There have been several examples of the AK being used as the basis for a pistol-caliber SMG or PDW. The Russians made the Vityaz, the Hungarians made the KGPF-9...and the Czechs actually made a version form the CZ-2000. This was the attempt to make a 5.56mm AK family of rifles form the roots of t...
2022-09-10 12:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
In response to a Finnish military need for a machine gun better than the old Maxim for aerial and anti-aircraft use, Aimo Lahti developed the L33 machine gun from the basis of the Lahti-Saloranta design. It was recoil operated, with the ubiquitous Lahti accelerator lever, and a quite high rate of...
2022-09-09 12:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
From Brian on Patreon:
"What’s the dumbest or most unsafe thing you’ve ever witnessed while out shooting in the desert or at a range / match?"
That would definitely be when a pair of totally movie shooters out at my desert shooting range spot decided to violate Rule 4 (Know your t...
2022-09-08 12:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostFrom Brian on Patreon:
"What’s the dumbest or most unsafe thing you’ve ever witnessed while out shooting in the desert or at a range / match?"
That would definitely be when a pair of totally movie shooters out at my desert shooting range spot decided to violate Rule 4 (Know your t...
2022-09-08 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
The HS Produkt company, best known for making the XD pistols sold in the US by Springfield, was originally called IM Metal, and was a general fabrication company in Croatia. When the Croatian Homeland War began, there was a clear need for domestic small arms production, and the two engineers at I...
2022-09-07 12:01:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Available directly from Legacy Collectibles:
https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/accessories/collector-books/081022-1.html
or on Amazon:
Designed and manufactured by Fabbrica Nazionale d'Armi di Brescia (National Arms Factory of Brescia) in northern Italy, for use by the RSI and German military forces (as well as some partisan units). They were produced in 1943 and 1944, and only about 1,000 were made (all with serial numbers in t...
2022-09-05 12:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Yesterday we looked at the history and development of the vz.82 pistol; today I am taking it out to the BackUp Gun Match. this should be a pretty competitive pistol in this environment, and it actually meets the characteristics of a backup gun quite well. It is light and compact, but still offers...
2022-09-03 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
The vz.82 and its cousin the CZ 83 are pistols that originated when the Czech state export company during the Cold War began looking for arms it could export to bring in hard currency. The current service pistol, the vz.52, was, shall we say, not widely desirable and its 7.62x25mm cartridge was n...
2022-09-02 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Scheduled for September 29.
2022-09-01 20:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostFrom Nikolas on Patreon:
"Have there been any attempts to make miniaturized man-portable chain guns? Do you think there's a future for such a machine gun given modern advances in energy storage?"
Chain guns are a specific type of externally-powered machine gun. They have a single barr...
2022-09-01 12:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
From Nikolas on Patreon:
"Have there been any attempts to make miniaturized man-portable chain guns? Do you think there's a future for such a machine gun given modern advances in energy storage?"
Chain guns are a specific type of externally-powered machine gun. They have a single barr...
2022-09-01 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
The AKB-15 was a project developed by Arex Defense in Slovenia in 2015. The company received a request from a small country (they decline to reveal exactly who) to modernize a stock of AKM rifles with adjustable stocks, pica tinny optics mounting, and new barrels among other features. Arex develo...
2022-08-31 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
During my visit to Slovenia, I had a chance to tour the AREX Defense factory in Šentjernej. I came away really impressed by the quality and the breadth of operations that the factory performs in-house. They have only been making their own handgun designs for about 5 years, but they have been a s...
2022-08-30 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
The Soviet Union began to take an interest in military suppressors in the early 1930s, and experimented with things like suppressors for the DP light machine gun. Through the 1930s a variety of different designs were tested, but none were found really suitable. Everything they tested was deemed t...
2022-08-29 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
The CZ-2000 project in the Czech Republic (derived from the Lada developed in the late years of Czechoslovakia) envisioned a full suite of infantry arms, much like the AK as used by other countries. There would be an SMG-type compact weapon (akin to the AKS-74U "Krinkov"), a standard infantry rif...
