Russia - Forgotten Weapons

How Russia Captured its First MKb-42(H)

May 30, 2021 Ian McCollum 99

This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. When a new weapon model gets to the front, there is always a risk of it getting captured by the enemy. Armed forces go to great lengths to […]

DS-39: The Failed Soviet Machine Gun of World War Two

May 26, 2021 Ian McCollum 40

The Soviet Union recognized the need for a modernized machine gun to replace the Maxim, and in the late 1920s Degtyarev began work on a “universal” type of gun. This would be air cooled, use […]

The Long Road to the DP-27

May 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 28

This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. The Russian military first got acquainted with light machine guns in 1904, on the brink of the Russian-Japanese War. After having tested a few Madsen LMGs, the Army […]

Colt-Berdan I: Russia’s First Military Cartridge Rifle

May 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 20

In 1867, a Russian delegation came to the United States to source new small arms for the Czar. In addition to purchasing Gatling guns, they met with Hiram Berdan and agreed to purchase a trapdoor […]

LAD: The Soviet Pistol-Caliber SAW that Could Have Been

April 11, 2021 Ian McCollum 39

This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. In 1942, the Red Army was experiencing big problems with machine guns. Before the war, great hopes were pinned on Dyagterev’s brand new DS-39 heavy machine gun. But […]

The Lahti L35 in Soviet Testing

April 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 22

This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. In 1941, at the NIPSVO shooting range, the Soviet military conducted a series of comparative tests of standard foreign and Soviet pistols as well as the Soviet experimental […]

Semiauto DShKM “Dushka” in .50 Browning

March 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 49

Developed by the Soviet Union primarily as an antiaircraft weapon (and used to good effect in that role through World War Two), the DShK heavy machine gun was modernized almost immediately upon adoption. The first […]

Max Popenker on Russian Pistols and Ammunition: 7N21, 9x21mm, 9x18mm, and more

February 16, 2021 Ian McCollum 32

Today I am again joined by Max Popenker, Russian small arms historian and researcher. Max is explaining the basic history of Russian handguns and ammunition, starting with the adoption of the 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge to […]

Finnish Brutality Practice: 2-Gun with a Finnish M39

December 19, 2020 Ian McCollum 19

As practice for Finnish Brutality, I ran a 2-Gun match with the Finnish M39 Mosin Nagant I am planning to use over in Finland. The M39 is the final iteration of the Mosin in Finnish […]

Russian World War 1 Contract Colt 1911

November 10, 2020 Ian McCollum 22

During World War One, the Russian Government purchased some 51,000 Colt 1911 pistols. These were standard commercial production guns, chambered for .45 ACP, and were shipped in 1916 and 1917, with JP Morgan acting as […]