ForgottenWeapons

Portuguese Navy Lugers: Model m/910 from DWM and Mauser (Ad-free)

Following Portuguese Army adoption in 1908, the Portuguese Navy adopted the Luger in 1909 as the m/910. The pattern they chose was a “new model” Luger in 9x19mm, with a 100mm / 4” barrel. A total of 650 were ordered in late 1909 and delivered between 1910 and 1912. The guns had Portuguese-language safety and extractor m...

Enfield MkII: Better Than the MkI, I Guess (Ad-free)

The Enfield MkI had only been in service for two years when the MkII was adopted in March 1882 to resolve some of its problems (and reduce its cost). At the same time, a new cartridge was adopted (the MkIII) with a heeled .477” bullet - also in hopes of resolving some o the problems with the Enfield revolver.

T...

New Imports: French MAS 49/56 and MAS 36/51 Rifles (Ad-free)

Yeah, I'm a sucker for nice French rifles. So when Old Western Scrounger brought in another batch of them, I offered to do a video. These are rifles taken out of French long-term storage, having been rebuilt at French arsenals to like-new condition, and are in beautiful condition.

Full video on the MAS 49/56:

2024-10-30 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

B&T APC-9: The Swiss Answer to the MP5 (Ad-free)

B&T owner Karl Brügger is a big fan of 9mm PCCs and SMGs, and decided that his company ought to offer an alternative to the MP5 and this was the Advanced Police Carbine (APC). In order to compete effectively, it needed to be simple to manufacture, since manufacturing costs in Switzerland are exorbitant compared to virtua...

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 4: The Mauser Gewehr 1871 (Ad-free)

The full version with hand loading information (not permitted on YouTube) is available here:

https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/black-powder-ep-4-app

Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a reall...

Semiauto MGs: How Are They Made? (Ad-free)

Semiauto versions of machine guns are a way to have examples of historically significant and mechanically interesting guns without having to wrangle with NFA transfers and the astronomical price of transferrable legal machine guns. However, they are not particularly common. Very few OEM manufacturers make semiauto versions of...

Legacy of the K5: Daewoo DP51 Through Lionheart Vulcan-9 (Ad-free)

The South Korean military was using old Colt M1911A1 pistols in the 1980s, and as they became worn out a new pistol was needed. This would be something designed and built domestically, and chambered for 9x19. The small arms division of the massive Daewoo industrial conglomerate, called Daewoo Precision Industries, spent sever...

MP9 and TP9: A Complete History From Steyr to B&T (Ad-free)

Steyr introduced their TMP (Tactical Machine Pistol) and its semiauto SPP counterpart in 1989, but it was never a very popular item. After the company was purchased, the new ownership decided to scrap the TMP (along with other low-performing product lines). At that point, Swiss firm B&T purchased the whole project for a n...

Tunnels and Door Breaching: Czech Combat Day 2 (Ad-free)

Czech Combat is a 2-day, 12-stage practical matching using rifle and pistol, sponsored by CZ and Sellier & Bellot. It is not a Brutality match, although it shares a lot of elements with Brutality. There is not as much physical challenge to the stages, instead having a mixture of tactically-oriented stages and IPSC-like st...

RP-46: The Rarely Seen Belt-Fed Degtyarev (Ad-free)

After World War Two, the Red Army moved from a full power infantry rifle cartridge to an intermediate one, and the 7.62x39mm RPD became the new squad machine gun. At the same time, the heavy Maxims were replaced by the new SG-43 Goryunov. This left a gap in capability, with nothing available with full-power punch and reasonab...

sa81 KRASA: Czechoslovakia's Ultra-Compact Lost PDW

The Krása project (which translates as "beauty", but is also a shortening of "short assault rifle" - "KRÁtký SAmopal") is a fascinating piece of Czech small arms development. In 1976, the Czechoslovakian military requested development of a compact personal weapon for special troops (paratroops, armored vehicle crews, etc) ...

Leaning Westward: Galils for Estonia (Ad-free)

When Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it was initially armed with a wide variety of miscellaneous small arms. They clearly needed a primary standardized rifle for the new armed forces. The one definitive criteria for making a selection was than the new rifle must be chambered for the 5.56mm NAT...

Last Chance for the Guns of James Bond Kickstarter!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=7p36g1

If you want to get either of our special covers, you have only a few hours left! Both the Literary and Cinematic trib...

Estonia's Domestic Arms Production: Arsenal Tallinn SMG (Ad-free)

At the end of Estonia's war of independence in 1920, the new nation's government began working on military infrastructure. One thing it would need was a repair depot to maintain military equipment, everything from barracks furniture to arms and vehicles. A large building was obtained in Tallinn (the capital city) and a number...