2022-08-27 12:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
A very small batch of special target model pistols was made at the very end of Astra 400 production in 1945. They were fitted with Patridge front sights and adjustable revolver-style square-notch rear sights, much improved over the stock Astra 400 sights. In addition, they were fitted with a spec...
2022-08-26 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
http://shop.forgottenweapons.com
We have some cool new items dropping in the Forgotten Weapons shop today!
Glencairn whisky glasses
"Wauser" t-shirts
Warlord pistol t-shirts
Short-sl...
2022-08-25 12:01:04 +0000 UTC View Post
The ALKA model 93 is one of the nicest of the several dozen simple SMGs made in Croatia during the Homeland War of the 1990s. It was produced by the IM Metal company (later renamed HS Produkt) starting in 1991, was formally adopted by the Croatian armed forces in 1993, and produced until 1994 or ...
2022-08-24 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
A question I have been asked by several different people in several Q&A threads is:
"Does the Savage rotating-barrel system actually do anything?"
In his 1905 patent, Elbert Searle specifically claims that his design creates a positively locked breech. He did this, in theory, by h...
2022-08-23 12:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The creation of a short and handy Mosin Nagant carbine to complement the standard M891 was prompted by the Russo-Japanese War. Lots of Russian troops with roles other than infantry - machine gun and artillery crews in particular - were unnecessarily burdened with full length rifles, and the Model...
2022-08-22 12:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Scrome, the original maker of the J8 scope used by the French Army on the FR-F2 sniper rifle, is making a commercial run of J8 scopes for collectors who have the recently-released surplus FR-F2 rifles. They are made in France in the same shop, by the same people and to the same specifications as ...
2022-08-21 13:02:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Today we are out at the range to compare the Angstadt Arms MDP-9 to the classic H&K SP-5. We will do a bunch of runs on a course of fire that incudes precision targets, spinners and stars, and see which of the carbines comes out ahead! Plus, as a bonus, some shooting with a suppressor and sub...
2022-08-20 12:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostBefore Finnish Brutality, I'm spending a few days in Iceland. If you happen to be an Icelander, it would be great to meet up with you! I will be at Cafe Babalú on the 29th from 5pm until probably about 7pm. The address is Skólavörðustígur 22, Reykjavík.
See you there!
PS -...
2022-08-19 23:08:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Angstadt Arms has recently released their MDP-9 carbine, an AR-type lower coupled with a roller-delayed blowback upper assembly. This is the same operating system as the much-lauded MP5, and Angstadt version of the design is remarkably light, handy, and simple. It is made specifically for Glock m...
2022-08-19 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
From Brian on Patreon:
"Would you give your thoughts and comments on non-gun companies making guns? For example Baldwin Locomotive/Eddystone 1917s, IH Garands, GM M-16s, most M-1 carbines, maybe even TRW M-14s. How did the experiment work out?"
I would say that the experiment worked v...
2022-08-18 12:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostFrom Brian on Patreon:
"Would you give your thoughts and comments on non-gun companies making guns? For example Baldwin Locomotive/Eddystone 1917s, IH Garands, GM M-16s, most M-1 carbines, maybe even TRW M-14s. How did the experiment work out?"
I would say that the exper...
2022-08-18 12:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The Browning High Power (“Grand Puissance”, aka GP-35) was developed by Fabrique National in Belgium, designed primarily by John Browning’s apprentice Dieudonné Saive. It began in the very early 1920s as a pistol designed for a new French Army requirement, but eventually split into two sep...
2022-08-17 12:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Today I'm joined by Len Antaris of Historic Investments to discuss, well, historic investments. I maintain that firearms are better bought for their historic value than as speculative investments, but there are certainly plenty of people who do both. So, Len and I figured we would discuss what we...
2022-08-16 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Rafael Mendoza was Mexico’s premier domestic arms designer, and the Model 1934 LMG is probably his most successful design. He began work on it in 1929, and it entered testing with the Mexican Army in 1932. It was formally accepted by the Mexican Army in 1934 (hence the designation) and would se...
2022-08-15 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post