ForgottenWeapons

SR-88A: Singapore's Final Evolution of the AR-18 (Ad-free)

Chartered Industries of Singapore was founded in 1967, and started making M16 rifles under license in 1970. These were sold to the Singaporean military as well as Thailand. To get out of their licensing agreement with Colt, the company purchased the rights to Frank Waters' the SAR-80 rifle, and then iterated that design to th...

Book Review: ERMA Erfurter Maschinenfabrik 1924–2003 (Three Volumes) (Ad-free)

Available from Schiffer Publishing as three separate volumes:

https://www.schiffermilitary.com/collections/military-new-releases/products/erma-erfurter-maschinenfa...

PSA/H&R Clones the Department of Energy Colt 9mm SMG (Ad-free)

Palmetto State Armory, under their Harrington & Richardson brand, has released a particularly neat model of 9mm AR. They talked about doing this "at some point" at SHOT Show 2024, but lo and behold it's here and available on the cusp of SHOT 2025! Specifically, this is the Colt 633, an extra-short version of the Colt 9mm ...

PSA/H&R Clones the Department of Energy Colt 9mm SMG (Ad-free)

https://youtu.be/ZEb2o_RemVMPalmetto State Armory, under their Harrington & Richardson brand, has released a particularly neat model of 9mm AR. They talked about doing this "at some point" at SHOT Show 2024, but lo and behold it's here and a...

Rate of Fire: What Determines it and How to Change It (Ad-free)

What determines the rate of fire of a machine gun, and how can that rate of fire be determined or changed from a design perspective? Let's talk about pressure, mass, and distance...

Rate of Fire: What Determines it and How to Change It (Audio Only)

What determines the rate of fire of a machine gun, and how can that rate of fire be determined or changed from a design perspective? Let's talk about pressure, mass, and distance...

Praga I: A Blow-Forward Bullpup Semi-Auto-Selectable Vickers Gun (Ad-free)

The Praga I was the first machine gun design from noted Czech arms designed Vaclav Holek. Three examples were made for Czech military testing in 1922, but they were not acceptable. Instead, this design served as the first stepping stone to the eventual development of the ZB-26, perhaps the best of the interwar light machine g...

Aimpoint's New COA: Clever Optics Advancement (Ad-free)

Let me first mention something that I didn't cover in the video: what does "COA" stand for? Well, nothing. They just wanted a name that they could trademark that wasn't already in use. So go ahead and make up your own acronym.

It may be hard to see how a pistol red dot sight could be exciting, but if you're into this so...

BD-44: The New Semiauto Sturmgewehr from D-K Productions (Ad-free)

D-K Productions is a collaboration between the rGerman company Sport System Dittrich (SSD) and an American partner. SSD has been making reproductions of German World War Two small arms for something like 20 years - including Sturmgewehrs. Their guns are really good recreations of the 1940s originals, but there have long been ...

2-Gun: Dillinger Gang Special! Winchester 1907SL and M911 (Ad-free)

Yesterday we took a look at a reproduction of the Winchester 1907 Self Loader made for the Dillinger gang (and others) by Hyman Lebman. Today, I'm taking it out to a 2-gun match, paired with a Tisas M1911A1. Let's see how it'll do!

Lebman 1907SL Conversion video:

2025-01-11 12:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Dillenger Gang's Winchester 1907 Self-Loader: The Lebman Conversion (Ad-free)

Hyman Lehman was a gunsmith in Texas who made a variant of firearms for some of the most notorious gangsters of the 1930s. One of his specialties was to take the Winchester Model 1907 Self-Loader and cut the barrel down, attach a Cutt's Compensator, and a Thompson gun vertical front grip on a replacement metal handguard. Dill...

Steyr AUGs of the Falkland Islands Defense Force (Ad-free)

The Falkland Islands Defense Force is a small organization independent of the British military, run directly by the Falkland Islands government. When it decided to update its small arms form the L1A1 SLR (aka British FAL) in the early 1990s, the British assumed they would purchase the new L85A1 rifles. However, by that time t...

Q&A Question Request: WW2 British small arms

In an effort to make the Q&A videos a bit more focused, I'm going to give each one a specific theme going forward 9or at least, I'm going to give that a try). For January, that theme is small arms of WW2 Britain. What would you like to ask me on that subject?

You Can Copy Anything: Chinese Bolt Action M1 Carbine (Ad-free)

This is a copy of the M1 Carbine made in China late in the Chinese civil war - likely between 1945 and 1949. While there was an attempt at factory production of a true M1 Carbine copy in northern China later, this example is actually a bolt action which simply copies the look and handling of the M1 Carbine (and uses M1 Carbin...

Development of the Uzi Family: Standard, Mini, and Micro (Ad-free)

The Uzi was originally designed in the 1950s, and it was on the technological cutting edge at the time. The stamped receiver, telescoping bolt, and compact magazine-in-grip layout made it an inexpensive and effective weapon. Its sedate 600 round/minute rate of fire helped as well, making it easy to shoot effectively. Uziel Ga...

