FPS Russia is one of the most irresponsible firearms users we’ve ever seen. He’s a terrible role model for safety, and the poster child for tinnitus. But the real reason I dislike him: all this guy has to do is put on a fake Russian accent and the latest and greatest firearms fall into his lap. E.g., the Honey Badger PDW. We’ve published an exclusive interview with Kevin Brittingham about the theory behind the .300 AAC Blackout round and the Honey Badger’s genesis. An exhaustive overview and review of the .300 AAC Blackout round including videos and demonstrations. And a third article tying all the threads together. And this chucklehead gets to fire one before us. I’m . . . jealous. Hopefully all will be put right at SHOT. Stay tuned.

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58 COMMENTS

  1. Well, at least he didn’t destroy his hearing as much as usual.

    Personally I’d love one, but it would take a legislative change here in Washington. I really didn’t have much passion for the AR platform before the .300 BLK, but now I’m really wanting one.

  2. I may know the reason he was able to get his hands on one if those before you. It may have something to do with the amount of traffic his videos get. One of his videos is able to generate more views in one week than this website is capeable of doing in a month. You guys start pulling that kind of traffic and you may get some more trigger time.

    • Yes, I was about to mention that… Youtube’s audience potential is much wider than the blogosphere for the most part, so they have a lot more potential eyeballs to pull in. This blog tends to be a 20-30 something Republic / Libertarian white male sort of place as well, which cuts down the potential audience even more.

      Not that one should ditch everything for mass appeal, mind you.

    • And the average YouTube numb nut will never have the sort of bank account requisite for buying ANYTHING from AAC, much less the Honey Badger: high-end AR platform + lots of custom parts + suppressor + sbr tax stamp + suppressor tax stamp = cheat eating taco slingers in their mother’s basements need not apply.

      • No. They won’t. But H&K’s success is mostly founded on their guns being popular in the eyes of many. Not that any of those people could afford those guns, or needed those guns, but enough of them had influence on organizations with the budgets for those guns to get H&K in a commanding market position when they weren’t any better than their competitors. Don’t underestimate mass popularity.

        • Incidentally, that’s the first defense HK fanboys use in every argument against people unimpressed with their products:

          “You’re just too poor to afford anything but Hi-Points! Get a real job and out of your mom’s basement!”

        • HK’s success is measured in dollars. Cash on the table from buyers looking to exchange money for HK’s wares. They make zilch off of teenagers running their biscuits in YouTube comments.

          HK makes almost *nothing* from civilian sales. The high-volume gun store around here might sell 2 HKs a month, unless there is pent up demand for something new (like the HK45/HK45C – when I got mine, there were 5 other guys in the store with me picking up ones we had all been waiting for). Keith moves plenty of other high end gear, but not many HKs.

          HK’s civilian sales are basically comprised of two groups: The occasional video gamer/YouTube commentator who makes good enough to spend that kind of cash on a firearm. The rest of them are sold to switched-on, relatively high-volume shooters who can appreciate the fact that HK is truly making the best handguns in the world right now, but are only really worth it if you seriously ARE going to throw 3000 rounds through them (minimum) a year.

          HK is a military/LEO company, and a mostly European one at that. Why do you think their civilian sales support is notorious for sucking so hard? If they made a lot of cash off of civilian sales, even the most boneheaded MBA would insist on investing a bit more in that department.

          Turns out that *most* of the people who rant about HK stuff on internet boards and get wood from video game promo shots can’t afford $800+ handguns with $75 magazines.

  3. Nick, I watched Shooting Gallery wednesday night on the Outdoor Channel. Most of the show was about suppressors and AAC and it was mentioned that AAC had been acquired by Remington, or Freedom Group or whatever their name is. Has the acquisition of AAC by Remington/Freedom had any bearing on the quality of AAC like Marlin and other manufactures under their umbrella?

  4. Is this really a PDW? I always thought PDWs were small like a SMG, not an actual carbine. And that they used high velocity small calibre rounds like 5.7mm or 4.6mm.

    • It’s a firearm that’s smaller than an MP5-SD and yet more accurate and fires a heavier round. It is the very definition of a “better” PDW.

      High velocity isn’t a PDW requirement, nor are small calibers.

      • More accurate and fires a heavier round? Does that make an M14 a “better” assault rifle than an M16?

        I mean if the hand-guard wasnt really long, and you could remove the suppressor, you could call it a PDW, but right now this just looks like a carbine to me.

        • The suppressor isn’t actually integral, but rather a screw-on model. Also, they have shown it with two handguard lengths; the one in the video is the longer one.

          In short, it is the very definition of a PDW; it’s both lighter and more compact than the alternatives. The alternative caliber that boosts performance out of a rifle that size is just gravy.

