Before the H&K 90 series of rifles - the civilian semiautomatic versions - existed, there was the 40-series; the paramilitary rifles. Originally intended for German reservist purchase, the HK41 and HK43 were G3 and HK33 rifles made in semiautomatic only configuration. In the early 1970s, these w...

The Danes adopted the M1 Garand after World War Two, and continued using it as their standard service rifle all the way until 1975 - and alongside it they used the M1D as a sniper or DMR rifle. The Danish Home Guard decided to upgrade those M1D rifles in the 1960s, however, and looked to H&K for ...

Springfield Armory is now importing a version of the the VHS-2 bullpup (commercially named the Hellion here in the US) with a 20-inch barrel. This is the barrel length used in the most common military pattern of the rifle, the VHS-2D. In addition, Springfield's semiauto configuration has the prop...

Palmetto State Armory (PSA) makes a really wide variety of different guns, but one that they came out with a little while back that appealed to me in particular is their "Spiker". This is a reproduction of the Chinese Type 56 stamped AK with a permanently attached underfolding bayonet. These rifl...

Armi Jager was an Italian arms-making company that was created in the early 1950s by Armando Piscetta. He initially made .22 rimfire sporting rifles, then transitioned into making Old West style revolvers, and in the 1970s began offering a series of military lookalikes (he was also heavily involv...

So it's become fashionable to claim that the Eugene Stoner direct impingement gas system used in the .308/7.62 AR-10 and .223/5.56 AR-15 isn't actually direct impingement due to there being an integrated piston in it. Unlike the Ljungmann AG42 and French MAS 44, 49 and 49/56, which... erm... also...

Today we are going to take a look at the three main battle rifles of World War Two - the M1 Garand, the SVT-40, and the Gewehr 43. We will also consider the SVT-38, Gewehr 41(W), and Gewehr 41(M). The United States, Soviet Union, and Germany were the three countries that fielded large numbers of ...

How does the General Purpose Rifle blur the lines between SPR and GPR?

Today I'm taking an SVT-40 to the monthly 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, and I'm joined by my friend Tom shooting an M1 Garand. We're both using moderately accurate gear, and so naturally I have a TT-33 Tokarev for my pistol and Tom has a 1911. So, let's see if I can hold my own with the Soviet gu...

The Red Army was interested in developing a semiautomatic rifle clear back to the mid 1920s, and they spent about 15 years running trials and development programs to find one. First in 1930 a Degtyarev design was adopted, followed by the Simonov AVS-36, and then Tokarev won out in 1938 with the S...

What is the MP5 was never adopted, and instead the vented barrel and telescoping silencer used by the SD model was instead developed for the AR-15? Broad River Tactical thought it would be fun to follow this line of thought, and builds an MP5SD style barrel and handguard system for the AR - and I...

Today I've got on of Gorilla Ammo's GF-10 rifles to do some shooting with. It's an AR-10 platform chambered for 8.6mm Blackout (they also offer it in .243 Win, .260 Rem, 6.5CM, and .308 Win). It weighs in at just 7.2 pounds with a 16" barrel, so it's not an NFA item (they do also offer a 12" pist...

It's time for the monthly 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, and this time I'm bringing out the Madsen! I've rigged it up like the BOPE (Brazilian military police special teams) typically use them, with the flash hider and bipod removed to save weight. It's still a heck of a gun, weighing in at about ...

Yesterday we took a look at the vz.52/57 rifle in 7.62x39mm, and today I have one of it's 7.62x45mm predecessors out at the range. Not so much to do some shooting, as it turns out, but to fix malfunctions and wait for hangfires and duds...

However, we did have enough success to put some 7.62x45m...

Bloke thinks that the .22 rimfire Ciener type chamber insert conversion systems for .223 Remington AR-15 rifles are cool. Previous results with them have been mixed however. Since he has not only a dedicated V-22 upper but also a variety of twist rates (but no 1:7, sorry), he wanted to see what t...

We don't need the SKS, we have gun designers at home! In the early days of the Cold War, the Czechoslovak communist party was on very good terms with Josef Stalin, and were able to design and use their own small arms. A whole new slate of small arms were developed in the early 1950s, with a rifle...

Venezuela was the First Nation to purchase the FN-49 rifle, before even the Belgian military. In fact, the Venezuelan contract was signed in 1948, before the "FN-49" designation was even in place. Venezuela bought a total of 8,012 rifles in two batches - 4,000 rifles plus 12 cutaway training exam...

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While the M1 Carbine is light weight and small "rifle", its no doubt left one of the heaviest imprints on small arms development.

Many still deba...

One of the M1941 Johnson's most recognisable features is its exposed barrel. This rifle, an early military R-type gun, is unusual in that it has a traditional wooden forend and bayonet mount. This appears to have been an attempt to address one of the US Military's main concerns about the Johnson ...

Did you know that the Royal Bermuda Regiment used the Ruger Mini-14 as its service rifle for over 30 years? If not, this video will give you the low down! Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video here - https://armourersbench.com/ruger-mini-14-the-royal-bermuda-regiments-servi...

On 15 March, a Russian Federal News Agency report interviewed a sniper from Wagner. The report gave us our first good look at the MTs-566 7.62x51mm semi-automatic precision rifle designed at Tula. Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video here - https://armourersbench.com/2023/...

Over the last couple of months a number of M110 semi-auto precision rifles have begun to appear in Ukraine. Predominantly seen in the hands of Ukrainian special operations forces, the rifle began to appear in the autumn of 2022. In this video we take a look at some of the imagery of them in theat...