Semiauto Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

MAS 49: A Universal Service Rifle

May 20, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

Preorders now open for my book, Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles 1866-2016! Get your copy here! As the MAS 44 saw combat service with French Marines in Indochina, some of its shortcomings began to […]

MAS 44: The French Adopt a Semiauto Rifle

May 17, 2019 Ian McCollum 22

Pre-sales for my book, Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles 1866 – 2016 are now live on Kickstarter – check it out! The French Army had been planning a semiauto infantry rifle since 1921, but […]

Israeli Light-Barrel FAL (from DS Arms)

March 23, 2019 Ian McCollum 18

Israel was one of the very First Nations to adopt the FN FAL rifle – after Canada but before many actual NATO nations. Israel made its first purchases of the rifles in 1955, and delayed […]

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 […]