Semiauto Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Mauser C98: The System That Cost Paul Mauser an Eye

October 1, 2018 Ian McCollum 17

One of Paul Mauser’s lifelong projects was the design of a semiautomatic rifle for the German military. He would go through a multitude of different designs searching for something that would be sufficiently reliable, durable, […]

Brownells BRN-10A: A Retro Cold War AR-10 Reproduction

September 22, 2018 Ian McCollum 19

Companion shooting video on InRangeTV: https://youtu.be/a91nJOD31Lk We have a new Brownells BRN-10A reproduction AR-10 to take a look at today, hot off the production line! Brownells is making both AR-15 and AR-10 rifles in their […]

S&W 1940 Light Rifles: Receiver Breakage is a Problem

September 6, 2018 Ian McCollum 29

Mark I Mark II Designed in 1939 by S&W engineer Edward Pomeroy, the S&W Light Rifle is an extremely well manufactured but rather poorly thought out carbine. It is a 9mm Parabellum open-bolt, semiautomatic, blowback […]

Valmet’s Bullpup: The M82

August 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 11

RIA’s catalog page for this rifle The Valet M82 is a bullpup conversion of the Valmet M76 rifle, originally designed in the hopes of attracting Finnish military interest for paratroopers. These initial military rifles were […]

Thompson’s .30-06 1923 Autorifle: Blish Strikes Again

August 22, 2018 Ian McCollum 12

RIA’s catalog page for this rifle This is a Model 1923 Thompson Autoloading Rifle, one of a batch of 20 made by Colt for US military testing in 1924. The system is designed on the […]

The Original CETME Mars Importation

August 20, 2018 Ian McCollum 12

RIA’s catalog page for this rifle The CETME Model C would be the basis for the wildly successful H&K 91 / G3 rifle, and a small batch of CETME rifles was brought into the United […]

Garand Primer-Activated 1924 Trials Rifle

August 13, 2018 Ian McCollum 26

RIA’s catalog page for this rifle The first successful iteration of John Garand’s rifle was developed in 1921 and refined through 1924. A small batch were made for US military testing in 1924, where it […]

Rhodesian Cobra SMG/Carbine

August 3, 2018 Ian McCollum 28

The Cobra was one of a variety of semiautomatic compact carbines designed and manufactured in Rhodesia in the latter half of the 1970s for sale as civilian self-defense weapons (primarily for rural farming families). Unlike […]

South African Galils: The R4, R5, R6, and LM Series

July 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 17

When South Africa decided to replace the R1 rifle (a metric FAL), they chose to adopt the Israeli Galil. Both nations had similar environmental issues with blowing sand (in northwestern South Africa particularly), and Israel […]

Rhodesia’s First Production: Northwood Developments R76 & M77

June 27, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

In the mid to late 1970s, several different Rhodesian arms designers were basically racing to be the first to come to market with a domestically produced civilian carbine type weapon. Northwood Developments would be the […]