December, 2023 - Forgotten Weapons

Replacing Beretta: the S&W XM10 Trials Pistol

December 29, 2023 Ian McCollum 38

When the US adopted the Beretta Model 92 as the new M9 standard issue handgun in 1985, it was not without controversy. In particular, there was a scandal of cracked and broken M9 slides shortly […]

Cold War Belgium: Comparing the Vigneron M1 and M2 SMGs

December 27, 2023 Ian McCollum 2

The Vigneron was Belgium’s standard submachine gun during the early years of the Cold War. It was originally adopted as the M1 in 1953, and about 21,300 were made. In 1954, several modifications were made, […]

M90A Close Assault Weapons System Prototype

December 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

Thanks to Nathan Frisque for loaning us this very cool project to film – a very merry Christmas to him and to all of you watching! If you haven’t caught on, this is a real-life […]

Angstadt Vanquish: An Inexpensive Integrally-Silenced 9mm AR Barrel

December 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 5

Angstadt Arms has released an interesting integrally silenced (suppressed, if you prefer) barrel for 9mm AR carbines. It uses a full-length barrel with venting ports (similar to the MP5SD system), combined with a tubular shroud […]

Making Do: South Africa’s 7.62mm NATO Bren Gun Conversions

December 23, 2023 Ian McCollum 3

During World War Two, the South African military used a lot of .303 caliber Bren guns. When 7.62mm NATO became the standard cartridge after the war, the Bren guns were put into storage, as converting […]

Overview of Soviet Military Handguns: Nagant, Tokarev, Makarov

December 22, 2023 Ian McCollum 16

Today we are looking at an overview of Soviet military service sidearms. This begins with the Model 1895 Nagant revolver, inherited from the Czarist Russian Army. The Nagant was adopted as the standard Red Army […]

Hamas Claims to Make Sniper Rifles in Gaza – Are They Really?

December 21, 2023 Ian McCollum 19

Hamas – or rather its specific military wing the Al Qassam Brigade – posted a video on Twitter / X yesterday purporting to show the manufacture of .50 caliber sniper rifles in Gaza. I was […]

Gear-Ratio-Accelerated? Yep, It’s a Thing: French MAT 1955 Prototype

December 20, 2023 Ian McCollum 21

EDIT: Shoot, I managed to get the gear ratio backwards. Sorry! The recoil action provides the necessary delay, and then the gear ratio provides acceleration to ensure the bolt can open reliably, akin to the […]

Extra Firepower for Vietnam: the Aussie “B!tch”

December 18, 2023 Ian McCollum 22

Many of the special forces groups that operated during the Vietnam War found they standard issue weapons a but unwieldy for use in confined jungle environments. They also found a need for something that could […]

PMM: Russia’s Modernized Makarov (Now With 50% More Mag Capacity!)

December 16, 2023 Ian McCollum 4

Having served as the standard Soviet military sidearm for several decades, the PM Makarov was getting a bit obsolescent by the late 1980s. More of the world was using locked breech, 9x19mm service pistols but […]