Semiauto Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

FN FAL With an Original FN Scope

November 28, 2019 Ian McCollum 7

When the FN FAL was first being sold, many militaries that bought it opted to mount optics on a small percentage of their rifles. These military setups used a variety of different optics and mounts, […]

Springfield’s SAR-4800 FAL…in 5.56mm

November 20, 2019 Ian McCollum 11

In the early 1990s, the Brazilian Imbel factory made a small run of FAL rifles converted to 5.56mm using AR magazines. They used standard FAL receivers and bolt carriers, with a boltface cut for 5.56x45mm […]

Holloway HAC-7L: A Specifically Left-Handed Battle Rifle

November 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

Bob Holloway designed the HAC-7 rifle to be the ultimate combat infantry rifle in 1984, drawing on his experiences in Vietnam and Rhodesia. It is a very interesting hybrid of AK, FAL, and other design […]

AR-18 and AR-180: Can Lightning Strike Twice for Armalite?

November 13, 2019 Ian McCollum 45

The AR-18 has its genesis in the AR-10. I n an effort to develop a less expensive version of that rifle, Armalite created the AR-12, an experimental rifle which used a stamped or bent sheet […]

Steyr Model 1911 Semiautomatic Trials Rifles

September 23, 2019 Ian McCollum 24

In 1909, the Austro-Hungarian Empire announced a desire to find a new semiautomatic military rifle, and requested proposals from arms manufacturers. Six rifles were submitted to the resulting trials in 1911, including this model from […]

Lakeside Vindicator BF1: A Belt-Fed .22 Plinker

September 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

Lot 3837 in the September 2019 RIA auction. In 1983, Dennis Tippmann started a company making beautiful half-scale Browning machine guns, fully functional and chambered for the .22LR cartridge. This was a pretty cool idea, […]

HK 41: “Paramilitary Rifle” for the Bundeswehr

August 31, 2019 Ian McCollum 30

Lot 440 in the September 2019 RIA auction. The HK41 (designation: “paramilitary rifle”, caliber 7.62x51mm) was the first semiautomatic version of the G3 military rifle. It was made for the Bundeswehr reservist market; a rifle […]

The Type 81 LMG in Civilian Form: Norinco Model 313

August 16, 2019 Ian McCollum 25

Lot 1817 in the September 2019 RIA auction. The Norinco 313 is the semiauto commercial variation of the Type 81 LMG. The Type 81 was a small arms family of rifle and LMG developed to […]

FAL in the North: The Canadian C1A1

July 19, 2019 Ian McCollum 53

Canada was the first country to adopt the FAL rifle, purchasing trials rifles from FN within weeks of the formal standardization of the 7.62mm NATO cartridge. Canada acquired production rights to the rifle along with […]

H&K Prototype Sniper: the SL7 Match

July 3, 2019 Ian McCollum 15

Built in the 1990s, this rifle is part of an experimental series of precision rifles made by H&K. It is marked “SL7 Match”, and uses the same action as the standard SL7 sporting rifle (the […]