Well, yesterday i came to some kind of exhibittion in jakarta and WOW i saw a SS-2 Rifle using 5.56 X 45 mm / 223. Remington. i wanna take a pic of me, holding that SS-2 but can't believe what did they've said "mau nyoba nembak de? (translation: would you like to try this weapon?)" OMFGD OF COURSE I WOULD LIKE TO i've shotted some mags, i can only stop after 30 minutes COOL STUFF. whew what a rush that day. anyway i don't know why i can't try another weapon like PSG - 1 WHY????? DAMN IT here's the list of the gun in that expo (mostly from PINDAD)
SS-1(IND)
SS-2(IND)
PS-01(IND)
P-01(IND)
P-02(IND)
P-03(IND)
G36(GER)
G36C(GER)
MG36(GER)
P90(GER)
MP5(GER)
UMP(GER)
M4(AME)
M4A1(AME)
M16A1(AME)
M16A2(AME)
M16A3(AME)
TMP(AUSTRIA)
M10(AME)
USP(GER)
M9/92SF(AME/ITA)
M1911(AME)
and alot of other cool stuff
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
L86A1 - SA-80 Light Support Weapon (Britain)
Caliber: 5.56x45mm NATO
Weight: 7.3 kg empty, with SUSAT optical sight
Length: 900 mm
Length of barrel: 646 mm
Feeding: detachable box magazines, 30 rounds
Rate of fire: 610 - 775 rounds/min
The development of the SA-80 (Small Arms family for 1980s) was started in Britain by the late 1960s, with the search for the "ideal" small-bore ammunition. By the mid-1970s British designers developed a 4.85x49mm cartridge, intended for the SA-80 system, and consequently designed a SA-80 IW rifle and SA-80 LSW light machine gun for this ammunition. The 4.85mm LSW appeared in the prototype form circa 1976, but the NATO trials, held in the 1978-1979, resulted in adoption of the 5.56mm cartridge as a common NATO ammunition, so British designers from the RSAF Enfield redesigned their weapons for 5.56mm NATO rounds. The LSW was based on the SA-80 IW design, which is covered in the Assault Rifles section on this site under the L85A1 topic. The final version of the SA-80 LSW was adopted by the British Army in 1986, and total slightly over the 22 000 LSW weapons were manufactured before the production of both L85 IW and L86 LSW was ceased.
The L86A1 was plagued by the same problems as its sister, L85A1 rifle. In fact, the L86A1 was more suitable as a semi-automatic para-sniper rifle, than the LSW / LMG, due to the poor reliability in full automatic fire, relatively small (by machine guns standards) magazine capacity and the lack of quick detachable barrels.
Current British troops prefer much heavier and belt-fed 7.62mm L7A1 GPMG (a license-built copy of Belgian FN MAG general purpose machine gun), and at the present time the existing stocks of L86A1 are complemented with the 5.56mm FN Minimi belt-fed LMG in the short-barreled Para configuration. The L86A1 will be used mostly as a longer-range aimed fire weapons, while the suppressive fire functions will be conducted using more effective FN Minimi.
Technical description.General design of the L86A1 is mostly similar to the design of L85A1 rifle, except for the following. The L86A1 has longer barrel, with the steel stock extension under it, that carries the folding bipods. The bolt and trigger system are modified, so the gun can be fired from open bolt. The butt is fitted with folding shoulder support. The vertical grip is attached below the receiver, behind the magazine housing. The L86A1 could not be fitted with
Type 95 and 97 (QBB-95 and QBB-97) light machine guns (China)
Type 95 light machine gun with drum magazine
Type 95 drum magazine opened for reloading
Caliber: 5.8x42mm (5.56x45 NATO in Type 97)
Weight: 3,9 kg less magazine
Length: 840 mm
Length of barrel: 600 mm
Feeding: 30 round box or 80 round drum magazines
Rate of fire: 650 rounds/min
Type 95 light machine gun (Chinese designation QBB-97) is a companion weapon for relatively new QBZ-95 assault rifle, which is now in service with People's Liberation Army of China. QBB-97 shares about 70% of components with the assault rifle, and differs mostly in that it has a longer and heavier barrel, fitted with folding bipod. It is intended to serve as a squad automatic weapon, providing effective automatic fire at ranges up to 600 meters. An export version of the QBB-95 is offered through NORINCO corporation as Type 97 LMG. It is basically same weapon but adapted to fire 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge from M16-compatible magazines.
Type 95 is gas operated, selective fired, air cooled light machine gun. It uses a short stroke gas piston, located above the barrel. Rotary bolt has three lugs that lock into the barrel extension. Receiver is made from polymer and is of bull-pup layout. Charging handle is located at the top of the receiver, under the carrying handle. Safety / fire mode selector switch is located at the left side of the buttstock, close to the rear end of the weapon. Ejection is to the right side only. Standard magazine is a proprietary 80-round drum with asymmetrically located mouth. QBB-95 also can accept standard 30 round box magazines from QBZ-95 assault rifle.
Heckler und Koch 7,62mm HK 11 / HK 21 and 5,56mm HK 13 / HK 23 machine gun (Germany)
7,62x51 mm HK 21 machine gun, original version
7,62x51 mm HK 21A1 machine gun, on tripod and with telescope sight
7,62x51 mm HK 21E machine gun, definitive version of the line
Original 7,62x51 NATO HK 11 light machine gun with double-drum 80-round magazine
7,62x51 NATO HK 11E light machine gun with 20-round magazine
5,56x45 mm HK 23E machine gun with belt box attached
5,56x45 mm HK 23E machine gun with loose belt and optional telescope sight
Early production 5,56x45mm HK 13 light machine gun with 100-round double drum magazine
Data for belt-fed machine guns
| HK 21E | HK 23E | |
| Caliber | 7,62x51 mm NATO | 5.56x45 mm NATO |
| Weigth | 9.3 kg on bipod | 8.7 kg on bipod |
| Length | 1140 mm | 1030 mm |
| Length of barrel | 550 mm | 450 mm |
| Feeding | box magazine 20 or 30 rounds, drum 80 rounds or belt 50 or 100 rounds | box magazine 20 or 30 rounds, drum 100 rounds or belt 50 or 100 rounds |
| Rate of fire | 800 rounds/min | 800 rounds/min |
Data for magazine-fed machine guns
| HK 11E | HK 13E | |
| Caliber | 7,62x51 mm NATO | 5.56x45 mm NATO |
| Weigth | 7,6 kg on bipod | 8.0 kg on bipod |
| Length | 1030 mm | 1030 mm |
| Length of barrel | 450 mm | 450 mm |
| Feeding | box magazine 20 or 30 rounds or double drum 80 rounds | box magazine 20 or 30 rounds or double drum 100 rounds |
| Rate of fire | 700 rounds/min | 700 rounds/min |
In 1961 Heckler&Koch had completed about 1/3 of its first manufacturing contract for the G3 rifle. At this time the HK management decided that it would be worth the investment to develop a universal machine gun which would be as close to the new rifle, in terms of design and maintenance, as possible. The basic action of the new machine gun, which received the company designation HK 21, was similar to that of the G3 rifle. The HK 21 fired from a closed bolt (not that big an issue since its heavy barrel was really quick-detachable) and, unlike most machine guns, its belt feed module was located below the receiver. This made the loading and unloading of the belt somewhat less comfortable than on other weapons, such as the MG 3. On the other hand, it allowed for the easy replacement of the belt feed module with a magazine adapter module, which permitted the use of standard G3 rifle magazines or specially developed 80-round double drums. The new machine gun was on the “light” side of the spectrum, although in its basic version it fired a full-power 7.62x51 NATO ammunition and a variety of tripods and other mountings were offered along with the gun. The HK 21 came too late to be seriously considered by the Bundeswehr, but it was tried and adopted by the Portuguese army, and number of weapons was also bought by other countries, such as Greece, Mexico, Sweden and some others, mostly African and Asian nations.
The HK 21 spawned a whole range of modifications and derivatives. Other than the basic 7.62mm NATO caliber, HK also offered its machine guns in US 5.56x45mm and Soviet 7.62x39 chambering. Early versions in these “additional” calibers also were offered under the designation HK 21, but later on HK adopted a special pattern for numbering, where first digit of model number designated a type of weapon (i.e. 1 – LMG with magazine feed, 2 – GPMG with belt feed, 3 – assault rifle, 5 – submachine gun etc), and second digit designated the caliber (1 – 7.62x51 NATO, 2 – 7.62x39 Soviet, 3 – 5.56x45 US). Therefore, belt fed HK machine guns were offered as HK 21, HK 22 and HK 23. It must be noted that HK never manufactured weapons in 7.62x39 Soviet in any significant numbers, and completely dropped this caliber from its catalogues by the 1980s.
In parallel with belt fed machine guns, HK also developed a number of magazine-fed light machine guns. While those could be classified as “machine rifles”, most of these weapons are actually just conversions of belt-fed guns and, for example, any magazine-fed HK 11E can be converted to a belt-fed HK 21E configuration (assuming that all of the necessary parts are on hand) and vice versa.
One last note must be made concerning HK delayed blowback machine guns in 7.62mm NATO caliber. Those guns were lighter than most rivals (such as the MG 3 or FN MAG), and fired from a closed bolt, thus limiting the maximum effective range and sustained firepower capabilities. On the other hand, the stationary barrel and closed-bolt firing, combined with a selective fire trigger, allowed for very accurate semi-automatic fire. These guns were almost ideal squad automatic weapons: versatile, relatively lightweight and easily operated by one man.
Despite its failure in the US SAW program, HK kept updating its weapons. In about 1981 HK introduced new versions of its machine gun lineup, distinguished by the “E” model suffix, which stood for “Export”. These weapons had longer receivers and barrel jackets, and thus were slightly heavier than their predecessors (especially in 5.56mm versions), and also had a number of other improvements. These weapons sold moderately well, mostly for export, and HK kept manufacturing them until very recently. It seems that HK gradually stopped the production of its roller-delayed machine guns by the early 2000’s, as the current trends on the world small arms market are toward gas operated light machine guns in 5.56mm NATO caliber, such as HK's own MG 4.
All Heckler & Koch machine guns are based on the same delayed blowback action with a stationary barrel. The key differences between the various models of the same period are the feed type (belt or magazine) and the type of cartridge used, although in the “A1” and “E” modifications every gun can be converted from belt to magazine feed with the substitution of the appropriate parts, and HK 21 guns of the earliest make also could change caliber with the replacement of the barrel, bolt and certain parts in the feed. Barrels are quick detachable. A new barrel then can be inserted within a very short period of time.
The roller-retarded bolt system employs a two parts bolt with two rollers. The front bolt part (the bolt head) is relatively light and has a bolt face with an extractor on it. It also has a hollow cavity at the rear, in which the inclined forward end of the rear part of the bolt (bolt body) is inserted. The system features two rollers, inserted from the sides into the bolt head and rested on the inclined forward end of the bolt body. When the gun is fired, the pressure began to move the cartridge back against the bolt face. The rollers, which are extended into the recesses in the barrel extension, began to move inward into the bolt head, due to inclined shape of the recesses. This movement translates into the faster rearward movement of the heavier bolt body, so, at the initial instant of firing when pressure in the chamber is still high, the bolt face moves relatively slowly. As the pressure drops to a reasonable level, the rollers gradually leave the recesses in the barrel extension; as soon as the rollers are completely pushed into the bolt, the bolt head and bolt body begin to move backwards at the same speed, extracting and ejecting the spent case and chambering a fresh cartridge on the way back. Since this system provides no positive initial extraction, the cartridge chamber is fluted to reduce friction.
All HK machine guns fire from a closed bolt. The trigger / hammer units are made integral with the pistol grip, and hinged to the receiver at the front. Early guns had selective fire, with a three position safety / selector lever located above the trigger on the left side of the unit. Later guns added a three-round burst mode to the already available automatic and single-shot modes.
The charging handle is located on the left side of the barrel jacket, and folds forward when not used. It does not reciprocate when the gun is fired, and can be used to lock the bolt back for unloading, change of barrel or inspection.
