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Avatars

The first thing I recommend is adding an avatar!? An avatar is that little picture below your username in a post.? Often times, people will associate your avatar with your username.? Here are a few examples to be userstand what an avatar is:

The user Marine1 has chosen not to use an avatar, while Troy2000 decided to share his lovely face with the community. ?You don’t have to put a picture of your face on the site. I’ve added several simple avatars you can pick from.?

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To do this, click on the UserCP link at the top of the page. Next you will see a link for

?editing your avatar.

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You can pick from the many categories I have provided, or even upload a custom one.

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Now that you have your avatar, it’s time to make our first thread in the Introduction Forum.

Caliber: 7.62×39 mm M43 (also experimental 5.6×39mm)
Action: Gas operated, vertically sliding bolt
Overall length: 525 mm / 20.7″
Barrel length: 415 mm / 16.3″
Weigth: 2.8 - 2.4 kg (depending on version) / 6.2 - 5.3 lbs
Rate of fire: 560 rounds pr minute
Magazine capacity: 30 rounds

The line of TKB-022 experimental assault rifles is one of most intrigying developments in small arms, made in Soviet Union. In many respects these weapons, designed during early sixties by Soviet gun designer G. A. Korobov were many years ahead of its time. Those guns were simply too advanced for conservative-thinking Soviet Army officers who preferred simple, familiar, proven and reliable Kalashnikov assault rifles over anything else. Regardless of thst, the TKB-022 is well worth mentioning, if just for the sake of curiosity.
TKB stands for Tulskoe Kosntructorskoe Buro - Tula Design Bureau, an arms-designing organisation associated with Tula arms factory (TOZ), which later evolved into the KBP - large and famous arms design and manufacturing state-owned company. Korobov was one of the more advanced designers at KBP, and he always tried to step ahead of its time. In this case, he tried to create a compact weapon, suitable for motorized troops riding in cramped armored personnel carriers (BMP, BTR) or helicopters. Despite very compact size, this weapon retained full-length barrel (and thus effective range and lethality) of much longer standard assault rifles such as Kalashnikov AKM. In fact, TKB-022 has best barrel length to overall length ratio among most military rifles ever built. During mid- to late sixties Korovov produced several variations of the TKB-022, from TKB-022PM to TKB-022PM5. The last one, the?TKB-022PM5, which was produced in 1968, was chambered for then-experimental 5.6×39 ammunition (which latter evolved into 5.45×39). All weapons were tested by Soviet army, but turned down on unpublished reasons (most probably becuse the gun was simple too advanced for contemporary military thinking, but also possibly because no-one at the time could tell for sure if plastic housing would hold its integrity in extreme weather conditions or during many years of storage or use).

The TKB-022 assault rifle is gas-operated weapon with annular gas piston located around the barrel. To achieve minimum length, it is assembled into bull-pup configuration and uses vertically sliding bereech block (bolt), rather than traditional and most common bolt that cycles back and forth. Since the movement of the bolt (breechblock) in this design cannot be used to extract, eject and load cartridges, Korobov developed a special U-shaped rammer / extractor, that strips the frech cartridge from magazine, pushes it into the chamber, then, after the discharge, pulls the fired cartridge case back from the chamber. Upon feeding the next fresh cartridge, the fired case is pushed forward and slightly up, into the ejection chute above the barrel. Spent cases finally fell off the gun above the muzzle. Gun was capable of full- and semi-automatic fire, with combined safety / fire mode selector switch located above the trigger on the left side of the gun. The gun housing was made from reddish-brown plastic, with metall structure hidden inside.

The National Pistol Matches include the National Rifle Association National Pistol Championships and the Civilian Marksmanship Program National Trophy Matches. The NRA Championships consisted of Center Fire, .22- and .45-Caliber Championships. The CMP matches featured competitions with pistols such as M-1911, .45-caliber pistols and M-9/M-92 9 mm pistols. Firing includes slow fire stages at 50 yards and timed and rapid fire stages at 25 yards.

