folding rigs that takes AR mags ......shoot three mags thru it rapid fire. If it didn’t choke ya have a keeper....
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