United Kingdom - Forgotten Weapons

Sten MkI & MkI*: The Original Plumber’s Nightmare

May 22, 2024 Ian McCollum 15

The Sten gun was designed by RSAF Senior Draftsman (sorry, Draughtsman) Harold Turpin in December, 1940. He sketched out a simple trigger mechanism on December 2, showed it to Major Reginald Shepherd the next day, […]

Q&A With Jonathan Ferguson of the British Royal Armouries

March 10, 2024 Ian McCollum 8

Today I am joined by Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the British Royal Armouries for a Q&A session, with questions provided by the fine folks who support Forgotten Weapons on Patreon… 1:02 […]

Patchett Machine Carbine MkI: Sten Becomes Sterling

February 14, 2024 Ian McCollum 27

The Patchett Machine Carbine Mk I is the predecessor to the Sterling SMG. It was developed by George William Patchett, who was an employee of the Sterling company. At the beginning of the war, Sterling […]

Fiji in World War Two: the Momi Bay Gun Battery

February 3, 2024 Ian McCollum 10

When the clouds of World War Two began to loom in the 1930s, Britain decided to begin securing some of its more distant colonial outposts – places that might be of strategic importance in a […]

The Sexy Retro Shorty: Original AR-180 Police Carbine

October 28, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

When Armalite designed the AR-180, they needed a factory to produce it, as their own production capacity was limited. Initially a license was granted to How in Japan, but this only lasted a few years […]

“Hill’s Patent” Stanley Bull-Dog Revolver: Blatant Patent Theft in 1878

September 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 9

The Stanley Bull-Dog revolver is an English-production revolver which is marked as being “Hill’s Patent”. The gun uses an interesting simultaneous ejection system similar to the Fagnus – which one assume was the subject of […]

The Post-War Legacy of the FG42

August 23, 2023 Ian McCollum 55

If the FG-42 was such a great gun, then why didn’t it get used after the war? Well, two answers… 1) It was crazy expensive to make and there weren’t very many lying around for […]

Slovenian SAR80: Sterling Out-Simplifies the AR-180

May 15, 2023 Ian McCollum 22

The British Sterling firm designed the SAR-80 (specifically, their engineer Frank Waters) as a very simple rifle to sell to countries outside the main NATO/Warsaw spheres of influence. Sterling ended up getting a license to […]

Prototype Silenced Sten Mk4(S) at the Range

March 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 30

Yesterday we looked at the mechanics and the history of the Sten Mk4(S), and today we have it out at the range! The very short barrel and its porting reduce the velocity of standard 115gr […]

Prototype Silenced Sten for Paratroops: the Mk4(S)

March 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 0

The Sten Mk4 was developed experimentally in 1943 for use by British paratroops. It used a remarkably awful folding stock along with a shortened receiver and barrel to make a very compact package – albeit […]