Semiauto pistol
H&K Mk23 SOCOM Development
The H&K Mk 23 pistol was developed in the 1990s for the US Special Operations Command and US Navy. The goal was to produce an “offensive handgun” that could serve as a primary armament for […]
Germany
Slow motion
At the Range with the Iconic MP5A3
The MP5 is widely considered the best submachine gun ever made, for its reliability, its handling, and it’s closed-bolt delayed-blowback action. It is so widely praised, in fact, that H&K’s efforts to replace it with […]
General Purpose MGs
Shooting the HK21 Modular Machine Gun
The HK21 is a the belt-fed iteration of the H&K roller-delayed blowback mechanism. H&K built a wide range of firearms around that system, including submachine guns (MP5), rifles (HK33, HK91), precision rifles (PSG-1), and machine […]
Gunsmithing
Watchmaker’s Perfect Miniature MG08 Maxim
Today at the Kessler auction house in Kreuzlingen Switzerland, we are looking at an exquisitely made miniature model of an MG08 Maxim machine gun. This was probably made by a watchmaker in military service, but […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Book Review: The Dreyse Military Needle-Ignition System
Leonard and Guy A-R-West have released the second book in their series on antique military rifles, this time on the Dreyse system. As anyone interested in the Dreyse has probably already learned, there is very […]
Light MGs
Portugal’s MG-13: the M938 Light Machine Gun
The MG-13 is a transferrable machine gun being sold as lot #746 in the upcoming May 2019 Rock Island auction. The MG13 was an interim machine gun used by the German military in the 1930s […]
Conversion
Erma/Glaser Luger .22 Rimfire Conversion
This conversion kit is lot #1713 in the upcoming Rock Island May 2019 auction. In 1927, a Berlin resident named Richard Kulisch patented a .22 rimfire conversion kit for the Luger pistol. Kulisch’s conversion used […]
Slow motion
Shooting the MP35: Germany’s Left-Handed SMG
This submachine gun is lot #1011 in the upcoming April 2019 Morphy auction. The MP-35 is one of several very nicely made inter-war German submachine guns. Unlike most, it has the magazine mounted on the […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Israeli SP66: A Modern Mauser Sniper
This rifle is lot #2172 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. Around 1980, Israeli purchased a batch of modern Mauser SP66 precision rifles to supplement or replace their stocks of M14 and Mauser K98k sniper rifles. […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Heym SR30: Straight Pull Ball-Bearing Lock?
This rifle is lot #2168 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. The Heym SR30 is a modern hunting rifle produced in Thuringia, Germany using a rather clever and interesting locking system. It is a straight-pull rifle […]