-
Book Review: P38 Pistol - Spreewerk Production
I initially put off getting a copy of Jan Balcar and Ron Clarin's book on the Spreewerk P38 because, well, I assumed it was just about Spreewerk. Upon finally reading it, I discovered that it is actually a very well-rounded history of the P38 as a whole, with particular extra attention given to S...
-
Book Review: The Ross Rifle Story
"The Ross Rifle Story" is the Bible of Ross rifle collecting - it is the only substantial reference work on the subject and it has a tremendous amount of information about the development of the Ross. However, it is also one of the worst-edited firearms reference books I am aware of. It has a sec...
-
Interview with Teri from NambuWorld.com
While we were at the SAR West show this year, we had the chance to chat with Teri, who runs NambuWorld.com. Teri is a Canadian collector who took a longtime interest in Japan and built a very impressive collection of Japanese firearms and militaria, and her web site is a great source of informati...
-
NFC Jonathan Ferguson Interview
We took part of our recent European excursion in England, and part of that time was spent at the National Firearms Centre in Leeds, formerly known as the Pattern Room. The gun collection there was started in 1631 as a repository for reference examples of British military equipment, in an effort t...
-
Interview: Bill Chase on Restoring Collectible Firearms
Today we are speaking with Bill Chase on the subject of restoration of collectible firearms. Mr. Chase is a very talented machinist and artisan, and has substantial experience in restoring firearms, including manufacturing new parts for some very rare and valuable guns. This video was promtped by...
-
Ralf Dieckmann Interview: History of a Gun Designer
Ralf Dieckmann is a German-born firearms designer who grew up as a small child in Berlin during World War II. His interest in firearms developed in the post-war years with war detritus literally lying about in the streets. He emigrated to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian military, where he fir...
-
Interview with Nicole Wiley: German .22 Training Rifles
While I was visiting Galesburg, I had the pleasure of meeting Nicole Wiley. She is working on organizing a massive reference book on German .22 training rifles (like the Sportmodell and KKW), and was kind enough to give me a tour of Robert Simpson's collection of these guns. It was a very interes...
-
Ken Hackathorn on the M1 Carbine: Reputation vs Reality
The M1 Carbine has long been a bit of an enigma to me, because I have never had really good luck with the design, and yet they were extremely popular with American soldiers, German soldiers, Korean soldiers, Vietnamese soldiers, and a great many other countries. So what's the deal? Is it as simpl...
-
How to Check If A P08 Luger Has All Matching Serial Numbers
Today I am visiting Simpson Ltd in Galesburg, Illinois - the question we are look at is one of the most common they hear from customers: how do you tell if a Luger is all matching? When the guns were originally made, the factory put the serial number on a whole bunch of different parts, and on ma...
-
John Wayne's .22 Rifle (designed by Jim Sullivan)
One of the many projects that AR-15 designer Jim Sullivan was involved in through his long career was a project to found the Wayne Repeating Arms Company (or WRA Co., not to be inadvertently confused with any other gun company with those initials). The company was backed financially by none other...
-
Improvised & Craft-Built Firearms w/ Jonathan Ferguson & Nic Jenzen-Jones
Today I am joined for a round table discussion (well, octagon table, technically) by Jonathan Ferguson (Curator of the National Firearms Centre collection at the Royal Armouries) and Nic Jenzen-Jones (Director of Armament Research Services) to discuss a variety of improvised and craft-produced fi...
-
Tour of a Dutch Gun Collection
One of the collectors who offered me access to video some of his guns during my recent trip to Europe said I should do an overview of his whole collection. There is a misconception in both the US and Europe that European governments ban gun ownership. The truth is more complex - different countri...
-
Overview of Canadian Gun Laws (2017)
Today, a general overview of Canadian gun laws, so we Americans (and you folks across the ocean) can have a better idea of what the legal situation is in the Great White North. Please recognize that this is a general overview only - we are not getting into the nitty gritty details, and this is no...
-
The EM2 in NATO Trials, with Jonathan Ferguson
Sorry for the poor audio quality - I am back at the Cody Firearms Museum talking to Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries in the UK. Jonathan has written a new book on the history of British bullpup firearms, which Headstamp is very proud to be publishing!
To...
-
Origin of the Term "Bullpup" - with Jonathan Ferguson
Sorry for the poor audio quality - today I am back at the Cody Firearms Museum talking to Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries in the UK. Today we are talking about the term "bullpup" - where did it come from, and what IS a "bullpup" anyway? The more you look a...
-
All the Guns on an M4 Sherman Tank (with Nicholas Moran, the Chieftain)
Today Nicholas Moran (the Chieftain) and I are at DriveTanks.com courtesy of Wargaming.net, to show you around a World War Two Sherman tank and all its various armaments. We will discuss and shoot the bow machine gun, coaxial machine gun, Commander's hatch machine gun, antiaircraft .50 cal M2 mac...
-
Russian Gun Laws w/ Max Popenker
Today Max Popenker joins me again, this time to explain the state of guns laws today in Russia. This is part of continuing series I am doing about gun laws around the world. What is involved in owning a gun in different places? What about hand guns, machine guns, and large collections? Let's fin...
-
Researcher Profile: Miles Vining and Silah Report
Today I am chatting with Miles Vining, co-creator of Silah Report, a blog and intelligence network researching firearms in MENA - the Middle East and North Africa. Miles and his colleagues have created an organization that both understands the languages and customs of this region, but also are se...
-
Researcher Profile: Matt Moss & The Armourer's Bench
Today I would like to introduce you to Matt Moss, who runs the HistoricalFirearms.info web site and The Armourer's Bench YouTube channel. Matt is a firearms researcher with an academic background, who covers a variety of very rare and interesting firearms on video, as well as other aspects of mil...
-
Ultimate Recoil: 4-Bore Rifle Edition!
This is a 4-Bore single-barrel rifle built on an Army Navy Supply frame by J.J. Perodeau of Enid Oklahoma. I am firing 1750 grain lead bullets over charges of 325gr of Goex Fg. Muzzle velocity is approximately 1340fps, generating about 7,000 ftlb of muzzle energy.
This is the largest rifle ever ...
-
Q&A #3: What-Ifs and How-Comes
In this month's Q&A video, I take on more questions from my wonderful Patreon supporters, including:
* Would we still have Browning pistols if the 1911 had not been adopted?
* Gun designs from non-industrialized places
* British .303 Conversions of the Martini
* Weapons best left forgotten
* Wha... -
North & Skinner Wedge-Lock Revolving Rifle
Patented in 1852 by Henry North and Chaucey Skinner, about 700 of these revolving rifles were made by 1856. The design used a locking wedge to seal the cylinder forward so that the firing chamber would nest into the barrel and seal the cylinder gap. The operating lever that did this also served t...
-
The 1843 Side-Lever Hall Carbine by Simeon North
The final production version of the Hall was Simeon North’s Model 1843 Carbine, of which 10,500 were made between 1844 and 1853. It used North’s percussion update to the design, and a cleverly simple calming lug connected to a lever on the right side of the action to open the breech. These were s...
-
Morse Carbine: If the Army Says No, Sell it Commercially!
George Morse was one of the most significant American inventors in the development of modern ammunition. In 1856 he received a patent for the first completely self-contained brass cartridge, and a breechloading firearm to use it. Morse’s cartridge was made of several parts, a solid brass case hea...