  5. I’d forgive the rest of his nonsense if he’s drop that stupid accent.

    Maybe they’re hoping to sell a toy version of the Honey Badger to the counter strike kids?

    • Maybe. If it gets included in the next round of shooter games an inexpensive ‘tactical 22’ version would probably show up in gunshops pretty quickly.

    • It’s all obviously in jest, funny how people get worked up…

      It’d be good if he were more safety-conscious in the eyes of his viewers, but oh well.

      • I think most of the FPS Russia haters (myself included, to some extent) are just pissed that they didn’t think of his idea first.

  9. If it is a short barrel rifle as he says, would that require a special $200 licence, plus $200 for the suppressor, plus $200 for full auto, or does one grotesque fee cover them all?

    • Once it’s a machine gun everything else is okey-dokey. Short barrel, silencer, whatever.

      As long as it’s all integral, however. Separate silencers need to be registered separately.

      • So what does it cost to get one of these fandangled machine guns? Obviously the AAC Honey Badger would be released in semi-auto only for the civilian market. As far as I know civilians can’t buy NEW machine guns.

        Since a suppressor is considered a firearm, could it be considered a muzzle device as well? If not then I would think you would still have to pay separate $200 tax stamps for the barrel and the suppressor. If it can be considered a muzzle device and it and the barrel are 16+” then I guess it’s only one $200 tax stamp.

        • I never understood how a “tax stamp” is supposed to make a machine gun or silencer instantly “safe”. I can (almost) understand registering them, but I highly doubt that the background check is a process costing the goverent anywhere near $200. Or $20. When is someone going to overturn the tax stamps and the fact that full auto is neigh impossible for civilians to attain? 2a doesn’t say “Right to bear arms as long as they are not as good as what the government has”. Though I doubt that full auto v. Semi was a problem in 1776…

          • The NFA was enacted decades ago, so long ago that a $200 was intended to keep it out of the hands of civilians, and only in the hands of the political and economic elite.

            Why would the elite overturn protections it put in place for itself?

          • The $200 dollar tax stamp was purely to keep the masses from owning it in 1934 when the idea of outright purely banning weapons seemed like a stretch of power even to those in congress. It was much more effective then as it was 200 1934 dollars. So your $15 short barreled shotgun had a $2oo tax on it. As far as the NFA goes, inflation has been a very good friend to the prospective gun owner.

        • “Tax stamp”. What freaking part of “Shall Not Be Infringed” do these idiots not understand? Not to mention “We The People” in accepting it!?!?

    • Tim: Without getting too technical here, allow me to clarify the answer to your question. As a non-FFL holder, you can’t buy ALL machineguns with a Form 4 (i.e. with the $200 stamp). Only those manufactured prior to 1986 are eligible for “transfer.” Google “Hughes Amendment” and “Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986″ for more details”

      Newer stuff can only be acquired as what you hear people refer to as a “dealer sample” -which basically means you need to have a full-blown Class III dealers license to take possession. That’s why the prices on the pre-86 “transferable” guns is so high.

      Now, lets say you are not an FFL holder but you do own a transferable M-16. If you wanted to add a suppressor to that gun, you WOULD need to buy another tax stamp for the suppressor. Same thing applies if you want to SBR your modern (post 86) Ar-15 and add a suppressor: that’s two separate stamps.

      Now, I may be wrong about this, but I think you could get your Pre-86 machinegun (say, an M-16A1) legally transformed into something that looks like a Honey Badger, assuming AAC (or an aftermarket shop such as Red Jacket or whomever else has the licenses) would take on the project. Other may want to comment on that.

      • Tax only applies on forms 1 and 4. Not 3 and 5.

        1: manufacture of NFA item
        3: transfer between those with paid class 3 SOT
        4: transfer to non-SOT holder
        5: tax exempt transfer to heir

        Thus, if you were an SOT holder, and you bought a suppressor from another SOT holder, it would transfer to you on a form 3, and thus would not cost money to transfer.

        In order to sell an NFA item registered on a form 4 in one state to a purchaser in another state, three transfers are required; seller must transfer to his local dealer and pay tax, gun is then on a form 3, and transfers to purchasers dealer without tax, and then is transferred to purchaser on form 4 with tax paid.

        As for modifying a transferrable machinegun into a honey badger, the answer is that you can put whatever replaceable parts you want on a registered reciever, but you may not deface the serial number.

    • More like a money switch. If I ever get one, I’m going to modify the markings next to the selector switch

      X – safe
      $ – semi
      $$$ – burst
      $$$$$ – auto

      • Your comment reminds me of an experience I had in the military. I was getting training on the use of the Vulcan cannon, which is basically a big-ass 20mm version of the M134 Mini-gun. There was a dial on a control panel of the gun that was marked with two positions. One position was marked “30,” and the other was markd “100.” You selected one or the other depending on whther you wanted to fire 30 rounds or 100 rounds. I remember somebody had taken one of those old “Dymo” label makers and added “$1500” next to the 30 and “$5000” next to the 100. I asked what that meant, and the instructor said “the rounds are 50 bucks a piece.” It felt kinda weird activating the trigger and thinking that I had just sent 5 Grand downrange.

