ForgottenWeapons

Fundamentals of LPVOs: Cheap vs Expensive (Ad-free)

At SHOT Show this year I took some time to speak with Mike Branson of Gideon Optics (formerly of Primary Arms and Swampfox). Mike's a friend and a true optics nerd, and I figured he could help give folks an understanding of some of the fundamentals of modern firearms optics. Today, we are talking about Low-Power Variable Optics - LPVOs. In particular, what are the differences between cheap and expensive ones? What can you improve by spending more money, and what is basically limited by physic...

Boombox / Clarion Thermal at MOGO24: Zee Goggles! Zey Do Nuthink! (Ad-free)

For my Passive Division run during the staff match portion of Moons Out Goons Out 2024, I used a borrowed prototype Boombox from Q, with an AGM Clarion thermal scope. The Boombox is essentially a Honey Badger scaled up to AR10 size, chambered for 8.6mm Blackout. With a 12" barrel and Porq Chop suppressor, it was crazy quiet, and the 300gr subsonic FMJ from Gorilla Ammo that I was shooting made a great CLANG on the targets. The Clarion is a large thermal from AGM, with the option for either 2x...

Model 74 "Carpati": Cugir's Romanian Walther Clone (Ad-free)

The Model 74 "Carpați" is a copy of the Walther PP made by the Cugir factory in Romania. The project began at the direction of the Romanian secret police, who delivered a worn out Walther to the factory in 1972 with a request that they produce a domestic copy. Work on the design took two years before the final product was ready in 1974, and was adopted at the Model 74 (although it is colloquially known as the "Carpați", after the Carpathian Mountains around Cugir).

The Model 74 has an...

Announcing my Newest Book! Small Arms of WW2: Soviet Union (Ad-free)

Preorders are open now!

http://www.headstamppublishing.com/

For European orders, save on shipping by ordering here:

https://www.headstampbook.com

I'm very excited to announce my newest book: Small Arms of WWII - Soviet Union! This is the second volume in our Headstamp series of World War Two arms (the first was the United Sta...

Bonus: Ian's Boombox Shootoff with Mitch from Q (ad-free)

Mitch, design engineer at Q, challenged me to a shutoff at Moons Out Goons Out 2024. If I win, I get a Boombox from Q. If he wins, I have to embarrass myself on the internet. Sounds like a risk worth taking!

The Boombox is essentially a Honey Badger scaled up to SR25 magwell size, chambered for 8.6mm Blackout (and they will have a 7.62x51mm version as well).

Hi-Point / MAWL at MOGO24: Wheels Come Off the Struggle Bus (Ad-free)

For my Active Division run during the staff match portion of Moons Out Goons Out 2024, I set up a 9mm Hi-Point carbine with a BE Meyers MAWL last unit. Great laser; terrible gun. My hypothesis was that the gun itself didn't really matter so long as it was reliable and accurate enough to hit a silhouette at ~125 yards. The Hi-Point met those criteria, but I failed to recognize just how much its reloading and other manual of arms elements would hinder me. The MAWL was fantastic, and is the only...

Moons Out Goons Out 2024 Overview: Yeah, I Ran a High Point (Ad-free)

Last weekend we ran Moons Out Goons Out 2024, a night rifle match presented by Tactical Night Vision Company at the Echo Valley Training Center. The match was a fantastic success, and I figured I'd give you some overview takeaways to the whole event before posting my complete stages runs later this week. I did run the match twice, once in Active division with a Hi-Point carbine and BE Meyers MAWL IR laser module and once in Passive division with a prototype Q Boombox and an AGM Clarion therma...

Book Review: Vickers Guide H&K Volume 2 (SMG & PDW) (Ad-free)

Available direct from Vickers Guide:

https://www.vickersguide.com/hk-vol-2

Or from Headstamp Publishing:

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/purchase?tag=hkv2

About a year ago Larry Vickers and James Rupley published the first volume of a series on H&K firearms, beginning with handguns. After som...

Skeet with the M90 Shotgun From Halo (What Could Go Wrong?) (Ad-free)

Today is my last chance to take the Halo M90 out for a fun day at the range...so why not make it the worst possible application for this sort of shotgun?

Two World Wars: Finnish C96 "Ukko-Mauser" (Ad-free)

A decent number of C96 Mauser pistols were present in Finland's civil war, many of them coming into the country with the Finnish Jaegers, and others from a variety of sources, commercial and Russian. They were used by both the Reds and the Whites, and in both 9x19mm and 7.63x25mm. After the end of the civil war, when the military was standardizing, the C96s were handed over to the Civil Guard, where they generally remained until recalled to Army inventories in 1939. They once again saw servic...

