The CZ-2000 project in the Czech Republic (derived from the Lada developed in the late years of Czechoslovakia) envisioned a full suite of infantry arms, much like the AK as used by other countries. There would be an SMG-type compact weapon (akin to the AKS-74U "Krinkov"), a standard infantry rif...

We have previously looked at the development of the CZ 2000 and Lada rifle programs in Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic, and today we are taking a close look at one specific variant. This is the SMG pattern CZ 2000, although by current nomenclature it would not be called an SMG because ...

There have been several examples of the AK being used as the basis for a pistol-caliber SMG or PDW. The Russians made the Vityaz, the Hungarians made the KGPF-9…and the Czechs actually made a version form the CZ-2000. This was the attempt to make a 5.56mm AK family of rifles form the roots of the...

Developed in the 1990s and entering production in 1996, the CZ100 and CZ101 were CZ's first polymer-framed pistols. They were offered in both 9mm and .40S&W, with the CZ100 being a double stack design (magazine capacity 10 or 13 rounds) and the CZ101 being single stack (magazine capacity 7 or 8 r...

The vz.82 and its cousin the CZ 83 are pistols that originated when the Czech state export company during the Cold War began looking for arms it could export to bring in hard currency. The current service pistol, the vz.52, was, shall we say, not widely desirable and its 7.62x25mm cartridge was n...

In 1954, the Unique company (MAPF) in Hendaye France rebuilt a batch of 800 Berthier carbines into .22LR caliber for use by the Sûreté Nationale (later renamed the Police Nationale). These were to be used for training and also issued to prison guards. Both 1892 and 1916 pattern carbines were used...

Dan Coonan first designed his pistol in graduate school as a drafting project: a 1911 pistol chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge. No easy feat, designing a self-loading pistol magazine to cycle a big rimmed revolver cartridge! This was in 1977, and he went about creating a business to manufac...

Today Professor Ben Nicholson joins me to talk about some of the work behind the scenes to create "Clockwork Basilisk". From unexpected museum finds to Maori war chiefs, this book was the product of a whole team of researchers across several continents.

Today I'm again joined by Professor Ben Nicholson, author of the newest Headstamp Publishing book, Clockwork Basilisk. We are discussing the different sorts of fake and reproduction Collier revolvers, although the subject is pertinent to many other highly desirable antiques. A few of the points c...

Today we have a chance to take one of the reproduction China Lake 40mm grenade launchers out to the range! We are using practice chalk rounds...let's see how it goes! Only a handful of these were made, and perhaps we will find out why they were not more seriously considered by the military...

At the end of World War Two, the Mauser factory complex was in the French occupation zone, and more than a few Mauser engineers went to work for the French. Among them were Ludwig Vorgimmler and Theodor Löffler. These two men joined the Centre d’Etudes et d’Armement de Mulhouse (CEAM) and worked ...

I have found the "cheek pistol" concept form Rhett Neumayer at Demonstrated Concepts to be pretty interesting. When I was thinking about what pistol designs might be suitable for this sort of use, the Calico M950 jumped out as a really neat candidate. It's a downward-ejecting design that doesn't ...

Mack Gwinn was a US Army Special Forces officer in Vietnam (he retired from the service as a Captain) who had extensive experience carrying and using a Stoner 63A. When he returned home, he decided to get into the firearms industry. His first work was the Ranger 7, an improvement on John Foote's ...

I was talking to the guys who operate BattleGnome at Lynx Brutality this summer, as they also made the holster and mag carriers for the Arex Delta I used at that match. They are really cool, down-to-earth folks and had just finished prototyping a Tokarev holster. There are no modern options for a...

Yesterday we took a look at the history and the mechanics of Dan Conan's .357 Magnum 1911; today we are going to take it out to the range. Specifically, a BackUp Gun Match, plus a bit of extra range time afterwards...

Yesterday we were looking at the new resurrection of the AutoMag pistol, and today I have it out at the monthly BackUp Gun match. Is it appropriate to bring this behemoth of a pistol to a "backup" match? Sure!

My experience with magnum automatic pistols has been very mixed...actually, just mo...

I don't normally take actual backup guns to the backup gun match; it's usually some oddball old pistol. But today, I decided to bring out the new S&W Shield Plus in .30 Super Carry. It's actually exactly the sort of gun that the match is designed for. I chose to minimize the size of the gun by us...

The Bren 807 is an interesting hybrid of the Bren 805 and Bren 2. It was introduced by CZ in 2016 as a lower-priced model than the Bren 2. It was offered in both 5.56mm and 7.62x39mm, although it was not intended to be user-changeable between calibers. Its introduction was done in part with hopes...

With the Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, a new Czech Republic immediately looked to NATO membership. This would require rearming the Czech Army with a rifle in 5.56mm NATO. After some unsuccessful dabbling with the Lada/CZ2000 AK platform, CZ began to develop the Br...

After a lot of requests from law enforcement and military organizations, CZ developed a collapsing buttstock for the Bren 2 rifle. It requires a different upper receiver than the standard Bren 2, although that upper will become standard in future production. Combined with a short barrel, the coll...

CZ has taken the Bren 2 design, and scaled it up to 7.62mm NATO as the Bren 2 BR (Battle Rifle). A decent number of military and security organizations are still interested in the larger cartridge, including the Hungarian military and Kenyan game rangers. Essentially this is the same mechanism as...

The Soviet Union began to take an interest in military suppressors in the early 1930s, and experimented with things like suppressors for the DP light machine gun. Through the 1930s a variety of different designs were tested, but none were found really suitable. Everything they tested was deemed t...

Only available direct from Vickers Guide:
https://www.vickersguide.com/hk-vol1-1

The Vickers Guide series of books by Larry Vickers and James Rupley began as beautifully photographed firearms art books - and that's all they claim to be today. However, with the release of Heckler & Koch Volume...

Available on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3Ak8w3Y

Tom Whiteman (of Legacy Collectibles) has just recently published "Third Reich Lugers: An Illustrated Collector's Guide to German Military Lugers from World War II". The full title pretty much says it all here; this is not a history of the Luger or...