2018 - Forgotten Weapons

UK vz.59 Czech Universal Machine Gun: Shooting

March 22, 2018 Ian McCollum 31

Yesterday we looked at the history and the mechanics of the Czech UK vz.59 universal machine gun – so today we are taking it out to the range for some shooting! The UK 59 is […]

UK vz.59 Czech Universal Machine Gun: History and Mechanics

March 21, 2018 Ian McCollum 30

In 1952, Czechoslovakia adopted a whole new family of small arms, including the vz.52 pistol, vz.52 rifle, and vz.52 light machine gun. The rifle and LMG were both chambered in the Czech 7.62x45mm cartridge, […]

Cook and Brother of New Orleans – A Confederate Rifle Factory

March 20, 2018 Ian McCollum 4

Cook and Brother was one of the largest and most successful of the private ordnance factories in the South during the Civil War. It was formed by two British brothers who had moved to New […]

Shooting a Suppressed Sten Gun

March 19, 2018 Ian McCollum 28

During World War Two, the British spent several years developing a silenced version of the Sten gun for special operations commandos and for dropping to mainland European resistance units. This is a recreation of one […]

Lancaster Four-Barrel Shotgun With Double-Action Trigger

March 18, 2018 Ian McCollum 10

Charles Lancaster started his unmaking business in London in 1826, and it would survive more than one hundred years, being run after Charles’ death by his sons and then by an apprentice who bought out […]

Stoner 63A Automatic Rifle – The Original Modular Weapon

March 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 43

The Stoner 63 was a remarkably advanced and clever modular firearm designed by Eugene Stoner (along with Bob Fremont and Jim Sullivan) after he left Armalite. The was tested by DARPA and the uS Marine […]

Italy’s Sleeper Submachine Gun: The Beretta 38A

March 16, 2018 Ian McCollum 27

The Beretta 38A is not a gun that comes to mind for many people today when discussing World War Two submachine guns, but at the time it was one of the most desirable guns of […]

Scoped Sharps 1874 Buffalo Rifle

March 15, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

This 1874 Sharps rifle is a great example of a been-there, done-that authentic western buffalo rifle. It was shipped from Sharps in 1879 with double set triggers, open sights, and a medium-weight .45 caliber barrel, […]

Browning M1917: America’s World War One Heavy Machine Gun

March 14, 2018 Ian McCollum 40

When the United States entered World War One, its military has a relatively tiny handful of machine guns, and they were divided between four different types, as the military budget was small and machine guns […]

Japanese Contract Steyr-Solothurn S1-100 (aka MP34)

March 13, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

In order to circumvent Versailles Treaty restrictions on arms manufacture, the German Rheinmetall firm purchased a small Swiss company called Solothurn Waffenfabrik in 1929, allowing it to route its business through Switzerland instead of Germany. […]