Barrel Technologies of SYS Make Its Firearm Peerless

As Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS), we are proud to have commenced the mass production of our CANiK M2 . 50-cal machine guns after 3 years of R&D efforts. It was a long, hard journey for us to produce these firearms in desired standards. However, as a company that enjoys the challenge, we were not merely satisfied with desired standards, and with our efforts, we made the gun perform much better than NATO standards and user expectation. We developed one- of-a-kind technologies for this, especially for the production processes of the barrels.
 
With these technologies, we were able to enhance the barrel, one of the most crucial parts of the gun for the performance of the gun, far above and beyond its competitors. For example, we doubled the barrel life cycle from expected 10,000 shots to 20,000 shots. We increased the precision of the firearm, making it achieve better results than 6MOA with standard ammunition. In addition, with our coating technologies, we increased the resistance of the barrel to the environmental conditions, especially corrosion resistance, to a level unmatched by any of our competitors. We were able to achieve these results with ₺250 million investments and ₺40 million R&D efforts.

Firsts in Materials and Coating Technologies

We knew we would not be able to produce a good quality product with deficient materials, and as such, we started focusing on material sciences and technologies first. We developed a special material recipe that included certain minerals in specific ratios, and we created an ideal raw material for barrels. We had this special material produced for the first time in Türkiye and only for CANiK, and we procured it using SYS’ ecosystem. As far as we know, this recipe is a first in the world as well.
 
Coating is another important technology for the production process of the barrels. We also worked tirelessly on coating technologies and developed our own special technologies to push the quality of the firearm to the next level. We used a different painting method for the outside of the barrel and a different coating method for the inside. After a thorough R&D process, we selected the chemicals to be used in coating and painting processes. Thanks to our efforts, we were able to both increase the performance of the firearm and its resistance to environmental conditions like corrosion. Coating the inside of the barrel in the specified thickness precisely was the biggest challenge we faced in this process. The inside of the barrel is the place the bullet interacts with the gun. Coating thicker or thinner than it needs to be might lead to many problems. We managed to get the precisely the values we needed and made the barrel with the best performance.

Experience from Pistols Contributed to M2 Barrels

The experience we had on mass producing pistols contributed greatly to us for making M2 barrels. It is true that you could manufacture a prototype firearm with all the bells and whistles you want that works perfectly after working for months on it. However, if you want to mass produce a firearm like M2 heavy machine gun, if you want to have a consistent standard and very high performance for this mass production, you must have important production technologies. For our world famous CANiK pistols, we have an annual production capacity of 450,000. In addition, we produce special parts with very tight tolerances for defence and aerospace industry. All this made possible for us to produce 3,000 of CANiK M2 heavy machine guns every year without compromising on our CANiK quality.

Experience from Pistols Contributed to M2 Barrels

The experience we had on mass producing pistols contributed greatly to us for making M2 barrels. It is true that you could manufacture a prototype firearm with all the bells and whistles you want that works perfectly after working for months on it. However, if you want to mass produce a firearm like M2 heavy machine gun, if you want to have a consistent standard and very high performance for this mass production, you must have important production technologies. For our world famous CANiK pistols, we have an annual production capacity of 450,000. In addition, we produce special parts with very tight tolerances for defence and aerospace industry. All this made possible for us to produce 3,000 of CANiK M2 heavy machine guns every year without compromising on our CANiK quality.

Pushing the Standards in Quality

We also make sure our quality processes are utilising the highest technologies like our production processes. Every single part we produce, from barrel to body, from trigger to sights, are controlled completely. It is not easy to achieve this with our production volumes. We use special moulds called “gauges” in our production processes as we are sure of their dimensions. CANiK is one of the few firearm manufacturers that design and produce its own gauges. We control every part we manufacture with these gauges as well. To ensure the gauges are of correct size, we use 3D measurement devices that are sensitive enough to be used in aviation, and we made an investment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for them. In short, our measurement devices check our gauges, our gauges check our parts, and we provide our world famous CANiK quality with that process. As all our parts go through this QA process, this obviously includes the barrels. We are aware that quality starts with people. As such, we also utilise the experience of our employees to ensure a consistently high quality when we produce barrels.
 
In addition, we utilise a concept that is only exclusive to us in all the firearm manufacturers in Türkiye: We use magnetic methods to detect any possible cracks in every single part we produce. We see if a part is defective or not within, as if we were using x-rays for a patient. In addition, we test the firearms in field conditions if we produce them for the field conditions. For example, we utilise a special test chamber to test the barrels for corrosion, using a dense salt spray. We are able to test 20 years’ worth of corrosion conditions in just one week and that is precisely what we do.

Seamless Operation with Clockwork Parts

One of the most important features expected from a modern machine gun is the ability to change barrels quickly (QCB). As M2, as a firearm, dates to 1930s and the production technologies back then were not very advanced, its parts were produced with loose tolerances. As such, headspace and timing setting was crucial for safe and good operation for the firearm. These settings were done on the factory for a fixed barrel firearm and the end user would not have to deal with setting these in field conditions.
 
QCB technology changed all of that, allowing the barrels of machine guns to be changed very quickly. When we started working on M2, we knew we would be able to produce barrels in line with QCB standards thanks to our famous CANiK production quality. As such, we aimed to go beyond developing a firearm with QCB standards, to achieve the tightest tolerances we can. We accomplished what we set out to do, creating a firearm that works like clockwork.