ForgottenWeapons

"Le Formidable" Pre-WW1 Pocket Revolver at the BUG Match (ad-free)

"The Formidable" was the name given to one of many different civilian pocket-carry revolvers made by the French Manufrance firm in St Etienne. This particular model was introduced in 1895, although it went through a significant redesign in 1902. The example I have here is the later pattern, which was sold until 1916 (when arms production completely shifted to military weapons). It is a 5-shot, swing-out cylinder double action revolver chambered for the 8mm French Ordnance (aka 8mm Lebel Revol...

Chinese Warlord C96 Carbine from Taku Naval Dockyard (ad-free)

"Pistols of the Warlords" is in stock and shipping: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/chinese-pistols 

Today we are looking at a second Chinese Warlord-Era C96 Mauser carbine. These were made as fancy sporting or presentation arms for important people - just as the original Mauser-made C96 carbines were. This example was made at the Taku Naval Dockyard, a facility initially set up to maint...

Did Hitler Cancel the Sturmgewehr? (ad-free)

Get Entered to WIN this legendary PTR44 Sturmgewehr! 

https://go.getenteredtowin.com/forgottenweapons

DEADLINE to ENTER is 05/26/23 @ 11:59pm (PST).   

It is often said that Hitler personally cancelled the Sturmgewehr development...could that really be true?  

Yes! He actually nixed the program three separate times, and the German Army General Staff continued the...

Hunting Rifles for Greenland: M1917 Enfield

Greenland is a remote and desolate land without a significant industrial base, but there is a demand for hunting rifles there. As the place has long been a Danish colony since 1814, its trade was restricted to Denmark - including rifles. The Danish military received a substantial number of M1917 Enfield rifles in .30-06 caliber, and they were used by the Danish Home Guard after World War Two until being eventually sold as surplus. Some of those surplus rifles were modified by the Greenland Tr...

Apocrypha, May 7 2023: SISU!

Sorry I missed last week - I was on the road photographing for a couple upcoming books.  

I did have the chance to watch the recent Finnish movie "Sisu" this weekend, and I highly recommend it. :)

BUG Match: SIG P220 Elite 10mm vs Six Hi-Point JXP 10mms (ad-free)

Previously, I did a Totally Scientific (tm) comparison between Bruce Gray's personal SIG P220 Elite and a flock of six of Hi-Point's new 10mm JXP pistols. Today, I want to see how the two compare in a more practical test, so I brought them out to the monthly BackUp Gun Match.

Note 1: What I realized by the end of the match is that all the malfunctions in the Hi-Points were the same single issue: my left-handed grip was sometimes bumping the magazine release and causing the magazine to e...

Meetup in Zagreb, Croatia Sunday, May 21

Hey guys! I am going to Europe for Lynx Brutality at the end of the month, and will be spending some time in Croatia before the match. On Sunday the 21st, I'll be hosting a meetup at the Vintage Industrial Bar at Savska Cesta 160, 10000, Zagreb  from 1800-2000 (6pm-8pm). If you are in the area, please come and join me for the evening!

Project Best Millimeter: SIG/GrayGuns vs Hi-Point 10mm (ad-free)

Thanks to Otis Technology for sponsoring this video!  

https://otistec.com 

When I heard about Hi-Point releasing a 10mm pistol (the JXP 10), I knew I needed to do something fun with it. Hi-Point is often derided - and often for good reasons - but fundamentally the Hi-Point design does exactly what it is advertised to. It is a functional and extremely inexpensive pistol. The company has been making essentially t...

Interview w/ Biofire's Lead Designer: Features and Reliability (ad-free)

When I visited Biofire, I was able to spend several hours discussing the history of the gun with its creator, lead designer, and lead engineer. We also completely stripped one of the guns down to its component circuit boards and pins - but much of this information is still under NDA until the guns are available commercially. But I did take some time to speak on camera with Bryan Rogers, who is the lead designer (and the first employee hired by the company's founder).   

One of...

The Rare Chinese Stamped Receiver SKS (ad-free)

In 1970 and 1971, China experimented with a stamped-receiver version of the SKS. About 6,000 of these rifles were made each of the two years, and a number of them have come into the US as commercial exports.

We don't have any official records from China about this program, but it seems clear that this was an experiment to reduce the production cost of what was originally a relatively expensive, time consuming rifle to make. It's easy to think of the SKS as cheap because of the prices th...

Ohio Ordnance HCAR: The BAR of the Future (ad-free)

The Ohio Ordnance HCAR (Heavy Counter Assault Rifle - a rather fanciful name) is what happens when you take the US military development track of the Browning Automatic Rifle, and bring up to the present day. Why would someone choose this particular product to modernize? Well, because eOhio Ordnance was already making standard semiautomatic reproduction of the M1918A2 (World War Two era) BAR, and this type of modernization was a fairly obvious extension of that project.  

