Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Parabellum 1914/17: Germany’s Ultimate Aircraft Maxim

January 16, 2023 Ian McCollum 24

Forgotten Weapons merino wool hoodies from Varusteleka: https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/forgotten-weapons-sarma-merino-wool-hoodie/72488 The DWM company in Germany had a license on the Maxim gun design prior to World War One. They produced the rather old-fashioned MG08 for the German […]

Błyskawica: The Polish Home Army’s Clandestine SMG

December 23, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

The Blyskawica (“LIghtning”) is an SMG developed in occupied Poland to be issued out to Home Army units during Operation Tempest; the liberation uprisings planned for the advance of the Red Army into Poland. The […]

From Aircraft to Improvised Infantry: the Vickers MkI No2

December 21, 2022 Ian McCollum 21

The Vickers MkI No2 was an improvisation of the British Royal Air Force. They needed arms for airbase defense, without unduly impacting the production of weapons for the infantry. Wheat they had a good supply […]

Vektor Mini-SS: South Africa’s Answer to the FN Minimi

December 9, 2022 Ian McCollum 37

While under international embargo and at war in the late 1970s, South Africa needed a new 7.62mm GPMG. The answer was Vektor’s SS77, a design which would replace the FN MAG in South African service […]

Frommer Pistolen-MG Model 1917: A Crazy Villar Perosa Copy

November 23, 2022 Ian McCollum 18

After encountering Italian Villar Perosa machine pistols in the field, Austro-Hungarian troops requested a similar weapon. The project was given to FÉG to work on, and the result was the Pistolen-MG Model 1917: a pair […]

Leningrad’s Emergency-Production PPS-42 at the Range

November 12, 2022 Ian McCollum 18

Yesterday we looked at the history of the PPS-42 and how it was developed into the much more common PPS-43. Today we are taking it out to the range – the only time one of […]

Born in the Heart of Besieged Leningrad: the PPS-42

November 11, 2022 Ian McCollum 24

One would think that the Shpagin PPSh-41 was as simple as a submachine gun could get, but that wasn’t the case in World War Two USSR. Barely had the PPSh gotten into real production than […]

The Added Safety on German Inter-War SMGs

November 10, 2022 Ian McCollum 2

Police in inter-war Germany used a variety of submachine guns, and sometimes added a distinctive extra safety mechanism to them. No patent or documentation ha been uncovered (that I am aware of, anyway), but the […]

The US Adopts A Maxim: The Colt Model 1904

November 9, 2022 Ian McCollum 23

The US Army spent nearly 16 years languidly testing the Maxim gun, but was never willing to actually make a decision until a final trial in 1903 finally settled the matter. The Maxim was deemed […]

M240 Bravo: America Replaces the M60

November 7, 2022 Ian McCollum 43

In 1977, the US military adopted the FN MAG as the M240 in vehicular configuration to replace the less-than-successful M73/M219 machine guns. The USMC would get an early start adapting the 240 to ground configuration […]