Commentary
The Post-War Legacy of the FG42
If the FG-42 was such a great gun, then why didn’t it get used after the war? Well, two answers… 1) It was crazy expensive to make and there weren’t very many lying around for […]
Semiauto Rifles
Taiwan’s Retro Gas Piston AR: the Type 65
When Taiwan decided to move from the M14 platform (the Type 57 in Taiwanese service) to a 5.56mm rifle, they decided to develop a domestic gas-piston version of the AR. Development began in 1973, with […]
Competition
Ugly Pistol Day at the BUG Match: CZ38
For this month’s BackUp Gun Match, I decided to bring out the CZ38 – one of the top contenders for ugliest service pistol ever adopted. It’s a single-stack, double-action-only .380 with a weirdly bulky grip, […]
Semiauto pistol
Llama M87: Everything You Would Want for IPSC (at the time)
The Llama M87 was Gabilondo y Cia’s high-end competition pistols based on the M82 action, and made in both 9mm Parabellum and 7.65mm Parabellum. This was mechanically a copy of the Beretta 92 system, and […]
Select-fire Rifles
Original FG42: A Detailed Comparison of the 1st and 2nd Patterns
Today we are looking at examples of the 1st pattern (Type E) and second pattern (Type G) FG42, comparing their construction and disassembling both to get a close look at the internal differences. Despite sharing […]
Gunsmithing
Story of the Alar: A Simple Student-Made SMG
The Alar is an interesting very rare Croatian domestic SMG. It is called the “Alar” after it’s designer, Stipe Alar. He first came up with the design in 1971 and built one illegally – which […]
Competition
Semiauto PM-63C “Rak” at the BUG Match (It’s Technically a Backup Gun…)
I recently picked up one of the Pioneer Arms semiauto PM-63C pistols that are sporadically available here in the US. They have a pretty mediocre reputation and I wasn’t expecting much, but the gun is […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Argentina’s Slightly French Model 1909 SOM Sniper
Argentina was one of the first countries to adopt Mauser rifles, with the Model 1891. These were replaced by newer Model 1909 rifles a couple decades later, and in 1913 they bought 500 telescopic sights […]
Semiauto pistol
Tara TM-9: What a Tangled Web of Intrigue for a Crappy Gun
Tara Aerospace is an arms factory in Montenegro that was privatized around 2013 or 2014, and a major stake in it was purchased by one Heinrich Thomet (formerly of Brugger & Thomet, and then the […]
Semiauto pistol
Yugoslav M57: Tito’s Tokarev
Yugoslavia purchased both 1895 Nagant revolvers and TT33 Tokarev from the Soviet Union after World War Two, but this was only a holdover until domestic pistol production could begin. While Yugoslavia was formally communist, Tito […]