Book Review: Vickers Guide H&K Volume 2 (SMG & PDW)
Forgotten Weapons
•
4m 48s
Available direct from Vickers Guide:
https://www.vickersguide.com/hk-vol-2
Or from Headstamp Publishing:
https://www.headstamppublishing.com/purchase?tag=hkv2
About a year ago Larry Vickers and James Rupley published the first volume of a series on H&K firearms, beginning with handguns. After some extensive additional photography (part of which I was happy to be able to help out with), they have now released H&K Volume II, covering submachine guns and PDWs. That is to say, the MP5 and MP7 families, along with programs like SMG I, SMG II, SMG 2000, HK50, and HK54A1. They are joined by James Williamson of Teufelshund Tactical as a collaborating author, who brings a tremendous amount of knowledge on the subject.
Where Volume I had a really substantial amount of background text information, Volume II cuts that back a little bit while expanding the photography by nearly 150 additional pages. This is without a doubt the most comprehensive photographic work on the subject ever done, at 550 pages long. The MP5 is the largest section for obvious reasons, and it begins with the earliest surviving prototypes and continues through the most recent product improvements. In between, we see things like the early tactical light systems, the different covert briefcases, cutaways, and more. While I wish there was a bit more historical reference data on some of the less common variations, it's still the best resource currently available on the topic.
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
French SIG-Manurhin 540 at the Range
Sorry for the poor audio - I was filming in an indoor range with a loud ventilation system running. But it was a chance to shoot a proper select-fire SIG-Manurhin 540, and I wasn't going to let that opportunity get away! It's a quite nice rifle, weighing in at 3.5kg / 7.75 pounds in 5.56mm. Frank...
-
Model 74 "Carpati": Cugir's Romanian ...
The Model 74 "Carpați" is a copy of the Walther PP made by the Cugir factory in Romania. The project began at the direction of the Romanian secret police, who delivered a worn out Walther to the factory in 1972 with a request that they produce a domestic copy. Work on the design took two years be...
-
MACS M2: Croatian Anti-Material .50 Cal
Among the many firearms designed and built in Croatia under the duress of the Homeland War was the MACS M2, a single-shot anti-material rifle chambered for .50 BMG. Designed by an engineer named Jankovic, these were in the field with Croatian units starting in 1994, and were used effectively in O...