#KnobCreek2016

If you are wondering why this FG42 probably costs more than most houses, then please, step into the club of the bizarre world of civilian legal machine gun costs and trade. I’m often asked by people who have no knowledge of firearms, even by many in our community why the price of these machine guns are so exorbitantly high.

One of the interesting finds pointed out to me by an ammunition collector at Knob Creek is this interesting tidbit of history. The .5 Vickers is a semi rimmed round that was invented in the last year of World War One by necking down a .600 Nitro Express round. It was intended for the water cooled Vickers heavy machine gun and was initially needed for anti-aircraft gunners to take down German bombers over London that could sustain multiple hits from the .303 cartridge being fired by Vickers anti-aircraft crews at the time. Although the round is the same caliber as the 50 BMG, the two are not interchangeable.

The St. George Arms Leader A1 .50 BMG rifle is the creation of Charles St. George, based off of his previous design, the Leader 50 rifle. It is a semi-automatic .50 BMG magazine fed bullpup rifle with a 24 inch barrel that uses a short stroke gas piston system. The bolt is made out of Maraging steel, which the company claims is an extremely strong material to be used within small arms design (indeed, simple stock prices of the steel are very costly). Magazine is a 10 round Serbu magazine, pistol grip and selector switch are both AR compatible and thus can be switched out. The top rail is a picatinny rail that extends over the extrusion that is the receiver of the rifle. Non reciprocating charging handle is on the left side of the rifle above the pistol grip. There is a picatinny rail underneath the charging handle that bipods can be mounted on, in addition to a picatinny rail behind the magazine for a monopod. The compensator is massive, held together by what appears to be hex screws. The rifle is in full production form and the company is currently taking in orders. It comes in at an overall length of 39.5 inches and an unloaded weight of 18.5 lb.

Acadiana Gunworks is a small firearms manufacturer and training company based out of Scott, LA. At Knob Creek the company occupied a booth in the gun show section and displayed their new cut down, semi-automatic SBR and automatic Post Sample variant of an RPD. The Post Sample version is only allowed to be sold to LE agencies or other Class III dealers, but the semi-automatic SBR can be purchased from them after completion and acceptance of NFA paperwork. Essentially the RPD has been converted to semi-automatic, and the barrel and gas system have been cut down, with a new gas system fastened into place because of the shorter length. Thus turning the full length RPD into something the size of an M249 “Para” SAW, weighing less as well. The forward grip is also built up with a piece of metal protecting the hand from the gas tub for when it gets hot. Chambered in 7.62x39mm, both versions take linked ammunition belts placed in drums, mounted underneath it. I wasn’t able to see how the fully automatic version worked on the main line at Knob Creek, as the owner was up there shooting it and I wasn’t able to get ahold of him. Final price for the SBR is $3250, and the Post Sample is $3000.