Rifle ID
 

Recently, I came across the Wikipedia article for 'Operation Red Dog' which was the codename for a plan by white supremacists to overthrow the governments of the Barbados and Dominica in 1981. The plotters ended up being arrested by federal agents, who seized a large quantity of weapons, including some semi-automatic rifles that I am wondering if anyone can identify. They appear to be civilian models of a military design, but I've never seen anything that resembled them before.

Pictures here:
http://www.manana.com/dominica.htm

Wikipedia Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Red_Dog

Looks like the Galil AR (7,62 x 51 mm)

White supremacists using the galil? That's rich.

I don't think they are galils, they look like something else.

Early Bushmaster rifles I believe. Before they started making AR-15 clones. The first generation Bushmaster rifles used the AK 47 gas system.

Correct:

http://members.shaw.ca/tmcveigh/Proj...s/imageJ3B.JPG

Topic on them here (with more pictures):

http://www.uzitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21192

It was just sold as the "Bushmaster Auto Rifle", and I believe it was based on the AK/Galil action. They made models with both wood furniture (which is what the white supremacists seem to have had) and synthetic furniture, as well as a side-folder model. In the early-80s, they would have been widely available at American gun stores.

Yeah, I think you are right.
I didn't know Bushmaster made guns besides ARs.

http://phoenixnewtimes.backpage.com/...=oid%3A5991127

Thanks for the information, I did not know Bushmaster made rifles before their AR-15 clones either. The posters in the uzitalk thread seem to have a pretty low opinion of the weapon though.

Evidently it was a pretty low grade, cheaply made rifle. I have no idea how reliable it was though. After all just because something was put together cheaply dosen't necessarily make it bad. The most notable example would of course be the AK-47.

But looking at it I can't help but think it wasn't the greatest rifle in the world. Still I guess it was a start and Bushmaster must have sold enough of them to stay in business and eventually upgrade it's product.