Egyptian Firearms

Having trouble figuring out the hieroglyphics for your serial nr and date of manufacture on an egyptian firearm? try the Brotherhood of Hakim magic decoder ring from "Handbook of Military Rifle Marks, 1870-1950" by Richard A. Hoffman and Noel P. Scott.
* Here is the Hakim / Ljungman Disassembly article from American Rifleman, December, 1995
* And a JPEG of the Hakim exploded-view drawing from American Rifleman, December, 1995
* AND the Hakim Question and answer article from American Rifleman, March, 1987
* BY POPULAR DEMAND, The 1988 Firepower article, CONVERTING MG-13 MAG TO 25-ROUND HAKIM

Egyptian Hakim
Caliber 8mm Mauser (8x57js)

Also referred to by some as the EXTREME HAKIM.

A wonderful, high-powered behemoth, the Hakim is based on the Swedish Ljungman AG42B technology. The Hakim is a lot of firearm. It is 48inches in length and weighs almost 13lbs unloaded. With bayonet attached, it stretches to 5-feet tall. While using the extremely powerful 8mm Mauser cartridge, it has a surprisingly light recoil due to the weight of the gun (about 13 pounds -- unloaded) and an adjustable gas-operated reload system.

The Hakim also has a smaller cousin, the Egyptian Rasheed (also spelled 'Rashid' in some references) in 7.62x39 calibre.

And yes, Virginia, there was a Hakim Airgun. It was made in Egypt under licence from Anschutz.  It was designed as a military trainer and is a very close copy of the 8mm Hakim semi-auto rifle of the 1940s and 1950s.  Even down to the lugs for loading a clip into the real firearm version.   It is in .22 cal.  It is an underlever tap loading air rifle with the underlever contained in the stock in front of the trigger guard.  Like it's real-life counterpart, the Hakim airgun is quite heavy. 

Rashid

Hakim's little cousin in calibre 7.62x39 calibre.

An extremely interesting firearm, the Rashid began it's design life as a 7.62x39 calibre Hakim then integrated certain aspects of the SKS. Consider, if it doesn't frighten you, a Ljungman-designed SKS and you will have a perfect understanding of the Rashid technology.

Ljungman AG42B

- Swedish Papa for Hakim & Rasheed in 6.5 Swede calibre

Here is the recguns AG42 link to a good James Bardwell article on the Ljungman. It includes a tiny bit of HAKIM lore. Tech data on the Ljungman (except for calibre and related ammunition data) is equally applicable to the Hakim and to the Rashid.

MISR - Maadi AK47 variant in calibre 7.62x39

The MISR-MAADI is the Egyptian version of the Avtomat Kalashnikova designed by Mikhail T. Kalashnikov for the Soviet Union in 1947.

As we all know, the AK47 was farmed out to all of the Communist Bloc countries and includes as many variations as there were countries making them. It was also one of the favorite ''Come, comrade, and join us'' technology transfer items of the CCCP for non-combloc potential friends of the family. That's how they came to Egypt. Me, I'm into Egyptian firearms right now-- what can I say.

If you are an AK47 freak and want an absolute AK-gasm (click here to view.)

Here is an interesting photo of an Albanian special services soldier with an AK-based RPD (I believe) looking after his fellow citizens in Tirana. (click here to view.) Hit browser Back button to return to this page.)

This is a photo of an actual Russian Avtomat Kalashnikov (AK) 47. Note the military standard ''pistol grip'' stock as compared with the ''thumbhole'' Dragunov-style stock of the Egyptian Maadi (above)

and the Chinese MAK-90 (below).

Below is a photograph of one of the new (July, 1999) so-called MISR 90 AK-style rifles. These are designed on Egyptian receivers with just enough U.S. made parts to qualify as legal with pistol-grip and stock. If you purchase one of these and outfit the rifle with any magazine of greater than 10-round capacity, be certain the high-cap magazine is of U.S. manufacture. If it is an imported mag, one slips across the border into Illegal Land. These are not to be mistaken for the new-production MISR-10 which has been redesigned for a single-stack magazine and will NOT accomodate ANY of the old double-stack, high-cap magazines.

I have acquired one of the MISR-90s (I refer to it as my Ameri-Maadi) and have found it to be a perfectly acceptable AK47 variant. Likewise the Romanian semi-automatic version. My only objection to the Ameri-Maadi and the Romanian is a standard for many AK47-variant owners-- the stock is about an inch too short. Those of us (myself included) who are accustomed to the longer Dragunov-style stock will find that the missing inch plays hell on accuracy. Granted, that may be as much psychology as physical drawback, but the problem exists. Rubber buttpad / stock extenders are available that will fit either model. Those buttpads are temporary additions and, as such, do not detract from the collector value of the firearm if you don't haul off and lose the original metal buttplates.

As it stands, however, I plan on keeping my Chinese MAK-90 with the Dragunov-style stock as a shooter. Despite some unwarranted objections to the Chinese guns that one hears calling them "cheap and poorly constructed," I have found the MAK 90 to be a fine and functional firearm -- and the full globe forward sight assembly suits my eye far better than the hakf-globe on the Maadi and the Romanian.

The Helwan Brigadier 9mm pistol is a fine contribution by Egypt to the world of handguns.

The Brigadier is actually a licensed-production copy of the Beretta m52.

Therein hangs an interesting tale. Initially, in the very early 1950s, Egypt contracted with Beretta for 9mm military sidearms. After a wee few years of purchasing contracted Berettas from Italy, the Egyptian government approached the Italian manufacturer for permission to manufacture a copy of the m52.

The Italians agreed, assisted in setting up the production of licensed Egyptian facilities and taught them the production procedures. Thus was born the Helwan Brigadier.

Helwan Brigadiers were manufactured commercially for a short time. All of the older military firearms will be marked and serial-numbered in Arab glyphs while the commercial models are marked in English with western numerals.

I have found the Brigadier to be a fine 8-shot semi-auto that is accurate and well-built. I have read some complaints regarding the Brigadier but have not experienced any problems in mine over several hundred rounds of ammunition. The main complaints that have been lodged have been that the Brigadiers are not as finely crafted as the Beretta and that the takedown has a tendency to work loose during firing.

Again, I have had no problem with the function of my pistol (a 1963). I also believe that the complaints regarding tool-marks and an alleged "rough" finishing may have more to do with individual collector preferences than with the overall fitness and collectibility of the firearm.

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02/09/04