Submachine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Suomi Korsu: A Special Mannerheim Line Bunker SMG

January 3, 2022 Ian McCollum 16

The “Korsu” is a special version of the Suomi made for use in the bunkers of the Mannerheim Line. When construction on the Line really kicked into high gear in the summer of 1939, is […]

M44 Submachine Gun: Finland Copies the Soviet PPS-43

November 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 31

The kp/31 Suomi submachine gun in Finnish service was an outstanding weapon, but it was slow and expensive to manufacture. When Finnish forces began capturing Soviet PPS-42 and PPS-43 submachine guns form the Soviets in […]

Best SMG of World War Two: The Beretta M38A

November 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 28

The Beretta Model 38A was one of the very best submachine guns of World War Two. Designed by veteran Beretta engineer Tullio Marengoni (who designed most of Beretta’s pistols as well as the Beretta M1918 […]

Spitfire: The Semiauto That Became a Machine Gun

November 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 13

The Spitfire is a firearm with an interesting importance in legal history. Originally designed and marketed as an open-bolt semiautomatic-only carbine, it was determined to be a machine gun under the law in 1968, and […]

The Sneaky Silent Sten MkII(S) at the Range

November 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 23

Today we are taking an original Sten MkII(S) out to the range – something I am excited to be able to do! The suppressor on this Sten is all original, and about 80 years old…and […]

A Covert Weapons for Special Operations: the Sten MkII(S)

November 5, 2021 Ian McCollum 18

https://youtu.be/hcmVCb_ZgZA There are a fairly wide variety of silenced Sten guns that were made during World War Two, because many were needed for small Special Operations Executive missions. However, the British Army did also formally […]

The Schmeisser MP-28,II at the Range

November 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 14

We have previously looked at the original MP-18, the System Schmeisser improvement, and the followup MP-28,II design on the table – but we have not taken the MP-28 out to the range. So, that’s what […]

A Police SMG Upgrade: the MP-18 System Schmeisser

November 2, 2021 Ian McCollum 39

When the MP-18 was issued by the German Army in World War One, it used the then-in-production Luger “snail drum” magazines. These were expensive, awkward, and generally not ideal. Once the war ended, Hugo Schmeisser […]

ZX-7 American Sterling at the Range

October 30, 2021 Ian McCollum 27

Today we are taking the ZX-7 (essentially a Sterling SMG in .45 ACP) out to the range. It runs rather faster than I initially expected, but isn’t too hard to handle…

PAWS ZX-7: An American Sterling in .45 ACP

October 29, 2021 Ian McCollum 30

An American entrepreneur named Bob Imel found the Sterling SMG particularly interesting, and wanted to import them into the United States. He reached out to Sterling in 1967, but was unable to work out a […]