Late production HK guns use modular feed units, attached to the bottom of the receiver by means of cross-pins. Available feed options are magazine feed or belt feed. The magazine feed unit will accept standard rifle-type magazines developed for HK assault rifles of the same caliber, or specially designed double drums. Belt feed units will accept standard disintegrating or non-disintegrating belts. Belt feed is from left side only. Early belt-fed guns had “unitary” feed modules, with the only way to load or unload the belt being pulling the belt through the unit. With the “A1” configuration, belt feed units were redesigned to accommodate a hinged bottom cover, which can be easily opened for rapid loading or unloading of the belt. The bottom of the belt feed module has a special interface which will accept 100-round (7.62mm) or 200-round (5.56mm) belt boxes.
HK machine guns are fitted with polymer buttstocks and detachable, adjustable, folding bipods. For “assault” missions, a forward vertical grip can be attached to the barrel jacket. Additionally, guns are fitted with a folding carrying handle, located at the center of mass. Other accessories include several types of tripods and vehicle mounts, made by HK and several other companies.
Heckler und Koch G11 (Germany)
HK G11 rifle
HK G11K2 pre-productional rifle
HK G11 rifle with the optional optical scope installed
second prototype of the G11 (HKpro.com)
13th prototype of the G11 (HKpro.com)
caseless ammunition - early variant at the left, latest variant DM11 (cutout view) - at the right
schematic drawing of the G11 bolt & feeding system
Buy HK rifles at Impact Guns online store
Caliber: 4.7 mm caseless
Action: Gas operated, rotating breech
Overall length: 750 mm
Barrel length: 540 mm
Weigth: 3.6 kg empty
Magazine capacity: 50 or 45 rds
The development of the G11 rifle was started in the late 1960's, when West German government decided to replace existing G3 rifle with lighter weapon with much better hit probability.
The initial studies lead to the idea of the small-caliber, rapid-fire rifle that fires caseless ammunition. To ensure sufficient stopping/killing power for small-caliber bullets used, the rifle should had have the three-round bursts capability and high capacity magazine.
The new design, called G11, was created by german company Hecler und Koch, with the Dynamit Nobel company in team. The HK was responsible for the rifle itself, while Dynamit Nobel had to develop caseless ammunition.
The basic concept of the G11 is as follows:
The rifle features unique cylinder breech/chamber system that rotates 90 degrees. The cartridges in the magazine are located above the barrel, bullets down. Prior to each shot, first cartridge is pushed down from magazine into chamber and then breech/chamber rotates 90 degrees to align the cartridge with the barrel (see pic). After that, the cartridge is fired and the breech/chamber rotates back, ready for the next cartridge to be chambered. In the case of the cartridge ignition failure, the failed cartridge is pushed down from the chamber by the next cartridge. The breech can be manually "cocked" by the rotating handle at the side of the rifle, located beyond the pistol handle. The cocking handle does not move when gun is fired. Another interesting detail is that barrel, rotating breech, feed module and magazine are mounted in the housing that can move in the rifle back and forth. When firing single shots, the housing moves back and forward after the each shot. When firing the full-auto, the housing moves back and forward during each shot, resulting in moderate rate of fire of some 600 round per minute. But, when firing the three-round bursts, second and third cartridges are feed and fired as soon as the chamber is ready for it, and third bullet leaves the barrel PRIOR to the moment when the housing becomes to its rearward position. This results in wery high rate of fire with three-shots bursts - ca. 2000 rounds per minute. Also, this results in that the actual recoil affects the rifle AFTER the last bullet in the burst is fired.
Rifle featured built-in 1X optical sight with simple circle aiming reticle. Early prototypes featured one 50 rounds polymer magazine, while latest versions featured 45 rounds magazines - one in the loaded position within the movable housing and two spare magazines on the top of the rifle, asides from the loaded magazine.
The caseless ammunition in its early appearance was designed as a block of the propellant, coated with flammable laquer, with bullet and primer "glued on" the propellant. Final ammunition design DM11, that appeared in the mid-1980s, featured "telescopic" design, when bullet was fully enclosed in the block of the propellant. The cartridge propelled the bullet that weights 3.25 gramms, to the 930-960 meters per second.
