Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

PDW on Steroids: the vz68 and the Skorpion 9×19

July 15, 2022 Ian McCollum 20

The original Scorpion was adopted in .32 ACP caliber as the vz.61 by the Czechoslovakian military – but development of the Scorpion did not end there. Prototypes were also developed in .380, 9×18 Makarov, and […]

Zielfeuergerät 38 Blank-Firing Training Aid

July 13, 2022 Ian McCollum 23

When the Allied examined the weapons discovered in the German Reich after the war, they came across a device which was classified as a “spring gun” or “trip wire activated static defense machine gun”. Nevertheless, […]

Ladislav Findorak’s Prototype Lever-Delayed PDW

July 6, 2022 Ian McCollum 29

This really neat compact PDW prototype was developed by Ladislav Findorak in the 1990s for a Czech military program, although nothing was adopted as a result. The lever-delayed system allows it to have a much […]

Goryunov SG43: Russia Replaces the Maxim

June 20, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

The Russian M1910 Maxim was clearly obsolete in the 1930s, and the Soviet military developed a replacement for it – the Degtyarev DS-39. These performed well in testing, but several major flaws were revealed when […]

MPi-81: Steyr Basically Makes the Uzi

June 17, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

The MPi-69 was adopted by Austria to replace its aging MP40 submachine guns, and it included an unorthodox charging handle design connected to the sling. Clearly this didn’t turn out to be such a great […]

Agram 2000: Croatia’s Gangster Gun

June 13, 2022 Ian McCollum 24

The Agram 2000 was originally developed in the 1990s in response to a Croatian Army need for a submachine gun during the Independence War. It is a closed-bolt, hammer-fired, simple blowback submachine gun. The initial […]

An Israeli LMG, Part II: The 8mm Dror

June 8, 2022 Ian McCollum 61

Today we continue the story of the Dror. Shortly after production of the .303 pattern guns began, the directive came down that the gun was to be redesigned for 8mm Mauser ammunition. Israeli supplies of […]

An Israeli LMG, Part I: The .303 Dror

June 6, 2022 Ian McCollum 36

The story of the Dror is a fascinating tale of clandestine arms procurement by the fledgling Israeli state. Plans covertly purchased from Johnson Automatics, redesigned to use .303 British ammunition, with a production line produced […]

France in the Cold War: AA52 Replaces the Hotchkiss

May 27, 2022 Ian McCollum 24

For another perspective on the AA52 – and some live fire footage – check out Bloke on the Range’s video on the gun today: With the end of World War Two, it was finally time […]

Nicer Than It Looks: Yugoslav M56 at the Range

May 18, 2022 Ian McCollum 33

The Yugoslav M56 is a hybrid of the MP40 general design with the Soviet 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge, and a gun whose practical shootability is surprisingly better than its looks would lead one to expect. This […]