Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Vintage Saturday: (not) SNLF

July 5, 2014 Ian McCollum 40

Japanese SNLF marines Chinese troops with SIG M1920 submachine guns. The SIG M1920 was a licensed copy of the German MP18/I, and SIG sold them to Japan in 7.63mm Mauser caliber. They were used by […]

Today, I’m swiping another document from the cool-but-stagnant Soviet Gun Archives. This time, it’s a memo requesting the development of what would become the PPS-43: As I haven’t had time to learn Russian yet, I […]

MG17 Adapter, and Some Grainy Old Video

June 24, 2014 Ian McCollum 7

First up, you may recall that a while back we had some photos of an MG17 belt-feed adapter salvaged from the wreck of an Me-109. The fellow who owned that piece was hoping to restore […]

Vintage Saturday: Deadly Beard

June 7, 2014 Ian McCollum 29

Momčilo Đujić, Chetnik commander during WWII – armed with a Yugoslav-contract ZB-30J light machine gun. (photo from Last Stand on Zombie Island)

Chain Mail for Machine Gunners

June 4, 2014 Ian McCollum 21

Chain mail appeared in a couple different forms during World War I – the most well-known is probably the mail facemasks developed for tank crews. These were intended to protect crew members from steel shards […]

BAR Comparison: M1918 vs M1918A2

June 3, 2014 Ian McCollum 87

I was doing some reading up on the BAR, and some shooting with a semiauto Ohio Ordnance Works A3 model BAR recently, in addition to the recent 2-gun match we did with it. I got […]

Vintage Saturday: Far From Home II

May 31, 2014 Ian McCollum 46

Senegalese Free French soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, armed with a British Bren and an American 1903 Springfield. The helmets are American ones, emblazoned with the anchor emblem of the French […]

Vintage Saturday: Tonight’s Raid

May 17, 2014 Ian McCollum 38

Finnish soldiers with m/31 Suomi submachine guns (and a pinup photo).

Shooting the MG-34 and MG-42

May 12, 2014 Ian McCollum 62

The MG-34 and MG-42 machine guns were the mainstay of German infantry (and vehicle) firepower during World War II, and it will take several videos to properly cover them. For now, we are shooting them […]

Experimental German 08/18 Maxim SMG

May 9, 2014 Ian McCollum 92

From Max Popenker, we have a set of photos of a very funky German submachine gun from the first world war (presumably 1918). The weapon is currently in possession of the weapon design department at […]