ForgottenWeapons

RT20: Croatia's Insane Kludged 20mm Anti-Material Rifle (Ad-free)

During its Homeland War, Croatia manufactured a wide variety of ad-hoc firearms including a number of anti-material rifles. The RT-20 was the largest of these, and its development began with the discovery of a stash of Yugoslav M55 anti-aircraft cannon barrels chambered for 20mm Hispano in a warehouse. These barrels were cut ...

Colt 608: The AR15 as a Pilot's Survival Rifle (Ad-free)

As part of its effort to build out the AR-15 family of small arms, Colt introduced the Model 608 in 1965. This was intended to be an aircraft survival rifle, able to pack disassembled into a small space with four 20-round magazines for use by the US Air Force. With a 10 inch barrel, fixed tubular stock, and cut down grip it w...

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 3: The Martini-Henry MkIV (Ad-free)

The full version with hand loading information (not permitted on YouTube) is available here: https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/martini-app-cut

Sorry about the wind noise! We did our best to deal with it in post-productio...

History of SAW Use in the US Army (Ad-free)

The first squad automatic weapon used by the US Army was the French Mle 1915 Chauchat, which was the primary LMG or automatic rifle for troops in the American Expeditionary Force in World War One. At that time, the Chauchat was a company-level weapon assigned where the company commander thought best. In World War Two, the Cha...

MAGAL: A Galil in .30 Carbine for the Israeli Police (Ad-free)

In the early 1990s, Israeli Military Industries (IMI) developed the Galil MAR (Micro Assault Rifle) and the MAGAL at the same time. Both were intended to be very compact rifles, with the MAR in 5.56mm and the MAGAL specifically for police in .30 Carbine. The MAGAL offered the same handling and ergonomics as the regular Galil ...

OTs-14 Groza: Russia's Over-Hyped 9x39mm Spetznaz Bullpup (Ad-free)

The 9x39mm cartridge was introduced in the final days of the Soviet Union as a subsonic round intended specifically for suppressed weapons. The first weapons developed for it were the AS Val and VSS Vintorez. These were followed in the early 1990s by the OTs-14 "Groza", developed by Valery Tells and Yuri Lebedev at Tula. The ...

FN M249S SAW at the Range (Ad-free)

We previously looked at the mechanics of FN's semiauto version of the US SAW, the M249S. Today we are taking it out to the range for some shooting...

Nova Modul CTS9: a 9mm AK Upgraded for Competition (Ad-free)

The CTS9 (Competition Tactical Shooting) is a 9x19mm AK variant made by Nova Modul in Romania. Specifically, in Cugir Romania - the same town that houses the massive small arms factory complex that made millions of small arms during the communist era. Nova Modul, despite being in the same city, is a much more recent privately...

Colt Service Model Ace: Carbine Williams Makes a .22 1911 (Ad-free)

"Carbine Williams", aka David Marshall Williams, has a reputation as the designer of the M1 Carbine, and a very colorful history. He was a moonshiner who pled guilty to second degree murder of a sheriff's deputy and served time in prison. He gained a reputation as a gunsmith in prison, fixing the department's guns in the pris...

Icelandic Swords: Blades of the Viking Frontier (Ad-free)

(Sorry for the messed-up framing at the beginning of the video!)

While I was in Iceland, I had an opportunity to visit the National Museum of Iceland and take a look at a couple of settlement-era swords found on the island. Since these are really outside my area of expertise, two experts generously offered to join me on...

Custom DeLisle: A .45ACP Mini-Mauser in Classic Sporting Lines (Ad-free)

Today we are checking out a bespoke gunsmith's project; a DeLisle-inspired .45ACP Mauser built by Lars Rannstad Slang of Oslo. Using a commercial small-ring Mauser action, he fabricated a new bolt head, trigger guard, follower, and large aluminum mono-core suppressor to built a rifle that functions like a classic SOE DeLisle ...

Cugir Model 92 "Dragana" Mauser: Hunting Rifles From MG34s (Ad-Free)

With the fall of communism in Romania, the Cugir Arsenal complex lost its government financial support. Looking for commercial products to sell to keeps its workers employed, the factory turned to producing hunting rifles for the domestic Romanian market. This was possible because the factory had a stock of spare parts for ma...

FN M249S Semiauto for Military Collectors (Ad-free)

In 2015, FN USA introduced a Military Collector product line - semiautomatic versions of their military contract small arms. These were the M4, M16, and - most interestingly - the M249 SAW. The SAW is a version of FN's Minimi light machine gun, developed in 1974 and adopted by the US in 1982. The semiauto version, designated...

Wieger 942: East Germany Makes a 5.56mm AK (Ad-free)

East Germany purchased a license for production of the AK-74 in 1981, but that license was for domestic use only. There was an apparent market for export production AKs in the western 5.56mm cartridge, and so the East Germans developed their own new rifle to fill that demand and bring in some much-desired hard currency. That ...

History of the Krummlauf Device: Hitler's Folly (One of Many) (Ad-free)

Today we are taking a look at the backstory of the famously recognizable Krummlauf device, the curved barrel attachment for the StG-44. It is really a perfect example of how German late-war desperation weapons took shape. It went from an idea nobody actually wanted to an impossible development program in the chaos of the Germ...

