General Purpose MGs
Vintge Saturday: Holding Things Down
German soldier using his body weight to stabilize an MG34 on an anti-aircraft tripod.
Germany
Semiauto pistol
Slow Motion: Interesting Extractor Problem (Schwarzlose 1898)
Many people don’t realize that an extractor is not strictly necessary in many types of pistols – several early blowback models (notably the Bergmann 1896, as well as some later Spanish pistols) did not even […]
Light MGs
Mannlicher 1885 Semiauto Rifle
Ferdinand von Mannlicher’s Model 1885 self-loading rifle design as a failure, never seeing anything even resembling mass production. However, it was a failure which in many way set the stage for a huge number of […]
Prototype
Schwarzlose 1898 Pistol (Video)
The model 1898 Schwarzlose was a self loading pistol definitely ahead of its time. It was simple, powerful (for the period; it was chambered for 7.63mm Mauser), and remarkably ergonomic. It used a short recoil, […]
Competition
Walther G41 and G43 in the 2-Gun Action Challenge Match
I decided to bring back my Walther G41 for the April 2-Gun match, this time with a reproduction ZF-41 scope mounted on it. My G41 is a bit unusual in that it was originally made […]
Semiauto Rifles
Slow Motion: Gewehr 43
The G43 was intended to become the standard infantry rifle for the Wehrmacht (replacing the Kar 98k), but production never ramped up sufficiently, and the concept of the intermediate-caliber Sturmgewehr took over by the end […]
Anti-Tank Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Antitank Rifle
German soldier in France with a captured Polish Maroszek wz.35 anti-tank rifle.
Prototype
Gustloff Prototype Pistol at RIA
Gustloff was a large industrial concern in Germany which made many different weapons for the military. In addition to these, its attempted to market a small-caliber pistol for police or SS use. This pistol used […]
Reproduction
A Semiauto FG-42 up on Gunbroker
Rick from SMG Guns dropped me a line to let me know that he has put one of his 8mm semiauto FG-42 rifles up for sale on Gunbroker. In fact, it’s actually the exact demo […]
Anti-Tank Rifles
PzB-39 German Anti-Tank Rifle at RIA
Most countries still had anti-tank rifles in their military inventory at the beginning of WWII – the Solothurn S18-100, the Lahti L39, the Boys AT Rifle, the PTRD and PTRS, and so on. For Germany, […]