ForgottenWeapons

The CZ-2000 as a 9mm SMG Prototype (ad-free full version)

There have been several examples of the AK being used as the basis for a pistol-caliber SMG or PDW. The Russians made the Vityaz, the Hungarians made the KGPF-9...and the Czechs actually made a version form the CZ-2000. This was the attempt to make a 5.56mm AK family of rifles form the roots of the 5.45mm Lada project developed in the last years of communist Czechoslovakia.   

It is unclear who exactly this pattern was made for, as it wasn't;t a part of the formal CZ-2000 syst...

Lahti's Last Machine Gun: The L33/39 Antiaircraft Gun (ad-free full version)

In response to a Finnish military need for a machine gun better than the old Maxim for aerial and anti-aircraft use, Aimo Lahti developed the L33 machine gun from the basis of the Lahti-Saloranta design. It was recoil operated, with the ubiquitous Lahti accelerator lever, and a quite high rate of fire. Total production was quite small, but several different versions of the gun were made for mounted AA use, aircraft wing mounting, and aerial observer mounts. This example is from the last patte...

Ask Ian: My Most Unsafe Range Experience (Incoming Rounds!) (ad-free)

From Brian on Patreon:

"What’s the dumbest or most unsafe thing you’ve ever witnessed while out shooting in the desert or at a range / match?"

That would definitely be when a pair of totally movie shooters out at my desert shooting range spot decided to violate Rule 4 (Know your target and what is behind it) and ended up dropping rounds right into the place where my wife and I were shooting.

Second place is a match I attended that was designed as a simultaneous head-to-h...

Ask Ian: My Most Unsafe Range Experience (Incoming Rounds!) (Audio Only)

From Brian on Patreon:

"What’s the dumbest or most unsafe thing you’ve ever witnessed while out shooting in the desert or at a range / match?"

That would definitely be when a pair of totally movie shooters out at my desert shooting range spot decided to violate Rule 4 (Know your target and what is behind it) and ended up dropping rounds right into the place where my wife and I were shooting.

Second place is a match I attended that was designed as a simultaneous head-to-h...

Croatia's Prototype Bullpup AK Conversion (ad-free)

The HS Produkt company, best known for making the XD pistols sold in the US by Springfield, was originally called IM Metal, and was a general fabrication company in Croatia. When the Croatian Homeland War began, there was a clear need for domestic small arms production, and the two engineers at IM Metal stepped up to try their hand at rifle design. The very first effort was a bullpup AK, intended to be made as a conversion of Yugoslav M70 rifles.   

Only one example was made, ...

New Book Review: "Third Reich Lugers" by Tom Whiteman (ad-free)

Available directly from Legacy Collectibles:

https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/accessories/collector-books/081022-1.html

or on Amazon:

https://amzn.to/3Ak8w3Y

Tom Whiteman (of Legacy Collectibles) has just recently published "Third Reich Lugers: An Illustrated Collector's Guide to German ...

FNAB 43: From WW2 Italy to Algerian Independence (ad-free)

Designed and manufactured by Fabbrica Nazionale d'Armi di Brescia (National Arms Factory of Brescia) in northern Italy, for use by the RSI and German military forces (as well as some partisan units). They were produced in 1943 and 1944, and only about 1,000 were made (all with serial numbers in the 5,000 range, for unknown reasons). They were quite expensive to produce, with milled receivers and a closed-bolt lever-delayed mechanism.  

Interestingly, many of the surviving examples ...

East Meets West at the BUG Match: CZ's vz.82 (ad-free)

Yesterday we looked at the history and development of the vz.82 pistol; today I am taking it out to the BackUp Gun Match. this should be a pretty competitive pistol in this environment, and it actually meets the characteristics of a backup gun quite well. It is light and compact, but still offers very good controls, excellent accuracy, and a 12-round capacity in a powerful round (9x18mm. Makarov) for a simple blowback action.

Origins of the vz.82: A Western Pistol for Communist Czechoslovakia (ad-free)

The vz.82 and its cousin the CZ 83 are pistols that originated when the Czech state export company during the Cold War began looking for arms it could export to bring in hard currency. The current service pistol, the vz.52, was, shall we say, not widely desirable and its 7.62x25mm cartridge was not widely used outside the Warsaw Pact anyway. The earlier vz.50 and vz.70 pistols were also not really suitable, as they were old and rather clunky designs. Something new was needed that could appeal...

Ask Ian: Terminators or Liberators for the Elbonian Resistance?

Scheduled for September 29.