The HCAR r...

SIG M18: New USMC Service Pistol (and Little Brother of the M17) (ad-free)

The SIG 320 was adopted by the US Army as its new M17 full-size service pistol, but that was only have of the Modular Handgun System. The other half was the M18, a compact version of the same pistol, with a 3.9" barrel (compared to the 4.7" barrel of the M17). The Army did also adopt the M18 for MP and CID personnel, but the other service branches chose to go with the M18 as their standard sidearms. Notably, this includes the Marines, who will be using the M18 to replace the M9, M9A1, M007 (G...

Gnome et Rhône R5: A Foiled Communist Arms Plan (ad-free)

The R-5 was a French-made copy of the Sten produced after the 1944 liberation of France. It was built by Gnome et Rhône, a French company best known for making aircraft engines. The Sten was familiar to French forces, as many had been supplied as military aid to the Free French as well as Resistance organizations - and it was also a simple and cheap weapon to make.   

In the aftermath of Liberation, there was a lot of political jockeying for power in France. Many different fa...

Belgian Gendarmerie FAL w/ DSA Receiver (ad-free)

A few months ago FN America was able to import 400 parts sets from original Belgian Gendarmerie FAL rifles. I got one of them, and had it completed by DSA. They made receivers with Gendarmerie markings, as well as the barrel and other parts not included with the kit. So today we'll take a look at the finished rifle and the work that went into completing it.

For those who have these kits and want to have DSA build them, the process is to buy the receiver, have it shipped to you, and then...

Near-Complete Failure: Delta CAR-15 at Midnight Brutality 2023 (ad-free)

Thanks to the 1 Shepherd cadre for making Midnight Brutality possible! And thanks to our excellent match sponsors:

Tactical Night Vision Company (TNVC)

B.E. Meyers Advanced Photonics

Live Q or Die

Varusteleka

Midnight Brutality was a 6-stage all-nighttime match held at the Echo Valley Training Center. It was designed to test gear and skills in a dark environment, and it was both tremendously fun and very educational. This particular night for me, more educational...

All the Fun and None of the Dumb: 1 Shepherd Leadership Institute (ad-free)

The Midnight Brutality match was only feasible because of the assistance of the 1 Shepherd Leadership Institute cadre, and so I want to take a few minutes today to talk about just who they are. It is an organization founded in 1981 that uses infantry tactics and exercises to teach leadership. Intended for a wide variety of audiences from recreational milsim and airsoft enthusiasts to active-duty military looking to improve their skills.   

The organization uses the MILES laser...

What's the Deal with the SIG P320 Exploding and Firing "Un-Commanded"? (ad-free)

Social media is very excited these days about "exploding" SIG 320s...so let's consider what might actually be happening.

Of course, this discussion is invariably clouded by the fact that the P320 did have a legitimate drop-safety problem a few years ago. It was fixed, but many people don't bother to distinguish between that issue and other alleged malfunctions. So are SIGs really exploding right and left, or is this a case of social media attention making a typical number of incidents w...

The Story Behind Ian's Shrapnel Kaboom (ad-free)

Don't have medical gear or training? Code "IAN" gets you 10% off med kits and training classes:

https://www.refugemedical.com

About 6 years ago, I had an accident at the range. We talked about it at the time, but didn't say what the gun involved was, in order to keep the discussion focused on safety and first aid issues. Well, I think it's been long enough now that there's no reason to keep it obfuscated.

A Few Blemished Headstamp Books Available

Hey guys - we have a small number of blemished books at Headstamp that we are selling at about a 30% discount - early printings of Chassepot to FAMAS, Thorneycroft to SA80, and Pistols of the Warlords. We are offering them to you folks first; if there are any left at this time tomorrow we will offer them to the public.

The blemishes aren't huge, and all the books are perfectly readable, but they are enough that we can't sell them a regular new copies. So if there's one you have been wan...

Ultralight Silencer: the Carbon Research CR9T (ad-free)

One of the cool new products we found at SHOT Show this year was the CR9T from Carbon Research. This is a small research company that has figured out how to bond metals to carbon fiber in a way that allows them to build a complete suppressor body and baffle stack out of ultralight carbon fiber and then armor the tips of the baffles to give them long term durability. They make a .22 caliber can that weighs just 2.3 ounces, and their 9mm/.300 Blackout can is just 7.3 ounces. That is the CR9T, w...

Hi-Point Leading the People: The New 3095 Carbine

Hi-Point has chosen to release a new carbine, the Model 3095 - in 7.65mm French Long! Well, not quite...it's actually in .30 Super Carry. But it will run 7.65mm French Long, so I clearly need to have one...