Electrolux Charlton: Washing Machine Company Converts Bolt Action to Semiauto (Ad-free)

The Charlton was a conversion of a bolt action Lee rifle into a light machine gun, designed by New Zealander Phillip Charlton. Some 1500 were made in New Zealand, but a bit later it appears that there was an effort to also produce the gun in Australia. The Electrolux company (the same one that makes washing machines and other home appliances today) made a few prototypes.  

The Electrolux version is different from the original in a couple ways. While the basic conversion mechanism i...

Intro to Prism Scopes: What are they Anyway? (Ad-free)

At SHOT Show this year I took some time to speak with Mike Branson of Gideon Optics (formerly of Primary ands and Swampfox). Mike's a friend and  a true optics nerd, and I figured he could help give folks an understanding of some of the fundamentals of modern firearms optics. Today, we are going to talk about prism scopes. These have become popular and common in recent years, offering an alternative to red dots for unmagnified optics, and many are also available at the 3x magnification r...

Presenting Guns in Video Games w/ Jonathan Ferguson (Ad-free)

Today I am joined by Johnathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armories in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history. We're talking about the representation of firearms in modern video games, in particular the changes in names and likenesses between games and the real world, and what drives these changes.  

For more on this subject, check out the Gamespot Loadout video on the topic: 2024-03-23 12:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Romanian Berthier Carbine Conversions (Ad-free)

Romanian 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 southern state of Wallachia got the guns in 8mm Lebel; Berthier rifles (obtained from Franc in 1916 to rebuild the Rom...

Zagi: Croatia HK's a Sten Gun (Ad-free)

The Zagi is one of the more prolific of the Croatian homeland War submachine guns. It was developed with the intention of making substantial numbers, and a lot of capital was put into the PHTO (First Croatian Arms Factory, or Prva Hrvatska Tvornica Oružja) for its manufacture. This included polymer molding tools to produce the lower frame, buttplate, and pistol grip for the gun (all of which were based on HK style parts).

Mechanically, the Zagi design is a Sten gun internally, with Ste...

Denmark's m/75: A Lease-to-Own Rifle (Ad-free)

Denmark's adoption of the H&K G3 is a rather odd story. First off, the Danes adopted the m/66 H&K as its sniper/DMR rifle in 1966, while retaining the M1 Garand as its standard service rifle. Not until 1973 do they decide to update the M1s, and when they do a. major rifle test, the M16 wins. However, they aren't really excited about the prospect of adopting the M16, so they delay the decision for two years and then decide to simply lease rifles from the Bundeswehr. The Home Guard has ...

Inside the Trigger Mechanism of the Real-Life Halo M90 Shotgun (Ad-free)

The real-life Halo M90 shotgun I featured previously was actually built on a left-handed 870 Wingmaster. When I did the Christmas "historical" video about it, I didn't show the actual internal mechanics, and I figured some of you folks would be interested to see how the trigger was relayed from the top of the receiver down to the bottom...

French SIG-Manurhin 540 at the Range

Sorry for the poor audio - I was filming in an indoor range with a loud ventilation system running. But it was a chance to shoot a proper select-fire SIG-Manurhin 540, and I wasn't going to let that opportunity get away! It's a quite nice rifle, weighing in at 3.5kg / 7.75 pounds in 5.56mm. Frankly, its handling and shooting was pretty comparable to other 5.56 assault rifles, like the FNC, AR-70, and AR-18.

Enough Nonsense; What is an "Assault Rifle"? (Ad-free)

The technical definition of an "assault rifle" is pretty simple and straightforward. It's a shoulder-fired rifle with three elements:

* Capable of fully automatic fire

* Uses detachable magazines

* Chambered for an intermediate cartridge

That's it, and a rifle that meets those criteria can be accurately described as an assault rifle. Unfortunately, this terminology was confused by legislation in the 80s and 90s (and continued incorrect use today) trying to equate scary...

Early Development of the MAC 1950 Pistol (Ad-free)

Today we have a short look at two of the predecessors of the French MAC 1950 service pistol. The first is the Type SE MAS 1948, which retains many of the characteristics of the previous MAS 1935 pistols. After that is a preproduction MAC 1950 (serial number F 20), which has the same style of safety catch as the pre-M1 MAS 1935, as well as early wooden grips. Then, of course, is the standard pattern of the normal MAC 1950.  

Many thanks to the IRCGN (Institut de Recherche Criminelle...

Why Don't We Have Top-Loading Shotguns? (Ad-free)

When I posted some video of the real-life Halo M90 shotgun, one of the most common questions I got was, "why don't we have top-loading shotguns like that?" Well, it's an intriguing question...so let's see if we can find the answer.

