Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Papasan Chair as Antiaircraft Mount

July 11, 2015 Ian McCollum 18

German MG08 Maxim in antiaircraft mounting, at some point during WWI. Note the spider sights mounted halfway down the jacket, and the belt reel. Those reels allowed the guns to reliably feed at all manner […]

Slow Motion: Mauser Schnellfeuer (Video)

July 9, 2015 Ian McCollum 29

Today’s slow motion video is a Mauser Schnellfeuer; the full-auto version of the C96 pistol made in the 1930s. Just over 100,000 of these were made, with the great majority being sold in China. It […]

Polish soldier on the line near Gazala, Libya - February 1942

Vintage Saturday: The Mustache is Mightier than the Machine Gun

July 4, 2015 Ian McCollum 39

Polish soldier on the line near Gazala, Libya – February 1942. Armed with a Browning M1919A4 and a Boys AT rifle in the truck as well.

Slow Motion: Swiss LMG-25

July 2, 2015 Ian McCollum 10

I had a cool Swiss viewer named Bjoern kindly send me this footage of a Swiss LMG25 machine gun firing – thanks, Bjoern! These guns are very rare in the US, and the only one […]

German soldier with a PPSh-41 submachine gun

Vintage Saturday: Cover

May 30, 2015 Ian McCollum 45

German soldier with a PPSh-41 submachine gun somewhere in Russia. Gotta be careful with those as a German; the drum magazine was a distinctively Russian feature and could lead to friendly fire incidents.

Three Videos: Finland, Spain, and Hungary

May 25, 2015 Ian McCollum 30

From Vesamatti, a Finnish gunsmith student who reads the site, we have this neat video of a few older Finnish Army machine guns. The KP-31, KP-44, Sten, KVKK, and DP-27. Not guns we get all […]

Reffye Mitrailleuse (Video)

May 20, 2015 Ian McCollum 40

The mitrailleuse was one of the early types of mechanical machine gun, along with the Gatling, Gardner, Nordenfelt, and others. “Mitrailleuse” is actually a general name for a volley gun – one with many barrels […]

Experimental Fiat-Revelli Magazine

May 18, 2015 Ian McCollum 16

Apologies; we have a pretty brief post today. I’ve been moving into a new house and things got a bit hectic. At any rate, I did happen to notice this photo from Max Popenker of […]

Vintge Saturday: Holding Things Down

May 9, 2015 Ian McCollum 19

German soldier using his body weight to stabilize an MG34 on an anti-aircraft tripod.

Mannlicher 1885 Semiauto Rifle

May 6, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

Ferdinand von Mannlicher’s Model 1885 self-loading rifle design as a failure, never seeing anything even resembling mass production. However, it was a failure which in many way set the stage for a huge number of […]