If the FG-42 was such a great gun, then why didn't it get used after the war? Well, two answers...

1) It was crazy expensive to make and there weren't very many lying around for people to use in quantity after the war.

2) It was used; there was at least three post-war development projects based...

Courtesy of DSA, I'm out at the range today with a Vektor CR-21 to see just how it handles compared to a regular Galil...

Another weaponed designed by famous FN weapons designer Dieudonné Saive, this experimental FAL was chambered to fire the British .280 cartridge. However, NATO would have something to say about it.

Jonathan Ferguson takes a look at two experimental weapons designed by Frank Waters at Sterling during the 1970s.

A compact take on the highly recognisable FAL this week. Join Jonathan Ferguson as he takes a look at a DIY shortened version of the Belgian-made battle rifle.

In the late 1940s Britain were searching for an Automatic Rifle to match the German Sturmgewehr. This design did not pass the trials. Watch Jonathan describe why.

The M16 is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable weapons in the history of firearms. But, did you know that the Colt Model 715 M16A2 was also adopted into limited use by British armed forces. Join Jonathan Ferguson as he explores the key differences between a British service M16 and its Americ...

First produced in 1951, the Belgian-made self-loading rifle was designed by famous FN weapons designer Dieudonné Saive. Saive was living under Nazi occupation when he was extracted to Britain in 1941 where he developed the Model 1949 AFN

Heavily influenced by Germany's revolutionary assault rifles of the latter half of the Second World War, Britain sought a replacement for its reliable yet ageing Lee-Enfield series of rifles. The EM1, one of the contenders to fit this bill never quite lived up to expectations. Keeper of Firearms ...

The Nazis pioneered the development of the assault rifle and the intermediate cartridge in the latter half of the Second World War. It led to a host of weapons under different designations with seemingly little (to nothing) to separate individual models. Jonathan Ferguson explains the difference ...

The 'AK-47' is the ubiquitous label for the most recognisable group of firearms on the planet, but would you be correct in calling all AK-type rifles AK-47s? Is there indeed any such thing as an 'AK-47'? Join Jonathan Ferguson as he examines the lineage of the most produced firearm family of all ...

Catch Jonathan in his element as he discusses one of his much favourite and most researched weapons, the EM-2. These are no ordinary variants however, with both weapons being shipped out for 'in-country' testing in the 1950s.

The AR-18, seen as a cheaper alternative to the more commercially successful the AR-15 (M16), was the inspiration behind the Sterling LAR. However, with several patents preventing a more direct copy, Sterling had to find some inventive ways to do things a little differently, leading to this somew...

The Sterling Story draws to a close with its final production rifle, the SAR 87. Building on the more commercially successful SAR 80, the later variant came too late to ultimately save the Sterling Armament Company from going out of business.

Jonathan Ferguson pulls another obscure weapon out of our stores, focusing this week on a Colt AR-15 variant sent to the UK for testing by the British Army. Britain was looking to re-equip its infantry squad with a full package of AR-type rifles, with this example with heavier barrell and bi-pod ...

Join Jonathan Ferguson as he examines the third instalment in our Sterling assault rifle series: the SAR80. Attempting to create a legally different yet ultimately still a copy of the AR18, Sterling made huge strides from its predecessor, the LAR. But, was it enough to achieve commercial success?

In the aftermath of World War II, the United States spent 12 years looking for a successor to the M1 Garand rifle. The new standard infantry arm was expected to be select-fire, lightweight, accurate, controllable, and fire a heavy .30-caliber projectile. It would replace not just the M1, but also...

The L85A1 (part of the SA80 small arms family) was adopted by the British military in 1985 as a new generation of small arms to replace the L1A1 FAL (one quick note, where "A1" indicates a revision in American designations, it is simply the first iteration in British ones - there was no "L85"). A...

America's first assault rifle? Well, it does meet all the requirements - select-fire, intermediate cartridge, and shoulder-fired. It was never actually fielded, though.

The Burton Light Machine Rifle was developed during World War One, with the firing model completed in 1917. It was intended as ...

The iconic weapon of the Rhodesian Bush War is the FN-FAL, painted in a distinctive "baby poop" yellow and green pattern. Because Rhodesia was under international embargo, its options for obtaining weapons were limited. Some domestic production was undertaken, but one large source was neighboring...

The British military had been working towards a reduced-power cartridge since the end of World War 2, and the ultimate adoption of the FAL/SLR in 7.62x51mm NATO did not end their interest in the concept. It would not be long before the roots of SA80 would take hold, and today we are looking at th...

Once the basic configuration of the new British rifle was determined, the next step was to build a series of prototypes. The design that took form was basically a bullpup copy of the Armalite AR-18. The design team at Enfield were mostly senior draftsmen, with virtually no firearms experience amo...

By 1980, the scheduled deadline for adopting the L85 and L86 was rapidly approaching, and the weapons should have been in the last stages of fine-tuning before production began. This was not the case, however - testing was still uncovering critical problems in the guns.

The goal for these weap...

The SA80 saga continues today with the final pre-production versions of the L85A1 and L86A1, although at this point they still both carry XL designations, as they were not yet formally adopted weapons. In these weapons we can see a couple last distinctive mechanical changes, but perhaps more impo...