Italy's M14: The BM-59 at the Range
Select-Fire Rifles
•
5m 13s
Beretta in Italy developed the BM-59 after World War Two as an improvement on the M1 Garand - lightened, shortened, and given a box magazine, bipod, and selector switch. And the did this in a whole lot less time that the US took to finalize the M14. So how does the BM-59 handle? Well, sorry Springfield...it's definitely easier to shoot than the M14. Still quite a handful and not really effective or useful in FA from the shoulder, but not as bad as the American take on the concept.
Up Next in Select-Fire Rifles
-
The Very Rare FN CAL at the Range
The FN CAL (Carabine Automatique Legere) was Fabrique Nationale's first attempt at a 5.56mm rifle, and it was not successful. They replaced it with the FNC, which saw much wider success. The CAL is quite scarce today, and it was a very cool opportunity to take one out to the range! It performed r...
-
FG-42: Perhaps the Most Impressive WW...
The first production version of the FG42 used a fantastically complex milled receiver and a distinctive sharply swept-back pistol grip. A contract to make 5,000 of them was awarded to Krieghoff in late spring of 1943, but by the fall its replacement was already well into development. The milled r...
-
British L85A1 at the Range: Will It W...
I am excited to have a chance today to take a trip to the range with a proper, factory L85A1 rifle (it's in the United States as a post-1986 dealer sample). I had a chance a while back to shoot one of these in the U.K., but I only had 10 cartridges to work with at that time. Today, I have several...