Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Shooting the HK21 Modular Machine Gun

May 25, 2019 Ian McCollum 21

The HK21 is a the belt-fed iteration of the H&K roller-delayed blowback mechanism. H&K built a wide range of firearms around that system, including submachine guns (MP5), rifles (HK33, HK91), precision rifles (PSG-1), and machine […]

Watchmaker’s Perfect Miniature MG08 Maxim

May 22, 2019 Ian McCollum 15

Today at the Kessler auction house in Kreuzlingen Switzerland, we are looking at an exquisitely made miniature model of an MG08 Maxim machine gun. This was probably made by a watchmaker in military service, but […]

Shooting the Chatellerault FM 24/29 Light Machine Gun

May 18, 2019 Ian McCollum 39

Preorders now open for my book, Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles 1866-2016! Get your copy here! The Chatellerault FM 24/29 is an oft-forgotten light machine gun despite its relatively early design (predating the ZB/Bren […]

Knight’s Assault Machine Guns at the Range

May 11, 2019 Ian McCollum 66

Knights Armament introduced their “Assault Machine Gun” a couple years ago, and I had a chance to take both versions (5.56mm and 7.62mm) out to the range recently. The gun is the spiritual descendant of […]

Local Boy Saves Nation: The Australian Owen SMG

May 8, 2019 Ian McCollum 46

The One submachine gun is one of the ugliest SMGs ever designed, and yet also one of the most beloved by its users. The original basis for the gun was a .22 rimfire submachine gun […]

A Brief Introduction to the M240 Golf

May 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 56

The FN MAG was adopted by the United States military to replace its aging inventory of M60 machine guns. It was designated the M240 in US parlance, and first used as a vehicle-mounted machine gun. […]

Portugal’s MG-13: the M938 Light Machine Gun

May 2, 2019 Ian McCollum 40

The MG-13 is a transferrable machine gun being sold as lot #746 in the upcoming May 2019 Rock Island auction. The MG13 was an interim machine gun used by the German military in the 1930s […]

Original Vietnam-Era M60 at the Range

April 27, 2019 Ian McCollum 112

The M60 was the first modern American military machine gun, developed from the operating system of the German FG-42 and the feed system of the German MG-42 in the years after World War Two. It […]

Viper MkI: A Simplified Steampunk Sten

April 26, 2019 Ian McCollum 24

The Viper Mk I was an experimental submachine gun developed in the UK for use by military policemen in post-WW@ occupation West Germany. It was a simplified Sten gun (full-auto only, without the semiauto option […]

Shooting the MP35: Germany’s Left-Handed SMG

April 22, 2019 Ian McCollum 34

This submachine gun is lot #1011 in the upcoming April 2019 Morphy auction. The MP-35 is one of several very nicely made inter-war German submachine guns. Unlike most, it has the magazine mounted on the […]