Spain - Forgotten Weapons

ZB26: The Best of the Light Machine Guns

October 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 38

The ZB-26 stands as one of the best magazine-fed light machine guns developed during the 1920s and 30s – it was a very popular gun for small military forces and many countries which did not […]

Leaders in Machine Pistols: the Bestigui Hermanos MM31

October 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Beistigui Hermanos is probably the least known of the Spanish machine pistol manufacturers, despite being the first to actually make such pistols. Beistigui was founded in 1910 in Eibar, and was one of the initial […]

Astra 902: Because More Rounds Are Better

October 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 8

The Spanish Astra firm introduced its C96 Mauser lookalike, the Model 900, in 1927 to take advantage of the strong Chinese demand for that type of handgun. When Bestigui Hermanos introduced a select-fire machine pistol […]

Book Review: Pistolas y Subfusiles de la República Producción de Guerra

October 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 13

“Pistolas y Subfusiles de la República Producción de Guerra” is a new 580-page reference book about the pistols and submachine guns made in the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War. It is written by […]

Spanish MP41/44 – A Copy of the Erma EMP

August 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

The Spanish-made MP41/44 is a licensed copy of the Erma EMP submachine gun. The development begins with Heinrich Vollmer in 1925, designing a submachine gun for German military testing. The military trials showed a number […]

Special Presentation: What is Gold Damascene?

June 24, 2017 Ian McCollum 12

Today were are going to do something a bit different than normal, and take a detailed look at an intersection of arms and art: gold damascene. This is a type of art used to embellish […]

The Star Z-63 Submachine Gun: Better Than You Think

April 28, 2017 Ian McCollum 32

The Star Z-63 is a 9x19mm version of the Star Z-62, which was made in both 9×19 and 9×23. Together, these represent the company’s effort to produce a more modern submachine gun than their Z-45, […]

Astra 700 Special: Failed Copy of the FN 1910

February 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

The Model 700 Special was an attempt by Astra to piggyback on the popularity of the FN Model 1910 automatic pistol. Astra took their Model 100 (a renamed Ruby pistol of WWI lineage) and changed […]

Star Model A Carbine (Video)

January 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Star introduced the Model A as the commercial sale version of the Model 1920 and 1921 pistols which they had entered into Spanish military trials in 1920. The pistol was rejected by the Army in […]

Bergmann Mars 1903

January 15, 2017 Ian McCollum 33

The military breakthrough for Bergmann finally came in 1903 with a new locking system for the pistol, designed by Louis Schmeisser (who had also designed the previous Bergmann handguns). In 1901, Schmeisser developed the new […]