Hungarian Ministry of the Interior plans introduction of new calibers

The Hungarian Ministry of Interior is planning the official introduction of a remarkable range of new calibers and corresponding firearms. The list includes pistols, rifles, and submachine guns/PDWs, as well as so-called "Less Lethal" agents and accompanying ammunition.

Specifically, this involves the amendment of Regulation 32/2009. (VIII. 19.) dating back to 2009, which lists the agents introduced by organizations of the Hungarian Ministry of Interior such as firearms, but also, for example, irritant grenades. This extensive list has been expanded in the draft announced on August 30, 2023, with some calibers and corresponding firearms. The caliber .300 is listed in the area of long gun cartridges. In connection with the weapon type assault rifle listed under item 1 "A", it can be assumed that the caliber is .300 BLK. The other handgun calibers 5.7x28 mm and 4.6x30 mm are already questionable. While there are several pistols on the market for the 5.7x28 mm caliber and the FN P90 submachine gun in production, the selection in the 4.6x30 mm category is limited. Although the handgun specialist Heckler & Koch still offers the MP7, the project for a pistol P46 was discontinued a long time ago. However, item 1 "A" in the draft clearly also calls for a semi-automatic pistol. Such a weapon is currently not offered by any manufacturer.

In addition to the mentioned handgun calibers, the draft also includes two Less Lethal agents in the form of a short and a long gun. The latter is also confusingly titled as an assault rifle. Both have the caliber 0.68 in common, which is used, among other things, by authority systems such as Pepperball or the Umarex T4E family – above in the picture a M4 variant with balls and CO2 cartridges. The weapon type referred to as an assault rifle is therefore likely to be a long gun, which is also sometimes referred to by manufacturers as a carbine (Pepperball).

The future main buyer of the listed systems will presumably be mostly the Hungarian Counter Terrorism Centre (TEK). In addition to the various handguns, a Less Lethal solution for the unit conducting numerous operations is certainly a sensible addition. The potential use of the .68 caliber could also be for the correctional service and last but not least for the forces deployed at the Schengen external borders.

Julius Andrássy