The RT-20 was developed in the Croatia in the mid-1990s as a pure anti-materiel and anti-armor rifle. The RT-20 name means “Rucni Top, 20mm”, that is “Hand Canon, 20mm”. It is one of the most powerful anti-materiel rifles fielded by any army in the world today – the only others design roughly comparable to this monster in the terms of the caliber and effectiveness are the South-African NTW-20 rifle and the Finnish Helenius APH-20 (will be posted at this site later). The RT-20 had been successfully deployed during the war in the former Yugoslavia in the second half of the 1990s. It is manufacture by the Croatian company RH-Alan and is officially adopted by Croatian army.

The RT-20 is built around the very powerful 20mm ammunition, originally developed for Hispano Suiza HS404 anti-aircraft round of WW2 vintage. This ammunition is still used in anti-aircraft guns in some countries for AA guns and generally available in HE (explosive) and AP (anti-armor) loadings, both suitable for anti-material roles. The AP loading also can be successfully used against infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. The 20×110mm round fires the 130 gram (2000 grains) projectile at muzzle velocities about 850 meters per second. This results in high terminal effectiveness but also imposes a serious problem of excessive recoil forces. The 20mm Hispano round generates about 4 times more recoil when fired from 20 kg rifle, compared to .50BMG (12.7×99mm) round, fired from 10kg rifle (such as Barrett M95). To make the recoil more or less bearable by the average shooter, the Croatian designers developed a quite interesting counter-recoil system, that uses a reactive principle. The system consist of the large reactive tube, located above the barrel. The forward end of this tube is connected to the barrel at about its middle point. The rear part of the tube forms the reactive nozzle. Read the rest of this entry »

IMBEL MD-97 family of rifles was developed on the basis of earlier IMBEL MD-2 rifles, with certain improvements in parts and overall size. The family consists of two basic models, the selectively-fired MD-97L rifle, which is intended for Brazilian Army’s Special Forces, and semi-automatic only MD-97LC carbine, which is intended for police use.

IMBEL MD-97 rifles feature gas operated action with short-stroke piston and rotary bolt locking. The trigger unit and folding or fixed buttstock are same as on earlier 7,62mm Fz MD963 rifles (Brazilian-made copies of Belgian FN FAL rifle). Both rifle and police carbine variants are available with either fixed or folding buttstocks; the military MD-97L also can be fitted with domestically-made 40mm underbarrel grenade launcher or bayonet. MD-97 rifles use M16-compatible magazines. Read the rest of this entry »

French army was among the first to adopt the smokeless rifle ammunition in the form of 8mm Lebel cartridge in 1886. By the early 1920s this rimmed cartridge became obsolete, so French began to develop a more modern, rimless cartridge, more suitable for proposed lightweight machine guns. By the 1924 French army had the new 7.5mm cartridge, but this proved to be unsuccessful, and by the 1929 the updated version of the 7.5mm ammunition has been adopted as 7.5mm Cartouche Mle.1929C (7.5×54mm). By the same time, French also developed a lightweight machinegun, the MAC 1929. Initially, French tried to convert earlier 8mm Berthier rifles for new ammunition, but it was apparent that the new rifle is desirable for French infantry. In 1936 French military officially adopted the MAS Mle.1936 (MAS-36) bolt-action rifle, developed by the Manufacture D’Armes de Saint-Etienne. Later on, French forces adopted the modified paratrooper’s version, known as MAS-36 CR 39. This version differed from basic rifle by the aluminum buttstock, which can be folded down and under the forend. This rifle served with French armed forces until the semi-automatic MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 replaced it in service during 1950s and 1960s. The MAS-36 rifle was in production up until the mid-1950s. The MAS-36 action also served as a platform for FR F-1 and FR F-2 sniper rifles, which are still in service with French Armed forces. Since 1951, some of MAS-36 rifles were converted or made into MAS-36/51 pattern, by adding the permanently attached grenade launchers and rifle grenade sights. Grenade launcher was attached to the muzzle of the gun, and was used to launch rifle grenades using special blank ammunition. Folding grenade sight was attached to the left side of the front sight base. Read the rest of this entry »

The story of this weapon start in around 1919, when German arms-making company Rheinmetall produced a prototype submachine gun designated MP.19. This weapon was developed by Lous Stange to same specifications as Schmeisser’s MP.18/I, but MP.19 came too late to see any action during WW1. After the end of WW1, Germany was severely limited in design and production of small arms by treaty of Versailles. When Hitler came into power, German military-oriented companies began to move the R&D outside of Germany to avoid treaty limitations. In 1929, Rheinmetall purchased the small Swiss-based company Wafenfabrik Solothurn, which was used to finalize some Rheinmetall small arms which were developed under secrecy in Germany. One of those weapons was an improved version of MP.19 submachine gun, which was announced by Waffenfabrik Solothurn under company index “S1-100″. This was an excellent weapon, reliable, controllable and accurate, but Solothurn company lacked production capabilities. To make guns on industrial scale, Solothurn teamed with famous Austrian gun-making company Waffenfabrik Steyr, and formed trade company Steyr-Solothurn Waffen AG in Zurich, Switzerland. This company sold weapons designed by Rheinmetall and Solothurn and made by Steyr, and S1-100 submachine gun was among first products of this international conglomerated. In the 1930 Austrian police adopts the S1-100 as Steyr MP.30, chambered for standard Austrian 9×23 Steyr pistol cartridge. It was also exported to Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay and El Salvador; it also was sold in limited numbers to China, in 7,63×25 Mauser caliber. Read the rest of this entry »

Model 1910 pistol had been developed by John M. Browning for Belgian company Fabrique Nationale (FN), Herstal. Model 1910 had been developed around two cartridges, also designed by Browning – the 7.65mm Browning, also known as .32ACP, which had been developed around 1900 for FN / Browning model 1900 pistol, and the 9mm Browning Short (9×17mm), also known as .380ACP, which, in turn, had been developed about 1908 for Colt / Browning model 1908 pistol.

In 1922, Browning modified the original pistol to suit requirements of the Jugoslavian military – he lenghtened barrel, enlarged the grip and magazine capacity by two rounds. The slide was lenghtened by adding removable frontal portion to the model 1910 slide. Read the rest of this entry »

parts (c) Guns&Ammo Handguns annual 1996

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The RPG-7 is a further development of the previous RPG-2 antitank grenade launcher. RPG-7, in its first version, known as RPG-7V, has been adopted by Soviet army in 1961, and still is widely fielded in Russia and at least 50 more countries. By far, RPG-7 can be considered as one of the most successful antitank grenade launchers ever made. Initially thought as an anti-armor weapon, it latter has been adopted for other fire-support missions by introduction of various types of grenades, such as anti-infantry HE-FRAG, multi-purpose Thermobaric / FAE, and some other types of ammunition. The antitank grenades for RPG-7 also came a long way, from original PG-7V grenade, with penetration of about 260mm/10inches of RHA, and up to 500mm/20inches of RHA or 1.5 meters/5ft of brick wall with single-warhead PG-7VL grenade, developed in 1977. By the late 1980s, a tandem-type PG-7VR grenade has been introduced. This grenade has two warheads and is intended against the most modern tanks, fitted with ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor). Front warhead sets off the ERA, and second warhead then penetrates more than 600mm/24in of armor. Read the rest of this entry »