Semiauto Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

BXP: Blowback eXperimental Parabellum

February 18, 2019 Ian McCollum 11

Andries Piek was a farmer in South Africa in the late 1970s when he mail ordered an LDP 9mm carbine from Rhodesia. The gun was impounded by South African customs, and Piek wound up designing […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

DeserTech 7.62mm MDR Teardown

December 13, 2018 Ian McCollum 33

The DeserTech MDR (“Micro Dynamic Rifle”) has been in the works for several years now, after being initially announced at SHOT Show in 2014, if I recall correctly. While it was probably prematurely unveiled, the […]

LDP / Kommando: the “Rhuzi”

December 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 48

The Kommando was a semiauto SMG-type carbine designed by Alex du Plessis in Salisbury Rhodesia in the late 1970s. It was manufactured by a company called Lacoste Engineering, and financed by a man named Hubert […]

The Israeli Galil

November 23, 2018 Ian McCollum 35

These rifles are selling at Rock Island on November 30 and December 1, 2018 – the 5.56mm Model 392 brought $4,600 and 7.62mm Model 323S brought $3,738. The Galil was the result of a program to […]

When M14 Meets M16: The Fort Ellis XR-86 Frankenrifle

November 22, 2018 Ian McCollum 33

This rifle failed to sell at Rock Island on November 30, 2018. This rifle is the home shop creation of one Wilfred Ellis, a talented gunsmith form Pennsylvania. It is basically a combination of an […]

FAL Paratrooper 50.63

November 16, 2018 Ian McCollum 62

This rifle sold for $7,475 at Rock Island on November 30, 2018. FN introduced the paratrooper folding-stock version of the FAL rifle in the early 1960s, and it became a very popular addition to their […]

Roth Haenel Model 1899 – The First Semiauto Sporting Rifle?

November 14, 2018 Ian McCollum 37

This rifle sold for $10,925 at Rock Island on December 2, 2018. While Karel Krnka and Georg Roth were in the process of developing the M1907 pistol, they diverted slightly to apply their patents to […]