          • Well, the story is true, but I have no way to know whether the rounds actually cost $50.00. That’s just what the instructor told me. Keep in mind that the vulcan fires a semi-armored piercing high explosive incindinary round,which I assume command some premium.

            • Probably not, you can get 50 cal API bullets for $0.50 each on gun broker. And according to wikipedia, there are numerous types of bullets for 20mm Vulcan.

            • Your instructor definetly lied to you.

              Just wondering but why were you using SAPHEI rounds for training when there is specific target practice ammo, the PGU-27/B and PGU-30/B?

              In 1997 Primex Technologies was awarded a firm fixed price contract to make 429,500 PGU-27/B training rounds and 878,000 PGU-28/B SAPHEI rounds for $12,278,365. Assuming both rounds cost the same, it is $9.39 per round, or assuming the training ammo is free and the SAPHEI rounds cost you, it would be $13.98 per round.
              http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/pgu-28.htm

              • Well, bloody hell. Way to fuck up a perfectly good story! Geez. I could have gone through my entire life thinking I had sent 5K of taxpayer money down range! 🙂 Ha! Seriously, though, I doubt that the instructor was lying to us – it was probably just something he had heard and was passing it on. Anybody who has been in the military will tell you how active the “rumor mill” is. Back then we didn’t have the internet to do any fact checking, either.

                Jogging my memory a bit, I recall that we were shooting at ground targets, so my guess is that is that we were using training ammo. I don’t recall noticing, or even caring, for that matter, WHAT kind of ammo we were shooting! I just remember being really impressed watching 100 empty shells pour out of the gun all at once! It seemed like all the rounds were downrange and then you saw the pile of rounds pour out of the gun!

              • Dude I liked your story. Some people just cant appreciate it and go about their day. They just have to try and prove you wrong. I believe your story and if I were you I would continue telling it!

              • I agree – it made me smile. Some people are always going to be jerks or feel the need to show how knowledgeable they are – in this case, I would say its a combo of both. For some reason it seems to be more prevalent in this hobby. I also didn’t see anywhere Joe stated he was practicing with SAPHEI rounds…FLAME DELETED

      • Mag dumps are tacky; anyone with sense shoots in short controllable bursts anyway.

        Also, burst on the AR platform is generally done through a rotating cam on the side of the hammer, and it royally screws up the trigger pull, as well as the accuracy of the gun.

        • This is why people that have them like the full auto M16A1 style fire control group that is safe, semi, auto. The full auto doesn’t have that burst cam on it leading to less parts and if you want to do bursts you just let of the trigger.

  12. I don’t know why you’ve got a hard on for fps russia, yh sure he’s not edsacly a role model for health and safety but he’s just enjoyin his firearms and we are lucky enough to see them in action so really we should be thanking him. And also if you are still really against go make a channel on gun safety. Another point is if his videos were that terrible don’t you think youtube would have cancelled his channel and last of all his accent is what brings a bit of humour to it so if you can’t stand it don’t watch it, and stop bitchin.

  13. I watch the videos for amusement, the last thing I care about is gun safety. The accent makes it even funnier in my opinion.

  14. I have not watched all of his videos, but he does not seem to be any more dangerous than any other actor. Also he is educating his viewership that certain things, like silencers, are legal, which I consider to be good. And his viewership is considerable, 2 million subscribers. What was TTAG’s monthly hits? about 1.1 million.

    Love him or hate him he is like the lady gaga of the gun world; crazy, and popular, but because of him our stuff will become more mainstream.

    If just a fraction of his viewers found out the only think keeping them from machine guns was a technicality caught on tape, it would be fixed.

  15. lol the real reason i hate him is because he puts a fake accent…who cares? He knows a lot about guns and yea his safety is kind of irresponsible but hey let him shoot it the way he wants too

  16. FPS just crested 1.4 million in 5days just on this video. Quit hating on the guy, hes got lots of good info and hes funny too. Who else rides armored vehicles to Mickey D’s?

  17. Remember, FPSRussia is paid to put on a show like this. He’s not an actual idiot, he’s just paid to pretend like he’s pretending to know what he’s doing. Besides, his videos are entertaining. Be honest, how many fans do you think he’d have if he made instructional firearms videos as opposed to entertaining firearms videos? Alot less, that’s for sure, because let’s face it: instructional videos are not entertaining.

    He comes up with some good stuff from time to tome, too. Like firing an arrow from a shotgun. Not very practical, sure, but it was hella entertaining.

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