Movie review
Movie Review: 1917
I have had a bunch of requests to comment on the recent movie 1917 by Sam Mendes, and I finally had a chance to watch it…
Video
Bolt Action Rifles
French Air Force Snipers: the FR-G1 and FR-G2
When St Etienne developed the FR-F1 sniper rifle, all the branches of the French military were given the opportunity to purchase them – and the Army, Navy, and Gendarmerie did. The Air Force, decided that […]
Commentary
How the 1911 Got Its Safeties – and Why Its Ancestors Had None
Some people put a lot of weight on the fact that the 1911 has a grip safety and a thumb safety…but I don’t think many folk understand how it ended up that way. John Browning’s […]
Prototype
High Standard’s Prototype World War One .45 ACP Pistol
The High Standard company only made on .45 caliber pistol, and it was an improvement on the Grant Hammond pistol tested by the US military during World War One. After his gun’s rejection by the […]
Artillery
106mm M40 Recoilless Rifle, History and Firing
The M40 was the final and largest iteration of the recoilless rifle in American military service. Designed to fix the shortcomings of the 105mm M27 that preceded it, the M40 was light and powerful, and […]
Conversion
Forced-Air Cooling in an Experimental Ross Machine Gun
In addition to building three main patterns of straight-pull bolt action rifle for the Canadian military and the commercial market, Sir Charles Ross also experimented with self-loading rifles. Starting with a standard Ross Mk III, […]
Commentary
The Truth About the Type 94 Nambu “Surrender Pistol”
If there is a historical military firearm out there as badly misunderstood as the Chauchat, it is probably the Type 94 Nambu pistol. Nambu designed this pistol with an exposed sear bar, which was not […]
Prototype
The Prototype .280 FAL from 1950s NATO Trials
After World War Two, the new NATO defense alliance held a series of trials to adopt a standard cartridge and infantry rifle. This would eventually devolve and the goal of a standardized rifle would be […]
Select-fire Rifles
The FAL for British Troop Trials in 1954: X8E1 & X8E2
The NATO rifle trials of the early 1950s eventually chose the 7.62mm x 51mm cartridge, and the British and Belgians agreed on the FAL rifle to shoot it (and they thought the US would as […]
Bolt Action Rifles
A Unique Partnership: Czech Mausers for Ethiopia after WWII
After World War Two, the Czech economy was in serious need of money to recover from the ravages of war. The arms factory at Brno was not bound by the same restrictions as German manufacturers, […]