One of the types of weapons that saw a lot of service in the period from 1918-1945 is the top-fed detachable magazine rifle-caliber light machine gun, or automatic rifle. Beginning with the Danish Madsen, reaching its height before and during World War II with [Read More…]
The story of modern British small arms is one of cleverness and perseverance, but mostly of seemingly continual obsolescence. Like the later Lee design, the Martini-Henry is yet another entry into the book of British rifles that were relatively quickly obsolesced by [Read More…]
It’s unfortunate that when tabletop volumes or works of fine journalism cover the weapons used in a particular time or place, they always seem to paint a nice neat picture: M16A1s squared off against AK-47s in Vietnam, Lee-Enfields against Mausers in the Boer [Read More…]
It’s often said that small arms technology has plateaued; that development of better kinds of weapons is essentially unfeasible for the moment, and that non-optic related small arms technology had pretty much reached its peak by 1965. It would be very difficult to [Read More…]
IAA Forum user PaulSmith received several x-ray images of ammunition, and was able to take photographs: Last week I was given some excellent x-rays. By having a diffuse light source behind the film I was able to take some pictures. The quality of the x-ray images are [Read More…]
Davidson’s announced two new Walther PK380 pistols designed for “just plain fun.” One has a cheetah print frame, while the other has a red tiger stripe frame. While these finishes are not for everyone, they illustrate the growing trend of customization [Read More…]
Henry sent us a photo of his Canadian-legal AR-15 collection. He writes … We are allowed these special rifles in Canada. Left to Right: 1. Dlask lower with Colt upper and ACCOG 2. Armalite 180B with Leopold 6.5×20 3. ATRS lower Colt upper match SS air weight [Read More…]
Thanks to Henry Reed for this tip. Desert Tech recently posted a video showing a functioning MDR and does it look like fun. I found it interesting that the shooter does not wrap his thumb around the pistol grip. A technique usually seen for long range shooting.
The Durrand Line has divided the countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan since 1893 when the British Empire created it with the king of Afghanistan. More for territorial reasons than ethnic, the line literally splits the Pashtun tribe in two, half of it’s people in [Read More…]
Kids, drug money does not buy class. Proof of this are the many hideous custom guns confiscated by Latin American law enforcement from drug lords. Back in 2009 I blogged a photo of a highly customized golden AK with a horse head as the front sight. I have embedded it [Read More…]
At this risk of shortly being “The Furniture Blog” one of our readers sent in this fabulous custom-made coffee table by JD Cabrera. JD is one of the brains behind the start-up of the current Henry Repeating Arms and has a long history including building guns [Read More…]
This article will cause controversy and upset a few people, so if you believe that Mikhail Kalashnikov is on the same level as John Browning when it comes to firearms design, you may want to stop reading now. That said, I do not believe that Mikhail Kalashnikov was as [Read More…]
Knight’s Armament (KAC) is now making a second version of the company’s SR-15 IWS carbine. According to KAC, the Mod 2 has a number of new features including: a URX4 hand guard with Keymod accessory mounting points. KAC states the URX4 keeps the barrel [Read More…]
Walking along the streets of south west London, just north of Buckingham Palace, a person will take a step into glamour and glance at the official store fronts of such luxury brands as “Louis Vuitton”, “Gucci”, and “Rolex” to name a few. It is among these [Read More…]
Semiauto rifles are taken for granted today – every military in the world uses them, they are the mainstay of many types of competition, most police forces, and a great many hunters. And yet, the self-loading rifle in a full size military cartridge only became [Read More…]
This post was written by Henry SF Nachaj. I have been patterning shotguns, shotshells and chokes since the late 80s. Some interesting results were discovered as well as some strange ones: stringing patterns! Stringing patterns I discovered were due to pellets sticking [Read More…]
The Royal Armouries is one of the oldest museums in the world, and is best known for its collection of antique arms and armour. However, we have always collected modern firearms. The Armouries at the Tower of London was an issuing arsenal from the days of King Henry [Read More…]
Nepal’s Bira gun is a fascinating steampunk-esque hand-cranked machine gun that is notable for being developed and manufactured at a time when true machine guns were being adopted around the world. It is also notable for being the first (or one of the first) [Read More…]
This guest post was written by Henry SF Nachaj. I have been shooting RC on and off while in Europe and Africa, since when I discovered the shells in 2000. Whenever they are available at an event, I use them. They always seemed very consistent both in recoil and hits. [Read More…]
A pack rifle is a rifle small enough to be carried in a backpack. They are generally chambered in small caliber cartridges, such as the .22 LR or .410 shot shell, and are used for hunting, survival and plinking. The Marlin Papoose is an example of a pack gun (notably a [Read More…]
I received an email from a solider who is currently deployed to Afghanistan. He found this broken revolver at a local bazaar. Neither him nor I can identify it. Can you identify it or identify what design it was copied from? The only markings are an “H” on [Read More…]
The NRA National Firearms Museum (website not working at present) is situated in the same building complex as the NRA Headquarters Fairfax, Virginia. The Assistant Curator, Matt Sharpe, was kind enough to give me a personal tour (exclusive tours can be arranged in [Read More…]
The AR-7 was designed by Eugene Stoner for the US Airforce in 1958, a couple of years after he designed the AR-10 (which went on to evolve into the AR-15). This Henry AR-7 Survival Rifle, I am sure, would have put a smile on Stoner’s face. “bronco” [Read More…]
[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by James A. Zachary Jr. James blogs at The Next Chapter ] Norm Flayderman’s Guide says that Williamson Derringers have serial numbers running into the 20,000 range but speculates that the Moore Patent Firearms Company [Read More…]
Manu of Indian Defence News emailed me a link to a online reprint of a New Zealand newspaper article that was originally published on 13 May 1909. It says how New Zealand and Australia army rifles destined to Great Britain ended by being used by rebels on the Indian [Read More…]
James found this photos of a pair of homemade pistols that appear to be chambered in .303 British! Apparently they, along with the cartridges, were confiscated from some students. Can you imagine the blast of burning power that must shoot out of these! I found the [Read More…]
The Rock Island Auction Company are holding a massive auction next week (April 25, 26 & 27). Thousands of guns are being auctioned from some prestigious collections. All the guns can be viewed online and it makes for interesting reading. Here are a few interesting [Read More…]
Even Hollywood has not gone this far! Major Robert Henry Cain VC did this at Arnhem. From Dickiebo: When Cain joined the battle the Staffords were under heavy attack by tank and heavy guns. By firing mortars at almost point blank range towards the Germans, the British [Read More…]
I came across a fascinating article discussing medieval archery, specifically the English victory over the French at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 which was won by the English longbow archers. Henry had approximately 5,000 archers at Agincourt, and a stock of about [Read More…]
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