With 101 of the country’s best teams competing, the USAMU Blue Team of Staff Sgt. James M. Henderson, Staff Sgt. Robert S. Park II, Staff Sgt. Lyman P. Grover and Sgt. Michael S. Gasser not only won the National Pistol Team Championship, but was the first USAMU team to win in 23 years. The USAMU Blue Team won the championship with a score of 3,480 points out of a possible 3,600 and 152 X’s out of a possible 360 (X’s are bull’s eyes that are used in tie-breaking).

Those X’s were critical in determining the national winner, as the USAMU Blue Team tied the USAMU Gray Team with identical scores of 3,480 points, with the Blue Team taking the championship with 35 more X’s. The USAMU Gray Team of Sgt. 1st Class Gregory S. Wilson, Staff Sgt. Jason R. Sargent, Sgt. Timothy M. Barber and Sgt. Sean P. Watson beat the third-place team by 13 points. This was the first time in 35 years that the Army had taken both first and second place in the championships.

Henderson took second place overall in the NRA National Individual Pistol Championship only nine points behind winner Brian Zins, the national manager of the NRA Competitive Shooting Division’s Pistol Programs; Henderson was also the National Service Champion and won the .45-caliber National Championship.

Watson took second place in the .22-caliber National Championship and third place in the Center Fire National Championship. Henderson finished second in the NRA Preliminary Pistol Championship and USAMU’s Staff Sgt. Adam E. Sokolowski was third.

For the fifth time in his shooting career, Henderson won the President’s Hundred Match with a score of 386 points and 12 X’s. Henderson set the National Record for this match in 2005 with a score of 389 and 10 X’s and has won it more times than any other shooter in history.

In a tradition started by President Theodore Roosevelt, winners of the prestigious President’s Pistol Trophy Match receive a letter of congratulations from the president of the United States. The President’s Pistol Match is conducted every summer at Camp Perry in which the top 100 shooters are awarded the President’s Hundred Tab. The match consists of 20 shots slow fire, 10 shots timed fire and 10 shots rapid fire; a perfect score is 400.

Henderson said it takes good coaching, a lot of good practice and great determination to become a great shooter.

“You have to be determined to be the best,” Henderson said. “This year, we really believed that we were good enough to do it. I always wondered what it would be like to be the dominant team and now I know. When we walk up to the line, we know that we are the team to beat.”

Shooting their M-9 pistols, the USAMU Team of Henderson, Park, Gasser and Barber won the National Trophy Team Match; the team was coached by Sgt. 1st Class Jason M. St. John and the team captain was Grover.

Park was awarded the U.S. Forces Command Trophy for being the highest active duty Army finisher in the National Trophy Individual and National Trophy Pistol Team matches. He also won the General Mellon Trophy, which is awarded to the highest scoring Army shooter in the National Trophy Team Match.

Henderson, Park, Watson and Barber were named to the U.S. Mayleigh Cup Team, whose scores will go up against those of other countries in the Mayleigh Cup International Postal Team Match, which the USA has won for the past five years.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program and the National Rifle Association have been running the National Matches for over 100 years. More than 5,000 people from across the country vie for these annual national championship titles at Camp Perry’s ranges on the banks of Lake Erie. The National Matches and Small Arms Firing Schools were established by Congress and the president in 1903.

The USAMU Service Pistol Team competes in Conseil International du Sport Militaire - known as CISM and the Military World Games - the Armed Forces Skill at Arms Meeting, the Interservice Small Arms Competition, the Interservice Championships and the National Championships, as well as conducting the Small Arms Firing School at the National Pistol Matches for the Department of Defense.

This year, nearly 400 civilian and military personnel from around the country attended the school that included training in M-9 pistol marksmanship.

(Paula J. Randall serves as public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, Accessions Support Brigade.)