Conversion
Semiauto ZK-383 on the Range
The Czech ZK-383 is a magnificent submachine gun, but sadly very scarce in the United States. So when I saw the semiauto example, I wanted to take it out to the range for some plinking. […]
Rifles
Antiques
Howard’s Thunderbolt: A Remarkably Compact Carbine
Designed by brothers Charles and Sebre Howard and first patented in 1862, this is a single shot lever action produced by the Whitneyville Armory between 1866 and 1870. It is a really neat compact design […]
Bolt Action Rifles
MAS-45: The French .22 Trainer Designed by Mauser
When the French occupied the Mauser factory in April 1945, they found all the tooling to produce .22 caliber rifles still in place and in good order (among other things). The French military did not […]
Antiques
Springfield Model 1795 Musket: America’s First Military Production
The first US-production military arm was the “US musket, Charleville pattern” – known today as the Model 1795 Springfield Musket. Copied from the French 1766 model Charleville which made up the bulk of existing US […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Miniature Guns for the Fascist Youth: Italian Balilla Carbines
As part of his effort to imbue Italy with a fascist culture, Mussolini formed the ONB, or National Balilla Organization as a replacement for all other youth organizations in Italy in 1926. It was intended […]
Semiauto Rifles
Daewoo K2: The South Korean AK/AR Hybrid
South Korea experimented with a series of rifle designs in 7.62x51mm in the 1960s and early 1970s, but none of them came close to production. In 1974 a license was acquired from Colt for Daewoo […]
Antiques
The First Trapdoor Springfield Carbine, Model 1870
The first production of a carbine model of the Trapdoor Springfield was the Model 1870 (excluding 4 prototypes produced in 1868). There was a focus infantry rifles in theTrapdoor program, and just 362 of these […]
Semiauto Rifles
IMI “Galatz” – Galil DMR/Sniper in 7.62 NATO
Adopted in 1983, the “Galatz” (a contraction of the Hebrew for Galil Sniper) is a DMR based on the 7.62x51mm Galil action. It was fitted with a 23” heavy barrel, rear-m mounted bipod, folding stock, […]
Heavy MGs
Semiauto DShKM “Dushka” in .50 Browning
Developed by the Soviet Union primarily as an antiaircraft weapon (and used to good effect in that role through World War Two), the DShK heavy machine gun was modernized almost immediately upon adoption. The first […]
Commentary
An Interesting Possibility: The FG-42 in 8x33mm Kurz?
Here’s an interesting thought – what if they made the FG-42 in 8x33mm Kurz? Well, they actually did, in very small numbers. The rifle’s designer, Louis Stange, actually thought it was a really good idea, […]