lazybones";p="57702 wrote:The ones I have seen include:
Lee Enfields, Mark 1 - 5 (lots of jungle carbines with the Railway PF). Sterling 9mm (the Sten). Browning HiPower.
Webley/Enfields/Colts (.45 revolvers). Saw a Thompson .45 with airport security at the Poona airport in the 80s. Pump action shotguns (very recent). The SLR (7.62 FAL lookalike).The INSAS. H&K Scorpion (with the NSG)
Ashok
To clarify...
1. Lee Enfield
No1 Mk3,
No4 Mk1 (.303) - (Haven't seen too many No5's)
2. IOF RFI
Rifle 2A,
2A1 (7.62mmX51mmNATO)
3. IOF RFI
SLR 1A (7.62mmX51mmNATO)
4. IOF SAF
Carbine 1A & supposedly 'improved'
SMG 1A1(9mmx19mm) (Licensed Sterling L2A1/Mk4)
5.
STEN,
MkII(T-butt and skeleton butt),
Mk3,
Mk5 (9mmx19mm)
6.
Thompson M1 (.45ACP) (Including a few older Thompsons)
7.
M3, M3A1 Grease Gun (.45ACP)
8. Heckler&Koch
MP5K, MP5A3, MP5A5 (9mmx19mm)
9. Czech Samopal
Vz61 Skorpion (.32ACP)
10. Webley
MkIV (.455) Revolver (Largely retired but still issued occasionally)
11. Strum Ruger
Service Six (.380 Webley)Revolver
12.
Titan Tiger (.380 Webley)Revolver
13.
Lama (.380Webley) Revolver (Don't know which model)
14. Smith&Wesson
Model-39(Or was it 49?) Bodyguard .38Special snubby
15. FN Browning
GP35 (9mmx19mm)- The original HighPower
16. IOF SAF
Pistol 1A (9mmx19mm)- A piss poor copy of the Canadian Inglis variant of the HP
17.
Glock17, 19 (9mmx19mm)
18.
AKM & AKMS (Soviet- not Russian)
19. Arsenal
AR & AR-F Bulgarian AK clones (recent - All black furniture)
20. Bren
MkI & II .303 LMG
21. IOF Machine Gun
1B (7.62mm Bren)
22.
Vickers .303 MMG (!!) (As far as I know only with Manipur Armed police)
23. IOF RFI
INSAS (5.56mmx45mm -not necessarily NATO)
24. IOF Pump Action Gun 12GA Shotgun
25. IOF RFI(?) No1Mk3 Converted to .410
26. Brno Mod2 .22LR Target Rifle for cadet training
27. Heckler&Koch PSG-1 and perhaps MSG90 (Only NSG..and now some State Police forces)
28. Steyr Mannlicher SSG69 (seen only with BSF)
Though I've not seen them, I'm told a few state police forces used M1 Garands as well
....and thats only the state police forces! Mind you, the list doesn't include arms of the Paramilitary and mililtary...and the occasional Seized weaponry that are requisitioned for police use.
To off set the common mix-up as regards the relation to the
IOF SLR and the
FAL, India does possess a small quantity of original
Belgian FN FALs which were presumably purchased at some point of time for reasons unclear. They are without doubt, superb rifles. The Indian manufactured SLR is a slightly altered(mostly for manufacturing expediencies) copy of the British L1A1 SLR. The L1A1 was a based on the FAL with alterations to suit British specifications and manufacturing techniques. The IOF SLR 1A is thus the grandson of the FAL... with next to nothing interchangeable other than the ammunition.
With regard to
AKs in use in India, the subject is worth extensive 'study'-
Apparently the first officially procured batch of AKs by India were Polish made KBKs - Which is odd, given India's hot relationship with the Soviet Union at the time. The KBKs were basically Polish AK47 3rd Model clones and were the result of a rushed order to upgrade the firepower of at least the Special Forces (Paras at that time) in Sri Lanka.
Some Hungarian AKMs may have come in as well for 'special use'
Next came a huge batch of ex-Soviet AKM and AKMS rifles
(Unused stockpiles dating from the mid 60's to the late 70's)which were dispersed mostly to the State police forces, CRPF, BSF, NSG, ITBP, Assam Rifles number of other para-military units in the early 1990's. Relatively few went to the Army.
The unification of Germany, made available, a massive surplus of East German MPiKM and MPiKMS-72 rifles in the same time period. This lead to the proliferation of these dirt-cheap second hand rifles all over the third world. Predictably, a sizable batch was procured for the Indian Army.
The German Unification also made available the entire East German manufacturing facilities of the MPiK Series. These apparently ended up in Romania, who went about producing and marketing plain unaltered copies of the MPiK Series world wide. The quality was of a lower standard. India procured almost 200,000 of these rifles in both fixed stock and side-folder versions. Most were destined for the Rashtriya Rifles and some went to the regular Army as well.
The most recent official AK procurement was from Bulgaria- the all black ones that we see all over lately. The deal seems to have been a greased one. The rifle is allegedly sub-standard.
What we commonly call the AK-56 is a misnomer- its actually the Type-56 - NORINCO - Chinese made- By far the most prolific AK clone in the region...perhaps worldwide. To put a finer point to it, whats most common is the Type56-1 which is a bland copy of the Soviet AK47S 3rd Model. Just a minor alteration differentiates it from the Soviet one- The Chinese fore-sight is the ring type while the Soviet one had 'U' ears.
Pakistan officially uses the Type56. Also, enormous stocks of these rifles bankrolled by the US and meant for the mujahideen were pilfered or not delivered. It is these that largely made up the stocks of AK that were handed out freely to the J&K scene...and thence proliferated in the sub continent. So much were captured that they could potentially arm a large battle formation of the Indian Army. Most, however, were/are kept unused for propaganda purposes I'm told. Many seized by police forces invariably end up being requisitioned by the much beleaguered armed police as a supplement to the rather stingy government supply.
Sure many AK74s, AKS74s and AKS74Us were seized- practically all are "filter-throughs" from Afghanistan. Due to ammunition availability or the lack of, none are used in any significant manner.
Same with Type-59 LMGs (Chinese RPD copy) what the establishment calls UMGs, and also the Chinese clones of the RPK64, and PKM and needless to mention, the M20 (Chinese TT33 clone). Also enough Chinese RPG7s have been captured to justify the publication of a Roman-Hindi manual for the same.
As regards the Dragunov, other than some captured ones being used, official procurements are Russian SVDs. Some police forces are apparently using them.