Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Sterling Meets Owen: The Australian F1 Submachine Gun

September 20, 2019 Ian McCollum 28

The Australian Owen submachine gun was once of the best overall SMG designs of the Second World War, and when Australia decided to replace them in the 1960s, the new F1 design have big shoes […]

Too Late and Not Much Better: the Austen Mk II SMG

September 12, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

The story of the Austen submachine gun did not end when the Mk I guns were pulled from combat service in 1944. The manufacturer continued to work on an improved version, which would be ready […]

The Diggers’ Dismay: Austen Mk I SMG

September 11, 2019 Ian McCollum 20

When World War Two began, Australia saw little threat of invasion from Germany (obviously), and sent a substantial number of firearms to Britain to help arm the Home Guard there, which was seriously concerned about […]

C2A1: Canada’s Squad Automatic FAL

September 6, 2019 Ian McCollum 33

Canada was the first country to formally adopt the FN FAL as its standard service rifle, and in 1958 it added the C2 light machine gun version of the FAL to its arsenal. The C2, […]

Hiram’s Extra Light Maxim Gun

August 7, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

Designed in an effort to compete with the then-new Colt/Browning air cooled 1895 machine gun, the Extra-Light Maxim weighted in at just 27 (maybe 28) pounds for the gun, and 44 pounds with tripod. This […]

Maxim “Prototype”: The First Practical Machine Gun

July 31, 2019 Ian McCollum 27

Hiram Maxim was the first person to create a truly practical and functional machine gun, based on a patent he filed in 1883. He pioneered the recoil operating system – the concept of harnessing the […]

From Bolt Action Lee to LMG: The Charlton Automatic Rifle

July 26, 2019 Ian McCollum 27

The Charlton automatic rifle is one of very, very few examples of a conversion from bolt action to self-loading rifle actually working reasonably well. Typically this sort of project founders in expense and unreliability. Charlton, […]

History of the PK, PKM, and Pecheneg w/ Max Popenker

July 9, 2019 Ian McCollum 25

I’m happy to be joined once again by Russian small arms historian Max Popenker, for a discussion of the development of the Kalashnikov PK machine gun. This is universally regarded as one of the best […]

German-Capture 1910 Russian Maxim in 8×57

July 8, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

This is a very interesting WW1 heavy machine gun. It is a Russian M1910 Maxim that was repaired at some point using the brass jacket from a 1905 Russian Maxim. This may have been done […]

Last Gasp of the ZB26: Czech vz 52/57 LMG

July 1, 2019 Ian McCollum 40

Czechoslovakia adopted the 7.62x45mm cartridge after World War Two, introducing both a vz.52 rifle and vz.52 light machine gun using the round. It was about 200 fps faster than the Soviet standard 7.62x39mm. It was […]