In late 1940, the US military opened a competition for what would become the M1 Carbine - a rifle that needed to use the .30 Carbine cartridge and weigh no more than 5 pounds (2.27kg). No fewer than 9 companies and designers entered the first round of competition in April 1941, including John Gar...

Given the status of the AR15 as the preeminent military rifle still today, it comes as a surprise to many people to learn just how old the gun really is. Civilian production of the SP-1 model by Colt actually began in 1964, which means that early SP-1 rifles started becoming Curio & Relic qualifi...

The Professional Ordnance Carbon-15 was developed during the assault weapons ban in the United States as a way to market a pistol version of an AR15 action without exceeding the weight limit imposed by legislation. While Olympic Arms achieved this goal through extensive skeletonization, Professio...

Developed in the 1980s, the H&K PSG-1 is one of the most iconic sniper rifles in popular culture, with a reputation for unmatched accuracy. It is, in fact, an excellent rifle, and today we will look at why.

The PSG-1 was introduced in the 1980s and based on the German G3 rifle action. Onto thi...

With the British military's return to Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror, it was found that the very long engagement ranges made it necessary to have a 7.62mm designated marksman's rifle, in addition to the 5.56mm scoped rifles in service. This was not unique to the British military; the US ...

Built in the 1990s, this rifle is part of an experimental series of precision rifles made by H&K. It is marked "SL7 Match", and uses the same action as the standard SL7 sporting rifle (the roller-delay blowback system of the G3). It is set in a competition type stock the an adjustable cheekrest a...

Today I am out at the range with a new M91 from Zastava USA. This is the civilian version of the Serbian M91 sniper’s rifle, which was developed in the 1990s to replace the M76 in Serbian Army service. The M76 was chambered for 8mm Mauser, while the M91 uses 7.62x54R. Aside from a 3-position adju...

The Walther WA-2000 has a reputation of being the ultimate German sniper rifle, with no expense spared in its design and construction. Designed in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, the WA2000 was intended to be a police sniper rifle, not a military arm. It is a bullpup layout an...

The M1C was an M1 Garand with a telescopic sight, using a mounting system developed by the Griffin & Howe company of New York. It utilized a rail pinned and screwed to the left side of the receiver, coupled with a quick-release scope on top. The rails had to be installed prior to heat treating th...

The MC-1952 was a variation on the M1C Garand sniper rifle, adopted by the US Marine Corps in 1952. The Marines were not satisfied with the low magnification of the Lyman scopes on the Army M1C, and after some experimentation they adopted their own version of the rifle using a 4x scope made by Ko...

The M1D was the final adopted form of John Garands sniper M1 rifle, originally the M1E8. It was intended to be a kit issued in the field to add optical sights to any rifle deemed worthy, and retained that capability in a slightly different form than originally intended. Garland’s initial plan was...

After World War Two, Luxembourg was one of the nations which opted to purchase new FN-49 rifles. It bought a total of 6,203 of them for the military - an initial purchase of 4,000 semiauto SAFN rifles and a followup purchase of 2,000 AFN select-fire rifles and 203 semiauto rifles fitted with Belg...

Egypt was the first country to adopt the FN-49 rifle, and its purchases actually predated FN's development of a method for mounting a telescopic sight to the rifles. So Egypt came up with its own solution, using Czech Meopta 2.5 power scopes.

However, by the time Egypt was making its last ord...

Today we are taking a look at a SIG 550-1 Sniper model. This is mechanically a SIG 550, aka Sturmgewehr 90, but made to a very high level of quality control and fitted with a number of elements suitable for a marksman's rifle. It has a long (25.6 inch / 650mm) and heavy barrel, a thoroughly;y adj...

Delta Force was an early adopter of a lot of civilian competition gear into military service, and the modern AR-10 is a great example. Delta worked with Knights Armament to fine-tune the SR-25 rifle, with it first being used by Delta, then being adopted by the US Navy, and eventually by the Army ...

One of the rarest versions of the FN49 rifle is the Belgian Congo contract, made to equip the Force Publique there - the military force in the territory when it was a Belgian colony. A total of 2,795 of them were delivered (all actually AFN-49s, chambered for .30-06); 1,500 rifles in 1951, 1,100 ...

The Al Kadesih (also sometimes spelled Al Kadesiah or Al Qadisiyah) is an Iraqi copy of the SVD Dragunov DMR/sniper rifle. It is not an exact copy, though, as it uses an AK-style stamped receiver and trunnions in combination with the fire control system and short-stroke gas piston of the SVD.

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Today I am joined by Miles Vining from Silah Report to take a look at a selection of Tabuk pattern AKs. Tabuk was the name given to the whole family of domestically-produced Iraqi Kalashnikovs, which harbor a lot more mysteries than one might expect. The basic pattern was licensed from Yugoslavia...

The Italian army actually adopted a semiautomatic rifle in 1939: this Armaguerra Model 1939. It was intended to supplant the M38 Carcano bolt actions, but ultimately never managed to get into mass production.

The rifle was adopted initially in the new 7.35mm cartridge, and then quickly cancelled...

France began working on developing military self-loading rifles virtually as soon as the 1886 Lebel was adopted, and they would pursue a pretty elaborate series of trials right up to World War I. One series was developed by Etienne Meunier at the Artillery Technical Section using gas operated mec...

The General Liu rifle (named for its designer – it never received an official designation that we know of) was China’s closest approach to an indigenous self-loading infantry rifle before World War II. Mechanically it used the same principles as the Danish Bang rifle – a muzzle cup captured some ...

Russell Turner was a gunsmith and inventor in Pennsylvania who submitted a rifle design to the US Light Rifle trials (which would culminate in the adoption of Winchester’s design as the M1 Carbine). Turner’s entry into the first trial was a distinctive piece with a tubular metal stock and hand gu...

Russell Turner was a Pennsylvania gunsmith and inventor who developed this semiautomatic conversion of an SMLE bolt action rifle circa 1940. It was intended for trial and potential sale to the Canadian military, as it would allow them to retrofit existing rifles into semiautomatic configuration a...

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In the aftermath of World War Two, Brazil decided to adopt a semiautomatic rifle for its military, in .30-06 caliber...