Gevarm was the gun-making subsidiary of Gevelot, a long-standing French ammunition manufacturer. In 1956 they brought a simple new submachine gun to market. It was chambered for 9mm Parabellum, with a simple blowback action. The construction was very basic, a combination of a tube receiver, stamp...

The SAFN, aka FN-49, is one of the classic post-war European battle rifles, and was sold to nine different countries in the early 1950s before the FAL became FN's primary combat rifle offering. What is often forgotten is that despite being limited to a fixed 10-round magazine, nearly half of all ...

The Zastava M51 is a prototype Yugoslav submachine gun developed before the adoption of the M56. It uses elements of the Beretta M38 (namely the captive recoil spring system) and PPSh-41 (the selector switch and magazine well) along with a collapsing stock reminiscent of the Polish PM63 machine p...

Yesterday we looked at the history and mechanics of the South African Vektor SS-77 general purpose machine gun, and today I have it out at the range to do some shooting. It's really as nice of a gun as I had expected from taking it apart - controllable and comfortable to shoot. I would put this u...

In the 1970s, South Africa began looking for a domestic-production GMPG to replace its inventory of FN MAG machine guns. The MAG was an excellent weapon, but the ones in South Africa were getting old and worn out, and with the country under international embargo over Apartheid, new guns and parts...

We just looked at the Rasheed (and it's Iraqi sibling the Baghdad) and today I'm taking it out to the monthly 2-Gun match. I'm pairing it with a United Arab Republic contract Browning High Power, and some period Egyptian camouflage. Fun!

Unfortunately, the Rasheed gave me a number of malfunction...

Today we are taking a look at an assortment of gas-delayed pistols, from South Africa to China to Europe. There is one predominant style of gas-delay execution, but also some variations and some substantially different takes on the concept...

When the original Laugo Alien came out, it was designed with a grip angle rather steeper than a lot of people (including most Americans, it seems) preferred. In response, Laugo redesigned the grip to be more like a 1911, and made the whole grip assembly modular in the process. Original magazines ...

Today I'm taking the new Laugo Alien out to the range to see if it matches up to the original. Spoiler, it does - and it's even better. The new grip angle is much more natural for me, and the trigger is actually a bit better than the original...

The Chauchat is a machine gun with a reputation for being unreliable - a reputation that is only partially deserved. But what the Chauchat does completely deserve is its reputation for being notoriously difficult to shoot well. The grip design, stock design, sight placement, trigger, and the dyna...

Authentic World War One 1897 trench guns will have:

Serial number between E613,000 and E705,000
High quality rust blue finish
Solid frame
20-inch cylinder bore barrel (with no bead)
Muzzle in lone with bayonet lug
Handguard with six rows of holes
Bayonet lug with a bead sight and either "PAT APP...

Today I am out at the range with Matt Haught from Sym-Tac to test out our original WW1 Winchester 1897 Trench Gun with some original WW2 GI buckshot. While the US did buy some shotgun ammunition specially packaged for military use, the majority was simply commercial off-the-shelf ammunition stamp...

We've all heard about how the Winchester 1897 is capable of slam fire, but is that really a useful feature? Or is it just a cost-saving safety hazard? Well, Matt Haught of Sym-Tac consulting and I are at the range today to find out...

The Chauchat is a machine gun with a reputation for being unreliable - a reputation that is only partially deserved. But what the Chauchat does completely deserve is its reputation for being notoriously difficult to shoot well. The grip design, stock design, sight placement, trigger, and the dyna...

I took a few minutes at Finnish Brutality 2023 to chat with Derek, a former Range and SF medic who overcame some quite daunting personal challenges to come shoot the match despite stage 4 cancer. It was great to hang out with him at the match, and to take inspiration from his story!

Back by popular demand, we have Neil Vermillion again today. We're talking about his experiences while volunteering as a trainer for troops in Ukraine. We're going to discuss why the Russians underperformed so badly, what the Ukrainians are doing well to adapt and improve, and perhaps why he has ...

When Armalite designed the AR-180, they needed a factory to produce it, as their own production capacity was limited. Initially a license was granted to How in Japan, but this only lasted a few years before US involvement in the Vietnam War led Japan to cease allowing arms to be shipped to the US...

When France decided to adopt a new 9x19mm submachine gun after World War Two, all three of the main French arsenals (St Etienne/MAS, Chatellerault/MAC, and Tulle/MAT) developed designs to compete for adoption. Tulle would eventually win and their design became the MAT-49, but the other lines of d...

Interested in more pistols from the Chinese warlord era? Check out my book "Pistols of the Warlords", now in stock and shipping at:

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/chinese-pistols

One of the professional factory-made Chinese warlord-era copies of the FN Model 1900 came from the Nanjing Arse...

Today we are looking at examples of the 1st pattern (Type E) and second pattern (Type G) FG42, comparing their construction and disassembling both to get a close look at the internal differences. Despite sharing the basic mechanism, these two models share zero parts in common, not even the bayone...

The Model 607 was Colt's first attempt at a carbine version of the AR-15 rifle, shortening both the barrel and stock. The action is identical to a standard AR, but the barrel is only 10 inches (254mm) long, and the stock uses a collapsing design unique to this model. Most examples used a small su...

It's time for Finnish Brutality 2023! This year the match is back and better than ever, with a new "Breacher" division for those seeking extra punishment. In addition to wearing armor and kit (minimum 12kg/26lb), Breacher includes a 3-10 minute physical challenge after each stage just to spice th...

Today we have both 1st and 2nd pattern semiauto FG-42s from SMG out at the range for some comparative shooting. Which is the better one to get?

It's time for Finnish Brutality 2023! This year the match is back and better than ever, with a new "Breacher" division for those seeking extra punishment. In addition to wearing armor and kit (minimum 12kg/26lb), Breacher includes a 3-10 minute physical challenge after each stage just to spice th...