What was the first military firearm Israel actually manufactured?

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I realize that Israel inherited a lot of the post-ww2 "slightly used" firearms from europe, however what was the first military firearm designed and manufactured by Israel?

With the build of the Uzi and the Tavor, i'm curious as to which firearms really started that wing of development and manufacturing...
 
Not designed there, but Mk. II Stens were made in Israel, as were DROR lmgs, using machinery from Johnson Automatics.
 
They designed and built the UZI, the Galil series, then the Tavor. They also made a few pistols.
 
DROR production machinery actually was set up and produced a dozen guns in Montreal, 6 each in .303 and 8x57. The machinery was disasembled and crated, shipped to what then was British-mandated Palestine, all marked as Agricultural Equipment. Then the boys crossed the border into Vermont to test-fire their toys, got caught on the way back. When the cops investigated, the cupboard was bare. DROR production actually started before Israeli independence. The machinery was built by Cranston Tool and Die in Providence, Rhode Island (home of H.P. Lovecraft and Joseph Curwen). Cranston made a lot of the parts for Johnson Automatics, did much of their actual manufacturing. The program was paid for with money collected in Canada by Golda Meyerstein (later changed to Meir) for refugee relief. Guess it depends on what you mean by relief.
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I could use a clarification on the background of the Uzi.
A few years ago i was shown through the gun storage/armoury/sample room at Colt Canada and was handed Uzi #1. I was told that prototypes were first manufactured by Canadian Arsenals for the firearm's designer in the 1960s (? poor memory). The Canadian gov't would not issue export licenses so the designer went away. Few years later, Israel is producing the Uzi.
Anyone verify this?
Regards,
John
 
maxim08 said:
I could use a clarification on the background of the Uzi.
A few years ago i was shown through the gun storage/armoury/sample room at Colt Canada and was handed Uzi #1. I was told that prototypes were first manufactured by Canadian Arsenals for the firearm's designer in the 1960s (? poor memory). The Canadian gov't would not issue export licenses so the designer went away. Few years later, Israel is producing the Uzi.
Anyone verify this?
Regards,
John
Click to expand...

UZI was designed in 1948 by Uziel Gal. It was officially adopted in 1951, first use was by the SF in 1954, general issue to troops in 1956 (Suez). I too would be interested if anyone knows about this story.
 
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