Conversion - Forgotten Weapons

Croatia’s Prototype Bullpup AK Conversion

September 7, 2022 Ian McCollum 21

The HS Produkt company, best known for making the XD pistols sold in the US by Springfield, was originally called IM Metal, and was a general fabrication company in Croatia. When the Croatian Homeland War […]

Arex AKB-15: A Lost AK Modernization Project

August 31, 2022 Ian McCollum 27

The AKB-15 was a project developed by Arex Defense in Slovenia in 2015. The company received a request from a small country (they decline to reveal exactly who) to modernize a stock of AKM rifles […]

Two World Wars: A Weimar Police C96 Mauser

June 22, 2022 Ian McCollum 32

In the aftermath of World War One, German police forces were responsible for maintaining social order is a very chaotic Germany. They were reequipped with small arms, and in particular needed pistols. The ideal sidearm […]

A .22LR Berthier for the French National Police (CRS)

June 15, 2022 Ian McCollum 17

In 1954, the Unique company (MAPF) in Hendaye France rebuilt a batch of 800 Berthier carbines into .22LR caliber for use by the Sûreté Nationale (later renamed the Police Nationale). These were to be used […]

Ukrainian DShK as Infantry Support Weapon

March 18, 2022 Ian McCollum 20

The initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 stagnated into trench warfare after a few months, and Ukrainian forces found themselves often in entrenched positions 500m or more from Russian opposition. At that range, their […]

Lage Max11/15: A Conversion From Machine Pistol to LMG

March 9, 2022 Ian McCollum 9

Lage Manufacturing has been making conversion uppers for MAC-pattern machine pistols for a long time. They have a bunch of 9mm uppers in a variety of styles, some using magazines in the grip and some […]

The Short-Lived Suomi SMG for Armored Vehicle Mounts

January 31, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

Prior to the Winter War, Finland had just a few armored vehicles; mostly armored cars. These needed some armament, and one idea put forth was to fit an m/31 Suomi to a ball mount inside […]

Krieghoff 8mm Mauser Carcano for the Volkssturm

January 10, 2022 Ian McCollum 24

When Italy surrendered in late 1943, German troops disarmed the Italian forces in areas under German control, and came away with nearly 400,000 Carcano rifles. These would form the core armaments of the Volkssturm forces […]

Alofs: A Steampunk Mousetrap for a Shotgun

December 29, 2021 Ian McCollum 31

The Alofs conversion is a contraption that can be bolted onto the side of a single shot break action shotgun to convert it into a 4+1 capacity repeating action. Patented by Herman Alofs in 1924 […]

7.62mm Rifle L8: The Last Gasp of the Service Lee Enfield

December 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 23

After the British adopted the FAL as the L1A1 rifle, there was still an interest in converting stocks of existing No4 Enfield rifles to the new 7.62x51mm cartridge for reserve and training use. A conversion […]