Light MGs - Forgotten Weapons

Bren MkI: The Best Light Machine Gun of World War Two

February 24, 2021 Ian McCollum 102

In the years after World War One, the British military wanted a new machine gun, and they wanted it to replace both the Lewis and the Vickers. Through the 1920s the British would tinker with […]

First Range Trip with a Type 96 Nambu LMG (I Think I’m in Love)

January 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 36

What goes into preparing a gun for filming? Function checking, zeroing, and generally building some familiarity. Today we will go through that process with a Japanese Type 96 Nambu LMG. Rather like some French guns, […]

Experimental Pre-WWI Ross .30-06 Automatic Rifle

December 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

In August 1913, the British War Office wrote to Sir Charles Ross requesting a sample automatic rifle for trials in the UK. Ross was able to submit a prototype on May 1914, which was tested […]

The Best BAR: Luxembourg .30-06 FN-D at the Range

November 17, 2020 Ian McCollum 9

I normally want to have something specific to demonstrate what I take a gun to the range, but today I don’t. What I have today is and FN-D, the very best iteration of the Browning […]

Valmet M78: Finland’s Hypothetical Squad Automatic Weapon

November 2, 2020 Ian McCollum 11

The M78 was Valmet’s RPK-style heavy barreled squad support weapon pattern of the Finnish AK. It was initially developed as the M74 cavalry machine gun for Finnish military service, but never adopted. Instead, that experimental […]

Heckler & Koch’s Modular Machine Gun: the HK21E

October 26, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

In 1961, Heckler & Koch introduced a new light machine gun based on their roller-delayed blowback system as a companion piece to the G3/HK91 rifle. While the German military was quite happy with its MG3 […]

FN Model D: The Last and Best BAR

August 21, 2020 Ian McCollum 18

Lot 1485 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. The FN Model D (“demontage”, or detachable) was the last and best evolution of the Browning Automatic Rifle. FN acquired a license to make the BAR […]

DTM: The Soviet Tank Version of the DP-27 LMG

February 8, 2020 Ian McCollum 24

Almost as soon as the Degtyarev DP-27 was put into Soviet military service, variations were developed for aircraft (DA) and tank (DT) use. The tank pattern we have here is actually a later improved DTM […]

Chauchat Field Testing vs Mock MG08/15 Nest

December 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 41

Out at the range today with the Chauchat, testing accuracy against a simulated MG08/15 nest at 150 yards. I’ll try out semiauto and full auto (in short bursts), and see how they compare. For reference, […]

Huot Automatic Rifle: The Ross Goes Full Auto

December 13, 2019 Ian McCollum 23

During World War One, Joseph Alphonse Huot, a Canadian machinist and blacksmith living in Quebec, designed a conversion of the Ross MkIII rifle to become an automatic rifle. The Ross was the standard issue Canadian […]