Semiauto Rifles

Colt LE-901 Modular Multi-Caliber AR: A Well-Designed Failure

October 29, 2025 Ian McCollum 27

Colt originally developed the 901 as part of the US Army SCAR program, with the intention being to create a 7.62x51mm rifle that could also use unmodified 5.56x45mm upper assemblies. This would allow special operations […]

M1E10 Garand-Ljungman Prototype

October 22, 2025 Ian McCollum 17

Springfield Armory was involved in experimenting with he M1 Garand throughout its production, looking at various different elements that could be improved. A series of experimental models were made, with M1E[x] designations. Some of these […]

Bommarito: America’s First Toggle-Locked Battle Rifle

October 1, 2025 Ian McCollum 20

Designed by Giuseppe Bommarito, this was one of the many independent rifle designs submitted to the US War Department in the 1910s hoping for military adoption. It is a short recoil operated, toggle-locked system chambered […]

Swedish Paratrooper Prototype: AK Fm/57

July 30, 2025 Ian McCollum 2

Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten As Sweden was looking to adopt a new self-loading infantry rifle in the 1950s, one of the contenders was a modernized version of the Ljungman. […]

ZK 381: Czech Pre-War Prototype Battle Rifle

July 28, 2025 Ian McCollum 7

The ZK-381 was designed by Josef Koucký, his first design of 1938 (hence 381). This is one of the last of the Czech pre-war self-loading rifle projects, of which there were quite a lot. It […]

AK fm/54: Prototype Swedish Paratrooper Rifle

July 9, 2025 Ian McCollum 15

Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten As Sweden experimented with updating the AG42 Ljungman in the 1950s, one of the intermediate patterns was the fm/54. This took the 7.62mm NATO short […]