Vietnam Defence 2024: The Most Unusual Guns of the Expo

The Firearms Blog recently covered new rifles, pistols, machine guns, and sniper rifles showcased at the Vietnam Defence Expo 2024. Clearly, in the last 10 years, Vietnam’s small arms industry made a huge leap forward, manufacturing everything from pistols to anti-materiel sniper rifles.

Let’s take a look at the anti-material bullpup rifle at the exhibition. TFB first wrote  about it in 2017, when production allegedly began at the Z111 factory. At the time, the exact designation was unknown; now, we know the rifle is called SBT12M1.

The SBT12M1 is chambered for 12.7×108, which is the Russian counterpart of the .50 BMG. Its overall design is based on the Russian KSVK, developed by the Kovrov factory, but with some changes such as a different bolt handle and a cross bolt safety near the trigger guard.

Another new and very unusual rifle is the SHMT-M1. It is an amphibious rifle chambered in 5.56×45 based on a domestically produced version of Galil ACE.

“SHMT” is the abbreviation for “Súng Hai Môi Trường” (Dual-Environment Rifle), which indicates that the weapon can function underwater. According to a source close to the Vietnamese Army, the first batch of those rifles is currently being tested by Vietnamese Navy combat divers.

Unlike other Vietnam-made versions of this rifle, this one has a classic Galil ACE ambidextrous fire selector and the Galil ACE receiver (without the lightning cuts). Moreover, the receiver cover has holes and cuts to allow water to escape the action more easily as the bolt carrier moves during underwater engagement. The weapon also has a magazine release button, similar to the AR-15/M4. It was reported that a special 5.56×45 cartridge was developed for this rifle for underwater shooting.

The last interesting weapon I want to highlight is a submachinegun called SN7P. It is a reverse-engineered version of the Russian “Bizon” SMG, that was developed and produced before the more conventional “Vityaz” became the most prolific 9mm AK variant.

The design of the helical magazine as well as the sheet steel handguard, are identical to the “Bizon”, but there are also some differences: stock, charging handle, and lack of threads on the muzzle. Also, SN7P uses the 7.62×25 Tokarev cartridge rather than the 9×18 of the “Bizon”.

The author would like to thank Nguyễn Tăng Thế Thiên, Vũ Đông Hải, and Hoàng Minh Trí for the photos and their help with the article