On Friday, February 28th, 1997 the Los Angeles Police Department would face one of the most dangerous criminal acts in its history – The North Hollywood Bank Shootout. On that Friday morning, after months of planning two armed bank robbers entered and robbed the [Read More…]
Welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! In this week’s edition, we are going to overview a very brief history of some of the most interesting offerings of rimfire ammunition that have been produced throughout the years. While rimfire has been [Read More…]
See the entire history of the Colt Single Action Army (S.A.A.) pistol in one man’s collection! From the earliest models that were issued to the United States cavalry, to $20,000 pistols with engraving and pearl grips, and S.A.A’s that were owned by celebrities, this is an incredible [Read More…]
The AKS74U is perhaps one of the more interesting Kalashnikov variants that has spawned a following all over the world due to its compact size and effects as a status symbol in the United States, Middle East, and Central Asia. The name itself is one such example of that following that continues [Read More…]
What the hell is a centrifugal machine gun? In the plainest of terms, it’s a gun that requires no propellant powder and a system which has sparked the imaginations of inventors and gun designers for over 200 years. A couple of months ago I was browsing through the [Read More…]
No this isn’t an edition of Austin’s Hot Gat or Fudd Crap series and I don’t think it was Bubba which got to this particular Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield. No, this Obrez SMLE is probably a little more legitimate. I came across this rifle in a UK MoD [Read More…]
The second day of the Arsenals of History Symposium held at the Cody Firearms Museum brought about new discussions that ranged from developing a common lexicon to categorize small arms terms to how do museums work with guns in video games and drawing visitors in through [Read More…]
This year the Cody Firearms Museum hosted the third annual Kurt Swanson Bucholz Arsenals of History Symposium in Cody, Wyoming. We saw the gathering of many historians, researchers, and representatives from a wide range of museums throughout the world. All congregating [Read More…]
When we think of the iconic Cold War G3, we automatically think Heckler & Koch – but that wasn’t always the case. When the fledgling West German Army adopted the, now famous, roller-delayed rifle it was produced by not just H&K but another famous [Read More…]
The model of 1911 pistol is an American classic and has a long and illustrious history. While we can’t possibly cover everything about the 1911, today we’re going to look at some of the high points in the love affair that America has enjoyed with this iconic pistol. We make every effort to [Read More…]
If you love history and old firearms there are a few YouTube channels you probably follow. For many, two of those will definitely be Forgotten Weapons and C&Rsenal. Ian, Othais and Mae have come together to put seven original World War One vintage light machine guns [Read More…]
Back in the mid-1860s most of the world’s militaries began to clamber to adopt breech-loading systems following the success of the Prussian Dreyse Needle Rifle during the Prussian-Danish War. The Dreyse breechloader had given the Prussians a tactical advantage [Read More…]
Towards the end of last year I had the chance to look at unique early breechloader, an example of Frederic Prince’s breechloading percussion rifle dating from the 1850s. Prince’s rifle (no, not the gunsmith formerly known as…) used a sliding barrel action, [Read More…]
Recently Mossberg, one of America’s oldest gun companies best known for their shotguns, launched their first pistol – the Mossberg MC1. Well not quite their first, 100 years ago this year, the company launched another small, compact pistol – the [Read More…]
The J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma, is home to the world’s largest privately-held firearms collection in the world. With more than 12,000 firearms and thousands of assorted items related to the firearms, it is quite the place. If [Read More…]
The Netherlands’ National Military Museum has unveiled a new display including the pistol carried by Adolf Hitler’s right hand man in the Netherlands during World War Two. The pistol was owned by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian Nazi politician who was [Read More…]
In the early 1900s Hiram Percy Maxim, son of the inventor of the Maxim gun, began developing early suppressors which he christened ‘silencers’. It wasn’t long before the US Army took interest in these new silencers and began testing them. The US Army [Read More…]
Rock Island Auctions’ latest Premiere Auction, running from the 30th November to the 2nd December, has some extremely interesting and unusual firearms. Ranging from 18th century air guns to 20th century military prototypes lets take a look at some of the most [Read More…]
The Myanmar Military (“Tatmadaw” in Burmese) is one of the only Southeast Asian nations that manufactures the majority of its small arms and light weapons (up to 120mm mortars) and has been doing so since the early 1950s in collaboration with a number of foreign allies. The majority of [Read More…]
What would it be like to try and attempt to shoot historical small arms in some of the ways that they were actually used in the past? We try and do that in this episode with German small arms in a small team setting, assaulting an objective across open terrain using a base of fire […] [Read More…]
A British Brown Bess musket believed to have been present at the battles that began the American Revolution is up for auction during Skinner’s November Historic Arms & Militaria sale. The British 1756 Long Land Service Musket is one of a host of colonial era [Read More…]
In an age when three or four rounds a minute from a trained infantryman was considered an impressive standard, six or even seven shots a minute which were more accurate than those from an average musket was tactically groundbreaking. Patrick Ferguson’s rifle was what [Read More…]
The French Armée de Terre has shared an interesting video on their official YouTube comparing the iconic First World War-vintage Lebel M1886 with the French Army’s new rifle the Heckler & Koch-made HK416F. The video is part of the French Army’s clash [Read More…]
When we think of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company we think of lever actions and maybe some of John Browning’s designs. We don’t tend to think of Cold War submachine guns, but in the mid-1950s Winchester developed a 9×19 ‘NATO Burp Gun’. [Read More…]
James recently wrote a pretty in-depth article looking at the pros and cons of the Full Conceal Glock pistol conversion system. This got me thinking ‘has anyone done this before?’ So I delved into the online patent archives, which is how all the cool guys [Read More…]
If I asked you what the first first bullpup rifle was, what would you answer? The Steyr AUG? British EM-2 from the 1950s? The Faucon ‘Balanced Rifle’ from 1911 or maybe the Thorneycroft carbine from the early 1900s? In fact the distinction goes to a much [Read More…]
Fans of classic war movies like A Bridge Too Far and the excellent series Band of Brothers will be as excited as I was to hear that a major project to create a show exploring the history of World War Two’s airborne troops has been launched. Paratrooper is [Read More…]
Taking the lead by the Cody Firearms Museum, a unique gathering of firearms museum curators took place in Cody, Wyoming. Representatives from museums such as the National Firearms Centre in Leeds, Springfield Armory National Historic Site, NRA Firearms Museum, Autry Museum of the West, the [Read More…]
Back in 2009, Chesapeake Police Department seized a fully-automatic, undocumented Sturmgewehr 44. Now they want to donate it to the US Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command. The antique World War Two assault rifle came into police possession in April 2009, [Read More…]
Available to those transiting through or vacationing in Dubai is the tucked away gem of the Dubai Museum and Al Faidi Fort. The museum tells the story of the pre-historic surroundings and the small hamlet that would eventually become the sprawling metropolis that is the [Read More…]