Free Republic

The rifle that today's infantry uses is little changed since the 1960s—and it is badly flawed. Military lives depend on these cheap composites of metal and plastic. So why can't the richest country in the world give its soldiers better ones? One afternoon just a month and a half after the Battle of Gettysburg, Christopher Spencer, the creator of a seven-shot repeating rifle, walked Abraham Lincoln out to a grassy field near where the Washington Monument now stands in order to demonstrate the amazing potential of his new gun. Lincoln had heard about the mystical powers of repeating rifles at...

Everyone has heard of the formidable German assault rifle, the G36—the successor to the reliable G3. Both are Heckler & Koch products. You can find the G3 all around the world, as the rifle is in the top five for small arms sales. The G36 is different. It’s actually quite rare outside of Europe. And for good reason. It’s got a bad reputation.

I have a Carl Gustaf 1915 Mauser. I rifle has threading at the end of the barrel for a blank attachment. I also have what looks like a yellow hard plastic clyinder that fits exactly over all the threading. Was this originally part of the rifle and does it ad value to it.

Critics said the M-14 was what happened when the U.S. government took many years and spent millions of dollars designing a rifle that was really just a glorified M-1 Garand from World War II. The M-14 was the U.S. military’s last battle rifle. It appeared in 1959—the contemporary of the Pentagon’s first jet fighters and ICBMs. With its heavy steel parts and walnut stock, the M-14 looked positively archaic. It was hardly a Space Age weapon. And it only endured as America’s battle rifle until 1970, when the M-16 completely superseded it—the shortest service record of any U.S. military rifle...

Do any Freepers know anything about the Battle Rifle Company? I saw one of their rifles in the latest issue of America's 1st Freedom.

The foe now has four legs. But a century on, the rugged reliability and brute firepower that made the Lee-Enfield rifle the standard-issue weapon for entrenched Canadian troops during the latter half of the First World War makes it an ideal choice still for a modern group of this country’s soldiers. The Canadian Rangers — a component of the armed forces reserves — conduct sovereignty patrols and assist search and rescue missions in the Far North and in remote coastal regions across the country.

It could have the United States’ main battle rifle. Instead, it became “the right arm of the free world.” Name a war, revolution, or revolt during the Cold War that involved the British Commonwealth, Western European nations or their allies and you found the Fabrique Nationale FAL in the hands of the soldiers fighting the battles. No wonder the FAL earned its nickname and became a symbol of the struggle against Communism. Starting immediately after World War II, FN produced two million copies of the Fusil Automatique Léger—or Light Automatic Rifle. More than 90 nations adopted the weapon. At one...

Leonard Embody is no stranger to police. MORE Click to read more headlines from Davidson County.More >> He's been arrested or detained numerous times for walking around town with guns. His charges were all eventually dismissed, which may explain why he wasn't arrested on Wednesday as he paraded up and down the sidewalk in front of Hillsboro High School. Witnesses say Embody was pacing Hillsboro Road, dressed much like a soldier, and it had a lot of people nervous. So nervous that 911 dispatchers had their hands full.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group, also referred to as ISIS, posted more disturbing pictures of babies surrounded by weapons and ISIS paraphernalia. One, no more than two months old, is wearing an ISIS onesie, and another, at least twelve months old, has a Kalashnikov rifle on his lap.

A few days after a judge dropped charges against him, a vocal gun rights activist was back out on the streets on Nashville. On Tuesday, a judge dismissed weapons charges against, Leonard Embody, the so-called "Radnor Lake Rambo.” Embody was back out of the streets on Nashville Friday, wearing a bullet-proof vest and openly carrying his guns as he handed out flyers.

"A Nashville judge has dismissed charges against a man who walked around downtown last year wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying an assault rifle with a silencer."

A report of man carrying a rifle on the campus of Cal State University San Marcos prompted a campus-wide lockdown and search by local law enforcement officials Wednesday. Officials told NBC 7 they determined the man involved was carrying an umbrella, not a rifle.

A man attempted to board a bus in Battle Creek, Michigan, with an SKS rifle in his carry on baggage.  The rifle was longer than the bag, so the butt stuck out and was visible.  Some people called 911.   I was not there, so I do not know the totality of the circumstances.   It is clear that that no one was threatened by the man, and that the rifle was unloaded.   The police showed up and arrested the fellow... for what?   From wkzo.com: The City’s Gang Suppression Unit responded and took the 25-year-old into custody seizing the gun and...

China’s got a high-tech new gun that combines a rifle and grenade launcher. The ZH-05 Objective Individual Combat Weapon fires “smart” explosives that can kill enemies hiding behind cover. If this sounds familiar, it’s because the Pentagon has been working on a similar concept. The ZH-05 is yet another Chinese weapon based on a Western design. But this time, the copy could be as good as the original.

Army Senior Warrant Officer Russton B. Kramer, a 20-year Green Beret, has learned that if you want to improve your chances to survive, it’s best to personally make modifications to the Army’s primary rifle — the M4 carbine. (snip) Warrant Officer Kramer has been dropped into some of the most ferocious battles in the war on terrorism, from hunting Islamists in the mountains of northern Iraq to disrupting Taliban opium dealers in dusty southern Afghanistan. He was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery in Operation Viking Hammer to crush the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam in Iraq. The warrant officer...

This is the dramatic moment a mother-of-two opened fire with an assault rifle on intruders who tried to smash their way into her home. The woman took action after three hooded individuals kicked down the door of her Detroit home on Monday night where she lives with her two young children. She fired off rounds in a bid to deter the would-be burglars, later saying she 'didn't have time to get scared'. The unnamed mother told WXYZ Detroit: 'I let them know I had a gun once they were in the house and they challenged me and said "no you...

A New York mom vacationing in South Florida was expecting a healthy dose of sun, surf and fun. Imagine her surprise when her daughter unzipped a bag in their rental Nissan Rogue and found a rifle — a big rifle. Looking just like the ones real soldiers use. Horrified, she immediately called E-Z Rent-A-Car and then drove to the nearest police station.

If you were going to pick a rifle caliber for a long term SHTF situation, what would that caliber be? For some reason I woke up this morning thinking about my 7mm express / 280 Remington, and how the panic buying in the first half of 2013 caused a shortage in ammunition supplies. When I got my Remington model 700 chambered in 280, I wanted something that was around the 270 or 30-06, and that would also work on heavier game such as elk and moose. In all honesty I put too much thought into picking the 280 Remington. While...

During World War II, the Disney company joined in the Allied war effort by producing animated movie material at cost for the US government (they also created insignia mascots for hundreds of aircraft and warships by request). These films number well over one hundred - although most are only partially created by Disney - and cover topics from antenna tuning to Beechcraft airplane maintenance to anti-German and Japanese propaganda. However, one piece in particular is of interest to us here at Forgotten Weapons: Stop That Tank! Produced in 1942 for the Canadian military, it is a training film on the...

Gun FReepers -- I am seeking clarification on a "deer rifle" that can serve as an adequate firearm for someone beginning to hunt game with larger caliber center-fire scoped rifle. More follows below. p.s, I am a long time pistol / rimfire / AR shooter, and am just now moving up to hunting game with a .308 and lack 1st-hand knowledge.