Bolt Action Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Harried
This guy has clearly been through a lot. Note the G41(W) or G43 in the background.
Germany
Light MGs
A Soviet Look at Cold War Small Arms Development
I have covered various elements of small arms development during the Cold War more than a few times – usually involving the contentious process that led to the 7.62mm NATO cartridge being adopted, and the […]
Prototype
StG-45 Horn Prototypes
Herr Horn (I have seen his name given as both N.V. Horn and V.G. Horn; not sure which is correct) was an engineer working in the R&D department of Mauser at the end of WWII, and […]
Gunsmithing
Sturmgewehrs: The Original and the HMG Reproduction
While I was busy posting RIA videos last month, my friend Karl and I traveled down to Atlanta to visit Hill & Mac Gunworks. They are making a reproduction StG-44 rifle with a number of […]
Semiauto Rifles
H&K SL-6 and SL-7 Rifles at RIA
The German firm Heckler & Koch spent several decades building firearms all based on the same basic operating system: roller-delayed blowback (often called roller-locked, although they are not technically locked breech actions). The two best […]
Semiauto pistol
German Naval P04 Luger at RIA
Most everyone is familiar with the Luger pistol – it is one of the most iconic handgun designs ever made. Folks who have a passing interest in the guns will probably know about both the […]
Semiauto pistol
C93 Borchardt: the First Successful Self-Loading Pistol at RIA
Hugo Borchardt was a brilliant and well-traveled firearms designer. He was born in Germany but emigrated to the United States at a fairly young age, where he became engaged in the gun trade. He spent […]
Semiauto Rifles
Two VG1-5 Gustloff Last Ditch Rifles at RIA
The Volksstrumgewehr Gustloff, more commonly (albeit incorrectly) known as the VG1-5, was one of the few semiautomatic Volkssturm weapons produced at the end of WWII. I have discussed these rifles before, but wanted to take […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Gewehr 71 with Experimental Magazine at RIA
The Model 1871 Mauser was adopted as the newly united Germany’s first standard rifle, and it was a good design. However, it was a single shot rifle and soon it became apparent that the additional […]
Rocket launcher
Vintage Saturday: Seeds of an Idea
Point at Panzer, press button…