Early prototypes were prone to the ammunition cook-offs during the sustained fire, but later Dynamit Nobel solved this issue.
In the late 1980s the Bundeswehr (West German Army) began the field tests of the pre-production G11s. After the initial tests, some improvements were devised, such as removable optical sight, mounting of two spare magazines on the rifle, and bayonet/bipod mount under the muzzle.
The modified variant, called G11K2, was tested in 1989, scoring at least 50% better combat accuracy when compared to G3 rifle. Initial batch of some 1000 G11K2s was received by Bundeswehr in 1990 or so, but due to some reasons the whole programme was cancelled by German Government. Main reasons of this cancellation were, in my opinion, the lack of fundings after the re-union of the West and East Germanies, and the general NATO policy for unification of the ammunition and even magazines for the assault rifles.
The slightly modified G11 was also tested in the USA under the ACR (Advanced Cobat Rifle) programme, in 1990. The ACR programme was not intended to result in adoption of the new rifle for the US Army, just to test new technologies and designs, and the G11 proved itself as a very accurate, comfortable to handle and fire, and reliable weapon.
SIG SG-550 SG-551 SG-552 Stgw.90 assault rifles (Switzerland)
Complete family of SIG 55x rifles, top to bottom: SIG SG 550 / Stgw.90, SIG SG 551-LB SWAT, SIG SG 551 and SIG SG 552 SWAT
SIG SG 550 / Stgw.90 assault rifle, left side view
SIG SG 551 SWAT compact assault rifle for police/special forces use, fitted with Trijicon ACOG scope, tactical light, front grip and cheek rest
SIG SG 551 SWAT short assault rifle for police/special forces use, fitted with Trijicon ACOG scope, tactical light and front grip; modern production version with ful-length Picatinny rail on top and folding iron sights.
| SIG SG 550 / Stgw.90 | SIG SG 551 (SG 551 LB) | SIG SG 552 | |
| Caliber | 5.56x45mm | 5.56x45mm | 5.56x45mm |
| Length (stock open / folded) | 998 / 772 mm | 833 / 607 mm (924 / 698 mm) | 730 / 504 mm |
| Barrel length | 528 mm | 363 mm (454 mm) | 226 mm |
| Weight empty | 4.05 kg w/o magazine | 3.3 (3.4) kg w/o magazine | ca. 3.0 kg w/o magazine |
| Magazine capacity | 20 or 30 rounds | 20 or 30 rounds | 20 or 30 rounds |
| Rate of fire | 700 rounds/min | 700 rounds/min | 780 rounds/min |
In the late 1970s the Swiss army began the search for a new, smaller caliber rifle to replace old,full-power 7.5mm Stgw.57 (SIG 510) automatic rifle. Initial tests were done with the 5.6 x 48 Eiger and 6.5 x 48 GP80 ammunition. Prototype rifles were developed by SIG (based on their SG-540 design) and by the state-owned Waffenfabrik Bern (W+F). However, the Swiss army selected a slightly improved version of the 5.56 x 45 NATO cartridge as the 5.6 mm GP90, and further testing proved the superiority of the SIG SG-541 rifle over its W+F rival. In 1983, the Swiss Army officially adopted the SIG SG-541 as the Sturmgewehr-90, or Stgw.90 although due to financial reasons production began only in 1986. Currently, the Stgw.90 is a standard Swiss service rifle.
The Swiss army took its last deliveries of the Stgw.90 in the mid-1990s, but these rifles are still offered for export by the international SIGARMS organization, as well as sold for the civilian market in semi-automatic only versions. In export form this rifle is known as the SIG SG-550. "Carbine" and subcompact "Commando" assault rifle versions are available in the form of SIG SG-551 and SIG SG-552, respectively. Civilian versions of the SIG SG-550 and 551 are known as the Stgw.90 PE in Switzerland or SIG 550-SP and 551-SP when sold for export.
The SIG-550 is often referred as the finest 5.56 mm rifle ever made. It is also, not surprisingly, quite expensive.
