Star Wars has always had some awesome guns turned blasters in the original trilogy. Everyone has seen and discussed Han’s C96 turned into a DL 44 Heavy blaster pistol. The new Star Wars Rogue One film just hit theaters and like the nerd I am I had to go see it. I don’t watch trailers for movies I love so I was going in fresh. At the theater they had a life size Death Trooper Statue. The first thing that caught my eye was the shoulder mounted MP40 pouches. As soon as I saw that I knew we were going back to old school Star Wars and that Rogue One’s guns would be a treat.
Rogue One’s Guns
I wasn’t disappointed. The Death Troopers were a quick favorite, and they do have a much different tactical appearance than the standard Storm trooper. (They also aim.) They are covered in gear and have a modern soldier’s look to them. Now besides the awesome black MP 40 pouches there was also pouches and magazines ad mag pouches around the waist. My picture is a little too dark to see, but this promo picture makes it a lot easier to see. Rogue One’s guns were a nice treat for gun nerds like myself.
**Editors Note – These Photos are easier still screen grabs from the trailers, or Promo images. All promo images are courtesy of Disney.
They look exactly like the tops of G3 magazines, empty of course. Not that ray guns in Rogue one would use 7.62 NATO.
The Death troopers also appear to use MG34 machine guns, or possibly MG42. I’m judging from a promo shot for the film, and the stock and pistol grip are unique to those guns. I’m leaning on the side of the MG34 because Star Wars has used the MG 34 before, and it does appear to be thinner and less bulky than the 42.
In other scenes you also see the classic Sterling smgs that are slightly upgraded from the Storm Trooper variant.
ARs
The presence of AR 15s in Rogue One surprised me. Typically Star Wars converted older WW1 and WW2 weapons for use in this film. Rogue One’s guns were not afraid to be modern apparently. I noticed one that Captain Cassian Andor carried an amalgamation of an AR upper and lower as his pistol. I found a few promo shots from the film to show here. A lot of rebels seems to use mocked up ARs as their main blasters.
Also Nerf blaster based on the movie is all AR 15
There was also a clear reference to Full Metal jacket’s famous helicopter M60 scene. We see a Rebel Alien blasting what looks like an M60 out the door of a ship. I couldn’t find a very clear picture so this is the best I got.
The Old Standards
The Sterling L2A1 was pretty famous for being the main Storm trooper blaster in the original Star Wars movies. The L2A1 is still present, and is still the Storm trooper, stockless, inaccurate weapon of choice.
The Lewis Gun returns as the Storm trooper support weapon, it’s hardly changed and immediately noticeable by the barrel shroud.
Rogue One’s guns were a nice touch and a throwback to the original movies where classic guns became blasters. The use of real firearms mocked up as blasters was a brilliant touch. It makes it easier on prop masters, and gives me a visual treat.
