US M1 .30 inch carbine used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) 1983 (c)

As 'The Troubles' escalated large numbers of arms began to be smuggled into Northern Ireland from the United States. Initially they were outdated bolt-action rifles and Second World War era carbines and rifles like this M1, but as the conflict went on modern weapons like the semi-automatic AR15 rifle were also smuggled into the province.