The war on terror has made personal security a bigger business than it already was, and this has brought to market a lot of innovative weapons that would have otherwise never left the drawing board. One of the more interesting is Heckler and Koch's MP7. This is an unusual automatic rifle. Although not so unusual when you realize that's primary market is bodyguards for people with large security budgets. The MP7 is 21.2 inches long and weighs only 2.64 pounds unloaded. Retract the butt stock, and its only 13.4 inches long. Put in a 20 round magazine (4.3 ounces) and it weighs only 2.86 pounds. Load a 12 ounce 40 round magazine and it still weighs only 3.4 pounds. It keeps the weight down by using a high speed 4.7mm round. Optimized for close range (under 200 meters) shooting, the 4.6mm bullet can match 5.56mm rounds in accuracy and penetration at ranges up to a hundred meters. On automatic, it fires 950 rounds a minute. (about 15 a second). Recoil is about half that for 9mm submachine guns. The weight is kept down by using carbon fiber-reinforced plastic for most of the weapon. In addition to bodyguards, the MP7 is being bought, or evaluated, by commando organizations.
