The Cool, Quirky, Affordable 9mm Paratrooper Rifle
The FG9 from Rhineland Arms is a delightfully different sort of smoke pole. The latest generation of the Rhineland Arms FG9 feeds from Glock mags and shoots standard 9mm ammunition. It weighs 7.5 pounds and is 33.5 inches long with a 16.25-inch barrel. That much is pretty pedestrian. However, you can tell at a glance that this is unlike any other gun in the gun shop. The FG9 looks weirdly similar to unobtainium…
Dreamin’
What’s your dream gun? We all have one. And don’t hate. There are dream cars, dream houses, dream boats, dream jobs, and dream spouses. It’s hardwired into our DNA someplace to aspire to unattainable perfection.
The answer to that particular imponderable is driven by your individual proclivities. If it’s wheelguns that trip your trigger then a vintage 19th-century Colt Peacemaker or a cherry 1972 Python might do it. Or you’re into hunting arms, then that bespoke Holland & Holland double rifle would look awfully nice hanging on your wall. Then if modern stuff is your bag, then a SIG MCX Spear or HK MR4 would undoubtedly rock. However, if, like me, it’s classic WW2 iron that reliably catches your eye, then there’s one collectible gun that stands out among all the rest.
The Elusive German Unicorn
The Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 or Paratrooper Rifle 42 was developed in 1942 to address the tactical shortcomings made manifest in Operation Mercury, the German airborne invasion of Crete. Over the course of 13 days in the summer of 1941, the German military engaged in a massive airborne and amphibious operation to seize the island of Crete from its Commonwealth defenders. While Operation Mercury was ultimately successful, it came at a horrible cost. The Germans suffered some 5,894 casualties and lost 409 combat aircraft seizing that thorny island fortress. A dispassionate assessment of the invasion with the benefit of hindsight demonstrated several glaring tactical issues.
German fallschirmjagers (paratroopers) jumped naked. That meant that they left the aircraft armed solely with a handgun and a few grenades. Their weapons and support equipment were dropped simultaneously in a fallschirmbombe. The fallschirmbombe was a weapons canister that was supposed to drop alongside the sky troopers to be retrieved upon landing. In practice, this just didn’t work terribly well. In the opening moments of an airborne assault, these ill-equipped parachutists were horribly vulnerable. This fact contributed to the astronomical losses at Crete.
The answer was supposed to be the FG42. This revolutionary weapon was intended to replace the standard infantry rifle, the submachine gun, and the belt-fed machinegun in airborne formations. The theory was that arming fallschirmjagers with this relatively lightweight, portable automatic weapon would allow them to gain fire superiority early in an attack and grant them initiative, thereby minimizing casualties. Like most compromises, this one didn’t work as well as had been hoped.
Paratrooper Rifle 42 Details
The FG42 was a radical weapon indeed. There had never been anything quite like it before. There were actually seven different models, though we really only recognize two–the Type I and the Type II. Despite having an outsized impact on subsequent small arms designs, there were never very many of them. The total production run topped out at around 7,000 copies.
All FG42’s fired full-power 7.92x57mm rifle rounds from a 20-round side-mounted magazine. The gun ran from the closed bolt on semi-auto and the open bolt on rock and roll. This feature aided in barrel cooling in rapid fire. The two major variants were actually just different points along the gun’s wartime evolutionary tree.
Different Types
The Type I sported a pressed steel buttstock and a sharply-swept pistol grip. The integral bipod mounted at the back and folded forward for storage. The Type II had a more conventional pistol grip and wooden furniture. Its bipod mounted at the muzzle and folded back. Both guns sported a sinister-looking cruciform spike bayonet.
Like all compromises, the end result didn’t really satisfy anyone. The full-sized battle rifle cartridge was really a bit too large for the chassis, so the gun was tough to manage on full auto. However, the side-mounted magazine offered excellent performance from the prone.
By war’s end, most of these rare guns were hors d’combat. Some were taken back by the government for study. The American M60 general purpose machinegun was actually patterned directly off of the action of the FG42. A precious few did actually make it into private hands as bringbacks after the war. These guns are some of the most valuable collector’s firearms in the world.
No kidding, it’s nuts. A nice Type II sold at auction in 2017 for $241,500. A Type I sold in 2023 for $456,000. Needless to say, normal people will likely never even touch one. I do this for a living, and I never have.
An outfit out of Texas called SMG Guns makes beautiful semi-auto firing replicas. However, their waiting list is astronomical, and their guns still run six grand or more. What’s a brother of reasonable means to do?
The Rhineland Arms FG9 Solution
Full disclosure, the Rhineland Arms FG9 will not pass for an original WW2-vintage German paratrooper rifle except in the dimmest of light. However, it does capture a bit of that FG42 secret sauce at a very reasonable cost. It’s also simply great fun at the range.
The basic layout does indeed mimic that of the Type II FG42. The furniture is an attractive stained hardwood, and the pistol grip sports a comfortable, normal cant. The gun feeds from the left like the original paratrooper rifle. There is a length of Picatinny rail up top for optics.
I had a delightful conversation at the recent SHOT show with Tom at Rhineland Arms. The FG9 is Tom’s baby. He also designed the AR57 conversion that allows an AR15 to fire 5.7x28mm rounds via FN P90 magazines. The first run of FG9’s fed from Colt-style box mags. These looked pretty good but were notoriously finicky. In frustration, he redesigned the rifle to accept Glock mags. The natural cant does challenge the classic FG42 aesthetic to a degree. However, now the gun runs like a scalded ape.
Trigger Time With Rhineland Arms FG9
Truth among us—this gun was way neater than I had expected. The weapon balances well, and the shooting experience is simply great fun. The same advanced attributes that made the FG42 so revolutionary back in WW2 make the FG9 an exceptionally efficient design today. 9mm ammo is cheap if bought in bulk, so the FG9 is a delightful Saturday afternoon plinker. It would also make for a superlative home defense tool.
The FG9 fires via unlocked blowback and ejects out the bottom. It’s a 9mm pistol cartridge, so recoil and muzzle blast are negligible. The muzzle is threaded 1/2×28 should you wish to mount up a sound suppressor. That end result is s a uniquely enjoyable shooting experience.
The trigger is pleasantly crisp, and the straight-line design pioneered in the original WW2 rifle quite effectively negates muzzle climb. The gun shoots nice and straight out to the limits of the cartridge. At close to moderate ranges, the FG9 is pretty freaking awesome.
We mounted up a basic red dot optic and used the FG9 to ring steel at 25 meters. In this configuration, the FG9 is a simply fantastic way to kill a lazy Saturday afternoon at the range. Our test gun was completely reliable with both FMJ and hollowpoints of a variety of bullet weights. These ranged from 100-grain Black Hills HoneyBadgers up to heavy subsonic 147-grain ball.
Ruminations
The Rhineland Arms FG9 would actually be a fine choice as a primary home defense weapon or truck gun. The rifle is compact and maneuverable while remaining quite placid on the range. The shooting experience is positively recreational. That means you’ll enjoy training with it.
In addition to its real-world applications as a defensive varmint gun, the FG9 is just delightfully different. Drag this rascal out at your favorite shooting spot and be prepared to make some new friends. With an MSRP of $700, the FG9 is a bargain in the world of pistol-caliber carbines. The FG9 is where historical nostalgia meets modern-day utility. That mystical intersection is 100% fun.
Special thanks to www.worldwarsupply.com for the cool replica gear used in this project.