Ask Ian: Are Man-Portable Chain Guns Coming? (Audio Only)

From Nikolas on Patreon:

"Have there been any attempts to make miniaturized man-portable chain guns? Do you think there's a future for such a machine gun given modern advances in energy storage?"

Chain guns are a specific type of externally-powered machine gun. They have a single barrel, and used a loop of chain to control the movement of the breech and feed system of a machine gun so that it cycles under external power independent of energy taken from the firing cartridge. They a...

Ask Ian: Are Man-Portable Chain Guns Coming?

From Nikolas on Patreon:

"Have there been any attempts to make miniaturized man-portable chain guns? Do you think there's a future for such a machine gun given modern advances in energy storage?"

Chain guns are a specific type of externally-powered machine gun. They have a single barrel, and used a loop of chain to control the movement of the breech and feed system of a machine gun so that it cycles under external power independent of energy taken from the firing cartridge. They a...

Arex AKB-15: A Lost AK Modernization Project (ad-free)

The AKB-15 was a project developed by Arex Defense in Slovenia in 2015. The company received a request from a small country (they decline to reveal exactly who) to modernize a stock of AKM rifles with adjustable stocks, pica tinny optics mounting, and new barrels among other features. Arex developed a monolithic aluminum upper assembly (the production model would have been made from an extrusion) and put together 100 examples for military consideration.

At the same time, they planned to...

Tour of the AREX Defense Factory in Slovenia (ad-free)

During my visit to Slovenia, I had a chance to tour the AREX Defense factory in Šentjernej. I came away really impressed by the quality and the breadth of operations that the factory performs in-house. They have only been making their own handgun designs for about 5 years, but they have been a subcontractor making parts for other big-name companies (like FN) for decades.

Soviet WW2 Bramit Silencer for the M91/30 (ad-free)

The Soviet Union began to take an interest in military suppressors in the early 1930s, and experimented with things like suppressors for the DP light machine gun. Through the 1930s a variety of different designs were tested, but none were found really suitable. Everything they tested was deemed too heavy, too loud, or detrimental to accuracy. The Bramit (“Brothers Mitin”) design we are looking at today was first tested by the NKVD in June 1940, and that organization adopted it in December...

The Czech Unicorn LMG: A Squad Support CZ-2000 (ad-free full version)

The CZ-2000 project in the Czech Republic (derived from the Lada developed in the late years of Czechoslovakia) envisioned a full suite of infantry arms, much like the AK as used by other countries. There would be an SMG-type compact weapon (akin to the AKS-74U "Krinkov"), a standard infantry rifle, and a light support weapon. It's that last one that we are looking at today, with a longer barrel and bipod.   

Surviving examples of CZ-2000s are extremely rare today, as the syst...

From Service Sidearm to Match Gun: the Astra 400 Target Model

A very small batch of special target model pistols was made at the very end of Astra 400 production in 1945. They were fitted with Patridge front sights and adjustable revolver-style square-notch rear sights, much improved over the stock Astra 400 sights. In addition, they were fitted with a special single-set trigger system in which the sear engagement was dramatically lightened to give a very short and light press. However, the sear engagement was so light as to risk doubling under recoil, ...

Ian McAttenborough Introduces New Forgotten Weapons Goodies

http://shop.forgottenweapons.com

We have some cool new items dropping in the Forgotten Weapons shop today!

Glencairn whisky glasses

"Wauser" t-shirts

Warlord pistol t-shirts

Short-sleeve moisture wicking t-shirts

Quarter-zip pullover

When MAC-10 Meets Skorpion: Croatia's Homeland War ALKA mod 93 (ad-free)

The ALKA model 93 is one of the nicest of the several dozen simple SMGs made in Croatia during the Homeland War of the 1990s. It was produced by the IM Metal company (later renamed HS Produkt) starting in 1991, was formally adopted by the Croatian armed forces in 1993, and produced until 1994 or 1995. Several thousand were made in total, although I have not been able to find an exact number.  

Mechanically, the Alka is a hybrid of the Ingram M10/M11 and the Czech vz.61 Skorpion. It...

Ask Ian: Analyzing the Savage Rotating Barrel (at 7500 frames/sec) (ad-free)

A question I have been asked by several different people in several Q&A threads is:

"Does the Savage rotating-barrel system actually do anything?"

In his 1905 patent, Elbert Searle specifically claims that his design creates a positively locked breech. He did this, in theory, by having a system where the barrel must rotate before the slide can move rearward (which opens the breech), and where the bullet engaging the rifling created an opposite rotation which would hold the bre...

