I've noticed that there are lots of Swiss Arms threads on this board. Most have no pictures. Most involve a lot of bickering between the same core group of bickerers. Few, if any, have any pics of the internal workings of the rifles. I put this together for Swiss Arms newbies, people who are thinking about buying one, or who are just interested in having a look at these rifles for themselves. That and that fact that, I don't find the black and white photos in the armorers manuals online all that great.
My Swiss looks like this. Carbine with 14.3 inch barrel. That is a 20/5 round mag.
The rifle has a rotary diopter rear sight with 4 settings. The one shown is the shortest range sight. The other three settings are peep sights for various distances. One of them can be seen on the left.
The stock folds onto the right side of the reciever by pushing this button on the left side:
The button is directly opposite the hinge on the right side:
The folded stock clicks into a "pin" on right side of the lower handguard (a plastic bump), unlike the folding stock on a VZ58 (which locks up at either end of it's range of movement - completely open or completely closed - and is unlocked by a button on the bottom).
Field stripping the rifle gets it down to this. I'm going to refer to these pieces as the upper and lower reciever. Upper and lower handguard. Gas tube and piston. Bolt, bolt carrier and charging handle. Magazine. The small piece sitting at the end of the gas tube is called the "gas regulator". It is what locks the gas tube and piston together at the front of the gun.
Opposite side:
The way the upper and lower receiver seperate is not much different from an AR15 - although you push the pins from the right to unlock them, and then push them out from the left:
A close-up of the hammer, which is forward in this picture:
An attempt to get a look inside the upper reciever. Notice my lovely hockey tape brass deflector:
You can get a lot better look in there from the back. The top hole is where the gas tube locks into the reciever:
The outside of the upper reciever looks like this. You can also get a pretty good idea of how the Kyle rail attaches from this shot:
Where the gas tube locks in on the front looks like this. You can see the gas ports to some extent. This shows the two front sight posts as well. The big (short range) one is up here. It folds down. Notice also that the flash hider is part of the barrel. It is threaded on the inside. While it should have six openings to be symetrical, the one on the bottom is missing (acts as a bit of a muzzle break). The loop on the side is for a sling. The loop on the bottom is not a bayonet lug, but it is where the bayonet lug would fit in if you installed one. The Swiss really built a lot of details into these.
The bolt and bolt carrier together look like this:
From the other side:
From the front:
Unlike a VZ58 or many other piston rifles, the piston has a recoil spring around it. So, unlike an AR or something like that, there is no spring behind the bolt carrier. There is nothing behind the bolt carrier at all. The bolt and bolt carrier get locked together with the piston by the charging handle. During firing, the piston (which rides inside the gas tube) pushes the bolt carrier back (well, it is attached to it) and the spring pulls everything back forward. This is quite a bit different than something like a VZ58 where the piston simply pushes the bolt carrier back, and a spring behind the bolt carrier pushes it back forward.
The piston (with recoil spring around it) locked together with the bolt and bolt carrier by means of the charging handle:
And here is a close up. One of the main parts of field stripping the gun is taking the charging handle out, so that the bolt carrier unlocks from the piston and can slide backwards out of the reciever. The way this is done is by pushing down on this little lever. It is sort of a spring loaded "teeter totter" bar. When you push it down with your thumb, you can pull the charging handle straight out and everything unlocks.
So, for those of you who are new to these rifles, I hope this helps explain them a bit more - and encourages you to get out and buy one. They are amazing pieces of engineering and - more importantly - amazing firearms.
My Swiss looks like this. Carbine with 14.3 inch barrel. That is a 20/5 round mag.
The rifle has a rotary diopter rear sight with 4 settings. The one shown is the shortest range sight. The other three settings are peep sights for various distances. One of them can be seen on the left.
The stock folds onto the right side of the reciever by pushing this button on the left side:
The button is directly opposite the hinge on the right side:
The folded stock clicks into a "pin" on right side of the lower handguard (a plastic bump), unlike the folding stock on a VZ58 (which locks up at either end of it's range of movement - completely open or completely closed - and is unlocked by a button on the bottom).
Field stripping the rifle gets it down to this. I'm going to refer to these pieces as the upper and lower reciever. Upper and lower handguard. Gas tube and piston. Bolt, bolt carrier and charging handle. Magazine. The small piece sitting at the end of the gas tube is called the "gas regulator". It is what locks the gas tube and piston together at the front of the gun.
Opposite side:
The way the upper and lower receiver seperate is not much different from an AR15 - although you push the pins from the right to unlock them, and then push them out from the left:
A close-up of the hammer, which is forward in this picture:
An attempt to get a look inside the upper reciever. Notice my lovely hockey tape brass deflector:
You can get a lot better look in there from the back. The top hole is where the gas tube locks into the reciever:
The outside of the upper reciever looks like this. You can also get a pretty good idea of how the Kyle rail attaches from this shot:
Where the gas tube locks in on the front looks like this. You can see the gas ports to some extent. This shows the two front sight posts as well. The big (short range) one is up here. It folds down. Notice also that the flash hider is part of the barrel. It is threaded on the inside. While it should have six openings to be symetrical, the one on the bottom is missing (acts as a bit of a muzzle break). The loop on the side is for a sling. The loop on the bottom is not a bayonet lug, but it is where the bayonet lug would fit in if you installed one. The Swiss really built a lot of details into these.
The bolt and bolt carrier together look like this:
From the other side:
From the front:
Unlike a VZ58 or many other piston rifles, the piston has a recoil spring around it. So, unlike an AR or something like that, there is no spring behind the bolt carrier. There is nothing behind the bolt carrier at all. The bolt and bolt carrier get locked together with the piston by the charging handle. During firing, the piston (which rides inside the gas tube) pushes the bolt carrier back (well, it is attached to it) and the spring pulls everything back forward. This is quite a bit different than something like a VZ58 where the piston simply pushes the bolt carrier back, and a spring behind the bolt carrier pushes it back forward.
The piston (with recoil spring around it) locked together with the bolt and bolt carrier by means of the charging handle:
And here is a close up. One of the main parts of field stripping the gun is taking the charging handle out, so that the bolt carrier unlocks from the piston and can slide backwards out of the reciever. The way this is done is by pushing down on this little lever. It is sort of a spring loaded "teeter totter" bar. When you push it down with your thumb, you can pull the charging handle straight out and everything unlocks.
So, for those of you who are new to these rifles, I hope this helps explain them a bit more - and encourages you to get out and buy one. They are amazing pieces of engineering and - more importantly - amazing firearms.
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