The Vault

Guns on a Plane

We attended a symposium at the Institute of Military Technology a while back, and one of the talks was on the development of the AR-10, given by C. Reed Knight Jr. One of the neat anecdotes he shared really brought to light the change in public and political view of guns in public life.

In [...]

Brøndby Rifle Photos

We have previously mentioned Fridtjof Brøndby, a Norwegian arms designer who created a number of self-loading rifle designs in the 1930s. Last time we were looking at his model 1933 maskinpistole (submachine gun), and today we have a bunch of photos of his full-size self-loading rifle prototype. We still have very little information on the [...]

Mannlicher 1905 Experimental Self-Loading Rifle

Mannlicher 1905 prototype military rifle. This is a composite photo, so the muzzle end looks a bit “off”. Photo courtesy NFC, Leeds, UK.

Before we can really take a close look at today’s rifle, some background is necessary. Ferdinand von Mannlicher was a very successful Austrian gun designer, with patents on several major ideas, [...]

Direct Gas Impingement Video

Many people already know everything I’m going to say in today’s video, but I think it’s important to get it out there for the folks who don’t have as much mechanical experience with their rifles. Specifically, today we’re looking at how the AR uses direct gas impingement to operate, and how it’s different from the [...]

Book Review: The Great Remington 8

I bought a Remington Model 8 a couple months back, and I’ve been remiss in not putting together a video on it – it’s a very neat rifle. Instead (for the time being), I figured I should talk about the Remington Model 8 book – because there really is only one. It’s The Great Remington [...]

How Governments Choose Weapons: Israel

I recently got an email from Clément, asking about the choices Israel has made in small arms for the IDF. Why did they switch from the FAL to the Galil? And then why take M16s to replace the Galil? Isn’t the Galil a more reliable rifle, and what was wrong with the FAL in the [...]

Ljungman AG42B Video

Being right in the depths of winter, it seemed like a good time to take a Scandinavian rifle out to the range. Specifically, a Swedish Ljungman AG-42B. This is one of the few semiauto military rifles chambered for a full-power cartridge lighter than the 7.62 NATO (the other common one being the FN49 in 7×57), [...]

Action Match Video: Leader T2 and Ballester Molina

I’m always up for the chance to put unusual guns through practical trials, so I jumped at the chance to try out the 2-Gun Action Challenge Match north of Tucson AZ this past weekend. For my armament, I chose a Leader Dynamics T2 rifle and the Ballester Molina I recently bought as a carry gun.

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Vintage Saturday: Garand’s Garand

With all the discussion this week of replacements for the M1, I feel obligated to post this very cool photo of John Cantius Garand and the business end of his rifle.

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Vintage Saturday: Legislators

From back when the Feds were actively encouraging private citizens to invent better weapons. What a novel idea!

Photo from the May 1940 weapons testing at Fort Belvoir. From left to right, Senator Lundeen (MN, Farmer-Labor) with a Johnson rifle, Rep. Snyder (PA, Democrat) with an M1928A1 Thompson, and Senator Thomas (OK, Democrat) with [...]