If you are familiar with the other carbine Hi-Point makes, you will find no surprises in this one. It's the same simple blowback action, with 10-round single-stack magazines (which are specific to .30 Super Carry, and not interchangeable with 9mm).

Silent But Deadly: 8.6mm Fix w/ AGM Rattler at Midnight Brutality Thermal Division (ad-free)

Thanks to the 1 Shepherd cadre for making Midnight Brutality possible! And thanks to our excellent match sponsors:

Tactical Night Vision Company (TNVC)

B.E. Meyers Advanced Photonics

Live Q or Die

Varusteleka

Midnight Brutality was a 6-stage all-nighttime match held at the Echo Valley Training Center. It was designed to test gear and skills in a dark environment, and it was both tremendously fun and very educational.

This is my run through the match in Hunt...

Successor to the Scout: Q's 8.6mm Fix (ad-free)

0:00 - Purpose of the Fix 

6:03 - The 8.6mm Blackout Cartridge 

12:33 - Rifle Features 

21:13 - Disassembly 

29:35 - My Complaints 

31:49 - At the Range  

There is a ton to go over in this video...I noticed the Fix when it first came out, but it didn't become really interesting to me until the version in 8.6mm Blackout hit the market. Fundamentally, the Fix is a very light, modular, and ergonomic bolt action utility rifle. In 8...

Biofire: The First Worthwhile "Smart Gun"? (ad-free)

Note: The New Jersey law that would ban sale of regular guns once "smart guns" were deemed commercially viable is no longer on the books.

0:00 - Introduction

4:12 - Electronic elements

6:50 - User "presence" system

8:30 - Mechanical gun elements

11:11 - User enrollment/setup

15:29 - On the Range

18:14 - Security standards

20:59 - Conclusions

Biofire is a Colorado company that has spent the last 5 years or so developing a biometrically auth...

Surplus 101st Airborne M17: Differences Between Army and Civilian SIGs

Today we are looking at one of the surplus US Army M17 pistols that SGI put on the commercial market about 3 years ago. These were some of the very first M17s issued to Army units, and they were turned back in to SIG and replace in late 2019. The obvious difference between these and their replacements was the change from tan to black controls. Apparently those tan controls worn more quickly than the black, and the Army opted to change to black. Whether there were any internal modifications ma...

Apocrypha: Behind The Scenes April 10: Smart Guns and C&Rsenal

My past week was mostly occupied by a trip to visit the new "smart gun" company Biofire. They have a product that is pretty well thought-out and very interesting, but I'm curious to see how people react to it. There's a lot of instinctive antipathy to technology in firearms, especially biometric authentication tech. But we will find out next week...

I also had Othais and Mae from C&Rsenal stop by to visit yesterday. We had a great time out at the range playing with weird shotguns an...

Tallassee Carbine: The Confederacy's Last-Ditch Effort (ad-free)

In 1863, the Confederate military decided to design a new standard pattern of cavalry carbine. The designs was put together rather quickly at the Richmond Arsenal; a 25 inch barrel, brass furniture, and Enfield type lock. Before production could begin, however, Richmond was deemed too risky of a location. The CSA went looking for new Arsenal sites deeper within the Confederacy, and farther from the threat of Union raids. One site found was Tallassee Alabama - a large cotton mill complex on a ...

MG-3: Germany Modernizes the Classic MG-42 (ad-free)

When the Bundeswehr was formed, it chose to simply continue using the MG42 as its standard GPMG. This was initially done by converting older MG42s to 7.62x51mm NATO as the MG1 (adopted in 1958), but progressed to production of a brand new version of the gun by Rheinmetall (adopted in 1968). The MG3 included improvements to the belt feed system, added integral antiaircraft sights, and allowed a rate of fire between 700 and 1300 rpm depending on the choice in bolt, buffer and booster. It was th...

Kongsberg M52: A Line-Throwing Rifle (or Harpoon Gun) (ad-free)

The Norwegian Kongsberg factory has a history of making firearms-based tools for maritime use, and one of the more recent is the M52 line-throwing gun, introduced in the 1950s and sold through the 1970s. It uses a repurposed Mauser action paired with a new smoothbore barrel and a 12mm blank cartridge to fire a rescue line. A couple of different projectile heads were made, including a floating wooden one, a smaller solid steel one, and rocket-assisted ones to increase the range from about 100 ...

Ian and Jackson Crawford Discuss Making the Viking Atgeirr Videos (ad-free)

Dr. Jackson Crawford and I got the idea for our collaborative April fools videos on Viking firearms and gunpowder almost 8 months ago, when we visited Iceland together on the way to Finnish Brutality 2022. We took some time this week to talk about the origins of the videos and some of the Easter eggs in them. This was recorded live with an audience of our Patreon supporters, and now is published for the general public.  

We've really set a high bar for next year's April fools video...