List of weapons used by the Irish National Liberation Army


List of weapons used by the Irish National Liberation Army during The Troubles (1969-1997).

Sources
Main articles: Irish_National_Liberation_Army § Arms_importation, and Timeline of Irish National Liberation Army actions

Obtaining arms was one of the greatest difficulties faced by the INLA in its early years. Their Marxism made them beyond help from Catholic Irish-America, who had traditionally been a lifeline for funds and weapons for Irish republicans engaged in armed struggle.[1] At a time when the Provisional IRA seemed replete with Armalites, the INLA was mainly armed with shotguns, which the rank and file wryly took to calling "Costello-ites" after their leader. The INLA's main source of arms early on was from sympathizers in the Middle East, from where they imported a contingent of AK-pattern rifles in 1978 and later much larger shipments of arms via a French contact.[2]

Small arms
ModelImageCaliberTypeOriginDetails
Pistols
PA639×18mm MakarovPistol Hungary[3]
Browning Hi-Power9×19mm ParabellumPistol Belgium[4]
CZ 759×19mm ParabellumPistol Czechoslovakia[5]
Walther P389×19mm ParabellumPistol Germany[6]
Webley Revolver.455 WebleyRevolver United Kingdom[7]
Walther PPK9×17mm Short (.380 ACP)Pistol GermanyStolen from an off-duty Royal Irish Regiment soldier's car in Dublin in 1994.[8]
Rifles
Lee–Enfield.303 BritishBolt action rifle United KingdomUsed in a sniper attack as late as 1989.[9]
M1 carbine.30 CarbineSemi-automatic Carbine United States[10]
M1 Garand.30-06 SpringfieldSemi-automatic rifle United States[11]
Ruger Mini-145.56×45mm NATOSemi-automatic rifle United States[12]
SKS7.62×39mmSemi-automatic rifle Soviet Union[13]
AR-155.56×45mm NATOSemi-automatic rifle United States[14]
FN FAL7.62×51mm NATOBattle rifle BelgiumIntercepted as part of an arms shipment in 1995.[15]
Springfield Armory M1A7.62×51mm NATOSemi-automatic rifle United States[16]
Gewehr 437.92×57mm MauserSemi-automatic rifleNazi Germany[17]
Hakim Rifle7.92×57mm MauserSemi-automatic rifle Egypt[18]
Assault rifles
AK-477.62×39mmAssault rifle Soviet Union[19]
AKM7.62×39mmAssault rifle Soviet Union[20]
AK-637.62×39mmAssault rifle HungaryIntercepted as part of an arms shipment in 1995.[21]
M165.56×45mm NATOAssault rifle United States
CAR-15 Commando5.56×45mm NATOAssault rifle United StatesImported around 1985.[22]
RK 62.223 Remington/5.56×45mm NATOAssault rifle FinlandA single example seen at INLA funeral in 2019. Possible civilian version with long barrel and different muzzle break, chambered in .223/5.56.[23]
Submachine guns
M3 submachine gun.45 ACPSubmachine Gun United States[24]
Sterling submachine gun9×19mm ParabellumSubmachine Gun United Kingdom[25]
Uzi9×19mm ParabellumSubmachine Gun Israel
Sanna 779×19mm ParabellumSubmachine Gun Rhodesia[26]
Škorpion vz. 619×19mm ParabellumSubmachine Gun Czechoslovakia[27]
MP59×19mm ParabellumSubmachine Gun GermanyStolen from a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) vehicle in May 2000.[28]

Explosives
ModelImageTypeOriginDetails
IEDImprovised explosive device IrelandOften using Gelignite or a Soviet-made plastic explosive, possibly Semtex.
Molotov cocktailIncendiary device Ireland
Various models of Chinese and Soviet-made hand grenadesHand Grenade Soviet Union,  People's Republic of China[29]

References
  1. English, Richard (2003). Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Pan Books. pp. 114–115. ISBN 0-330-49388-4.
  2. Fortnight Magazine, Issue 195, p. 7-8. Fortnight Publications, 1983.
  3. The Starry Plough – March/April 1999 Archived 1 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Page 10-11.
  4. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  5. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  6. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  7. "INLA firing party using Webley at 1984 funeral".
  8. Sunday Life 13 July 1997.
  9. Sunday Life 12 November 1989.
  10. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  11. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  12. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  13. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  14. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  15. Oppenheimer, A. R. (2018-06-30). IRA: The Bombs and The Bullets. A History of Deadly Ingenuity. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-7165-2895-1.
  16. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  17. The Starry Plough, June 1982 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2019-08-02)
  18. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  19. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  20. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  21. Oppenheimer, A. R. (2018-06-30). IRA: The Bombs and The Bullets. A History of Deadly Ingenuity. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-7165-2895-1.
  22. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  23. ALLISON MORRIS (23 May 2019). "Gun used at INLA funeral featured in BBC Stacey Dooley documentary". Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  24. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  25. https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/police-targeting-inla-seize-guns-16415846
  26. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  27. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
  28. Archived 25 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  29. McDonald, Holland, Henry, Jack (2018-06-30). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9781842234389.
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