Degtyarev Upgrades: DP27 vs DPM (Ad-free)

The Degtyarev DP (aka DP-27) was the subject of a bunch of experimentation during the 1930s, but none of the trialed modifications were actually adopted. It was only in 1944, after several years of combat experience, that the design was updated to correct a number of shortcomings. Specifically:

- The recoil spring was ...

The Guns of GoldenEye N64 (Ad-free)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=e0y2xl 

We are really close to hitting the stretch goal to add a section on the Guns of GoldenEye N64 to Licensed Troub...

The FAL in Cuba: Left Arm of the Communist World? (Ad-free)

In 1958, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista ordered some 35,000 FAL rifles from FN, including both regular infantry rifles have heavy-barreled FALO light machine guns. Before any of them could arrive, however, Batista fled the country and his guns were delivered to Fidel Castro beginning in July 1959.

At this time, the FA...

James Bond's Shoulder Holsters: Good, Bad, and Ugly (Ad-free)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=3kto24

Licensed Troubleshooter: The Guns of James Bond is live on Kickstarter now - check it out for lots of super cool excl...

Mini-Ero: The Croatian Hybrid Small Uzi (Ad-free)

After producing the Ero, a nearly exact copy of the Israeli Uzi, the Croatia firm Arma started making some design changes. With the Mini-Ero, they picked a size in between that of the Mini-Uzi and Micro-Uzi, and also used a stock taken from the vz.61 Skorpion (Model 84 in Croatian service).

A big thanks to the Croatian...

Romanian 1930s Mosin Carbine Conversion (Ad-free)

Romania 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 all rifles and not carbines. In order to make practical use of all these arms, it was decided to allocate them geographically rath...

Samostril Netsch: Bizarre Prototype Czech Automatic Rifle (Ad-free)

When Czechoslovakia began looking for new small arms in the early 1920s, one of the things they were interested in was a "samostřil" - something akin to the automatic rifle in English. A select-fire weapon intended to be fired from the shoulder or hip - heavier than a basic rifle but lighter than a machine gun. This was a ca...

Literary James Bond's Best Pistol: the ASP (Ad-free)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=7eq2r0

Licensed Troubleshooter: The Guns of James Bond is live on Kickstarter now - check it out for lots of super cool excl...

Gothic Serpent: Shughart M14 Clone & Delta 1911 at the 2-Gun Match (Ad-free)

Today I decided to do a Gothic Serpent memorial 2-gun match, using my Shughart M14 clone and a surplussed Delta 1911. This was a 5-stage match at the Rio Salado Sportsman's Club, and it was a complete dumpster fire for me. I don't know what changed, but the reliable-in-testing M1A became a complete malfunction machine on the ...

The Mystery of James Bond's Long-Barrel .45 Car Gun (Ad-free)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=ce1kwg

Licensed Troubleshooter: The Guns of James Bond is live on Kickstarter now - check it out for lots of super cool excl...

Steyr-Solothurn S2-200: the Austrian MG30 and Hungarian 31M (Ad-free)

The S2-200 was developed by Louis Stange at the Rheinmetall company in Germany in the late 1920s. Because Germany was not allowed to be doing this sort of arms development at the time, Rheinmetall bought a controlling stake in the Swiss firm Solothurn AG, to make the product deniably Swiss. The gun itself is recoil operated, ...

First Gen Walther P99 at the BUG Match (Ad-free)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=dg4m5e

Licensed Troubleshooter: The Guns of James Bond is live on Kickstarter now - check it out for lots of super cool excl...

A Brief History of B&T Silencers - Impuls to Rotex to PrintX (Ad-free)

Today I'm at B&T in Thun, Switzerland taking a look at the whole history of the company's suppressors. They began back in the 90s when founder Karl Brügger was working as a machinist and had spare time available - so he started making silencers for himself and his friends. That grew into a small business, then a larger b...

Creating my Shughart Black Hawk Down M14 Clone (Ad-free)

I figured it might be worthwhile to document the process of putting together my clone of Randy Shughart's M14 from 1993 Mogadishu...so here we go.

Boring, Durable, Unsexy Bricks: The Remarkably Successful Ruger P85 (Ad-free)

The Ruger P85 - like so many of Ruger's products - is not particularly attractive or exciting. It introduced no particular mechanical innovation besides the casting-based manufacturing that would actually probably be seen as a detriment if it were advertised. And yet, the gun (and those developed from it including the P89, P9...

Every Gun in "Dr. No" is Wrong (Ad-free)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=dkrv10

Licensed Troubleshooter: The Guns of James Bond is live on Kickstarter now - check it out for lots of super cool excl...