Light MGs
Combloc SAW: Chinese RPD at the Range
I am excited to take an RPD out to the range today – I’ve wanted to try one for quite a while. The RPD is a very light and compact weapon for a squad automatic, […]
Machine Guns
Light MGs
RPD: The LMG Adapts to Modern Combat
Today we are looking at a Chinese Type 56 RPD, but we will be focusing on the basic design and why it was adopted in the Soviet Union rather than the details of its use […]
Submachine Guns
MP7A1 vs MP7A2: H&K’s Modern PDW
Today we are taking a look at H&K’s PDW, the MP7. Specifically, we’re going to go over the changes made form the MP7A1 to the MP7A2 pattern…
Book review
Book Review: The US M3/M3A1 Submachine Gun by Michael Heidler
It is a bit surprising that there has not previously been a significant book written on the M3 “Grease Gun” submachine gun – but Michael Heidler has corrected that empty space in the firearms literature. […]
Submachine Guns
FN P90 at the Range
Having taken a look at the history and mechanics of the P90 yesterday, I’m taking it out to the range today. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the progressive trigger…
Submachine Guns
P90: FN’s Bullpup PDW
FN began developing the P90 in the late 1980s, actually preceding the NATO requirement that it would eventually compete for. The idea of the P90 was to develop a weapon for secondary troops to replace […]
Light MGs
L-34 Sampo: Aimo Lahti’s Rejected Masterpiece
Finland’s standard light machine gun going into the Winter War was the LS-26, a gun which did not succeed in field use. It was complex and cumbersome, and Finnish troops quickly replaced it with captured […]
Heavy MGs
Vickers for Interwar Tanks: The Class C/T Machine Gun
The Vickers company developed several versions of the Vickers machine gun for aircraft use during the 1920s and 1930s, but they also worked on armored vehicle versions of the gun in the 1930s. Between 1930 […]
Heavy MGs
The Drama and Mystery of the Goryunov Machine Gun
This guest post authored by Andrey Ulanov. In the minds of Western people, the inhabitants of the USSR may sometime look like ants; a large mass working towards one great goal without personal ambition. This, of […]
General Purpose MGs
DS-39: The Failed Soviet Machine Gun of World War Two
The Soviet Union recognized the need for a modernized machine gun to replace the Maxim, and in the late 1920s Degtyarev began work on a “universal” type of gun. This would be air cooled, use […]