Belt-Fed 7.62×54 Semi-Auto: The MarColMar UKM

By Chris Eger

A semi-auto closed-bolt version of a fairly uncommon open-bolt fully-automatic belt-fed machine gun, the MarColMar UKM is fairly hard to come by. (Photos: Guns.com)
Indiana-based MarColMar Firearms have long been a player in the market of limited edition collectible rifles, and their UKM is no exception.
Best known today for their CETME L rifles, MarColMar started off making semi-auto versions of the belt-fed PKM– Kalashnikov’s machine gun– as far back as 2007 or so then switched gears to produce AK-74 clones. From there they tackled the Uk. vz. 59, Czechoslovakia’s Cold War-era universal machine gun, in 2013, making about 350 rifles.
Then came an even smaller small run of the Vz. 59’s updated variant, the UKM Tactical Rifle.
Boom: the MarColMar UKM
MarColMar’s UKM essentially takes the best facets of the PKM and the Vz. 59, then blends them in a semi-automatic closed-bolt rifle that didn’t require a tax stamp. Using all-milled construction, the rifle weighs 19.8-pounds. Of note, the receiver by itself starts as a 40-pound block of steel before the machining starts.
The 18-inch heavy chrome-lined barrel is made by Lothar Walther in Germany. The gun ditches the old surplus Com Bloc wood and resin furniture for polymer, as well as adding forward Picatinny rails

Source: Guns.com