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 markings (“Seguranca” and “Carregada”) and included grip safeties. They were in a dedicated serial number range of 1 to 650. The first 350 were delivered under the...

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.

The Enfield used a selective ejection system that was intended to dump empty cases but retain unfired live cartridges. It was a bit finicky, with the live rounds often mov...

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:

https://youtu.be/h0zqyAzsW1Y 

Full video on the MAS 36/51:

Jeez, I only realized when...

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 virtually everywhere else. So the design is based on an aluminum extrusion for the receiver, with a polymer grip and fire control housing. The APC-9 is hammer-fired from a clos...

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 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 ...

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 military machine guns (FN USA being the best example of one who does, followed by Ohio Ordnance). Most of them are made from parts kits by small entrepreneurial gunsmith...

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 several years in the mid 80s designing what would be adopted in 1990 as the K5 pistol. It took elements from the Beretta 92 and 3rd-generation S&W automatics, and the "fas...

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 nominal one Austrian Schilling and began to develop it themselves. B&T made a number of reliability improvements to the basic design, and perhaps most importantly adde...

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 stages. It was an extremely fun experience, with great competitors and really good range staff officiating the event!

2024-10-19 12:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

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 reasonable mobility. To solve the problem, a team of three engineers (A.I. Shilin, P.P. Polyakov, and A.A. Dubinin) developed a clever adaptation to allow the DP/DPM machine gun ...

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) and unit commanders. It was to be chambered for the standard 7.62x39mm cartridge, but it should be no more than 1.6kg (3.5lb) empty and just 270mm (10.6") long when folde...

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 NATO cartridge, as Estonia knew from the beginning that its long-term survival as an autonomous state depended on joining the NATO alliance.

In 1994, Estonia put out ...

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 tribute cover designs are exclusively available during the Kickstarter campaign (both are different cover art only; the books themselves all include both cinematic and litera...

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 of small shop moved to the new premises to work together. Over the 1920s, this central repair depot grew in size and capability, and in 1924 is was officially named Arse...

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 moved away from the gas piston and up behind the bolt to prevent its overheating.

- The traditional stock and grip safety were replaced by a pistol grip and manual...

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 Troubleshooter!

For a lot of people, James Bond was introduced not by Sean Connery, but by a 64-bit rendition of the world's most famous spy in GoldenEye for the Ninten...

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 FAL was still a fairly new rifle, having been first adopted by Venezuela in 1954 and Belgium in 1954/55. A few changes had been made by the time of the Cuban contract (like...

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 exclusive options!

Today Caleb Daniels - author of Licensed Troubleshooter - is back with me, to discuss the wide variety of shoulder holsters that James Bond uses thro...

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 Police Museum (Muzej Policije) in Zagreb for giving me access to film this rare piece for you! Check them out at: 2024-10-05 12:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

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 rather than try to standardize on one single type. The region of Moldavia got the guns in 7.62x54R, including Mosin Nagants. This consisted mostly of M91 rifles, and very few...

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 category of small arm briefly popular, and a few were adopted by different countries, with the most obvious being the US BAR (also the French Chauchat and the Russian Feder...

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 exclusive options!

Today Caleb Daniels, author of "Licensed Troubleshooter", is joining me to talk about one of the best guns used to arm the literary James Bond: the A...

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 clock. I had trouble with the 1911 as well, also for the first time. Together, this landed me in dead last place...but at least I looked good doing it, I suppose?

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 exclusive options!

Today Caleb Daniels joins me again to discuss one of the mysteries of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Bond is described as carrying a long-barrel .4...

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, with a rotating locking collar connecting the bolt and barrel, rather like the Hotchkiss Portative. It was a design that had some early influence on the German MG34, alth...

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 exclusive options!

Last week Tom and I did a BUG match with 4 different iconic James Bond pistols - but the Walther P99 was conspicuously absent. Personally delivered t...

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 business getting contracts for Swiss police departments and making commercial sales, and eventually into the major industry player it is today. B&T is not the best-kno...

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, P90, P91, and P94) were massively successful, with more than 700,000 produced. What Ruger did was to continue their standard operating procedure of making a gun that was pr...

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 exclusive options!

Today Caleb Daniels, author of "Licensed Troubleshooter", joins me to talk about the guns shown in Dr. No, the very first James Bond film. Somehow, t...