The Browning Auto-5 was produced for nearly a 100 years, first patented in 1900 and designed by John Browning two years earlier. It features a noticeable high rear end, and as such is often nicknamed the “Humpback”. The top of the action goes straight back on a level with the barrel before cutting down sharply towards the butt. This distinctive feature makes the Auto-5  identifiable from a distance. The most common gauges of the Auto-5 were 12- and 20-; However 16 gauge models were also available.

To load the weapon, shells are fed into the bottom of the action, where they are pushed into the tubular magazine. Most A-5s have removable plugs in the magazine which prevent more than 3 shells from being loaded (two in the magazine, plus one in the chamber) to comply with U.S. Federal migratory waterfowl laws, as well as some state hunting regulations. With the plug removed, the total capacity is 5 rounds. If the chamber is open (the operating handle is drawn back) the first shell loaded into the magazine tube will go directly into the chamber. The bolt then closes, and all further shells fed into the gun go into the magazine.

The Browning Auto-5 is a long recoil operated semi-automatic shotgun. Shells are stored in a tubular magazine under the barrel. When a chambered shell is fired, the barrel and bolt recoiling together (for a distance greater than the shell length) recock the hammer, eject the spent shell, and feed another shell from the magazine into the action. This type of action was the first of its kind.

The Steyr Scout is a modern, scoped bolt action rifle chambered for 7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester) rounds and is intended to fill the role of a versatile, all round rifle. Apart from the barrel and action, it is made of materials consistent of polymer and is accurate to 300-400 metres.

The Steyr Scout has a number of useful features: Light weight due to aliminium receiver housing, hammer forged fluted barrel, and extensive use of polymer plastics, the second magazine stores in the butt of the rifle, user adjustable trigger factory set at 3.5lbs, along with many others including reserve “ghost ring” iron sights and a built in folding bipod.

Some users find the bolt lift effort to be on the high (but not excessive) side due to steep profile of the cocking cam contained within the bolt. This can be eased somewhat by appropriate lubrication but a revised cam is available.

The other criticism has been of recurring light hits (primer strikes), particularly with early production runs. Factory recommended solutions have typically been adjust the spring to the next higher setting or to install a “high energy” firing pin kit or stiffer spring.

The Picatinny rail above the action and barrel allow either for conventional positioning of a scope with normal 1.5 in – 3.5 eye relief or for the forward placement of a “scout scope” with intermediate or long eye relief. The latter is more faithful to Cooper’s Scout concept, and the Steyr-Mannlicher rifle can be ordered from the factory with a low-magnification Leupold scope with long eye relief.

The Steyr Scout uses 5.56 NATO cartridges (.223 Remington) among others, and the feed system is a 5, 10 round detachable magazine.

The M14 rifle was first furnished with a walnut stock, then with birch and finally with a synthetic stock. Original equipment walnut and birch stocks carry the Department of Defense acceptance stamp or cartouche (an arc of three stars above a spread-winged eagle). These stocks also carried a proof stamp, a P within a circle, applied after successful test-firing.

Rifles manufactured through late 1960 were provided with walnut handguards. Thereafter synthetic, slotted (ventilated) hand guards were furnished but proved too fragile for military use. These were replaced by the solid synthetic part still in use, usually in dark brown, black or a camouflage pattern.

The commercial, semi-auto-only version available to the general public is sold by Springfield Armory, Inc. of Geneseo, IL and other manufacturers as the M1A, M14S, and other model names. In civilian use it has seen heavy modification including synthetic and pistol-grip stocks, optical sight mounts and picatinny rails for mounting accessories, and carbine versions with barrels as short as 16″.

M14 production tooling was sold in 1967 to the Taiwanese, who in 1968 began producing their Type 57 Rifle. The State Arsenal of the Republic of China produced over 1 million of these rifles from 1969 to the present under model numbers of M305 and M14S.

The Philippine government issues M14 rifles, as well as M1 carbines, M1 Garands and M16s, to their civilian defense forces, including the Civilian Auxiliary Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO). The Greek Navy also uses the M14.

Norinco and Poly Technologies have produced M14s in the past and had been exported to the United States prior to the enactment of the Violent Crime Control Act. They are currently being sold in Canada only.

The M14 uses 7.62mmx51mm NATO rounds, has a gas operated rotating bolt action, a muzzle velocity of 850 m/s, a rate of fire equal to around 725 rounds per minute, and has an effective range of 460 metres.

