China’s Assault Rifle: QBZ95

By G&A Staff

July 1, 1997, was the date the city of Hong Kong, the last bastion of British colonialism in Asia, was returned to China. It was also the date that the Chinese military unveiled its new 5.8mm bullpup assault rifle, which equipped the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops during the handover ceremony.

This new rifle is named the QBZ95, Qing Bu-Qiang Zi-Dong 1995 Si, or Infantry, Automatic Rifle, Type 1995. The QBZ95’s modern-looking bullpup layout and polymer exterior had led many to speculate that it was perhaps a copy of the French FAMAS or a Kalashnikov derivative. The 5.8mm QBZ95 is really the blended offspring of the long and often bumpy Chinese small-caliber, high-velocity (SCHV) small arm ammunition development and the interesting Chinese studies of the bullpup concept.

A separate article on the 5.8x42mm cartridge can be found on page 100.

Early R&D

In the late 1980s two senior engineers from the Chongqing Arsenal published a research paper on the WTC Research Project …Read the Rest

Source:: Guns and Ammo