One of the very nice features of the FAMAS is that it can be swapped between left-hand and right-hand ejection in just a few moments without needing any tools or spare parts. I had this FAMAS out at the range in left-handed configuration and the owner asked me to return it as a right-handed gun, ...

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, France was seriously considering joining the NATO small arms standardization. They were equipped with the MAS 49/56 semiauto rifle at this point, and were looking at three possibilities:

1 – Convert the 49/56 rifles to 7.62 NATO. (This was actually tested wit...

Launched in 2016, the Bren 2 was a significant upgrade program over the original Bren 805 rifle. In addition to being offered in both 5.56mm and 7.62x39mm with user-changeable barrels, the Bren 2 was both simpler and lighter than the 805. virtually every part of the rifle was improved, from remov...

The Bren 807 is an interesting hybrid of the Bren 805 and Bren 2. It was introduced by CZ in 2016 as a lower-priced model than the Bren 2. It was offered in both 5.56mm and 7.62x39mm, although it was not intended to be user-changeable between calibers. Its introduction was done in part with hopes...

After a lot of requests from law enforcement and military organizations, CZ developed a collapsing buttstock for the Bren 2 rifle. It requires a different upper receiver than the standard Bren 2, although that upper will become standard in future production. Combined with a short barrel, the coll...

CZ has taken the Bren 2 design, and scaled it up to 7.62mm NATO as the Bren 2 BR (Battle Rifle). A decent number of military and security organizations are still interested in the larger cartridge, including the Hungarian military and Kenyan game rangers. Essentially this is the same mechanism as...

At the end of World War Two, the Mauser factory complex was in the French occupation zone, and more than a few Mauser engineers went to work for the French. Among them were Ludwig Vorgimmler and Theodor Löffler. These two men joined the Centre d’Etudes et d’Armement de Mulhouse (CEAM) and worked ...

The CZ-2000 project in the Czech Republic (derived from the Lada developed in the late years of Czechoslovakia) envisioned a full suite of infantry arms, much like the AK as used by other countries. There would be an SMG-type compact weapon (akin to the AKS-74U "Krinkov"), a standard infantry rif...

We have previously looked at the development of the CZ 2000 and Lada rifle programs in Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic, and today we are taking a close look at one specific variant. This is the SMG pattern CZ 2000, although by current nomenclature it would not be called an SMG because ...

Today we are taking a look at a German G1 pattern FAL. The initial purchased of the G1 were actual made by the German Border Guard (the Bundesgrenschutz). In the aftermath of World War Two, the western Allies decided to perpetually disarm Germany, and German security was provided by French, Briti...

The MSBS Grot is Poland's current military service rifle, and has gone through several iterations in the many years of its development that led to its current 2nd generation form. It is best known in the US as a rifle designed to be interchangeable between standard and bullpup layout, although th...

Today we are continuing to trace the development of the IM Metal / HS Produkt VHS rifles. During this period, Croatia briefly considered adopting the Israeli Tavor rifle. Part of the adoption would have included a license for domestic production, and HS Produkt would have been the company to do t...

The HS Produkt company, best known for making the XD pistols sold in the US by Springfield, was originally called IM Metal, and was a general fabrication company in Croatia. When the Croatian Homeland War began, there was a clear need for domestic small arms production, and the two engineers at I...

It is often said that Hitler personally cancelled the Sturmgewehr development...could that really be true?

Yes! He actually nixed the program three separate times, and the German Army General Staff continued the project behind his back. They knew the rifle was what the Wehrmacht desperately ne...

A few months ago FN America was able to import 400 parts sets from original Belgian Gendarmerie FAL rifles. I got one of them, and had it completed by DSA. They made receivers with Gendarmerie markings, as well as the barrel and other parts not included with the kit. So today we'll take a look at...

While the Italian military did adopt the AR-70, it did not actually issue them to all troops. Most continued to use the 7.62mm BM-59 until 1990 when the Beretta AR-70/90 was adopted. This rifle was a substantial rework and improvement of the AR-70, using AR-pattern magazines and a 1:7" twist barr...

The SCS-70 (Special Carbine, Short) is a version of the standard Beretta AR-70 rifle made for Italian special forces use. It has a 12.7” barrel, no gas cutoff or rifle grenade capability, pistol grip storage compartment, and a polymer sidefolding stock. These were used until about 1990, when the...

The FNC (Fabrique Nationale Carabine) was FN’s followup to the unsuccessful CAL rifle. Chambered for the newly-adopted 5.56mm NATO cartridge, the FNC uses a long stroke gas piston system very reminiscent of the AK, combined with a stamped upper and milled aluminum lower. After about 5 years of de...

This rifle was brought back to France from the Balkans (probably Kosovo) by a French military team in the late 1990s. It's a neat example of a mix-master build (what is "bubba" in Albanian?), with several cool elements. The base gun is an Albanian AKM, with its bayonet missing. The front sight bl...

Today, we're taking the FN FNC out to the range to see how it handles...

The M2 Carbine was a mechanically simple modification of the M1 Carbine to allow fully automatic fire. The fire prototypes of the M1 Carbine had actually been selective-fire guns, but that requirement had been dropped by the time the Winchester design was officially adopted as the M1. It was a fe...

The EM-2 was the rifle that the British pushed for NATO trials in 1950. It was a rifle well ahead of its time in several areas - as a select-fire bullpup rifle, it was intended to replace both the infantry rifle and the submachine gun. Its .280 caliber cartridge was designed with combat ranges of...

I had 10 rounds of .280 British ammunition to work with today, so I opted for several rounds in semiauto (including some slow motion shots) and then one burst at the end. The .280 cartridge is less powerful than the 7.62mm NATO, but in my opinion the EM-2 remains a rifle much better used in semia...

In 1959 the German military first adopted the Spanish CETME as its standard infantry rifle, because it was able to acquire a license to manufacture the guns domestically (something FN had been unwilling to grant for the FAL). The European rights to the CETME were at that time owned by NWM in the ...