M590 Rifle
 

Large prop US Marine rifle made of fiberglass with resin and metal parts, painted olive drab, black and gray with a red reflective mylar targeting screen and an attached canvas sling. Original nut on the targeting screen appears to have been replaced with a threaded silver metal piece originally used on the prop Marine goggles used on the series, and the front sling hardware has been clumsily repaired either during or after production. Based on some construction details (lime-green and yellowish resin parts, the lack of a large screw head visible on the left side of the rifle, the type of sling hardware, the style of barrel), this piece appears to be one of the first set of rifles made for the series pilot in Australia. Later rifles made in the U.S. were made of black resin, had the head of a large phillips-head screw showing on the left side, and had some differences in the barrel area.

I've been able to screenmatch this rifle with one seen on screen in the episode "Ray Butts" by matching more than a dozen small areas on the prop with one held by actress Kristen Cloke as Shane Vansen, one of the series leads. Even though it appears the rifle has been touched up with paint since its appearance in the episode, there are many small scuffs, cracks paint overspray, and other irregularities still visible that line up with the screencaps. Areas 1, 2, 6, 7, and 10 are still clear and unobscured today, while some of the other match details have been painted over and are more difficult to see now. In one of the screencaps you can also see that the olive drab part surrounding the black barrel is not present, and on the prop as it is today, it is obvious that part was broken at one time and that someone has hastily and sloppily re-glued it in place since the filming of that particular scene.