Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

MAC/Skorpion Hybrid at the Range: the Alka M93

August 5, 2023 Ian McCollum 2

The Alka M93 was a very simple SMG made by IM Metall (which later became HS Produkt) during the Croatian Homeland War. It is essentially a MAC M11A1 with a long barrel and a vz61 […]

Spectre SMG at the Range

July 29, 2023 Ian McCollum 18

The SITES Spectre was imported into the US primarily as a semiautomatic pistol – but it was really designed to be an SMG. It has an interesting closed-bolt fire control system, and in SMG for […]

Croatian HS-91: A Mystery Hybrid of M56 and PPSh-41

July 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 10

The HS-91 is a Croatian-made submachine gun form the Homeland War period of the early 1990s. This is the only example known, and it was seized well after the war by the Croatian Police (and […]

Crogar M91: MP40 Meets Yugo M56 in the Croatian Homeland War

July 10, 2023 Ian McCollum 21

SKM was a small industrial manufacturing company in Croatia that began making submachine guns in 1991 to equip Croatian fighters in the Homeland War. Their product was the M91 Crogar, which is a selective-fire, open […]

Experimental Romanian Paratrooper PKM

July 1, 2023 Ian McCollum 14

Romania adopted the PKM in 1966, and began manufacturing their own direct copy at Cugir. In the 1990s, the plant designed a model intended for paratroopers, with a shortened barrel and unique side folding stock. […]

Chatellerault Experimental SMGs: MAC48 & 48LS

June 12, 2023 Ian McCollum 10

Continuing our look at the French submachine gun designs from the Chatellerault Arsenal, today we have the MAC48 and MAC48LS (lightened and simplified). In the development program that would eventually lead to adoption of the […]

Last Gasp of the German Maxim: the Air-Cooled MG 08/18

June 7, 2023 Ian McCollum 21

The MG 08/18 was developed at the very end of World War One as a lighter alternative to the MG 08/15. It used an air-cooled barrel, and between not needing water and having lighter parts […]

Chang Feng CS/LS 06 – China’s Take on the Helical-Mag SMG

June 5, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

The Chang Feng is named for the company that developed it, the Chongqing Chang Feng Company Ltd in (you guessed it) Chongqing. It was designed by one Qing Shangsheng, who had ample prior firearms design […]

Gnome et Rhône R5: A Foiled Communist Arms Plan

April 26, 2023 Ian McCollum 23

The R-5 was a French-made copy of the Sten produced after the 1944 liberation of France. It was built by Gnome et Rhône, a French company best known for making aircraft engines. The Sten was […]

Prototype Silenced Sten Mk4(S) at the Range

March 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 30

Yesterday we looked at the mechanics and the history of the Sten Mk4(S), and today we have it out at the range! The very short barrel and its porting reduce the velocity of standard 115gr […]