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ForgottenWeapons

ForgottenWeapons

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The Pointless (and Dangerous) "Spetznaz" Makarov Holster (Ad-Free)

Today we have a look at the EFA-2k Makarov holster that was "made for Spetznaz". I am extremely skeptical that any Spetznaz operator ever actually deployed with one of these things, though. It's a ...

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VSS Vintorez: Russia's Silent Sniper Rifle (Ad-free)

The VSS (Special Sniper Rifle) Vintorez was one of two dedicated silenced rifles developed in Russia in the 1980s. The Vintorez was given a very good barrel and intended for precision shooting, whi...

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Just How Bad Is It? Vektor CP-1 at the BUG Match (Ad-free)

Yesterday we looked at the history and the mechanics of the Vektor CP1, and today I'm taking it out to the monthly BackUp Gun Match. It isn't a pistol with a good reputation, but it's also not a pi...

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Vektor CP-1: Recalled to the Mother Ship (Ad-Free)

The Vektor CP-1 was developed by Lyttleton Engineering Works (who owned the Vektor brand) in 1995 for a South African Police contract. They lost that contract to the Republic Arms RAP-401, but deci...

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Deep Lore on Machine Guns: Q&A with John Keene (Ad-Free)

Today I'm speaking with retired Master Sergeant John Keene, the NFA export for Morphy's. John is a machine gun collector himself, and between this and his work with Morphy's he has exceptional expe...

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Top 5 Pistols of World War One (Response to C&Rsenal) (Ad-Free)

C&Rsenal posted a Top 10 Pistols of WWI video a few days ago, and I didn't entirely agree with their choices - so I figured I'd do my own list. I'm using the same base conditions that they did ...

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East Germany's Secret Walther Clone: The Pistole 1001-0

When the Allies occupied German at the end of World War Two, the Walther factory at Zella Mehlis was initially garrisoned by American soldiers (who did a pretty thorough job liberating all the guns...

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Venezuelan FN49: The First FN49 Contract (Ad-Free)

Venezuela was the First Nation to purchase the FN-49 rifle, before even the Belgian military. In fact, the Venezuelan contract was signed in 1948, before the "FN-49" designation was even in place. ...

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My New Book: Small Arms of World War Two - United States (Ad-Free)

In stock and shipping now: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/ww2-usa

European sales: 2023-11-30 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Argentine Brass Maxim: A Machine Gun of the Steampunk Age (ad-free)

The Maxim Gun was the first successful true machine gun, and it became extremely popular worldwide. Maxim sent his first two working models to Enfield for testing in 1887, and by 1889 he had what h...

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Hotchkiss Portative: Clunky But Durable (Ad-Free)

The Portative was an attempt by the Hotchkiss company to make a light machine gun companion to their heavy model (which had found significant commercial success). The Portative used the same feed s...

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Ballard .41 Rimfire Derringer: An Old West Boot Gun

Charles H. Ballard is much better known for his single shot rifle design, but he also designed, patented, and produced a .41 rimfire caliber derringer. These were popular concealed weapons during t...

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Favela 2-Gun Action Challenge: Rio BOPE Madsen & Beretta 92

It's time for the monthly 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, and this time I'm bringing out the Madsen! I've rigged it up like the BOPE (Brazilian military police special teams) typically use them, with...

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FN Model 30: The First Belgian BAR (ad-free)

FN played a role in the production of Polish wz.28 BARs, and in the process obtained a copy of the technical package for the weapon, and converted it to metric measurements. Under the supervision o...

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Colt's .41 Derringers: Buyout and Innovation (Ad-free)

When Colt decided that it wanted a piece of the Derringer market, it used a tactic we are used to seeing today: it found an existing manufacturer and just bought them outright. This was the Nationa...

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Hangfires & Ballistics Gel: Czech vz.52 at the Range (ad-free)

Yesterday we took a look at the vz.52/57 rifle in 7.62x39mm, and today I have one of its 7.62x45mm predecessors out at the range. Not so much to do some shooting, as it turns out, but to fix malfun...

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Czech vz. 52/57: The SKS We Have At Home (ad-free)

We don't need the SKS, we have gun designers at home! In the early days of the Cold War, the Czechoslovak communist party was on very good terms with Josef Stalin, and were able to design and use t...

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Beltfed Madsen LMG: When the Weird Gets Weirder (ad-free)

First produced in 1902, the Madsen was one of the first practical light machine guns, and it remained in production for nearly 5 decades. The Madsen system is a rather unusual recoil-operated mecha...

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Colt 1903 in US Military Service (and for the OSS) (Ad-free)

The Colt Model 1903, aka Pocket Hammerless, aka Model M, was a massively successful design for Colt on the commercial market. It was chambered for the .32ACP cartridge, with a .380 model introduced...

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Breda 37: Italy's Forgotten Heavy Machine Gun (Ad-Free)

The Breda Model 37 was Italy's standard heavy machine gun (which meant a rifle-caliber gun fired only from a tripod) during World War Two. It was chambered for the 8x59mm cartridge, as Italy used a...

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Soviet World War Two Swords? The M1927 Shashka (Ad-free)

Cossack forces have long been a key cavalry element of the Russian military, and this did not change during the Soviet era. The Cossacks had their own rather distinctive style of sword, the shashka...

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Early Registration: Moons Out Goons Out 2024 Night Match

https://practiscore.com/moons-out-goons-out/register

We are running another night rifle match this...

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Madsens in the Favelas: The LMG Still Going Strong With Rio's Military Police (ad-free)

The Madsen LMG was first introduced in 1902, and it is still in use with police forces in Brazil today. The Madsen was not very popular with major European armies, but it sold extensively in South ...

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Adventures in Surplus: From German Imperial Navy to Ethiopia (ad-free)

I really enjoy finding guns that can be positively traced through multiple different parts of history, and Lugers can be a great source for that sort of story. Today I have a Luger from Royal Tiger...

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The Most Expensive Machine Gun Ever Sold (Ad-Free)

Morphy's recently took the world record for the most expensive machine gun ever sold at public auction - with a transferrable FN Minimi. It sold for a winning bid of $490,000, which became a total ...

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CZ-75 Automatic: The Czechoslovak Machine Pistol

In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, CZ started exploring more commercial export options for its guns. In addition to resurrecting (well, attempting to) the vz.68 Skorpion in 9x19mm, th...

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Looking for an artist

I'm looking to commission a piece of art based on Alphonse Mucha's work - is there anyone here who is an artist interested in that sort of project? If you are, please drop me an email at ianm07@gma...

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Mauser Schnellfeuer: The Official Full Auto C96 Broomhandle (ad-free)

Contrary to what you might expect, Mauser was actually the last company to produce a fully automatic model of the C96 "broomhandle" pistol. The C96 was very popular in China (Mauser sent hundreds o...

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HK P11: NATO's Secret Underwater Pistol (ad-free)

0:00 Introduction and History of Underwater Firearms

0:55 Engineering Challenges and Russian Underwater Firearms

2:07 Development, Adoption, and Global Usage of the H&K P11

3:...

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Guycot: A Rocket Ball Chain Rifle From 1879 (ad-free)

The “Guycot” is a rocket ball chain rifle system named for its two creators, Paulin Gay (the designer) and Henri Guénot (the financier). They patented the idea in 1879, and manufactured it in ...

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