ForgottenWeapons

Q&A November 2025: The 6.8x51 is Still a Bad Idea (Ad-free)

Pienoiskivääri m/91 Finnish .22 Mosin Trainer (Ad-free)

Aly & Kaufman AKB-23: Better Than the SA80 / L85 (Ad-free)

T20 Family: Springfield Makes the Garand a Grenade Launching Sniper Machine Gun (Ad-free)

Late in 1944 the Ordnance Committee recommended adoption of a magazine-fed, select-fire version of the M1 Garand as a new standard US infantry rifle. Both Springfield and Remington developed rifles...

6.5x25mm CBJ: Shooting Through an APC with a Glock (Ad-free)

Carl Bertil Johansson is a Swedish small arms designer who has a wide range of experience. The project he is best known for is his 6.5x25mm CBJ cartridge, which necks 9x19mm down to 6.5mm and then ...

m/27PH aka m/37: Finland's First Standard Sniper Rifle (and it's really bad) (Ad-free)

Join the Forged in Snow launch here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstam...

Rideout Arsenal Dragon: A New Low-Bore-Axis Lever-Delayed Pistol (Ad-free)

Wauser t-shirt available from Varusteleka:

https://varusteleka.com/en/products/...

Adventures in Surplus! Finnish M28 "Ski Trooper" (Ad-free)

Get your exclusive preorder copy of Forged in Snow today!

https://www.kickstarter...

November Q&A: What Do You Want to Ask?

No particular theme this month, just a general request for questions...

Drum-Fed LMG for Chinese Warlords: the Finnish LS-26/31 (Ad-free)

Join the Forged in Snow launch here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstam...

MY NEW BOOK! Forged in Snow: Finnish Small Arms 1917-2025 (Ad-free)

Join the book launch on Kickstarter now!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/head...

AK50: How Hard Could it Be? Brandon Herrera's 10-Year Project (Ad-free)

Scaling the AK up to .50 BMG...how hard could it be? Today we find out, with a detailed look at all three iterations of Brandon Herrera's AK-50 project.

Apache Arms Carbine: A Saga of Compliance and Crappy Manufacture (Ad-free)

The Apache Arms carbine was a Thompson SMG lookalike that was made in small numbers in the late 1960s. It was the successor to the Spitfire carbine made by the same people, after the Spitfir...

The Original AR-15: Serial Number 6 in Original Configuration (Ad-free)

The very first AR15 rifles submitted to US government trials were extremely light rights, with an assortment of interesting features that did not last long. They had top-mounted charging handles, o...

Licensed Troubleshooter: Guns of James Bond UPDATE! (Ad-free)

Licensed Troubleshooter is still available for preorder:

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/li...

Project PRAK: Converting the CZ50 Pistol to 9x18mm Makarov (Ad-free)

In 1966, CZ undertook Project PRAK (“Slingshot”) to investigate the possibility of converting the CZ50 pocket pistol to 9x18mm Makarov. The

In 1966, CZ undertook Project PRAK (“Slingsho...

Colt LE-901 Modular Multi-Caliber AR: A Well-Designed Failure (Ad-free)

Colt originally developed the 901 as part of the US Army SCAR program, with the intention being to create a 7.62x51mm rifle that could also use unmodified 5.56x45mm upper assemblies. This would all...

Albania's Rather Odd Grenade Launching AK (Ad-free)

In addition to its regular ASh-78 (fixed stock) and ASh-82 (under folder) Kalashnikovs, Albania also made a model specifically for launching

In addition to its regular ASh-78 (fixed stock) an...

Q&A October 2025: Weird Pistols & Future Plans (Ad-free)

Use code "FORGOTTENWEAPONS10" for 10% off Kyrö Distillery spirits at their web store:

https://kyrodistillery.com/

Pe...

CZ-531: A Czech Browning in 7.62mm Tokarev (Ad-free)

The CZ-531 was developed as a replacement for the vz.52 pistol in 1953. Even as the vz.52 was being adopted, the Czech military knew that it

The CZ-531 was developed as a replacement for the ...

M1E10 Garand-Ljungman Prototype (Ad-free)

Springfield Armory was involved in experimenting with he M1 Garand throughout its production, looking at various different elements that cou

Springfield Armory was involved in experimenting w...

Hungarian K1 "Kucher" Light Submachine Gun (Ad-free)

In the early years after World War Two the Hungarian government needed new small arms, but chose to license Soviet designs instead of develo

In the early years after World War Two the Hungari...

Foldy-Glock: The Full Conceal M3D (History and Shooting) (Ad-free)

Full Conceal was a company that designed a folding Glock. The intent was to create a pistol that could be easily, discreetly, and safely carried in a pocket but still offer the handing and capabili...

ZK-466: CZ Makes a Folding Submachine Gun (Ad-free)

The ZK-466 was one of the post-war submachine guns developed in Czechoslovakia as part of the competition for a new Czech military SMG. Deve

The ZK-466 was one of the post-war submachine guns...

Gerät 06: Germany's Incremental Steps Towards Roller Delay (Ad-free)

The Gerät 06 is one of the steps in the development of the roller delay system that became H&K. The initial experiments involved replaci

The Gerät 06 is one of the steps in the developm...

GIGN's Unique Bren 2 in 7.62x39: Counterterrorism and Hostage Rescue (Ad-free)

GIGN - the "Group d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale" (Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie) is the tip of the spear for French counterterrorism and major crime response. They are...

ASh-78: Albania Makes the Worst AK (Ad-free)

Albanian AKs are both pretty scarce to find outside Albania, and also a bit unusual in the AK field. Where most countries followed Russian A

Albanian AKs are both pretty scarce to find outsid...

October Q&A: Free for all AMA - Question Request

I don't have a specific theme for this month's Q&A, so it's an open forum - what would you like to ask me?

Forgotten SIGs: SIG Pro SP2009 & SP2022 (Ad-free)

In 1998, SIG released the SIG Pro SP2340, essentially a polymer framed P226 chambered for .40S&W. This was followed the next year by the SP2009; the same gun but in 9x19mm. These pistols proved...

Type 85: China's Special Forces SMG (Regular and Silenced Versions) (Ad-free)

Jason Clower's video on the development and use of the Type 85:

https://youtu.be/-XB3axKpn98

The Type 85 was a subma...