Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

The Hungarian Alternative: G98/40 Rifles in German Service

December 2, 2024 Ian McCollum 5

The German Wehrmacht was always hungry for more rifles during World War Two, and adopted substitute designs made in friendly (or subservient) countries when possible. Almost all of these were minor variations on the Mauser […]

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 5: The Remington Rolling Block

November 30, 2024 Ian McCollum 24

The full version with hand loading information (not permitted on YouTube) is available here: https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/black-powder-ep-5-app Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively […]

The First Sturmgewehr: The MKb42(H)

November 27, 2024 Ian McCollum 16

The first iteration of the iconic German Sturmgewehr was developed by Haenel starting in 1938. It was a select-fire rifle chambered for the short 8x33mm cartridge, developed by the Polte company. It used a long-stroke […]

G24(t): Germany’s Take on the Czechoslovakian vz24

November 25, 2024 Ian McCollum 7

When Germany took over Czechoslovakia, one of the things they did was buy out a controlling interest in what became known as Waffenwerke Brunn. Headquartered in Prague, the company had two factories; one in Brno […]

Single-Rune bnz43 SS Contract K98k

November 18, 2024 Ian McCollum 17

In 1942, the SS devised a plan to rent out concentration camp labor to companies in the German armaments industry. Several different rifle production lines were set up to make use of this source of […]

Spoils of War: French Occupation-Production Mauser K98k svwMB

November 11, 2024 Ian McCollum 9

Allied troops occupied the Mauser factory complex in Oberndorf in April of 1945, right at the end of the war. The factory was put under French administration and by May that same year production lines […]

G33/40: Special Carbine for the Gebirgsjager

November 8, 2024 Ian McCollum 5

When the Germans took over control of the Czechoslovakian arms industry, they took some time to work out what out to be mass produced at the Brno factory. In the interim, they decided to restart […]

New Imports: French MAS 49/56 and MAS 36/51 Rifles

October 30, 2024 Ian McCollum 35

Yeah, I’m a sucker for nice French rifles. So when Old Western Scrounger brought in another batch of them, I offered to do a video. These are rifles taken out of French long-term storage, having […]

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 4: The Mauser Gewehr 1871

October 26, 2024 Ian McCollum 11

The full version with hand loading information (not permitted on YouTube) is available here: https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/black-powder-ep-4-app Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively […]

sa81 KRASA: Czechoslovakia’s Ultra-Compact Lost PDW

October 14, 2024 Ian McCollum 29

The Krása project (which translates as “beauty”, but is also a shortening of “short assault rifle” – “KRÁtký SAmopal”) is a fascinating piece of Czech small arms development. In 1976, the Czechoslovakian military requested development […]