Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Luxembourg FN49 Semiauto Sniper Rifle

January 30, 2019 Ian McCollum 16

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 […]

Shooting the HK G41: Like an HK33 But Worse

January 26, 2019 Ian McCollum 51

We took a look at the history and mechanics of the G41 yesterday; now it’s time to actually try it out on the range… It, ah, did not go so well. But I did get […]

H&K G41: The HK33 Meets the M16

January 25, 2019 Ian McCollum 34

The H&K G41 was developed for the NATO trials of the early 1980s, which were set up to look at both rifles and cartridges for NATO standardization (although they did not end up choosing a […]

Paramax: Final Iteration of the LDP Kommando

January 23, 2019 Ian McCollum 54

The Kommando semiauto carbine was designed in 1975 by Alexis du Plessis in Rhodesia, and went on the be manufactured in South Africa a few years later by the Maxim Parabellum company. The final iteration […]

Neophytou Gas-Operated .22 Rimfire Conversion for the R4/Galil

January 19, 2019 Ian McCollum 20

Today we are looking at – and shooting – a one of a kind .22 rimfire conversion kit for the Galil developed by South African designer Tony Neophytou (better known for the Neostead shotgun, Neopup […]

South African Army .22 Rimfire Conversion for the R4

January 18, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

In order to allow cheaper and simpler training of troops, the South African Defense Forces adopted a .22 rimfire conversion kit for their R4 rifles. The system was developed by an engineer named Willie Klotz […]

Evolution of the Dutch-Made AR10

January 5, 2019 Ian McCollum 25

The AR-10 rifle was developed in the United States (Hollywood California, specifically) by Eugene Stoner, but the Armalite company did not have a suitable large scale manufacturing facility to produce the number of guns they […]

FN CAL: Short-Lived Predecessor to the FNC

January 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 23

The CAL (Carabine Automatique Leger; Light Automatic Carbine) was FN’s first attempt to produce a 5.56mm rifle as a counterpart to the 7.62mm FAL. While light and handy, the CAL was a relatively complex and […]

Stopper 37mm: A Simple South African Riot Control Gun

December 29, 2018 Ian McCollum 7

The Stopper is a simple 37mm single shot riot control gun designed by Andries Piek in 1980. The South African police services were at that time using 37mm guns made by Federal Labs in the […]

H&K G36: Germany Adopts the 5.56mm Cartridge

December 28, 2018 Ian McCollum 36

When the G11 program was cancelled and German reunified, the West German military was still using the 7.62mm G3 rifle, while the East German forces had AK-74 variants. Neither of these were suitable for a […]