Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

The Sexy Retro Shorty: Original AR-180 Police Carbine

October 28, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

When Armalite designed the AR-180, they needed a factory to produce it, as their own production capacity was limited. Initially a license was granted to How in Japan, but this only lasted a few years […]

Croatian Improvised Weapons: From Obrez to Single-Shot Yugo M70 Hybrid

October 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 16

During the Croatian Homeland War – as in all wars of independence – a wide variety of cobbled-together firearms were used by people who could not access proper factory arms for one reason or another. […]

AFN-49: The Forgotten Full-Auto Brother of the FN-49

October 20, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

0:00 Introduction and Overview of the AFN 49 1:23 Detailed Insight into the AFN 49’s Global Presence 3:01 Demonstration and Explanation of the AFN’s Unique Features 5:05 Auto Trip Feature: A Deep Dive 7:27 Unique […]

Egyptian 2-Gun: Rasheed and Browning High Power

October 7, 2023 Ian McCollum 5

We just looked at the Rasheed (and it’s Iraqi sibling the Baghdad) and today I’m taking it out to the monthly 2-Gun match. I’m pairing it with a United Arab Republic contract Browning High Power, […]

Baghdad Carbine: Iraq’s Super-Rare Copy of the Rasheed

October 4, 2023 Ian McCollum 3

In 1974, Iraq and Egypt were still on good relations, and Egypt sold Iraq a batch of 300 Rasheed carbines and the production tooling to manufacture them. Iraq quickly set up production and began making […]

The Rasheed: Egypt’s Semiauto Battle Carbine From Sweden

September 27, 2023 Ian McCollum 29

Egypt purchased tooling for the Swedish AG-42 Ljungman in 1952, and adapted it to their 8mm Mauser caliber as the Hakim rifle. Later, they scaled the rifle down to 7.62x39mm as the Rasheed, and manufactured […]

Colt 607: The First AR Carbine

September 18, 2023 Ian McCollum 56

The Model 607 was Colt’s first attempt at a carbine version of the AR-15 rifle, shortening both the barrel and stock. The action is identical to a standard AR, but the barrel is only 10 […]

South Africa’s Sci-Fi Bullpup: Vektor CR-21 at the Range

September 16, 2023 Ian McCollum 22

Courtesy of DSA, I’m out at the range today with a Vektor CR-21 to see just how it handles compared to a regular Galil…

Chinese Mystery Mauser: Fake FN Model 30

September 8, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

“Arming the Dragon” by Dolf Goldsmith is now available and shipping! One of the most common rifles in Warlord-era China was the Mauser Model 98 short rifle. Various Chinese armies bought large numbers of them […]

A Sneaky Swiss Sniper for Israel: the ZK-31

September 6, 2023 Ian McCollum 12

In 1949, Israel was still fighting its was of independence, and purchasing arms internationally was difficult to do. The recently-formalized IDF wanted sniper rifles, and looked to Hammerli in Switzerland for a variant of the […]