Select-fire Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Italian Cei-Rigotti self-loader

October 24, 2012 Ian McCollum 9

We have blogged about the Cei-Rigotti before, but I figured I’d do a re-cap on it, considering the new information we’ve found on its caliber. I’ve also uploaded a gallery of photos of the rifle […]

Photos of 1950s Light Rifle Prototypes

September 14, 2012 Ian McCollum 13

In the aftermath of World War II, there was a significant amount of effort put into deciding what rifles would be used by the post-war Allied armies. The UK and US wanted commonality, but couldn’t […]

Syrian Sturmgewehr Cache

August 11, 2012 Ian McCollum 26

Allah ackbar indeed! Why can’t I ever find a storeroom full of Sturmgewehrs? If anyone reading this has contacts in Syria,you might consider recommending that they try to exchange them on some international market for […]

Fallschirmjagergewehr FG-42 Video

August 6, 2012 Ian McCollum 23

The German FG-42 paratroop rifle was a very impressive design, managing to meet a very strict set of performance criteria. The first production model in particular was exceptionally light and compact, while still offering semi […]

TRW Low Maintenance Rifle

July 18, 2012 Ian McCollum 37

As everyone is away, the M16 suffered from maintenance and reliability problems early in its deployment to Vietnam. While working to resolve these issues, the US government wanted to find a replacement weapon that would […]

Caveat Emptor – “StG45 Prototype”

July 17, 2012 Ian McCollum 25

One of the fun parts of pursuing prototype and experimental firearms is that there isn’t much written or known about many of them – it’s like a great treasure hunt. Of course, the downside is […]

EM2 Video

July 16, 2012 Ian McCollum 24

I offer our Facebook fans the choice of which video they would like to see today, and the result was overwhelmingly the British EM2 rifle. These were made in both .280/30 and 7.62 NATO calibers, […]

Itailian Cei-Rigotti Selfloading Rifle

June 18, 2012 Ian McCollum 16

Amerigo Cei-Rigotti was a major in the Italian Bersaglieri (light infantry) in 1900, when his innovative self-loading rifle design was first introduced. Unlike many or the very early semiauto rifle designs, the Cei-Rigotti is a […]

X8E1 & X8E2 SLR Manual

June 1, 2012 Ian McCollum 11

Before the British adopted the FAL as the L1A1 rifle, batches of several different variants were made for extended troop trials. The first two were the X8E1 and X8E2 – the X8E1 used standard FAL […]

EM1 Photos and Manual

May 25, 2012 Ian McCollum 13

The EM1 was an experimental British rifle developed in the late 1940s, and was definitely the high-tech wonder rifle of its day. It was a bullpup-style design before that was a trend, and used a […]