Frontier Armory is a leading source of African firearm parts. In addition to their array of imported parts, they are also creating a US-made reproduction Halbek device. What is a Halbek device, exactly? The legendary Ian McCollum at Forgotten Weapons made a great video [Read More…]
![[SHOT 2023] Brigade Manufacturing Makasi FAL/AR Hybrid Rifle](https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/20230119_101558-1-1-660x260.jpg)
Brigade Manufacturing Inc.’s new Makasi rifle was on display at SHOT Show 2023 in the AmChar Wholesale booth. It blends the FAL and AR-15 into something new, almost sort of modernized FN CAL. Let’s delve into this unique design and what it has to offer. [Read More…]
Over the past seven decades, the FAL has stood as a battle rifle icon. Designed for Fabrique Nationale Herstal by Belgian small arms engineer Dieudonné Joseph Saive, the Fusil Automatique Léger (“Light Automatic Rifle”) is a short-stroke gas piston firearm [Read More…]
You know how it goes, you’ve seen a few AR-15 builds, you’ve pretty much seen them all… until today! We truly do live in strange times, when someone can build an AR-15 made to accept AK patterned magazines made to hold 6.5 Grendel cartridges, with [Read More…]
DSArms has announced the availability of a new FAL parts kit based on surplused Israeli Defence Force FALs. The kits include a magazine and everything but the rifle’s upper receiver and barrel. Luckily, DSArms will also be offering correctly marked new receivers [Read More…]
Argentina’s state owned defence manufacturer Fabricaciones Militares has delivered the first batch of modernised FAL rifles. Nearly 300 of the refurbished FALs have been handed over to the Argentine Army with new railed forends, stocks and top covers. The FAL has [Read More…]
In what appears to be a never-ending TFB series on weapons used by criminals in Rio de Janeiro, I’ve brought some recent pictures covering that, mainly motivated by the featured image, above. This photo has circulated in the social media, reportedly by a gang [Read More…]
For many of us, the first things that spring to mind about the Rhodesian Bush War are bush shorts and FN FALs. Thankfully, only the latter is covered in two videos recently posted by the Vickers Tactical channel and Forgotten Weapons. In the videos, Ian McCollom and [Read More…]
Here is a video posted by Vaporwar on Facebook. It has some fantastic slow motion video clips of firearms being fired. They have: PSM STG-44 AK47 FAL M249 I probably missed one or two. I liked seeing the bolt of the STG-44 unlocking as it chambers a cartridge then [Read More…]
The Cold War is famous as the squaring off of two superpowers: The United States, and the Soviet Union, and their duel-by-proxy in Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. The standard rifles of each side, as well, became proxies: On the Soviet side, the famous AK-47 [Read More…]
This is a guest post by Zain from Pakistan The ‘Sporter’ cal .308 Winchester has been designed as a hunting rifle with the firing mechanism of G3A3 in semiautomatic mode. The accuracy of the gun has been enhanced with a freely floating extended barrel and a mil [Read More…]
Having previously shown some of the items that the Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) ground elements currently pack for their ground work (https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/06/23/brazilian-air-force-infantry-weapons/), it’s time, now, to see what [Read More…]
Gathering material for articles here at TFB is a mixture of results for this senior scribe, ranging from full exultation to sheer deception. Sometimes an interesting photo negative is dug out from surviving files, just for yours truly to find out that no related info is [Read More…]
DS Arms, Inc. was present at SITDEF 2017 this year with a number of the companies FAL modernization upgrades, continuing to offer their legacy upgrade packages to various South American Military/LE forces that are still armed with FN FALs or Brazilian Imbel license made versions. Although there were [Read More…]
In 1997, while Brazilian Army Captain (later, Lieutenant-Colonel) Paulo Augusto Capetti Porto was working at IMBEL’s Fábrica de Itajubá as head of the R&D Office, several interesting ideas materialized into a series of prototypes generally designated as FIL-97 [Read More…]
The following is a guest article written for TFB by reader Tim about his efforts with his friend Paul to recreate the historical .280 British (7x43mm) round developed for the EM-2 and FAL rifles during the early pre-NATO rifle trials of the late 1940s. Enjoy! [Read More…]
The idea is far now new: have a smaller-caliber gun to replace the real one for initial training so that you can achieve substantial cost reductions in the process. Simple as that. The formula has met with varying degrees of success (or lack of) in different countries [Read More…]
In a previous post (https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/02/21/weapons-rios-crime-war/), TFB showed some of the weapons in use by criminals in Rio de Janeiro’s crime war, which demonstrated an apparent unlimited quantity and variety of guns available to the [Read More…]
Quick: What’s the definition of “assault rifle”? I’ll give you a moment to think about it. Now, a good definition for “assault rifle” in my opinion comes from Anthony G. Williams, a British author, ammunition collector, and military [Read More…]
In January, just before the 2017 SHOT Show, I got the opportunity to travel to Cody Wyoming to visit the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, to see some of their rare firearms and bring photos of them to our readers. The gun we’re taking a [Read More…]
It feels like déjà vu: India has once again issued a Request For Information (RFI) for a new rifle, this time in 7.62x51mm NATO caliber. The RFI was reportedly issued on the 27th of September, making it two and a half months between the nation’s government [Read More…]
D.S. Arms, the well-known manufacturer of FAL and AR-15 rifles, was booted from Wizard World Comic-Con as a result of a misunderstanding and public pressure earlier this month. The gun manufacturer had already purchased the booth space and was all set up to display [Read More…]
Today on an extra special episode of Historical Intermediate Calibers, we’ll be taking a look at one of the most controversial experimental military rounds, one that many believe should have become the standard for the Western World at the beginning of the Cold [Read More…]
Some guns just seem to attract the most ravenous fanboys. These fanatics collaborate and overtime form cult-like cells within the community of firearm enthusiasts. In this video we explore five firearms that have developed a fan base akin to cults, often bordering on outright religious behavior.
Debris testing has been done to death. Here at TFB, we’ve covered mud and sand tests conducted by InRange TV, Guns & Ammo TV, and the Military Arms Channel on everything from the AK, AR-15 to the Vz. 58. So what about ice, instead? Tim of the Military [Read More…]
The term “battle rifle” is a colloquialism that is generally used to refer to rifles firing a full caliber cartridge and generally are select fire. After WWII, many nations decided to forego intermediate rounds in favor of heavy hitting, powerful fully automatic long arms that lasted [Read More…]
The FN FAL is perhaps the most famous battle rifle of all time, and served with distinction all around the world during the 20th century. Pity that smaller 5.56 caliber rifles have phased the gun out in military use, and civilians don’t seem to gravitate towards them as much either. [Read More…]
The FN49 is the predecessor to the much more famous FN FAL rifle, and the book about the rifle is accurately titled “The Rifle That Ran Out Of Time”. Largely developed before the outbreak of WWII, the FN49 could have been a serious European competitor to the American M1 Garand but by [Read More…]
In October, I traveled out to see my co-writer Alex C. to collect data on the weights of different long guns and some of their components. Over that weekend, I weighed 58 rifles and submachine guns, and numerous magazines, bolts, bolt carriers, and other miscellaneous [Read More…]
The Imbel IA2, a 5.56mm caliber distant relative of the FAL which has been in development since 2008, has officially been standardized by the Brazilian Army. From IHS Jane’s: The Brazilian Army approved the IA2 5.56×45 mm assault rifle, developed by [Read More…]
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