Oates (Ed Harris) carries a derivative of the M1911A1 pistol in a shoulder holster. Rebels who hijack a plane to drop propaganda leaflets that proclaim that the rebel leader Rafael is still alive also are armed with a M1911A1.
When Price (Nick Nolte) is wounded and forced to hide from Nicaraguan soldiers, an old woman gives him a Smith & Wesson M&P revolver fitted with pearl grips to defend himself.
Oates (Ed Harris), an American mercenary whom Price encounters throughout the film, carries a Uzi submachine gun which he carries during the scenes set in Chad. Later, a Nicaraguan rebel leader (Lucina Rojas) also is armed with a fixed-stock Uzi.
The Chadian rebels that Russell Price (Nick Nolte) accompanies in the introduction of the film are armed with Finnish Valmet M71S rifles (impersonating AK-47 rifles, which were not widely available to American Armorers prior to the year this movie was filmed). Note: Just after the filming schedule (1982) more accurate versions of the AK-47 and AKMs started to be imported into the U.S.
One of the rebels in the introduction is armed with what appears to be either a genuine AK-47 or Norinco Type 56 rifle, though it is too blurry for accurate verification.
One of the most common weapons in the film is the FN FAL rifle, which is used by Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional soldiers and FSLN rebels. Oates (Ed Harris) also carries a FN FAL with a telescopic sight in Nicaragua, using it during a shootout with rebels that Price and fellow journalist Claire (Joanna Cassidy) are following. A FN FAL is used by a soldier to summarily execute Alex Grazier (Gene Hackman), in a moment deliberately modeled after the real life death of ABC reporter Bill Stewart.
Trivia note: Careful viewing of the screenshots reveal that the rifles have the Milspec FN Factory blank firing adapter screwed into the FAL flash hider! That knob at the end of the flash hider is the end tip of the BFA.
The FN FAL 50.63 Paratrooper rifle, distinguishable by its shorter 18 inch barrel and folding stock, is seen in the hands of Chadian rebels and Nicaraguan soldiers.
