Again like my previous article, firstly I would like to mention here that whenever we talk about term indigenous, it means that something is manufactured in one’s country or belongs to someplace. So, today prepare your bags for a great knowledgeable journey where you will be learning about some of the Indigenous Rifles/Guns Used By Indian Army with their features.
Though being so much late in becoming independent, India initially didn’t have a good start in manufacturing their indigenous weapons but with time have evolved so much. As per the current situation, there are several rifles/guns manufactured in our country.
LIST OF GUNS/RIFLES
1.Pistol Auto 9mm 1A
It is an Indian origin pistol which is helping hands of the Indian Military since 1981. It is a semi-automatic pistol manufactured in Rifle Factory of Ishapore. Its calibre size is 9 mm with a range of 50 mts. It is a recoil-operated, magazine-fed, self-loading pistol in which the breach is positively locked at the moment of firing. In this, the trigger has to be pressed and released for each shot.
2. 12 BORE Pump Action Gun
Though the main aim behind to develop this gun for general security purposes. It is a single barrel breach loading weapon superior to 12 Bore DBBL. It is provided with a tubular magazine, which holds four nos. of 12 Bore Cartridges. Extraction, loading and cocking of the cartridges take place in a single ‘pump action’ by the operating handle which slides along the magazine. Due to rapid reloading by pump-action and spread of shots, it is an ideal weapon for counter-ambush tactics. Its main applications are Banks security, Anti insurgent applications, Industrial security, Sporting Arm, etc.
3.AK-203
In this, the main design of the gun is given by Russia but during our Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Moscow India and Russia have finalised a major deal for manufacturing AK-203 rifles in India. It is considered to be the most advanced version of AK–47 which might also replace the Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) assault rifle which is currently used regular arm by defence personnel. This has the capability of holding 30 bullets which can be shot over 400 metres with 100 % accuracy.
4.Vidhwansak
It is a multi calibre anti-Materiel Rifle solely developed by the Ordnance Factory, Tiruchirapalli serving the nation since 2007. Vidhwansak is a manually operated, bolt-action rifle. The rifle can be made to fire cartridges in the form of 12.7mm, 14 mm, 5 mm and 20 mm calibres which make the Vidhwansak a very flexible tactical weapon system.
Being an anti-materiel rifle, it is widely used for destroying enemy bunkers, lightly armoured vehicles, radar systems, communication equipment, parked aircraft and fuel storage facilities. It is also effective in long-range sniping, counter sniping and ordnance disposal roles.
5.INSAS Rifle
Here INSAS stands for Indian Small Arms System is an assault rifle. Currently, it is used as the standard infantry weapon of the Indian Armed Force. The rifle weighs approximately 4.15 kg with an effective range of 400 metres. The rifle only has a magazine capacity of 20 rounds. It is considered to be an all-weather weapon with many good features such as quick mounting of passive night sight/ daylight telescope, easy to assemble and dismantle barrel, and other safety measures. Though it has some problems of jamming in the high altitudes, it remained widely used rifle with the armed force. Not only India use it but also exports it to other countries which add more value to it.
6.Gun Machine 7.62MM IA
This gun comes under the category of Light Machine Gun which is operated automatically used on a large scale by infantry units. Weighing approximately 11.8 kg, it is also widely used as a mounting device in combat vehicle turrets in support of the main weapon. It is an air-cooled, gas-operated and belt-fed automatic weapon. It can fire by bursts only.Being phased out, a small number of them have still left out, but soon they will be replaced by IWI Negev Ng7 as per the contract signed in 2020
