Firearms

Rifles

📚 Reference Library — 3 documents for this section →

The AK-47

The AK-47 The most-produced rifle in history, told against its own folklore: who actually designed it and what Zaitsev contributed, why the first stamped receiver had to be abandoned, how to read a rifle and tell the makers apart — and a full parts-kit build on a milled Yugoslav-pattern receiver, headspace to retention groove. Live

.450 Bushmaster AR-15

.450 Bushmaster AR-15 A .45-70 shortened until it was both AR-legal and zone-legal, examined from the standards rather than the catalogues: what SAAMI actually specifies, a ballistic coefficient fitted to the maker’s own table, why box velocities for this cartridge are not comparable with each other, the magazine problem, and the Michigan rule it was bought for — which no longer exists. Live

The AR-15 in 5.56

The AR-15 in 5.56 Stoner’s rifle and the service lineage behind it, then the parts that matter: what mil-spec actually guarantees on a lower, how barrel length trades against gas length and dwell, why twist is set by bullet length rather than weight, and the 5.56-versus-.223 question answered from the chamber prints instead of the folklore. Live

FN P90 & PS90

FN P90 & PS90 FN’s bullpup personal defence weapon and its civilian carbine, with the 5.7×28mm cartridge treated properly: every loading, the armour argument separated into its physical and statutory halves, and the law that decides which of the two a private buyer can actually own. Live

Henry SPD HUSH

Henry SPD HUSH A lever action designed around a suppressor rather than threaded for one — and the five cartridges Henry chambers it in, ranked by what each can actually do quietly. Live

M1 Garand The rifle America went to war with — Garand's sixteen-year road to 1936, the Springfield and Winchester serial overlap, how it works, strip to the last pin, maintenance and repair, what to feed it, bayonets and period kit, and one wartime Springfield documented part by part. Live

MP 40

MP 40 Erma’s stamped-steel submachine gun told against the name it is always given: who actually designed it and what the 1938 trials really produced, how phenolic resin and pressed steel answered a production problem, why the safety arrived late, what it was and was not issued to — and what owning one in the United States actually involves. Live

M40A1 — the Marine Sniper Rifle, and a Clone

M40A1 — the Marine Sniper Rifle, and a Clone The USMC M40 family from the 1966 Vietnam rifle to the 2016 M40A6, built from the Corps's own fact files and sniping manual; the Remington 700 action beneath all of them — how it works, how it is stripped, maintained and repaired, including the trigger record from the court and the recall; and a Remington 700 SPS Varmint being built as an M40A1 clone, documented as of September 2026. Live

Ruger 10/22

Ruger 10/22 The rimfire everyone modifies — Bill Ruger and Harry Sefried's 1964 design, its blowback action, V-block and rotary magazine, every variant, the KIDD, Volquartsen and Magpul aftermarket, a from-parts build, and two owned rifles as configured in 2026. Live

Ruger Precision Rifle & Precision Rimfire

Ruger Precision Rifle & Precision Rimfire Ruger's AR-pattern bolt rifle from its 2014 patent filings to the current model, and the rimfire trainer built to its controls — how both actions work and are kept working, from Ruger's own manuals, and one .308 and one .22 LR documented as they stood in September 2026. Live

Savage 93R17 (.17 HMR)

Savage 93R17 (.17 HMR) Savage's .17 HMR magnum rimfire bolt action from the maker's own archived catalogue, manual and service pages: which sub-model is which, the cartridge's real wind and energy numbers, why the rifle sidesteps the semi-automatic recall, and how to strip, clean and repair it. Live

The SKS The Soviet carbine that was superseded before most of them were built, and then made by everybody else for forty years — the secrecy the USSR wrapped around it, what the CIA actually learned, the whole knock-off family, takedown to the last pin, and the modern aftermarket. Live

STEN Gun

STEN Gun The British WWII subgun engineered for crude wartime mass production — engineering archive + scratch-build in 9×19. Live

Steyr AUG

Steyr AUG The Austrian bullpup from Steyr's 1974 patents to the Alabama-built A3 M2, its export history from Lithgow to Kuala Lumpur, and its mechanism from the maker's own manuals — with an import-kit build under US and Michigan law: the receiver the regulation names, the §922(r) count, and the select-fire parts in the box. Live

Thompson/Center HotShot

Thompson/Center HotShot Thompson/Center's single-shot, break-open .22 LR youth rifle of 2010 to about 2013: the maker's history from the filings, the five catalogue numbers, how the hammer-only action works and how to keep a rifle with “no user serviceable parts” running, set against the Crickett, Mini Bolt and Rascal. Live