Recently, SIG Arms has introduced a civilian / law-enforcement offspring of the SG-550, known as SIG 556. This is a semi-automatic rifle, altered to accept M16-type magazines and fitted with "Americanized" furniture.
Basically, the SIG-550 is a somewhat lightened and refined SIG SG-540/541 rifle. SIG SG-550 is gas operated, with gas piston removably attached to the bolt carrier, and with rotating bolt with two massive lugs. The recoil spring is located around the gas piston rod, above the barrel, and the bolt carrier attached to the gas piston rod by the mean of removable charging handle. The most compact weapon in the line, the SIG SG-552, is similar to SIG SG-551 but it has even shorter handguard and barrel. Due to short barrel and gas piston, SG-552 has return spring relocated to the rear part of the receiver, and thus it has an altered bolt carrier and upper receiver. The gas port has gas regulator with two different open and one closed position (latter for firing rifle grenades). The receiver of all SG-55x series guns is made from stamped steel and has two major parts, upper and lower, which are connected by pushpins. The barrel is screwed into the upper receiver. The trigger unit has a safety/fire selector switch on the left side of the receiver, with 3 settings: safe, semi-auto, full-auto. If desired, additional module could be installed in the trigger mechanism to allow 3-rounds burst mode. Rear sights are drum-type (like those found on Heckler-Koch rifles). On certain current production models rear sight is replaced with full-length Picatinny style rail with folding back-up reat sight. SIG SG-550 has muzzle compensator/flash hider of NATO-standard diameter, so it is possible to launch rifle grenades from the muzzle. The SIG-550 can be fitted with detachable folding bipods under the handguard, and is issued with side-folding, skeletonized polymer buttstock. Every rifle of SIG SG-550 family can be fitted with proprietary, quick detachable scope mount, although current production rifles are usually fitted with one or more picatinny rails. Swiss Stgw.90 are often seen with 4X fixed power scope, export versions can be equipped with commercial telescope sights, ACOG or "red dot" sights, depending on customer preferences. SIG SG-550 also can be fitted with bayonet. Standard magazine capacity for Swiss military Stgw.90 rifles is 20 rounds, as Swiss tactical doctrine calls for accurate semi-automatic fire, reserving full automatic mode only for emergency purposes. Standard magazines can be clamped together for ease of carry, using integral studs on the magazine walls. For those who might require more firepower, SIG also produces 30-round magazines.
The carbine version of the SIG-550 is called SG-551 and has shorter barrel. Quite recently, SIG also introduced a "long barrel" version of the SG-551, which is known as SIG SG-551LB. SIG-551 can't fire rifle grenades.IMI Galil assault rifle (Israel)
Galil ARM 5.56mm. The only differences from the Galil AR are the folding bipod and carrying handle
same rifle, with bipods unfolded. Insert shows the left-side fire selector / safety switch with Hebrew markings.
Galil AR 7.62mm. Note the longer barrel and deeper magazine
Galil SAR 5.56mm with shorter barrel (with older type brownish color wooden forearm)
Galil MAR 5.56mm, or Micro-Galil. The most modern Galil derivative.