The Ruger Mini-14 is a small, lightweight semi-auto carbine. The Mini-14 can fire both .223 Remington cartridge and the similar 5.56x45mm military round. Since 2005, All Mini’s are marketed and named “Ranch Rifle”.

Initial rifles were produced with a complex, exposed bolt hold open device with no button for manual engagement. Stocks were somewhat angular and heat shields were made of wood. These rifles, with serial number prefixes before 181, were tooled and redesigned with a new stock, new bolt hold-open mechanism, and other small changes.

In 2003, once again were the design of the Mini’s overhauled as well as the production process to update styling and improve accuracy, doubling as a production cost reduction. The new models, marketed as Ranch Rifles, were based upon the originals, with integral scope bases. These new models use a modified gas system intended to reduce barrel vibration, and new iron sights.

The Mini-14 employs an investment cast, a heat-treated receiver and a version of the Garand locking mechanism with a self cleaning, fixed-piston gas system and self-cleaning, moving gas cylinder. The Mini-14 has a classic “sporter” appearance, unlike other common autoloading rifles such as the AK-47 and the M16 rifle.

The K Mini-14/20GB featured a flash suppressor and a bayonet lug. A “Target Rifle” version with a heavy barrel, adjustable harmonic dampener  and target stock was introduced in 2006. While never adopted by the U.S. military, both civilian and military Mini-14 variants are popular with many police departments as an affordable medium-range patrol rifle to fill the gap between short-range weapons (handguns and shotguns) and sniper rifles.

The rear sight on standard models was an aperture sight with large protective wings, and there were no integral scope bases. The “Ranch Rifle” variant has scope bases integrated into the receiver, and an ejector that ejects the spent cartridge case at a lower angle to avoid hitting a low-mounted scope. The original Ranch Rifle rear sight was a folding-type aperture, which would fit under a scope.

The Mini-14 uses .223 Remington/5.56x45mm cartridges, as well as 7.92x39mm and in other variants, a 6.8mm Remington SPC. It has a gas operated, rotating bolt action, semi-automatic (selective fire on the AC-556 and military models) with a 3100 ft/s muzzle velocity and its feed system come in 5, 20 and 30 round box magazines.

A scout rifle is a bolt action carbine, usually with .308 rounds, less than a metre in length, and less than 3 kilograms in weight. They’re usually outfitted with optical and iron sights and with a sling for shooting and carrying. Scout rifles are usually capable of hitting man-sized targets out to over 400 metres without scopes. The optical scope is usually mounted forwards rather than backwards, allowing ease of reloading.

The characteristics of a Scout rifle are as follows; An overall length of a metre, unloaded weight of 3 kilograms, aforward-mounted  telescopic sight of low magnification, standard chambering of a .308 Winchester round or a 7mm-08 Remington, and an accuracy with capability of shooting in 2 minutes of an angle or less (4″) at 200 yards/metres. All these features recommend short, thin barrels, synthetic stocks and bolt actions.

The Scout rifle configuration was selected for its utility instead of appearance. Originally, the Scout rifle was an experiment which had proved its value. The scope mounted on the barrel was positioned as such to ease in the sighting line when the rifle is brought to the shoulder.

The MP-25 is a blowback operated, single action “pocket” handgun. Using .25 rounds, this semi-automatic pistol was developed by George Jennings in the late 60′s.

The MP-25 is associated with a group of handguns collectively known as  Saturday night specials, because of it’s cheap cost and ease of concealment. There are two main groups one group consider it to be one of the best compact and inexpensive handguns ever made, while others tout it as one of the worst pistols ever made. Some advocates of the gun proclaim that it’s less prone to malfunction, despite it’s low cost.

The MP-25 can hold six .25 ACP rounds in the magazine, plus one in the chamber, and is finished either in chrome or black. The grips can be either wood or imitation mother-of-pearl handles. There is a similar model called the Raven Arms P-25. Both have similar blowback and envelope designs and are essentially identical firearms. The Raven has two kinds of safeties: a push up safety and a sliding bar safety.

The Walther P38 is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol was developed for the service in the Wehrmacht at the start of WWII. It was intended to replace the Luger 108 in 1942.

The Walther P38 has a double action trigger, which is curious for it is the first pistol to have such a feature and have a locked-breech.

The user could load a round into the chamber, use the de-cocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon loaded with the hammer down. With a pull of the trigger and the hammer down, the pistol would fire the round, eject it, and load another round into the chamber.