The Original Shorty Mosin: The Model 1907 Carbine (ad-free)

The creation of a short and handy Mosin Nagant carbine to complement the standard M891 was prompted by the Russo-Japanese War. Lots of Russian troops with roles other than infantry - machine gun and artillery crews in particular - were unnecessarily burdened with full length rifles, and the Model 1907 carbine was intended to fix that. 

Produced at the Izhevsk Arsenal, the model was adopted in 1907 and made until 1914. A total of about 344,000 were originally made (not that the seri...

Scrome J8 Commercial Production Update (For the FR-F2)

Scrome, the original maker of the J8 scope used by the French Army on the FR-F2 sniper rifle, is making a commercial run of J8 scopes for collectors who have the recently-released surplus FR-F2 rifles. They are made in France in the same shop, by the same people and to the same specifications as the Army scopes - including the correct range finding reticle. They don't know how many to make, so they are asking for a preorder list. If you are interested in getting one, email them at Lte@scrome....

Roller-Delay Showdown: Angstadt MDP-9 vs H&K SP-5 (ad-free)

Today we are out at the range to compare the Angstadt Arms MDP-9 to the classic H&K SP-5. We will do a bunch of runs on a course of fire that incudes precision targets, spinners and stars, and see which of the carbines comes out ahead! Plus, as a bonus, some shooting with a suppressor and subsonic ammunition...

Meetup: Reykjavík, Monday August 29th

Before Finnish Brutality, I'm spending a few days in Iceland. If you happen to be an Icelander, it would be great to meet up with you! I will be at Cafe Babalú on the 29th from 5pm until probably about 7pm. The address is Skólavörðustígur 22, Reykjavík. 

See you there!

PS - There will also be a meetup at Varusteleka in Helsinki, but we haven't set the date yet. Info will follow when it's finalized. 

Angstadt Arms MDP-9: MP5 Meets AR15 (ad-free)

Angstadt Arms has recently released their MDP-9 carbine, an AR-type lower coupled with a roller-delayed blowback upper assembly. This is the same operating system as the much-lauded MP5, and Angstadt version of the design is remarkably light, handy, and simple. It is made specifically for Glock magazines, and is available in pistol and SBR configurations (the one in today's video is an SBR). With a just-under-6" barrel and side folding stock, it makes for a very compact package. I really like...

Ask Ian: Tractors to Typewriters, Non-Gun Companies Making Guns? (ad-free)

From Brian on Patreon:

"Would you give your thoughts and comments on non-gun companies making guns? For example Baldwin Locomotive/Eddystone 1917s, IH Garands, GM M-16s, most M-1 carbines, maybe even TRW M-14s. How did the experiment work out?"

I would say that the experiment worked very well. Springfield Armory was tasked with developing production tooling for various US military production items, with the express purpose of aiding private industry in tolling up for mass producti...

Ask Ian: Tractors to Typewriters, Non-Gun Companies Making Guns? (Audio Only)

From Brian on Patreon:  

"Would you give your thoughts and comments on non-gun companies making guns? For example Baldwin Locomotive/Eddystone 1917s, IH Garands, GM M-16s, most M-1 carbines, maybe even TRW M-14s. How did the experiment work out?"  

I would say that the experiment worked very well. Springfield Armory was tasked with developing production tooling for various US military production items, with the express purpose of aiding private industry in tolling up for...

Belgian GP-35: Pre-War Browning High Power Complete Rig (ad-free)

The Browning High Power (“Grand Puissance”, aka GP-35) was developed by Fabrique National in Belgium, designed primarily by John Browning’s apprentice Dieudonné Saive. It began in the very early 1920s as a pistol designed for a new French Army requirement, but eventually split into two separate development tracks. By the early 1930s the French procurement process was still ongoing, but FN felt that the current iteration of their pistol (the Grand Rendement) was succificently mature to ...

What Are Some of Today's Best Investment Handguns? (ad-free)

Today I'm joined by Len Antaris of Historic Investments to discuss, well, historic investments. I maintain that firearms are better bought for their historic value than as speculative investments, but there are certainly plenty of people who do both. So, Len and I figured we would discuss what we both think makes a particular gun a good candidate for this sort of investment.   

You can follow Len's own videos on his Historic Investments channel here: 

2022-08-16 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Mendoza 1934: Mexico's Domestic LMG (ad-free)

Rafael Mendoza was Mexico’s premier domestic arms designer, and the Model 1934 LMG is probably his most successful design. He began work on it in 1929, and it entered testing with the Mexican Army in 1932. It was formally accepted by the Mexican Army in 1934 (hence the designation) and would serve into the mid 1950s. Mendoza was a private civilian, but production of the gun took place in the state-owned National Arms Factory in Mexico City, with Mendoza himself receiving no royalty or licen...