Reader question, asked April 2025
Short answer: Our pick is Eugene Stoner. His AR-10 and AR-15 design is still the most popular rifle platform in America nearly 70 years later.
The details
- Stoner: An aluminum receiver, modular upper and lower, and a rotating bolt. The design keeps getting improved instead of replaced.
- Mikhail Kalashnikov: The AK is the most produced rifle in history and famous for running in any conditions.
- Gaston Glock: He made polymer-frame striker pistols the standard.
- Paul Mauser: The Mauser 98 action is still the foundation for countless bolt guns.
- Also in the running: Dieudonné Saive (FN FAL, and he finished the Hi-Power) and Georg Luger.
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