Select-fire Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Domestic Burmese G3s: BA64 Rifle and BA-72 Carbine

April 12, 2025 Ian McCollum 3

After achieving independence from the British, Burma (now Myanmar) looked to develop a domestic small arms industry to supply its armed forces. The first weapon produced there was the BA-52, a copy of (how they […]

Type 56C: China’s Last Military AK (And It’s Totally Non-Standard)

March 17, 2025 Ian McCollum 14

The Type 56C is the final iteration of Chinese Kalashnikov, originally intended for export but primarily used by Chinese police and special forces. It is a short-barreled carbine with a folding stock, and remarkably few […]

India’s FAL: The 1A1 Inch/Metric Hybrid

February 5, 2025 Ian McCollum 13

For political reasons, India decided to adopt the 7.62mm NATO cartridge when it needed to replace its No1 MkIII SMLE bolt action rifles with a modern self-loader. They chose the FN FAL as the rifle […]

SR-88A: Singapore’s Final Evolution of the AR-18

January 20, 2025 Ian McCollum 19

Chartered Industries of Singapore was founded in 1967, and started making M16 rifles under license in 1970. These were sold to the Singaporean military as well as Thailand. To get out of their licensing agreement […]

Steyr AUGs of the Falkland Islands Defense Force

January 8, 2025 Ian McCollum 24

The Falkland Islands Defense Force is a small organization independent of the British military, run directly by the Falkland Islands government. When it decided to update its small arms form the L1A1 SLR (aka British […]

The First Sturmgewehr: The MKb42(H)

November 27, 2024 Ian McCollum 16

The first iteration of the iconic German Sturmgewehr was developed by Haenel starting in 1938. It was a select-fire rifle chambered for the short 8x33mm cartridge, developed by the Polte company. It used a long-stroke […]

sa81 KRASA: Czechoslovakia’s Ultra-Compact Lost PDW

October 14, 2024 Ian McCollum 29

The Krása project (which translates as “beauty”, but is also a shortening of “short assault rifle” – “KRÁtký SAmopal”) is a fascinating piece of Czech small arms development. In 1976, the Czechoslovakian military requested development […]

Leaning Westward: Galils for Estonia

October 10, 2024 Ian McCollum 0

When Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it was initially armed with a wide variety of miscellaneous small arms. They clearly needed a primary standardized rifle for the new armed forces. […]

The FAL in Cuba: Left Arm of the Communist World?

October 7, 2024 Ian McCollum 42

In 1958, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista ordered some 35,000 FAL rifles from FN, including both regular infantry rifles have heavy-barreled FALO light machine guns. Before any of them could arrive, however, Batista fled the country […]

The New CZ Bren 3: What Did They Change?

September 9, 2024 Ian McCollum 28

From the Mauser bolt action to the AK and AR, all new military rifles take time to perfect. With the Bren 3, CZ is now on the third iteration of the Bren platform, having gone […]