Gilboa Snake: Is the Double-AR Really so Dumb?

The Gilboa Snake is an Israeli rifle (from the same designer behind the Cornershot) that essentially combines two standard ARs into a single unit. In its civilian configuration it has two of every part - barrels, bolts (mirrored, so one ejects left and the other right), triggers, buffers, etc. In its military setup, the triggers and recoil system are combined into single units, and this makes the gun arguably practical. With a single trigger, a person fires two rounds simultaneously, resultin...

Q&A With Jonathan Ferguson of the British Royal Armouries (Ad-free)

Today I am joined by Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the British Royal Armouries for a Q&A session, with questions provided by the fine folks who support Forgotten Weapons on Patreon...

1:02 - Would the L85A1 have been better if Enfield wasn't being privatized while it was in production?

3:22 - How does the Armouries obtain modern small arms?

7:22 - Distinction between Pattern Room and Royal Armouries

10:39 - Best water-cooled machine gun? 2024-03-10 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Prototype Matra Manurhin Compact SMG at the Range (Ad-free)

I came across this prototype (serial number 7) PDW/compact SMG in a collection, and had the opportunity to take it out to try on the range. I don't have any specific data about it, but it was made by Matra Manurhin, which only existed for 5 years, from 1985 until 1990. This was part of the repeated reorganization on the original arms maker Manufacture de Machines du Haut-Rhin (the most recognizable part of the company, the MR73 revolver, was sold to Chapuis Armes in 1998). 

The gun...

HK43: The 5.56mm "Paramilitary" Rifle (Ad-free)

Before the H&K 90 series of rifles - the civilian semiautomatic versions -  existed, there was the 40-series; the paramilitary rifles. Originally intended for German reservist purchase, the HK41 and HK43 were G3 and HK33 rifles made in semiautomatic only configuration. In the early 1970s, these were fairly easy for a German member of the armed forces to purchase, and keep at home for training or recreational shooting. They were also imported in small umbers into the US, with addition...

The Bosnian Full-Auto SKS with AK Mags (Ad-free)

During the Balkan Wars, a great many oddball guns were built and used. One of them was a Bosnian conversion of the Yugoslav M59/66 SKS to have a select-fire trigger and to use modified detachable AK magazines. These are extremely rare today, as only a few of them (probably a dozen at most) came into the US with the bulk of Yugoslav SKS imports. The ones that did arrive came with regular trigger assemblies and regular 10-round fixed magazines (and are not legally considered machine guns by ATF...

Snipers Before Infantry: the Danish m/66 Sniper (Ad-free)

The Danes adopted the M1 Garand after World War Two, and continued using it as their standard service rifle all the way until 1975 - and alongside it they used the M1D as a sniper or DMR rifle. The Danish Home Guard decided to upgrade those M1D rifles in the 1960s, however, and looked to H&K for an answer. In 1966 they adopted a model of the G3 with a 4x Hensoldt optic under the designation m/66. Today I'm at Bear Arms looking at a clone of the m/66 built by Kilo Guns on an original Danis...

Now Available: VHS-2 w/ 20-inch Barrel (aka Springfield Hellion) (Ad-free)

Springfield Armory is now importing a version of the the VHS-2 bullpup (commercially named the Hellion here in the US) with a 20-inch barrel. This is the barrel length used in the most common military pattern of the rifle, the VHS-2D. In addition, Springfield's semiauto configuration has the proper military muzzle device, barrel rings for the rifle grenade launcher, and a bayonet lug which fits the standard military bayonet for the VHS-2. This is a pretty cool new option for folks who are int...

2-Gun: AKM & Arex Delta (Lynx Brutality 2024 Prep) (Ad-free)

I'm using this month's 2-Gun Action Challenge Match as preparation for Lynx Brutality this spring. Žiga, Bloke, Jari, and I decided to all use AK's at Lynx, and I've got this Romanian kit build that I riveted together myself many years ago. I have a sidereal on it with a Russian PK-A red dot, and I will be adding on a suppressor in Slovenia. For a pistol, I'm taking my Arex Delta with its Holosun 509T enclosed red dot. Today's match was very cardio-heavy, which was both great practice for Ly...

Prototype vz.80: Improved Czech vz.50/70 (Ad-free)

The vz.50 pistol was a compact .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning) double action pocket pistol used by police forces. It was given a face lift and redesigned the vz.70, and there were plans at one point to further modernize it. The new design would have been the vz.80, but only a few prototypes were made - one of which we are looking at today from the CZ reference library. The would-be vz.80 has a barrel about 1cm shorter than the vz.50/70, and a revised mechanism for removing the slide. And other than...