Bolt Action Rifles
The Short-Lived No1 Mk6 SMLE at James D Julia
The SMLE No1 Mk3 was the iconic British infantry rifle of World War 1, but not the final evolution of the Lee Enfield design. By World War 2 it had been replaced by the new […]
Rifles
Conversion
The Very Steampunk M1915 Howell Automatic Rifle at James D Julia
The M1915 Howell Automatic Rifle is a conversion of a standard No1 MkIII Lee Enfield rifle into a semiautomatic, through the addition of a gas piston onto the right side of the barrel. Despite its […]
Single Shot Rifles
Hans Larsen’s Unique Falling Block Rifles at James D Julia
Hans Larsen was a very successful competitive marksman (World Champion, in fact) and gunsmith in Norway in the late 1800s. He, and later his company, made a wide variety of guns, from revolving rifles and […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Australian Experimental Jungle Carbines at James D Julia
In 1943, experimentation began in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia into developing a shortened and lightened version of the Lee Enfield rifle. In Australia, the work was done on the No1 Mk3* rifle, as the […]
Select-fire Rifles
The M2 Carbine: Assault Rifle or Submachine Gun?
The M2 Carbine was a mechanically simple modification of the M1 Carbine to allow fully automatic fire. The fire prototypes of the M1 Carbine had actually been selective-fire guns, but that requirement had been dropped […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Canadian Experimental Lightweight No4 Enfield at James D Julia
In 1943 the need for a lighter and handier version of the Lee Enfield rifle became clear throughout the British Commonwealth, and experimentation began in Canada, Britain, and Australia. The work in Britain would culminate […]
Semiauto Rifles
Shooting the Czech ZH-29 at James D Julia
The Czech ZH-29 is one of the first well developed semiauto military rifles – it was light, mechanically simple, reliable, and handled well, unlike many of its ungainly or excessively complicated predecessors. It only found […]
Semiauto Rifles
The Ultimate German Sniper Rifle: the H&K PSG-1 at James D Julia
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 […]
Prototype
Poland’s Battle Rifle: the wz.38M at James D Julia
Had it not been for the German and Russian invasions in 1939, Poland might have entered the 1940s with a very modern semiauto infantry battle rifle – the wz.38M. Designed by Josef Maroszek (notably also […]
Semiauto Rifles
British L129A1 Sharpshooter Rifle
Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]