We had the chance to shoot a couple of the lesser-known submachine guns used in World War II, a German MP41 and an Italian Beretta 38/44. Both are pretty typically submachine guns, firing 9mm Luger from open bolts with fixed firing pins and simple blowback actions. They both have solid wood stock...

There are really no new ideas in firearms design today - some of the best and brightest engineers humanity has produced have spent the last 120+ years figuring out every possible mechanism for building self-loading firearms. What we have today in new guns are creative new ways to put together var...

While Czechoslovakia was a part of the eastern bloc, it did a pretty thorough job of developing its own weapons rather than use standard Russian designs. For example, the vz52 pistol, vz52, 52/57, and 58 rifles, the uk59 light machine gun, and more. Well, their military sniper rifle was closer to...

When we think about roller-delayed blowback firearms, we generally think of H&K rifles - but H&K also made a miniature version of the system for the P9 pistol in the late 1960s. The P9 was made as a single-stack design in both 9mm and .45ACP, along with a target version (with adjustable sights) a...

I believe this is the least expensive gun we have yet covered on Forgotten Weapons - this particular example cost me $49 at a local gun shop. Why bother with a cheap old (and pretty commonplace) revolver? To be honest, there is one reason that specifically pushed me to buy it: the safety.

You'...

Melvin Johnson was a gun designer who felt that the M1 Garand rifle had several significant flaws - so he developed his own semiauto .30-06 rifle to supplement the M1. His thought was that if problems arose with the M1 in combat, production of his rifle could provide a continuing supply of arms w...

The M47 Madsen "Lightweight Military Rifle" was the last military bolt action rifle designed to be a primary infantry rifle, and it is a bit hard to see just who Madsen thought they could sell it to. The rifle was designed in the late 1940s and was available for sale in 1951, evidently marketed t...

The Madsen light machine gun is note-worthy for several reasons - it was the first military-issue light machine gun developed and it was successful enough to remain in production into the 1950s (long after every WWI-era machine gun was long out of production). It was also one of the most usual ma...

There has been talk for a while of people making functional reproductions of the German FG-42 paratroop rifle for a long time...and it wasn't just idle talk. We have gotten our hands on a sample of the second model FG-42 being made by SMG out of Texas, with instructions to go nuts, and not baby i...

One of the mechanically interesting guns that is really widely available in the US for a great price (or was until very recently, it seems) is the Russian M1895 Nagant revolver. It was adopted by the Imperial Russian government in 1895 (replacing the Smith & Wesson No.3 as service revolver), and ...

A little nostalgia for today - I was out at the range with some friends, and this came out of a range bag. It's a Savage Model 101, in .22 LR, and I thought it was just too neat not to do a quick little video on (I like things that appear to be one thing but are actually another). Savage introduc...

A friend of mine went to a local machine gun shoot recently, and came back with some footage of a pair of Bren guns being fired with a 100-round drum magazine. These drums were designed for anti-aircraft use, and are quite rare today, so it was cool to see one actually in use.

We're still working on an extended write-up on the DShK heavy machine gun, but thanks to our friend Leszek in Poland, we have some nice HD video of one firing.

The Russian counterpart to to Browning M2, the DShK uses the same flapper-locking system as the DP and RPD machine guns, and is chambe...

I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try my own hand at shooting the legendary Elmer Keith's personal carry gun, a Smith & Wesson pre-Model 29 in .44 Magnum. It's a fantastic piece of shooting steel, and was a joy to shoot, even if I couldn't handle it anywhere near like Keith did.

We lucked into a chance to disassemble and shoot a pretty rare black rifle recently - an SAR-21 bullpup made by Singapore Technologies (and this is why we take a camera everywhere we go). Singapore is another one of those countries with an impressive arms industry that most folks don't know about...

The Australian-designed Owen submachine gun is a weapon with quite a story behind it. The Owen is arguably the best subgun used during WWII, and also probably the ugliest. Its mere existence was a drawn out struggle between the inventor and manufacturer and the Australian Army bureaucracy, and ye...

1852 Slant-Breech Sharps

The T124E2 was the last US antitank gun, and was discontinued after only about 100 had been made - before it was put into service. It was a high velocity 76mm piece, and was replaced by the much smaller 75mm recoilless rifle.

Today I am running a semiauto (SBR) Hotchkiss Universal through my standardized Pistol-Caliber Carbine course of fire. This consists of a selection of cool target systems from MOA Targets - an 8-plate dueling tree, a mini-Mozambique, and a Redneck Star. These will serve to test target transitions...

In 1977, Arcadia Machine & Tool introduced the Hardballer, the first commercial stainless steel 1911. Stainless steel was a hot commodity, although there were some initial teething issues with slide/frame galling. Eventually, AMT introduced a number of additional 1911 models, including the Javeli...

Many years ago, SMG Guns introduced a reproduction FG-42 rifle, a semiauto version of the 2nd model as made by Germany during World War Two. After several more years of development, they have now shipped the first of their 1st model FG0-42 semi autos. There are several significant differences bet...

After I started getting malfunctions last time, I gave the Calico a good (and much-needed) cleaning, and also replaced the striker spring. Hopefully this brings it back to a state of reliability...

The Browning M2 heavy machine gun is one of the longest serving firearms in US military service, and still going strong. Let's take this one out to the range and find out why!

Today I am joined by Miles Vining from Silah Report to take a look at a selection of Tabuk pattern AKs. Tabuk was the name given to the whole family of domestically-produced Iraqi Kalashnikovs, which harbor a lot more mysteries than one might expect. The basic pattern was licensed from Yugoslavia...