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HomeSouth Africa

South Africa

Semiauto Rifles

BXP: Blowback eXperimental Parabellum

February 18, 2019 Ian McCollum 10

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 […]

Semiauto pistol

P.A.F. Junior – South Africa’s First Production Gun

January 29, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

The Pretoria Arms Factory was founded in 1954 by Piet Nagel and Jan Willem Dekker. both Dutch immigrants to South Africa after WW2. They began manufacturing a simplified copy of the Baby Browning pocket pistol, […]

Semiauto Rifles

Paramax: Final Iteration of the LDP Kommando

January 23, 2019 Ian McCollum 53

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 […]

Conversion

Neophytou Gas-Operated .22 Rimfire Conversion for the R4/Galil

January 19, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

Today we are looking at – and shooting – a one of a kind .22 rimfire conversion kit for the Galil developed by South African designer Tony Neophytou (better known for the Neostead shotgun, Neopup […]

Conversion

South African Army .22 Rimfire Conversion for the R4

January 18, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

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 […]

Slide action

Vektor H5: Pump Action Adaptation of the South African Galil

January 2, 2019 Ian McCollum 10

The H5 is a pump-action conversion of the South African R4/R5 Galil rifles, developed by Vektor in the early 1990s. It was fairly difficult at that time to get a permit for a semiautomatic rifle […]

Single Shot Rifles

Stopper 37mm: A Simple South African Riot Control Gun

December 29, 2018 Ian McCollum 7

The Stopper is a simple 37mm single shot riot control gun designed by Andries Piek in 1980. The South African police services were at that time using 37mm guns made by Federal Labs in the […]

Semiauto Rifles

LDP / Kommando: the “Rhuzi”

December 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 47

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 […]

Prototype

Tommy Steele’s TS V: Integrally Suppressed 9mm Carbine

November 2, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

Thanks to a friend in South Africa, we have a chance today to take a look at one of the five prototypes of Tommy Steele’s TS V semiauto carbine. This thing is completely ambidextrous (including […]

Semiauto pistol

Varan PMX90: Ambidexterity in South Africa

October 3, 2018 Ian McCollum 7

The Varan pistol was developed by two Rhodesian designers, Tony Blackshaw and Stewart Beecham, and was originally designated the PMX-80. Development would take nearly a full decade, however, and mostly took place in South Africa. […]

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