{"id":29954,"date":"2026-07-17T14:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/the-wf-51-switzerlands-forgotten-battle-rifle\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:45:22","slug":"the-wf-51-switzerlands-forgotten-battle-rifle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/the-wf-51-switzerlands-forgotten-battle-rifle\/","title":{"rendered":"The WF-51: Switzerland&#8217;s Forgotten Battle Rifle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mejs-video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"autoplay\" width=\"580\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QZQWNd-zsmQ?controls=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Only about 35 Swiss Bern WF-51 rifles were ever built.<\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the FG 42 but engineered with unmistakable Swiss precision, the WF-51 was Switzerland&#8217;s ambitious attempt to create its first select-fire battle rifle after World War 2. Although ultimately defeated by SIG&#8217;s design during military trials, it remains one of the most fascinating \u2014 and elusive \u2014 prototype military firearms ever produced.<\/p>\n<p>And this exceptional example is among the highlights of Rock Island Auction Company&#8217;s August Premier.<\/p>\n<p>00:00 \u2013 Rare Swiss WF-51 Experimental Machine Gun<br \/>00:41 \u2013 Swiss Military Rifles Before the WF-51<br \/>02:02 \u2013 Switzerland&#8217;s First Select-Fire Battle Rifle Project<br \/>03:18 \u2013 FG-42 Influences and External Features<br \/>05:15 \u2013 7.5x38mm Kurz Cartridge &#038; Internal Mechanics<br \/>06:35 \u2013 Exceptional Condition and Matching Serialization<br \/>07:42 \u2013 Why the WF-51 Lost to the Stgw 57<\/p>\n<p>Follow us!<br \/>Email: <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/cg4yPb\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/eepurl.com\/cg4yPb<\/a><br \/>Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RockIslandAuctionCompany\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RockIslandAuctionCompany<\/a><br \/>Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rockislandauction\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rockislandauction\/<\/a><br \/>X: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RIAuction\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/x.com\/RIAuction<\/a><\/p>\n<p>#MachineGun #WorldWar2 #WF51<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only about 35 Swiss Bern WF-51 rifles were ever built. Inspired by the FG 42 but engineered with unmistakable Swiss precision, the WF-51 was Switzerland&#8217;s ambitious attempt to create its first select-fire battle rifle after World War 2. Although ultimately defeated by SIG&#8217;s design during military trials, it remains one of the most fascinating \u2014&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/the-wf-51-switzerlands-forgotten-battle-rifle\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The WF-51: Switzerland&#8217;s Forgotten Battle Rifle<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":29955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}