The first designs submitted to the German Army had a hidden hammer and locked breech, but was requested to be developed with an external hammer. This led to the adoption of the P38 in 1940.

Under the breach, the Walther P38 has a wedge-shaped locking block. When fired, the barrel and slide recoil in tandem, where the locking block drives down, disengaging the slide and preventing travel of the slide backwards. The slide however continues travelling on the frame, ejecting the spent casing and re-cocking the hammer. Two return springs then send the slide forwards after being compressed by the slide’s movement, stripping a new round from the magazine, driving it into the breech and re-engaging the barrel, ready to repeat the process.

The Walther P38 takes 9x19mm Parabellum rounds, with a muzzle velocity of 365 m/s, and has an effective range for 82 ft. It’s maximum range is 164 ft.

Next week, the Raven Arms MP-25 is reviewed. Stay tuned.

Gas operated and air-cooled, the M249 has several intuitive features. The barrel is quick-change, allowing removal of an overheated or jammed barrel, and also uses a bipod to stabilize in rough terrain. It has two choices of ammo delivery – belt fed, or STANAG magazines. The magazines allow the operator to use rifle magazines as an emergency source of ammunition in the even that he or she runs out of linked rounds. Unfortunately, this raises the problem of malfunction, since the spring in the magazine can’t keep up with the M249′s high fire rate.

The M249 has seen action in every major conflict involving the U.S. since the Gulf War in 1991. Soldiers have reported that the M249 is a reliable and performs well, but many reports still occur of clogging with sand and dirt.

The M249 takes 5.56mm rounds, with a 750 to 1000 rounds per minute rate of fire. The action is gas operated and has an open bolt style. In 1985, although found to be reliable and accurate, the M249 was found to have unacceptable hazards such as an exposed heated barrel and sharp edges, and was suspended from production until they were fixed. In 1994 the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon was renamed to the M249 Light machine gun.

In the next blog, the Walther P38 is studied. Stay tuned.

The Beretta M 1951 is a semi-automatic 9mm pistol, requisitioned for strictly military use in the Italian Army. Developed by Pietro Beretta in the late 1940′s, the pistol was the first locked breech design on the market, unlike other semi-auto handguns which were all blow-back operated. The M 1951 was never adopted by the Italian Army, and was instead adopted by the Italian Navy.

The M 1951 has an open top slide and a vertically falling locking piece (borrowed from the Walther P38) with a locked breech. When the pistol is fired, the locking piece (built in with the slide) slides back into the barrel which is locked to the slide.  As the barrel and slide continue back, the locking piece strikes the stationary plunger and is forced down into recesses in the slide. The handgun is hammer-fired, and has a single action trigger which has an accompanying disconnecter, allowing semi-auto fire only.

The M 1951  has an 8 round box magazine, and a hold open device will keep the slide locked after the last cartridge is discarded from the magazine. The slide can then be released by depressing the slide release lever located on the left side of the frame. The M 1951 is chambered for 9×19 Parabellum cartridges.

The Steyr AUG is an Austrian 5.56mm Assault rifle, adopted by the Austrian forces in 1977, and Argentinian and Australian forces in 1985.

The AUG was designed to be a versatile and reliable rifle, utilizing different barrel lengths for different roles, which included a compact 350mm barrel and a 621mm light machine gun barrel.

 The AUG features a high level of alloy and synthetic components, reducing weight to an average 3.6 kg. Additionally the AUG is of Bullpup configuration, meaning that the action and magazine are behind the trigger, allowing for a lighter and more maneuverable rifle.

The primary variation of the AUG is the AUG A1, which consists of six foremost assemblies; barrel, reciever with built-in telescopic sight, trigger mechanism, bolt and carrier, stock and magazine.

The AUG A1 has a selective fire system, and also features a gas piston action. The gas cylinder is offset to the right side of the barrel and works with one of the two guide rods.

The AUG has a hammer fire mechanism, which is housed near the butt, covered by a synthetic shoulder plate. The hammer group is made entirely of plastic except for the spring and pins.

The firearm’s magazine is a see-through double column box magazine, with an empty weight of 130 g and 30 round capacity.

Due to the AUG’s modular design, many different attachments can be used, such as the standard bayonette, but also including advanced scopes, underslung grenade launchers, bipods, different length barrels and many more.

Such advantages to this weapon make it a popular choice for many military forces.