Close Menu
    Estonia

    Leaning Westward: Galils for Estonia



    All the best firearms history channels streaming to all major devices:
    weaponsandwar.tv

    When Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it was initially armed with a wide variety of miscellaneous small arms. They clearly needed a primary standardized rifle for the new armed forces. The one definitive criteria for making a selection was than the new rifle must be chambered for the 5.56mm NATO cartridge, as Estonia knew from the beginning that its long-term survival as an autonomous state depended on joining the NATO alliance.

    In 1994, Estonia put out an official tender for rifles, and it only received viable offers from two places: Vektor in South Africa, and IMI in Israel. Estonia had neither much money nor much credit history (so to speak), and the larger European manufacturers were wary of contracting with them. Between the two offers (both for Galil rifles), the Israeli was deemed better, and Estonia proceeded to purchase about 12,000 Galils from IMI. The significant majority were full length AR type, but there was also a small subset of compact SAR carbines in the purchase. These rifles served as the service rifles for the full-time professional element of the Estonian military, with annual conscript levies using a variety of other weapons (largely H&K G3 variations). In addition, during Estonian NATO missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, the deployed units were all issued Galils if they did not already have them.

    In 2008, Estonia had a rifle modernization program that was the modification of most of the Galils with a package of upgrades. They were fitted with quad-rail hand guards (B&T), Aimpoint red dot optics, Aimpoint 3x magnifiers on B&T quick-detach mounts (affixed to the original Galil top covers), B&T vertical front grips, and domestic Estonian-made charging handle extensions. With these updates, the Galils continued to serve as Estonia’s primary infantry rifle until the adoption of the new LMT R20 rifles starting in 2019.

    Thanks to the Supply Battalion of the Estonian Defense Forces for giving me access to these rifles and their history to film for you!

    https://utreon.com/c/forgottenweapons/
    http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
    http://www.floatplane.com/channel/ForgottenWeapons

    Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.forgottenweapons.com

    View 35 Comments

    35 Comments

    5. @wellend89 on

      The conscripts were certainly issued Galil's, especially in the 90s and early 2000s when the Galil was the only real option as no Swedish G3's (AK4) were available. Later on it varied, seemingly based on the commanders preference – I did my service in 2010 in a Military Police company, was issued a Galil SAR, serial no. 2117095.

    6. @jimyoung440 on

      Purchased by some "Entrepreneurial Estonians" OMG! Two minutes later there was a thud as my old, tired brain finally processed that one. Well, you shook some of the dust and cobwebs loose so thanks. Jim Y

    11. @MarkErikEE on

      We need to dig out more obscure guns for Ian to keep him visiting Estonia. Galil was the best service rifle Estonia had in the last 30 years. Defense League was rowing around with the AK4-s (Swedish made G3, called "The Oar") for many years until the appearance of the R20. You are always welcome, Ian.

    12. @leoa4c on

      That looks like a really heavy rifle. Carrying that, in full kit, in the Afghan sun, all day long?
      I'm guessing it wasn't a particularly fun experience.

      It would be interesting for Ian to do a match with the heavier version so that we could get an idea of its ergonomics.

    23. @ItsMrAssholeToYou on

      The fact Estonia is not only opening-up, but actually reaching-out like this makes it seem like they're really getting past the considerable difficulty they experienced post soviet era. It makes me glad. Good people shouldn't have to suffer what they have.

    24. @MyHollister12345 on

      Thats not entirely correct review since there were actually four different variants of galil, the AR, SAR, small batch ARM and even smaller batch of 7.62 Galil sniper rifles. Also not all the conscripts used AK4/G3 platform, some battalions such as military police was also on the Galil platform including Defense League. Also what is not mentioned that there was a special modification made with Galil ARs were they combined AK74 parts with Galil such as charging handle with gaspiston. Additionally some galils got later on HK 40mm grenade launchers and some units were issued with B&T suppressors.

    Leave A Reply