#Europe

For dangerous game hunters, a reliable rifle is a must; having your rifle fail when a triceratops or other African game is charging you is simply not an option. Enter the Winchester Model 70 Safari Express, built on the pre-’64 action with its claw extractor for extra reliability. To handle the power of dangerous game cartridges, there are two steel stock reinforcing crossbolts and dual recoil lugs.

Engraved firearms are incredibly popular outside the United States, and many manufacturers of high-end rifles are more than happy to grab a share of this market. Several engravers were actually working while at the show, but none looked quite like Verena of Steyr, who is featured in the “ Gun Girls of IWA” post.

The Sig P210 is without a doubt an iconic handgun, highly respected for being an incredibly accurate firearm. However, the design didn’t lend itself to rapid and easy production, and as I was told by various sources in Europe, quality varied with the mood of the workforce.

Perhaps the most impressive booths at IWA came from Switzerland – KRISS Group and RWS went all-out with details such as live music, waitresses serving free alcohol, and Swiss chocolate being handed out like, well, candy. While I didn’t spend much time at RWS, I was definitely taken in by the variety of products on display at the KRISS/Sphinx booth, such as the Sphinx pistols. They’re an interesting departure from standard pistol design and manufacture, as the frame is manufactured in upper and lower segments and then joined together.

Sig had many weapons on display at IWA, including several 516s. One was actually Made in Germany and featured a number of differences from the US-market 516s, which I go over in the video. I’m not sure exactly where in Germany it was made, because I saw no signs of AR production at Eckernförde, where Sig pistols are produced. I’m thinking that it was produced and assembled along with the Blaser rifles at that factory, which is in a different part of the country.

Benelli’s MR1 is a development of their ARGO rifle (sold in the United States as the R1), which is itself related to the excellent Benelli M4 shotgun, in use by the US Marine Corps as the M1014.

I learned a lot about Europe’s firearms market while at IWA and touring various factories. One of the most important things I learned was that quality sells in Europe – and a lack of quality doesn’t. When I asked, for example, why a certain US-market rifle was not on display at IWA, I was bluntly told that it was “too low quality to sell in Europe.”

The German product Ballistol is popular with shooters the world over as an effective cleaning, lubricating, and protecting agent. Now, its aerosol cans are available in many different languages. I saw the display at IWA and had to take a few photos.

Česká Zbrojovka Uhersky Brod (CZUB) is one of my favorite firearms manufacturers. Iconic weapons such as the Vz.58 and the CZ-75 came from behind the Iron Curtain and are still relevant today. The company itself has a rich and interesting history, as our guide – who had worked at CZUB for almost 40 years, and whose grandfather worked at the factory during World War II – explains.

When Winchester/USRAC disappeared several years ago, so too did several iconic firearms such as the Model 70 and the Model 94. Consumer demand for renewed production has led Browning/FN to produce the Model 70 at FN’s manufacturing plant in South Carolina, and now the Model 94 at Miroku in Japan. In addition, the same plant is now producing a takedown 1892 Winchester.

In 2006 Sauer, a 257 year old German company, produced their first semi-automatic rifle the S 303