So far in our exploration of firearms operating systems, we’ve covered ten different mechanisms for locking and actuating an automatic firearm, with two supplementary introduction posts. There’s still a lot more to talk about, but at the request of our readers, I have decided to periodically collect posts together into an omnibus post, so that you the reader can easily access and share them!

Topics we’ve covered to this date at the 101 level include:

• An introduction to operating mechanisms
• The simple, utilitarian straight blowback mechanism
• The robust, reliable short recoil mechanism
• The ubiquitous, accurate gas operated mechanism
• The crude, economic API blowback mechanism, and open bolt vs. closed bolt operation

At the 201 level, we’ve explored several locking systems and clever configurations:

• The difference between Bang and gas trap style gas operation
• An introduction to locking mechanisms
• The strong, accurate rotary bolt locking system
• The reliable, compact tilting barrel locking mechanism
• The difference between Stoner type direct impingement and Ljungmann style direct impingement
• The simple, effective tilting bolt locking mechanism
• The difference between the telescoped and non-telescoped bolt configurations

There’s a lot more yet to come, and remember that the scope of this series is not limited to just the sorts of topics we’ve covered so far, so if you have any suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered, please let us know in the comments below!