ForgottenWeapons

Fundamentals of LPVOs: Cheap vs Expensive (Ad-free)

At SHOT Show this year I took some time to speak with Mike Branson of Gideon Optics (formerly of Primary Arms and Swampfox). Mike's a friend and a true optics nerd, and I figured he could help give...

Boombox / Clarion Thermal at MOGO24: Zee Goggles! Zey Do Nuthink! (Ad-free)

For my Passive Division run during the staff match portion of Moons Out Goons Out 2024, I used a borrowed prototype Boombox from Q, with an AGM Clarion thermal scope. The Boombox is essentially a H...

Model 74 "Carpati": Cugir's Romanian Walther Clone (Ad-free)

The Model 74 "Carpați" is a copy of the Walther PP made by the Cugir factory in Romania. The project began at the direction of the Romanian secret police, who delivered a worn out Walther to the f...

Announcing my Newest Book! Small Arms of WW2: Soviet Union (Ad-free)

Preorders are open now!

http://www.headstamppublishing.com/

For European orders, save on shipping by ordering...

Bonus: Ian's Boombox Shootoff with Mitch from Q (ad-free)

Mitch, design engineer at Q, challenged me to a shutoff at Moons Out Goons Out 2024. If I win, I get a Boombox from Q. If he wins, I have to embarrass myself on the internet. Sounds like a risk wor...

Hi-Point / MAWL at MOGO24: Wheels Come Off the Struggle Bus (Ad-free)

For my Active Division run during the staff match portion of Moons Out Goons Out 2024, I set up a 9mm Hi-Point carbine with a BE Meyers MAWL last unit. Great laser; terrible gun. My hypothesis was ...

Moons Out Goons Out 2024 Overview: Yeah, I Ran a High Point (Ad-free)

Last weekend we ran Moons Out Goons Out 2024, a night rifle match presented by Tactical Night Vision Company at the Echo Valley Training Center. The match was a fantastic success, and I figured I'd...

Book Review: Vickers Guide H&K Volume 2 (SMG & PDW) (Ad-free)

Available direct from Vickers Guide:

https://www.vickersguide.com/hk-vol-2

Or from Headstamp Publishing: 2024-03-30 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Skeet with the M90 Shotgun From Halo (What Could Go Wrong?) (Ad-free)

Today is my last chance to take the Halo M90 out for a fun day at the range...so why not make it the worst possible application for this sort of shotgun?

Two World Wars: Finnish C96 "Ukko-Mauser" (Ad-free)

A decent number of C96 Mauser pistols were present in Finland's civil war, many of them coming into the country with the Finnish Jaegers, and others from a variety of sources, commercial and Russia...

Electrolux Charlton: Washing Machine Company Converts Bolt Action to Semiauto (Ad-free)

The Charlton was a conversion of a bolt action Lee rifle into a light machine gun, designed by New Zealander Phillip Charlton. Some 1500 were made in New Zealand, but a bit later it appears that th...

Intro to Prism Scopes: What are they Anyway? (Ad-free)

At SHOT Show this year I took some time to speak with Mike Branson of Gideon Optics (formerly of Primary ands and Swampfox). Mike's a friend and  a true optics nerd, and I figured he could hel...

Presenting Guns in Video Games w/ Jonathan Ferguson (Ad-free)

Today I am joined by Johnathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armories in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history. We're ta...

Romanian Berthier Carbine Conversions (Ad-free)

Romanian had more than a million rifles in its inventory after World War One, but they were mused between Mannlicher 88/90, Mannlicher 95, Mosin Nagant, and Berthier patterns - and they were almost...

Zagi: Croatia HK's a Sten Gun (Ad-free)

The Zagi is one of the more prolific of the Croatian homeland War submachine guns. It was developed with the intention of making substantial numbers, and a lot of capital was put into the PHTO (Fir...

Denmark's m/75: A Lease-to-Own Rifle (Ad-free)

Denmark's adoption of the H&K G3 is a rather odd story. First off, the Danes adopted the m/66 H&K as its sniper/DMR rifle in 1966, while retaining the M1 Garand as its standard service rifl...

Inside the Trigger Mechanism of the Real-Life Halo M90 Shotgun (Ad-free)

The real-life Halo M90 shotgun I featured previously was actually built on a left-handed 870 Wingmaster. When I did the Christmas "historical" video about it, I didn't show the actual internal mech...

French SIG-Manurhin 540 at the Range

Sorry for the poor audio - I was filming in an indoor range with a loud ventilation system running. But it was a chance to shoot a proper select-fire SIG-Manurhin 540, and I wasn't going to let tha...

Enough Nonsense; What is an "Assault Rifle"? (Ad-free)

The technical definition of an "assault rifle" is pretty simple and straightforward. It's a shoulder-fired rifle with three elements:

* Capable of fully automatic fire

* Uses detachable...

Early Development of the MAC 1950 Pistol (Ad-free)

Today we have a short look at two of the predecessors of the French MAC 1950 service pistol. The first is the Type SE MAS 1948, which retains many of the characteristics of the previous MAS 1935 pi...

Why Don't We Have Top-Loading Shotguns? (Ad-free)

When I posted some video of the real-life Halo M90 shotgun, one of the most common questions I got was, "why don't we have top-loading shotguns like that?" Well, it's an intriguing question...so le...

Gilboa Snake: Is the Double-AR Really so Dumb?

The Gilboa Snake is an Israeli rifle (from the same designer behind the Cornershot) that essentially combines two standard ARs into a single unit. In its civilian configuration it has two of every ...

Q&A With Jonathan Ferguson of the British Royal Armouries (Ad-free)

Today I am joined by Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the British Royal Armouries for a Q&A session, with questions provided by the fine folks who support Forgotten Weapon...

Prototype Matra Manurhin Compact SMG at the Range (Ad-free)

I came across this prototype (serial number 7) PDW/compact SMG in a collection, and had the opportunity to take it out to try on the range. I don't have any specific data about it, but it was made ...

HK43: The 5.56mm "Paramilitary" Rifle (Ad-free)

Before the H&K 90 series of rifles - the civilian semiautomatic versions -  existed, there was the 40-series; the paramilitary rifles. Originally intended for German reservist purchase, th...

The Bosnian Full-Auto SKS with AK Mags (Ad-free)

During the Balkan Wars, a great many oddball guns were built and used. One of them was a Bosnian conversion of the Yugoslav M59/66 SKS to have a select-fire trigger and to use modified detachable A...

Snipers Before Infantry: the Danish m/66 Sniper (Ad-free)

The Danes adopted the M1 Garand after World War Two, and continued using it as their standard service rifle all the way until 1975 - and alongside it they used the M1D as a sniper or DMR rifle. The...

Now Available: VHS-2 w/ 20-inch Barrel (aka Springfield Hellion) (Ad-free)

Springfield Armory is now importing a version of the the VHS-2 bullpup (commercially named the Hellion here in the US) with a 20-inch barrel. This is the barrel length used in the most common milit...

2-Gun: AKM & Arex Delta (Lynx Brutality 2024 Prep) (Ad-free)

I'm using this month's 2-Gun Action Challenge Match as preparation for Lynx Brutality this spring. Žiga, Bloke, Jari, and I decided to all use AK's at Lynx, and I've got this Romanian kit build th...

Prototype vz.80: Improved Czech vz.50/70 (Ad-free)

The vz.50 pistol was a compact .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning) double action pocket pistol used by police forces. It was given a face lift and redesigned the vz.70, and there were plans at one point to f...