The Gerat 03 was the first prototype roller-locked rifle developed by the Germans during WWII. Only a few were made, and the rifle was never put into mass production. This is the direct ancestor of the HK91 family of roller-delayed firearms.

The Leader Dynamics T2 was produced in Australia with the intent of getting a military contract to replace the Australian military's FAL rifles. It did well in testing, but not well enough to be adopted. The rifles were available on the civilian market in both Australia and the US for a short tim...

Today we have some video of a British 1918 Farquhar-Hill rifle at the range. This rifle was an early semiauto design that was accepted by the British army too late to see service in World War I, but was used as an observer's weapon in two-seater British aircraft. It is chambered for .303 British ...

The Sig AMT was the commercial version of the PE57 military rifle. They were built in 7.62 NATO and used a roller-delayed blowback system very similar to that developed by Germany during WWII and used in the StG45 and HK91 series of rifles. The AMT is built to typical Swiss standards of quality, ...

The AG-42 was the first semiauto rifle adopted by the Swedish army, as well as the first production rifle to use a direct gas impingement operating system. Today we're taking a closer look at the Ljungman - how it operates and how to disassemble it. Enjoy!

After World War II, Egypt experimented with several types of new rifle as a series of leaders bought arms from both Western and Communist nations. They included FN49 rifles from Belgium and vz52 and vz52/57 rifles from Czechoslovakia before a deal was made to license production of a copy of the S...

The FS2000 is the semiauto civilian version of FN's F2000 bullpup rifle. It was designed for military use, but contracts have been well below FN's hopes - only Slovenia has decided to adopt it as a standard service weapon (several other nations have bought small quantities for specialized uses). ...

One of the many projects that AR-15 designer Jim Sullivan was involved in through his long career was a project to found the Wayne Repeating Arms Company (or WRA Co., not to be inadvertently confused with any other gun company with those initials). The company was backed financially by none other...

During the 1950s, the US Army ran a series of programs trying to find a better solution for infantry rifles than firing single semiauto bullets. These projects (including SALVO, SALVO II, and SPIW) would include experiments with multiple barreled rifles, burst firing rifles, flechette firing weap...

When I ran my Calico carbine through the PCC course of fire last month, I was rather surprised to see it run through 150 rounds without any malfunctions. I plan to continue shooting it without any cleaning or lubrication, to see how long it will go before it stops working. Today was the second ra...

The Spanish military used the CETME-L rifle as its standard rifle in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to the standard model, they also had two versions of marksman's CETME-Ls. These were designated the LV ("V" for "visor", or scope). The Army used a domestic 4x scope of tradition design made by E...

The Spanish adopted the 5.56mm CETME-L rifle in the mid 1980s, although they only used it until the late 1990s, when it was replaced by the G36. One of the sub variants made was the LC (“Corto”) shortened version with a 12.6″ (320mm) barrel and collapsing stock. This adaptation actually required ...

Today I am out at the range to do some side-by-side shooting with the CETME-L and the CETME-LC. These are both MarColMar examples, in the original Spanish military configuration (ie, iron sights only).

The LC model has a bit snappier recoil and more muzzle climb, which I suspect is due to the ...

Today, a comparison between a semiauto CETME-L rifle from MarColMar Firearms and one from HMG (albeit an example I built myself).

Many years ago, SMG Guns introduced a reproduction FG-42 rifle, a semiauto version of the 2nd model as made by Germany during World War Two. After several more years of development, they have now shipped the first of their 1st model FG0-42 semi autos. There are several significant differences bet...

With the commercial success of the semiauto Type 56S AK rifles in the US, Norinco looked for other options for export rifles to sell. Given the use of the 5.56x45mm cartridge in the US, an AK chambered for that round was an obvious answer. Norinco did not have the technical data package to make t...

North Vietnam set up a small arms factory north of Hanoi (12km north of Yên Bái, to be specific) with the assistance of Chinese factory #296, starting in 1959. The goal was for this to become a substantial arsenal for both repair and production of arms, including barrel-making and forging capabil...

When I ran my Calico carbine through the PCC course of fire last month, I was rather surprised to see it run through 150 rounds without any malfunctions. I plan to continue shooting it without any cleaning or lubrication, to see how long it will go before it stops working. In. follow-up range tri...

Elbonia had a brief partnership with Egypt in the mid 1950s through which they acquired some early-production Hakim rifles. These were used along with Israeli surplus MG-34 machine gun barrel jackets to build an experimental Hakim LMG for Elbonian service. The gun was fed by adapted German MG-13 ...

After I started getting malfunctions last time, I gave the Calico a good (and much-needed) cleaning, and also replaced the striker spring. Hopefully this brings it back to a state of reliability...

Today we are taking a look at a very unusual prototype rifle, courtesy of Legacy Collectibles. I suspect - but have no direct evidence - that this was designed by one Francis K. Young, a man who patented several very similar systems. What makes it unusual is that it operates by having the cartrid...

Today I am running an early-configuration M1 Carbine through my standardized Pistol-Caliber Carbine course of fire. This consists of a selection of cool target systems from MOA Targets - an 8-plate dueling tree, a mini-Mozambique, and a Redneck Star. These will serve to test target transitions, p...

In 1960, Elbonia set out an RFP for a new carbine for a fledgling paratroop brigade. They wanted a rifle to provide a higher volume of firepower for these troops, rather like the intention of the FG42 in German WW2 service. What they got was actually based on surplus Czech vz52 rifles, adapted to...