Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

ZB26: The Best of the Light Machine Guns

October 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 38

The ZB-26 stands as one of the best magazine-fed light machine guns developed during the 1920s and 30s – it was a very popular gun for small military forces and many countries which did not […]

Shooting the Madsen LMG – The First True LMG

October 20, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

We have looked at a couple different Madsen light machine guns previously, but until today I have not had the chance to do any shooting with a fully automatic example of one. So I am […]

The St Etienne Mle 1907: France’s Domestic Heavy Machine Gun

October 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 37

When the French first began testing machine guns in the late 1890s, they were one of the few countries that did not purchase quantities of Maxim guns. One of the reasons was that in France’s […]

The Vickers Heavy Machine Gun: Queen of the Battlefield

October 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

https://youtu.be/wOqftB9fBIQ For the record, I never have any financial interest in any of the guns that I film at auction houses – with the exception of this one. This is actually my Vickers HMG, being […]

M1918 BAR: America’s Walking Fire Assault Rifle

October 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 25

John Browning developed the Browning Automatic Rifle for use by American troops in World War One, taking inspiration from the other light automatic weapons in service including the Chauchat, Lewis, and MG08/15. Rather than being […]

MG-34: The Universal Machine Gun Concept

October 7, 2017 Ian McCollum 59

The MG34 was the first German implementation of the universal machine gun concept – and really the first such fielded by any army. The idea was to have a single weapon which could be used […]

Book Review: Pistolas y Subfusiles de la República Producción de Guerra

October 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 13

“Pistolas y Subfusiles de la República Producción de Guerra” is a new 580-page reference book about the pistols and submachine guns made in the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War. It is written by […]

Shooting the Yugoslav M84 PKM: Arguably the Best GPMG

September 30, 2017 Ian McCollum 33

If I could have any one machine gun (but only one), it would be a PKM – in my experience thus far, this is the best universal machine gun that has been designed. Kalashnikov’s […]

Yugoslav M84 PKM: History, Mechanics, and Disassembly

September 29, 2017 Ian McCollum 53

The PK machine gun was developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov’s engineering team right about the time they were putting the finishing touches on the AKM. The PK is in many ways an AK rifle action […]

MP-40/I: The Dual-Magazine Experimental MP-40

September 23, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

The MP40/I was an experimental modification of the MP-40 submachine gun developed by the Erma company (we think) in late 1942. It was presumably developed in response to complaints of Soviet fire superiority with […]