Germany - Forgotten Weapons

VMP 1930 at the Range: does the Monopod Help?

March 18, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

Yesterday we took a look at the mechanics and history of Heinrich Vollmer’s 1930 pattern VMP, and today we have it out at the range. I’m curious is the mid-point monopod will actually help or […]

SMG With a Monopod? The Vollmer VMP-1930

March 17, 2023 Ian McCollum 12

In 1925, the German military began a series of secret SMG trials at the Kummersdorf testing grounds. One of the participants was Heinrich Vollmer. He was funded directly by the government for his small arms […]

FG-42: Perhaps the Most Impressive WW2 Shoulder Rifle

March 8, 2023 Ian McCollum 96

The first production version of the FG42 used a fantastically complex milled receiver and a distinctive sharply swept-back pistol grip. A contract to make 5,000 of them was awarded to Krieghoff in late spring of […]

Parabellum 1914/17: Germany’s Ultimate Aircraft Maxim

January 16, 2023 Ian McCollum 25

Forgotten Weapons merino wool hoodies from Varusteleka: https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/forgotten-weapons-sarma-merino-wool-hoodie/72488 The DWM company in Germany had a license on the Maxim gun design prior to World War One. They produced the rather old-fashioned MG08 for the German […]

Germany’s L26 Silencer for the K98k, G43, and StG44

January 9, 2023 Ian McCollum 17

https://youtu.be/ZJYPsUboKOI Patented in Germany as System Schätzle, the L26 was a departure from the copies of the Russian wipe-based silencer designs. The L26 used a set of six identical cone-shaped metal baffles inside a simple […]

The Added Safety on German Inter-War SMGs

November 10, 2022 Ian McCollum 2

Police in inter-war Germany used a variety of submachine guns, and sometimes added a distinctive extra safety mechanism to them. No patent or documentation ha been uncovered (that I am aware of, anyway), but the […]

German Troop Trials “Push-Button” Gewehr 41(W)

November 8, 2022 Ian McCollum 25

When the German Army wanted a new semiauto service rifle in 1941, it received submissions from two companies; Walther and Mauser. Walther’s design didn’t strictly meet the criteria set forth, but it was clearly the […]

Mauser WW1 Flyer’s Rifle: the Flieger Selbstlader Karabiner 1916

November 1, 2022 Ian McCollum 26

Paul Mauser dedicated much of his life to the development of a practical semiauto military rifle, and did manage to have a design that was used in combat by Germany in World War One. It […]

VG45K: Rheinmetall’s 8mm Kurz Volksgewehr

October 8, 2022 Ian McCollum 95

As the end of World War Two loomed close, the German arms industry turned to a number of Volkssturm rifle designs. These were the crudest and simplest rifles that could be made to work with […]

Armatix iP1 Smart Gun at the BackUp Gun Match

September 24, 2022 Ian McCollum 32

Yesterday we looked at the history and the functioning of the Armatix iP1 “smart gun”, and today I’m taking it out to a BackUp Gun Match. How will it perform? Will it cycle reliably? Will […]