Tour of Sport Systems Dittrich: Reproduction WWII German Rifles (Ad-free)

I recently had a chance to visit Sport Systeme Dittrich, a firm in Germany that manufactures high quality reproductions of German World War Two small arms. They were the manufacturers of the PTR-44 Sturmgewehr copies about 10 years ago, and they are now working with a US partner (DK Production Group) to import their guns into...

Pump-Action AK: Romanian PAR-3 (How Not to be an "Assault Weapon") (Ad-free)

Between 1994 and 2004, there was a national "assault weapon" ban in place int he United States, along with some related importation restrictions on military-looking rifles. Most semiauto rifle importation continued by adjusting various cosmetic features to not fall under the provisions of the various rules, but at one point s...

Romanian Model 1879 Martini-Henry Rifles & Carbines (Ad-Free)

Following its experience in the Russo-Turkish War, the Romanian Army was quite impressed by the Martini-Henry rifle in Turkish service. Unlike so many Western observers who were taken by the Winchester repeating rifles that actually didn't make much battlefield impact, the Romanians recognized the all-around quality of the Ma...

Landstad 1900: A True Semiautomatic Revolver (Ad-free)

The Landstad Model 1900 is a magazine-fed, semiautomatic revolver designed by Norwegian Halvard Folkestad Landstad, who lived in Kristiana (now called Oslo). He designed the gun on his own dime, and presented it to military trials in 1901, which it failed miserably. The gun has a six-round detachable box magazine of 7.5mm Nag...

Belton Repeating Flintlock: A Semiautomatic Rifle in 1785 (Ad-free)

In 1785, Joseph Belton (an American inventor) and William Jover (an English gunmaker) sold 560 repeating flintlock rifles to the British East India Company. The guns were a very remarkable design which used a detachable magazine tube of 7 rounds stacked in series with a seven sequential touch holes. When the first round was f...

Universal AK Optics Rail from KGM Consortium (Ad-free)

At the IWA trade show earlier this year, a representative from the Polish KGM Consortium gave me a sample of a new AK optics rail to try out. This idea here was to create a universal optics mount for basically any AK/AKM/AK74 rifle that would be light, not require permanent modification, and not interfere with other military ...

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 2: The Modele 1874 Gras (Ad-free)

The full version with hand loading information (not permitted on YouTube) is available here: https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/black-powder-episode-2-gras-app-cut

Black powder military rifles of the 18...

Handguns in the US Army in World War Two (Ad-free)

Was the 1911 an emotional support totem or a viable combat weapon? Or both? American soldiers had a bit different take on handguns than soldiers of many other armies, and I think it stems from the American identity with the frontier - the Wild West was well within memory for many people when World War Two broke out. So today,...

CZ Bren 2 MS: The Civilian Version of a Modern Combat Rifle (Ad-free)

CZ's Bren 2 is one of the more successful recently developed military service rifles, having been adopted by the Czech Republic and Hungary, as well as entering licensed production in Ukraine. The semiauto Bren 2 MS is a fine rifle on its own merits, but also offers an opportunity to build a near-perfect clone of a current se...

PAM-2: Argentina's Improved 9mm Grease Gun (Ad-free)

The Argentine factory FMAP-DGFM was first set up to produce a copy of the Colt 1911, and in 1954 they began production of the PAM-1 (after demonstration of the first prototype in 1950). The PAM-1 was a copy of the American M3A1 "Grease Gun" chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum. Production ran until 1961, at which point the factory...

LMT Ion-LT Suppressor: Multipurpose, Light, & Low Back-Pressure (Ad-free)

LMT's new line of suppressors is designed for multi-purpose use in mind. The .30 caliber Ion 30 and Ion LT are rated for anything from .17 HMR to .300 Winchester Magnum, including automatic use. Both .30 and .22 caliber endocarps are available, and the mounting system is the standard Hub type. The company has muzzle devices o...

The GI's Darling: M1911A1 at the BUG Match (Ad-free)

What more classic backup gun is there than the M1911A1, beloved by GIs as a backup to their M1 Carbines, M1 Garands, BARs, and tanks? Today I'm running an April 1945 production original military M1911A1 at the match. Note that this gun puts me in the "Big 5" division, so I have to start each stage with only 5 rounds in the ma...

Fort 221: The Ukrainian Tavor TAR (Ad-free)

In 2008, Ukrainian manufacturing conglomerate RPC Fort received a license from IMI to produce a variety of Israeli small arms, including the Tavor TAR and Tavor X95. In Fort's catalog, these were designated the Fort-221 (TAR) and Fort-224 (X95). A small number were allegedly produced for special forces, the Presidential Guard...

Makarov PB: Silenced KGB "Wet Work" Pistol (Ad-free)

In 1967, the Tula arsenal introduced a specialized silenced version of the Makarov for covert use. This was a very effective pistol, and its design was also very heavily changed from that of the regular pistol. With a two-part silencer surrounding the barrel, the recoil spring had to be moved to a location inside the grip pan...

Sten Mk5: The Cadillac of the Sten Family (Ad-free)

The Sten Mk5 (sometimes written Sten MkV) was really the Cadillac of the Sten series. It was designed in 1943, and featured a full wooden buttstock patterned after the No4 Enfield rifle, as well as a front sight abductor bayonet lugs for the Enfield. It has a wooden pistol grip as well (and early production examples also had ...