When the Browning Arms Company first began importing semiautomatic FAL rifles from FN in 1959, the submitted an example for evaluation, and ATF determined that it was not a machine gun. The rifle was made with a selector that could not be moved to the fully automatic position, and did not have th...

The H&K SR9 was a the version of the H&K G3/91 designed to comply with (or avoid, if you prefer) the Bush Sr. 1989 import ban on “assault weapons”. About 4,000 of these were imported between 1990 and 1998, and they featured a bare muzzle and plastic thumbhole stock and handguard. The first 1000 o...

When the German Army wanted a new semiauto service rifle in 1941, it received submissions from two companies; Walther and Mauser. Walther’s design didn’t strictly meet the criteria set forth, but it was clearly the better rifle and would eventually win the competition. This involved conducting tr...

In the mid to late 1970s, several different Rhodesian arms designers were basically racing to be the first to come to market with a domestically produced civilian carbine type weapon. Northwood Developments would be the first, designed by former RAF engineer Roger Mansfield and manufactured in Sa...

Development of the weapon that would eventually become the very successful 1902 Madsen light machine gun began many years earlier, in 1883. Two Danes, Madsen and Rasmussen, began working on a recoil-operated self loading rifle design that year, with Madsen developing the idea and Rasmussen fabric...

One of Paul Mauser's lifelong projects was the design of a semiautomatic rifle for the German military. He would go through a multitude of different designs searching for something that would be sufficiently reliable, durable, and simple - and ultimately he would never fulfill the goal. But his e...

After he failed to win US military adoption of his toggle-locked rifle design, John Pedersen went looking for other countries that might be interested in the gun. One of these was Japan, which experimented with toggle-locked Pedersen rifles and carbines for several years in the early/mid 1930s. T...

The ZH-29 was the brainchild of noted Czech arms designer Emmanuel Holek in the late 1920s. It was one of the earliest practical and reliable semiauto rifles available, although Holek and the Brno factory were unable to secure any large orders for it (the three known orders total about 500 rifles...

Right at the beginning of the 20th century, there were 3 options on the market for semiauto commercial sporting rifles in the US: the Remington Model 8, the Winchester 1905/1907 Self-Loader, and the Standard Arms Model G. The Remington and Winchester were both good guns, and sold well - the Stand...

When Taiwan decided to move from the M14 platform (the Type 57 in Taiwanese service) to a 5.56mm rifle, they decided to develop a domestic gas-piston version of the AR. Development began in 1973, with prototypes ready in 1975 and the system formally adopted in 1976. Using the Chinese calendar bas...

The Winchester G30R is the final iteration of David Marshall Williams' work on a full power .30 caliber military rifle. The project began with a design by Ed Browning (John Browning's half brother) using a tilting bolt an annular gas piston, manufactured for US military trials by Colt. It moved t...

Gevarm, a gunmaking offshoot of the Gevelot cartridge company, produced a line of open-bolt semiautomatic rimfire sporting rifles from the early 1960s until 1995. This is an A6 model, the base type. It is chambered for .22LR, with an 8 round magazine and basic open sights. What makes these rifle...

We have a new Brownells BRN-10A reproduction AR-10 to take a look at today, hot off the production line! Brownells is making both AR-15 and AR-10 rifles in their "Retro" reproduction line, but this is definitely the more interesting one to me. You can piece together a good retro AR-15, but the AR...

The DeserTech MDR ("Micro Dynamic Rifle") has been in the works for several years now, after being initially announced at SHOT Show in 2014, if I recall correctly. While it was probably prematurely unveiled, the rifle as it stands today looks to be remarkably well designed. It is one thing to des...

We had the opportunity to take a look at a PTR-44 semiauto reproduction of a German Sturmgewehr today, and it's a gorgeous rifle. There were some issues reported by early owners (including miscut chambers due, actually, to incorrect dimensions on the original German blueprints) so we're eager to ...

The Volksturmgewehr Gustloff (commonly and incorrectly called the VG1-5) was a last-ditch rifle developed by Germany at the end of World War II. Only a few thousand were made, and they did not make a significant impact on the war. The rifle was intended to are the Volksturm, the German equivalent...

The Sturmgewehr 45 (aka Gerat 06H) was the first functional roller-delayed blowback rifle developed, and it was slated to replace the StG44 as Germany's primary combat rifle when WWII ended. We have a reproduction of one made exactly to original spec, and we wanted to see how it would have fared ...

The German military establishment during WWII has a reputation for innovation and excellence, which is pretty well deserved. But even they produced some real goose eggs, and the Gewehr 41 is one of them. That the G41 was even remotely successful is a tribute to the creativity of the Walther and M...

Today I am chatting with Paul Levy of Brownells about their BRN-180 upper; a modernization of the original Armalite AR-180. This particular project is an interesting combination of recreating an older design but simultaneously modernizing it - so let's pick Paul's brain about some of the unexpect...

Starting back in 2003, the Swiss shooting federation approved certain go-faster modifications for 7.5x55mm Stgw 57 rifles in 300m competition. Here's two particularly nice examples of rifles with various permitted ad-ons, including one with a freefloat tube!

Bloke takes a look at a Canadian C1A1 in 7.62x51 NATO made by Long Branch, including a cutaway model! Of course, this leads to a geeky primary extraction discussion...

Mike was lucky enough to be able to shoot the semiauto SA80 / L85A1, so he zeroed it at 100m and shot it at 300m

Sometimes Enfield does things right. Normally when they're just polishing up an existing design. Like the L1A1 SLR, the British version of the FN FAL.

Mike takes a look at an original factory SA80 / L85A1!