Prototype
Hill SMG/Pistol: Inspiration for the FN P90
John L. Hill was a World War One fighter pilot who went into the oil and gas industry, and enjoyed tinkering with guns in his free time. In 1949 he got an idea for a […]
Year: 2021
Book review
Book Review: The Green Meanie L96A1 by Steve Houghton
Following up on his 2018 “The British Sniper: A Century of Evolution”, Steve Houghton has now released a followup book on the L96A1 in particular: “The Green Meanie”. This rifles was a paradigm shift for […]
Prototype
Pancor Jackhammer Mk3
John Anderson was a Korean War veteran who became interested in developing a high capacity, selective-fire combat shotgun for military use. He designed what became known as the Pancor Jackhammer, a fully automatic, gas operated, […]
Light MGs
.303 Lewis Gun at the Range
I really enjoy the Lewis Gun, and it’s been a long time since I had a chance to put some rounds through one. This particular example is a Savage-made gun marked USN, and I think […]
Semiauto pistol
Lugers Under Versailles: The 1926 Simson P08
Simson & Co of Suhl was chosen as the sole contractor legally allowed to manufacture and rework military small arms for the German military under the Versailles treaty. They acquired the P08 Luger tooling from […]
Light MGs
Type 97: Kijiro Nambu Adapts the ZB-30 for Japanese Tanks
Introduced in 1937, the Type 97 was basically a copy of the ZB 26/30 pattern light machine gun adapted to use in Japanese tanks and armored cars. The adaptations included mounting an optical sight to […]
Light MGs
Australia’s FAL-Based L2A1 Heavy Automatic Rifle
Many the nations that adopted the FAL (or L1A1, in Commonwealth terminology) opted to also use a heavy-barreled variant of the same rifle as a light support weapon. In the Commonwealth, this was designated L2A1 […]
Antiques
System Kuhn: A Novel Single Shot Breechloader
This is an interesting single-shot breechloading system built by Kuhn of Besançon – a city near Switzerland in eastern France. It is clearly a sporting rifle, firing an 11mm black powder cartridge and probably dates […]
Uncategorized
Colt’s MG52-A: Water-Cooled 50-Caliber Heavy Machine Gun for the World
Before the Browning M2, there was a series of Colt commercial .50 caliber machine guns. The .50 BMG (12.7x99mm) cartridge began development in 1918, and after the end of the war Colt and John Browning […]
Conversion
Semiauto ZK-383 on the Range
The Czech ZK-383 is a magnificent submachine gun, but sadly very scarce in the United States. So when I saw the semiauto example, I wanted to take it out to the range for some plinking. […]