| Galil AR / ARM | Galil AR / ARM | Galil SAR | Galil MAR | |
| Caliber | 7.62x51mm NATO | 5.56x45mm NATO | ||
| Overall length (stock open / folded) | 1050 / 810 mm | 979 / 742 mm | 840 / 614 mm | 690 / 445 mm |
| Barrel length | 535 mm | 460 mm | 332 mm | 195 mm |
| Weight, empty | 4 kg (without bipod an carrying handle) | 3.95 kg (4.35 kg ARM) | 3.75 kg | 2.95 kg |
| Magazine capacity | 25 rounds | 35 or 50 rounds | 35 rounds | |
| Rate of fire | 650 rounds per minute | 650 rounds per minute | 650 rounds per minute | 600 - 750 rounds per minute |
| Effective range of fire | 500 - 600 meters | 450 meters | 300 meters | 150-200 meters |
The experience, gained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) during the Six-days war of 1967, showed the deficiencies of the FN FAL rifles, which were the main armament of the IDF infantry. The FAL rifles were too sensitive to fine sand and dust of Arab deserts, and too long and bulky to carry and maneuver. On the other hand, the same war showed the advantages of the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles, used by Arab infantry with great success. After the end of this war IDF decided to develop a new assault rifle, which will eventually replace the FN FAL battle rifles and some of the UZI submachine guns. It was also decided that the new assault rifle should be built around the new American low-impulse cartridge, known as 5.56x45mm. During the late 1960s the IDF tested two rival designs, one of the Uziel Gal, and the other of the Israel Galili. The latter design, based on the Finnish Valmet Rk.62 assault rifle (a license-built AK-47 clone), eventually won the competition and was selected as a new IDF assault rifle in the 1973, but its actual adoption was delayed by the next Israeli-Arab Yom Kippur war of the 1973. The machinery and documentation package was bought from Valmet and transferred to the state owned Israel Military Industries (IMI) company. There are some rumors that the first production Galil rifles were built on the Valmet-made receivers. The basic Galil rifle later evolved into several configurations, including the full-size 5.56mm AR and ARM assault rifles, compact 5.56mm SAR rifle for the tank and vehicle crews, 7.62mm NATO AR selective fire and 7.62mm NATO semi-automatic Galatz sniper rifle, 5.56mm MAR subcompact assault rifle, also known as Micro-Galil, and some other modifications, like the unsuccessful .30 Carbine Magal police rifle.
While being a successful weapon, the Galil was not widely issued to the IDF during its lifetime, because during the late 1960s and early 1970s Israel received large shipments of the US M16 and CAR-15 assault rifles at the very low prices. M16 rifles became the major armament of the IDF, with the Galils mostly issued to the Armored corps, Artillery corps and some units of the Israeli Air Forces. The Galil rifles were exported to the various South American, African and Asian countries. Estonia also received some Galil rifles in the early 2000s. The slightly modified Galil rifle is manufactured by the South African Vektor company, a division of the DENEL. Those models included the R-4 (Galil AR), R-5 (Galil SAR) and R-6 (Galil MAR) assault rifles, and are used by the South African Military. Another offspring of the Galil is the Croatian APS-95 assault rifle. The semi-automatic only versions of the both 5.56mm and 7.62mm Galil AR rifles were widely sold to both domestic and foreign civilian and law enforcement markets.
In general, the Galil rifles are fine weapons, but somewhat heavy and expensive to manufacture.
Technical description.
Basically, the Galil assault rifle can be described as a modified Kalashnikov AK-47 design, and a detailed description of its functioning can be found in respective article at this site. The key differences between the Galil and the AK-47 are as follows. The Galil featured a machined steel receivers of the original AK-47 rifles, but of slightly different shape. The AK-47-style safety - selector switch at the right side of the gun is complemented by the additional smaller switch at the left side of the receiver, above the pistol handle. The cocking handle is bent upward, so it can be operated with either hand. The sights of the Galil featured a front hooded post, mounted on the gas block, with the rear diopter sight, mounted on the receiver top cover. Rear sight is of the flip-up type, with settings for 300 and 500 meters. Additional folding night sights with luminous inserts can be raised into position, which allows to aim the gun in the low light conditions at the ranges of up to 100 meters. The barrel and the flash hider can be used to launch the rifle grenades from the barrel, using the blanc or live cartridges (depending on the rifle grenade type). The Galil ARM also features a folding detachable bipods and a carrying handle. The bipod base incorporates a bottle opener and a wire cutter. The standard folding buttstock is patterned after FN FAL Para, folds to the right to save the space. Some of the late production Micro-Galil (MAR) rifles also are fitted with the Picatinny-type rail, which allows to mount various sighting devices. Standard AR and ARM rifles can be fitted with scope mounting rail on the left side of the receiver. All 5.56mm Galil rifles are fed using proprietary 35 or 50 rounds curved box magazines with AK-47 style locking. M16-type magazines can be used via the special adapter. 7.62mm Galil rifles are fed using proprietary 25 rounds box magazines. Civilian semi-automatic Galil variants sometimes are fitted with 10 rounds magazines to comply with local firearms laws.
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