The SIG MP48 was the result of a series of successively cheaper and simpler iterations of the MKPS design. They kept the basic receiver geometry, but lost much of the finesse. The MP48 in particular was very compact, with its 8″ (200mm) barrel and collapsing stock. It kept the really high rate of fire of the MK series, and also its folding magazine well. All in all, it is a very nice functional gun, but just doesn’t quite have the magnificent magic of the MKPS.
Semiauto Rifles
SIG 550-1 Sniper: Answering a Question Nobody Asked
Today at the Kessler auction house in Kreuzlingen Switzerland, we are taking a look at a SIG 550-1 Sniper model. This is mechanically a SIG 550, aka Sturmgewehr 90, but made to a very high […]
Commentary
The Post-War Legacy of the FG42
If the FG-42 was such a great gun, then why didn’t it get used after the war? Well, two answers… 1) It was crazy expensive to make and there weren’t very many lying around for […]
Bolt Action Rifles
RIA – Swiss Model 1893: A Mannlicher Cavalry Carbine
The Swiss were the first country to adopt a bolt action repeating rifle with their Vetterli, and followed this by changing to a straight-pull design in the 1880s. The straight-pull Schmidt-Rubin system was quite good, […]
Where’s the video??? Why does this continu to happen intermittently?
I’ll get the e-mail about the new weapon, yet when I click on the URL
there’s only text?!
It’s not Rocket Science to go to Ian’s YouTube channel, and click on the newest video.
Of course but many would prefer to view videos on platforms other that youtube . If only posting a link to youtube saves Ian valuable time then I respect that . Perhaps a couple of words of explanation from Ian could clarify the situation and clear up any misconceptoons
You’re watching it via Youtube whether you watch it embedded here, or on Youtube.
I prefer not being constrained to the smaller video window on the blog, so whether it embeds properly or not, I usually open it directly in a YT window.
I wonder if the bolt handle is so huge to add some extra mass? It seems to be one of the largest knobs on a bolt handle I’ve ever seen.
Even with “extra mass”, the cyclic rate is still WAY up there. Perhaps the large handle was intended for heavily gloved hands?
Likely huge because they didn’t use the Swiss beer-keg bolt handle from their rifles, which they kept from the early days through to the StG57. I’m actually surprised that the StG90 isn’t equipped with one…
Swiss rarely do things without reason; you may not understand the reason, but there is one. You fight in the Alps in winter, you’re going to be wearing heavy winter gloves. Fiddly little butter-knife bolt handles aren’t the most usable things, in that environment.
There are other points that a lot of folks miss with regards to Swiss equipment. Consider that brightly-polished bayonet blade on the StG57; many look at that and say “WTF? Shiny?”, and think to themselves “Well, no wonder… The Swiss haven’t gone to war since what, the early 1800s…?”.
Thing is this, however: What, precisely, is the whole point of a bayonet? Not to make a pun, either… The bayonet is mostly a psychological weapon; “Those guys over there are pissed off enough at me that they’re sticking sharp things on their rifles and coming over here to run me through with them… Yeah; screw that, I’m running…”.
So, what the hell use is a psychological weapon that the enemy doesn’t observe because it blends in with everything…? “Oh, those guys are coming over here… No biggie…” vs. “Oh, fsck me… They’ve got knives on the ends of those things and they’re gonna stab me…”.
Shiny Swiss bayonets are meant to be seen, for carefully thought-out reasons. You might not agree with them, but there is some careful rational thought that went into those designs.
Yeah, the Swiss rarely do anything stupid. I’m pretty sure that the durability of Swiss military issued small arms also has something to do with a potential worst-case scenario, namely having to literally bludgeon an invader’s head to a jelly if he’s too close to bayonet or shoot, and even without that the weapon has to endure the abuse of getting banged around a lot. Having an extremely tough receiver would be a good thing in this case! I could be wrong.
Knob seems made of light alloy.
Ya gotta like the slide-click–snap of those nicely finished parts as lan inserts the mag and draws back the bolt. The Swiss are gunsmiths before they’re anything else.