** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Special Forces needed a 9 mm machine gun capable of rapid fire, and thus took a liking to the Carl Gustav M45 Swedish K Submachine Gun. But when Sweden placed an export ban on its submachine gun in 1967 due to U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the Army went to the powers that be at Smith & Wesson for a solution, who produced a copy of the Carl Gustav Submachine Gun which became the Model 76 SMG. For more on the Smith & Wesson Model 76 SMG, watch this "I Have This Old Gun" segment from a recent episode of American Rifleman TV.
Ruger's American rifle line represents a good balance between cost and performance, and the latest generation offers many welcome upgrades, as seen on this Gen II Patrol model in 5.56 NATO.
This episode of NRA’s The Armed Citizen Podcast refutes one of the biggest false claims gun-control groups and the politicians they support repeat ad nauseam by asserting that the Founding Fathers could not have imagined the AR-15.
Initially designed by Croatian manufacturer HS Produkt to fulfill a military contract, the Kuna has since arrived on U.S. shores through Springfield Armory as a semi-automatic, large-format handgun chambered for the 9 mm Luger cartridge.
North Carolina’s Bear Creek Arsenal makes AR-15s, 10/22s and handguns, but new for 2026, it is introducing its first AK-pattern firearm with the BC-47.
Reliable pistol-caliber carbines, especially with quick-caliber-change capability, are fun, and the ASR 1911 from TNW Firearms is one of the most unique of the bunch.