#Mg-42
Large Cache of Rare Historical Firearms Seized in Russia
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB (ФСБ)) in cooperation with the Russain Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Guard seized a large cache of illegal firearms that were smuggled from Europe to Russia. When trying to identify these firearms, I was amazed to see that most of them are historical guns many of which are quite rare specimens. Let’s try to identify the most interesting historical firearms seized during this operation.
The H&K's Grandaddy Is Back (Almost!): Gerat 06 Reproductions Undergo Test Firing
The roller-locked* Heckler & Koch G3 rifles and MP5 submachine guns have become iconic weapons of the Cold War era, being used in conflicts everywhere from civil wars in Africa, to hostage rescues and counter terror operations in Europe, to anti-cartel operations in South America. The operating system of these rifles is as unique as they are, and dates back to the death throes of the Nazi regime at the end of World War II. Desperate to save their failing state, the Nazis tasked engineers with developing new weapons, and the engineers were all to happy to oblige, lest they too be handed an old rifle and sent to the front!
The Vaunted PKM Machine Gun – A Closer Look, from Forgotten Weapons
The Russian PKM: Arguably the best general purpose machine gun in the world, it combines a robust reliability with best-in-class light weight. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons recently released two video overviews of the weapon, giving us a good enough excuse as any to spend some time with the Soviet showstopper:
A Belt-Fed Bren Gun with a Fatal Flaw: The Experimental X11E4 at The Armourer's Bench
After World War II, the UK sought to modernize its small arms, many of which were based on designs originating from before the First World War. For its medium machine gun, the British were still using the reliable but increasingly obsolete Vickers water cooled gun in .303 caliber. With the adoption of the 7.62 NATO by the UK, trials were held to select a new air-cooled general purpose machine gun, which resulted in the adoption of the excellent Belgian MAG. In these trials, however, was tested a belt-fed variant of the magazine-fed Bren gun, called the X11E4. This gun is the subject of an article over at The Armourer’s Bench, as well as an accompanying TAB video, embedded below: