Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Shooting a Suppressed Sten Gun

March 19, 2018 Ian McCollum 28

During World War Two, the British spent several years developing a silenced version of the Sten gun for special operations commandos and for dropping to mainland European resistance units. This is a recreation of one […]

Stoner 63A Automatic Rifle – The Original Modular Weapon

March 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 43

The Stoner 63 was a remarkably advanced and clever modular firearm designed by Eugene Stoner (along with Bob Fremont and Jim Sullivan) after he left Armalite. The was tested by DARPA and the uS Marine […]

Italy’s Sleeper Submachine Gun: The Beretta 38A

March 16, 2018 Ian McCollum 27

The Beretta 38A is not a gun that comes to mind for many people today when discussing World War Two submachine guns, but at the time it was one of the most desirable guns of […]

Browning M1917: America’s World War One Heavy Machine Gun

March 14, 2018 Ian McCollum 40

When the United States entered World War One, its military has a relatively tiny handful of machine guns, and they were divided between four different types, as the military budget was small and machine guns […]

Japanese Contract Steyr-Solothurn S1-100 (aka MP34)

March 13, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

In order to circumvent Versailles Treaty restrictions on arms manufacture, the German Rheinmetall firm purchased a small Swiss company called Solothurn Waffenfabrik in 1929, allowing it to route its business through Switzerland instead of Germany. […]

George Hyde’s First Submachine Gun: The Hyde Model 33

March 11, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

George Hyde was a gun designer who is due substantial credit, but whose name is rarely heard, because he did not end up with his name on an iconic firearm. Hyde was a German immigrant […]

Shooting the M3A1 Grease Gun

March 9, 2018 Ian McCollum 14

The M3 (and its followup improved M3A1 model) was the United States’ answer to the high cost and manufacturing complexity of the Thompson submachine gun. The M3 “Grease Gun” (because really, that is what it […]

The Uzi Submachine Gun: Excellent or Overrated?

March 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

The Israeli Uzi has become a truly iconic submachine gun through both its military use and its Hollywood stunts – but how effective is it really? I found this fully automatic Uzi Model A to […]

Colt R75A: The Last Commercial BAR (With Shooting)

March 2, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

The R75A was the last version of Colt’s commercial BAR, with 832 made between August and December of 1942 for the Netherlands Purchasing Commission. It was a derivative of the commercial R75 BAR, with a […]

Custom Transferrable 7mm BAR

February 27, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

Want to play He-Man shooting a BAR from the shoulder? This one has been built for just that purpose. It’s chambered in 7x57mm for reduced recoil, has a 21” barrel to improve handling, a custom […]