Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Soviet PPD-40: Degtyarev’s Submachine Gun

August 28, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

Degtyarev’s PPD-40 was the first submachine gun adopted in a large scale by the Soviet Union. Its development began in 1929 with a locked breech gun modeled after Degtyarev’s DP light machine gun, but evolved […]

Chatellerault M24/29: France’s New Wave of Post-WWI Small Arms

August 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 28

France fought the Great War with an array of weapons which were all sub-par in one way or another – the Lebel rifle was obsolescent by 1914, the Berthier was a cavalry carbine forced into […]

The Italian Last-Ditch TZ-45 Submachine Gun

August 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 27

The TZ-45 is a late-war (some might say last ditch) Italian submachine gun made in small numbers and notable primarily for being the first SMG to use a grip safety on the magazine well. The […]

MP-28: Hugo Schmeisser Improves the MP18

August 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 32

The MP28,II was Hugo Schmeisser’s improved take on the original World War One MP18,I design. It used a simple box magazine in place of the Luger drum magazines, and this magazine would form the basis […]

MG-17 German Aircraft Machine Gun

August 20, 2017 Ian McCollum 26

The MG-17 is a belt-fed 8mm machine gun that was used on a large number of Luftwaffe aircraft early in World War II. The gun was developed by Rheinmetall through its subsidiary in Solothurn, Switzerland […]

Bergmann’s MP35 Submachine Gun: It Feeds From the Wrong Side

August 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 50

Guns in this video: Pre-War MP35 and wartime MP35/1 The MP35 submachine gun was designed by Theodore Emil Bergmann, the son of the Theodore Bergmann who had manufactured the turn of the century line of Bergmann […]

Spanish MP41/44 – A Copy of the Erma EMP

August 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

The Spanish-made MP41/44 is a licensed copy of the Erma EMP submachine gun. The development begins with Heinrich Vollmer in 1925, designing a submachine gun for German military testing. The military trials showed a number […]

Schmeisser’s MP-18,I – The First True Submachine Gun

August 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

When Germany began looking in late 1915 for a new weapon ideally suited for the “last 200 meters” of a combat advance, Hugo Schmeisser’s blowback submachine gun would prove to be the weapon that would […]

Book Review: The Uzi Submachine Gun Examined, by David Gaboury

August 13, 2017 Ian McCollum 27

“The UZI Submachine Gun: Examined” is a newly published book this year by David Gaboury – long time owner and operator of the uzitalk.com forum. Until now there has not really been any substantive written […]

BESAL: Britain’s Emergency Simplified Light Machine Gun

August 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 43

Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]