Q&A: The Falklands War of 1982 (Ad-free)

Want a patch or t-shirt with our adorably heavily armed rockhopper penguin? Both are available from Varusteleka:

https://www.varusteleka.com/en/search?q=penguin

Since I spent a couple weeks hiking across the Falklands and then ...

Field to Table: Harvesting, Butchering, and Preparing Wild Game w/ Outdoor Solutions (Ad-free)

You can get Outdoor Solutions' ebook and companion videos along with their whole upcoming class schedule at:

https://www.fromfieldtotable.com

My freezer is getting low, so it was time to refill it - and I chose to do that this year at one of ...

How Is Ammunition Made? A Tour of Sellier & Bellot's Factory (Ad-free)

Today I am in Vlašim in the Czech Republic, where Sellier & Bellot has allowed me to film a tour of their ammunition plant. This is one of the largest ammo manufacturers in the world, and they start with basic raw material like lead, copper, and brass and ship out complete case ammunition. The machines involved in this p...

In the Footsteps of 45 Commando: 60 Miles Across the Falklands (Ad-free)

Want a patch or t-shirt with our adorably heavily armed rockhopper penguin? Both are available from Varusteleka:

https://www.varusteleka.com/en/search?q=penguin

I was recently joined my friends Les Winner (Polaris Logistic...

Estonia's Much Better Sniper: the M14 TP2 (Ad-free)

The first Estonian sniper rifle built on the M14 was the "TP" - a very poorly done model with a lousy scope, worse mount, and unhelpful stock. These were made in 2000, and in 2008 a new iteration came out. This was the TP2, which now used a B&T mount, standard stock (with cheek riser), and excellent Schmidt & Bender P...

Modernizing Le Clairon: the FAMAS Valorise (Ad-free)

The FAMAS was the best bullpup rifle of its era, but it was a difficult platform to modernize with optics. In 1995, the "FELIN" (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons INtégrés; Integrated Infantry Equipment and Communications) was commissioned to create a next-generation weapons platform for the French soldier. This used a c...

ZB47: A Truly Weird Czech SMG (Ad-free)

The ZB47 was developed at Brno as a contender for Czech military submachine gun adoption in the late 1940s. The Czech Army had technically adopted a submachine gun prior to World War Two (the vz.38; video on that is coming a bit later) but production did not begin before the arrival of German troops. After the war, the Army w...

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 6: Berdan II (Ad-free)

Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively reasonably priced, and they are actually pretty easy to reload for. The unavailability of factory ammunition (for most, although not so much for the Trapdoor) makes them seem like a daunting prospect, but for a p...

The End of the Mamba: A Tale of Manufacturing Incompetence (Ad-free)

The Mamba was a pistol that had a pretty decent design, but failed because of incompetent manufacturing. Today we are taking a look at a handful of surviving Mambas including the only know Green Mamba, courtesy of Val Forgett at Navy Arms. In addition, we have the minutes of a June 13, 1978 meeting of the whole Mamba team alo...

P320 Flux Legion Raider at the Range (Ad-free)

Today I am taking the SIG P320 Flux Legion (aka the SIG Legion edition of the Flux Raider) out to the range. I'm a big fan of PDW systems, and the Raider is one of the best - in my opinion it is better than some purpose-built PDWs, much less other pistol chassis conversions. Anyway, I registered this one as an SBR and I am cu...

SIG P320 Flux Legion / Flux Raider: The Best Pistol-PDW System Yet (Ad-free)

The Flux Raider is a chassis system designed to turn the SIG P320 into a very compact PDW. The design concept began as a desire to improve the practical accuracy of a handgun by adding a collapsing stock while keeping the weapon holsterable. Flux' first product, circa 2019, was a spring-loaded stock that could be attached to ...

Daniel Defense H9: The Hudson Reborn and Completely Reengineered (Ad-free)

In 2017, Hudson released a new pistol that was the darling of the firearms industry. It purported to offer a radically low bore axis and 1911-style trigger in a striker-fired system that would be fast and simple to use.

In 2019, Hudson went bankrupt, out of money and having started to scavenge parts off returned pistol...

Moons Out 2025 Launch: Prepare Your NODs! (Ad-free)

https://practiscore.com/moons-out-25/register

Moons Out 2025 is a Brutality-style night vision rifle match. It consists of 10 stages physically and mentally challenging stages over two nights, all shot in the dark with night vision equ...

Soviet Small Arms of WWII: Now Shipping! (Ad-free)

Now in stock and shipping! Order your copy here:

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/ww2-soviet-union

Please note: we will do our best to get as many preorders as possible out before Christmas, but we cannot guarantee ever...

Rhodesian Mamba at the Range: Will it Work? (Ad-free)

Today we are taking the Mamba out to the range to see just how badly (or how well) it works. This is one of the Mambas that was assembled in the US by Navy Arms - only a very small number of these went on the market before the whole project was abandoned.