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, […]
Light MGs
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 […]
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 […]
Light MGs
The Long Road to the DP-27
This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. The Russian military first got acquainted with light machine guns in 1904, on the brink of the Russian-Japanese War. After having tested a few Madsen LMGs, the Army […]
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 […]
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 […]
Light MGs
The Swedish m/21 BAR in 6.5x55mm
Sweden was a remarkably early adopted of the light machine gun, for a nation not involved in World War One. Looking over the designs that existed right after the war, Sweden opted to purchase 700 […]
Light MGs
LAD: The Soviet Pistol-Caliber SAW that Could Have Been
This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. In 1942, the Red Army was experiencing big problems with machine guns. Before the war, great hopes were pinned on Dyagterev’s brand new DS-39 heavy machine gun. But […]
Conversion
L4: The Bren in 7.62mm NATO
When the British military transitioned form the .303 British cartridge to 7.62mm NATO in the 1950s, it replaced the Enfield rifles with the new L1A1 SLR (the FAL) but retained the Bren gun as a […]