Semiauto Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Venezuelan FN49: The First FN49 Contract

December 1, 2023 Ian McCollum 3

Venezuela was the First Nation to purchase the FN-49 rifle, before even the Belgian military. In fact, the Venezuelan contract was signed in 1948, before the “FN-49” designation was even in place. Venezuela bought a […]

Favela 2-Gun Action Challenge: Rio BOPE Madsen & Beretta 92

November 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 4

It’s time for the monthly 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, and this time I’m bringing out the Madsen! I’ve rigged it up like the BOPE (Brazilian military police special teams) typically use them, with the flash […]

Hangfires & Ballistics Gel: Czech vz.52 at the Range

November 18, 2023 Ian McCollum 14

Yesterday we took a look at the vz.52/57 rifle in 7.62x39mm, and today I have one of it’s 7.62x45mm predecessors out at the range. Not so much to do some shooting, as it turns out, […]

Czech vz. 52/57: The SKS We Have At Home

November 17, 2023 Ian McCollum 7

We don’t need the SKS, we have gun designers at home! In the early days of the Cold War, the Czechoslovak communist party was on very good terms with Josef Stalin, and were able to […]

The Sexy Retro Shorty: Original AR-180 Police Carbine

October 28, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

When Armalite designed the AR-180, they needed a factory to produce it, as their own production capacity was limited. Initially a license was granted to How in Japan, but this only lasted a few years […]

Egyptian 2-Gun: Rasheed and Browning High Power

October 7, 2023 Ian McCollum 5

We just looked at the Rasheed (and it’s Iraqi sibling the Baghdad) and today I’m taking it out to the monthly 2-Gun match. I’m pairing it with a United Arab Republic contract Browning High Power, […]

Baghdad Carbine: Iraq’s Super-Rare Copy of the Rasheed

October 4, 2023 Ian McCollum 3

In 1974, Iraq and Egypt were still on good relations, and Egypt sold Iraq a batch of 300 Rasheed carbines and the production tooling to manufacture them. Iraq quickly set up production and began making […]

The Rasheed: Egypt’s Semiauto Battle Carbine From Sweden

September 27, 2023 Ian McCollum 29

Egypt purchased tooling for the Swedish AG-42 Ljungman in 1952, and adapted it to their 8mm Mauser caliber as the Hakim rifle. Later, they scaled the rifle down to 7.62x39mm as the Rasheed, and manufactured […]

Introducing the BD-38: A New Production Copy of the German MP-38

September 4, 2023 Ian McCollum 14

There has never been a proper semiauto version of the MP40 available in the US, until now. SSD (Sport-Systeme Dittrich) is a German company that has been making semiauto copies of German WW2 small arms […]

Semiauto FG-42 at the Range: 1st and 2nd Patterns

August 31, 2023 Ian McCollum 3

Today we have both 1st and 2nd pattern semiauto FG-42s from SMG out at the range for some comparative shooting. Which is the better one to get?