We do a deep dive into the trigger mechanism, fire selector and burst fire mechanism of the FAMAS F1 using period docs and Chap's arts 'n' crafts models. The mechanisms illustrate perfectly the ingenious solutions that designers had to come up with for first generation bullpups.

Chappy has a go at launching Carrots of DOOM under the command and watchful eye of Dale Guardian and custodian of Stgw.57 lore.

Stgw SIG 510 7.5 mm GP11 7.5x55 rifle grenade

A bit of a nerdgasm here on the first three generations of 30 round magazines for the British Army's fabled Enfield 5.56mm SA80 rifle series: Colt, RG (Radway Green), HK (Heckler & Koch, aka Hasst Kunden).

From the late 70's onwards, a number of AR-18 derivative rifles start to appear on the world markets. Given that Armalite's patenting game around the AR-10 and AR-15 systems was so on-point, how come they didn't have a patent preventing such things as the Steyr AUG, Enfield SA80 (L85), Sterling S...

Retrofitting an optics mount for the FAMAS was no easy feat considering the wobbly top cover construction. The designers finally came up with a novel if somewhat bulky solution.

Dale takes us through the historical background leading to the Swiss Sturmgewehr 57 rifle grenade series, starting from the WW2 and post-WW2 perspective. In part 2, he dives deep into the various models of practice grenade and the three types of battle ammunition.

Bloke takes a look at why Enfield nicked the Armalite AR-18 design and bullpupped it to make the L85 series of rifles, rather than "just" scaling down the .280 / 7mm EM-2 rifle from the late-40's/early-50's.

Turns out it's not as trivial as all that...

Of all the classic 7.62mm battle rifles of the Cold War, only the G3 remains in modern military service updated to serve alongside the more recent 5.56mm rifles (no, the M14 DMR rifles don't count). Why the G3, and how? Today we will take a look at a clone of a Norwegian AG3F2 and a sort-of clone...

Thanks to the owner (who wishes to remain anonymous), we got to take the factory semi-auto Enfield SA80 / L85A1 to the range to have another session, this time with iron sights.

How did it fare compared to with a SUSAT optic and with an M16A1?

2003 Pamphlet / Manual: https://drive.google.co...

Dale takes us yet further through the theory and use of Stgw. 57 rifle grenades. 3/3.

0:00 Intro
4:13 Static Tank Targets
5:15 Moving Tank Targets (Pz Attr)
13:06 Training Principles
24:00 Training Session Examples and Execution
28:34 Skill Assessment and Performance Standard Exercises
3...

Dale takes us through the theory and use of Stgw. 57 rifle grenades. 1/3.
Dale's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zNvngfqqZIASarWVYvqyw

Dale takes us yet further through the theory and use of Stgw. 57 rifle grenades. 2/3.
Dale's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zNvngfqqZIASarWVYvqyw

0:00 Intro
1:14 Direct Fire Intro
2:15 1960-1983 Firing Technique Demo
12:48 Analysis of Firing Demo
18:33 1960-1983 Technique Iss...

The FG-42 was specifically made with a scope attachment on every rifle, and intended to serve as a marksman's or sniper's rifle. But how much of that actually happened during World War Two? And was the FG-42 actually suited to a sniper role?

Here's an interesting thought - what if they made the FG-42 in 8x33mm Kurz? Well, they actually did, in very small numbers. The rifle's designer, Louis Stange, actually thought it was a really good idea, and the Heereswaffenamt office converted a handful of first model FG42s for testing, although...

Many the nations that adopted the FAL (or L1A1, in Commonwealth terminology) opted to also use a heavy-barreled variant of the same rifle as a light support weapon. In the Commonwealth, this was designated L2A1 and it was used by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Australian model was buil...

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 Sprin...

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...

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...

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...

Yesterday we took a look at the history and the design of the Polish wz.88 Tantal, and today we are taking it out to the range. Let's see how that unique Polish 3-round-burst works!

As part of the Warsaw Pact, Poland anticipated adopting the AK-74 after it was developed by the Soviet Union. However, the eventual Soviet terms for license fees and export restrictions were too severe for Polish taste. Instead, Poland opted to develop its own new rifle to use the 5.45x39mm cartr...

Since I happen to have simultaneous access to both a military-pattern F1 FAMAS and also a civilian semiautomatic MAS-223, I figured it would be nice to compare them side by side and see how they differ. A number of changes were made for the civilian semiauto rifles, including:

- Rifle grenade...

The Spitfire is a firearm with an interesting importance in legal history. Originally designed and marketed as an open-bolt semiautomatic-only carbine, it was determined to be a machine gun under the law in 1968, and all examples were required to be registered or destroyed. The reason was not its...

Yesterday we took a look at the inner workings of the VHS-2, and today we are going to put some rounds through it. I am trying out both a short-barreled VHS-K2 that was limited to 2-round burst (for French police trials) and a full-length VHS-F2 from French military trials.

Overall, I quite l...