The Type 68 is a North Korean hybrid of the Tokarev and the High Power, used as a military service pistol until replaced by the Beak-Du-San copy pop the CZ75. The general outline of the gun is a copy of the Tokarev, with a modular removable fire control group, lack of manual safety, and tall thin...

When the Italian military was looking for a new sidearm in the early 1930s, they really liked the pistol submitted by Beretta - but they also really liked the Walther PP. During the development process, the military requested that Beretta add a Walther-style slide-mounted safety to the Model 1934...

The Mousqueton Modele 1854, named for General Antoine Hector Thésée Treuille de Beaulieu, was the first breechloader adopted by the French military. It was issued to the Cent Gardes (personal bodyguard) of Emperor Napoleon III and used a 9x46mm copper-cased pinfire cartridge. The action is a uniq...

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...

The very first group of C96 pistols made. -about 200 in total - are called "System Mauser" pistols. They have this hand-engraved on the top of the barrel, and have a number of other very early features that would quickly change. Most of these changes involve lightening the gun, but they also have...

Ever since The Mandalorian chose a terrific prototype Bergmann pistol as the base for Mando's blaster pistol, I've been asked to cover the real gun origins of the blasters form he original Star Wars film. This isn't a particularly difficult thing to look up online, but hopefully I can bring a bit...

When the British adopted a new high-velocity spitzer bullet for the .303 cartridge, they had to update their rifles to use it. Specifically, the sights had to be recalibrated for the flatter trajectory of the new MkVII ammunition. In addition, the sight picture was changed form a barleycorn front...

When the SMLE was adopted by the British, it was to be the new universal rifle for all branches of service, including the Royal Navy. This suited the Navy just fine; they like the features of the new design. However, the Army quickly moved to update their rifles for the new MkVII Spitzer ammuniti...

In the aftermath of the Boer War, the British military needed to address critical issues of practical marksmanship with its troops. The Long Lee rifles it had deployed to South Africa suffered significant problems in making real-world hits on the battlefield. In addition to investing in better mu...

Specialized hobbies have always been a market for specialized gear, and competitive target shooting is a perfect example. Today, we have a set of P.J. O'Hare sight covers form the 1920s or 30s, along with a micrometer sight adjustment tool to show you. The sight covers were to protect the sights ...

As World War Two developed, the Soviet Union found that bayonets were frequently lost from its M91/30 Mosin Nagant rifles. The standard bayonet, as adopted all the way back in 1891, was a long spike attached via socket over the muzzle. Carried on the belt is was long and awkward and easily discar...

The San Cristobal armory was a surprisingly large-scale arms manufacturer set up in the Dominican Republic in the late 40s. They produced several different weapons, but the most common was the Model 2 Cristobal carbine. Designed by Pál Király, it was a lever-delayed blowback mechanism chambered f...

The Smith & Wesson company was purchased by the Bangor Punta conglomerate in 1964, and BP also owned one of the early pioneers in police tear gas products, the Lake Erie Chemical Company. Once it had both companies under single ownership, the decision was made to rebrand the tear gas product line...

In the years before World War One, the Imperial Nicholas Military Academy in Russia purchased several thousand handguns from FN for resale to its officer candidates and graduates. These were mostly FN 1900 and FN 1905 models, although also a small number of FN 1903s. The pistols were marked with ...

Courtesy of Legacy Collectibles, we have an FN 1900 to look at today that was purchased by the Russian Imperial Army's primary Gymnastics and Fencing School (Главная гимнастическо-фехтовальная школа). That was an institution established in 1909 to train officers who would become fencing and gymna...

The Canadian infantry that went to Europe in the early years of World Wa rOne were equipped primarily with the Ross MkIII rifle. The Ross would become quite the scandal, and was replaced in service with the SMLE in 1916 - but as a sniper rifle the Ross excelled. Its problems in service were large...

In August 1913, the British War Office wrote to Sir Charles Ross requesting a sample automatic rifle for trials in the UK. Ross was able to submit a prototype on May 1914, which was tested at Enfield - but only fired 308 rounds before the test ended, suggesting that something important probably b...

In addition to building three main patterns of straight-pull bolt action rifle for the Canadian military and the commercial market, Sir Charles Ross also experimented with self-loading rifles. Starting with a standard Ross Mk III, this experimental rifle has a gas piston and trigger to allow auto...

Henri Lecorre was a French immigrant to Canada who enlisted in the 22nd Regiment of the Canadian Army in April, 1915. He had a knack for carving things in his rifles, which he started right in basic training, with a Ross rifle he named "Josephine". That got him sternly rebuked by his Colonel, but...

R.L. Wilson was a pillar of the firearms collecting community, and especially the Colt collecting community, in the 1970s and 80s. He wrote a slew of books on Colt, and was a major broker, dealer, and appraiser. He also betrayed the trust people put in him, as best exemplified by the "trade of th...

The Italian military adopted the single-shot Vetterli rifle in 1870, and by 1882 the Italian Navy was looking for something with a bit more firepower. The proceeded to adopt the Vetterli-Bertoldo in 1882, a version of the Vetterli with a 9-round tubular magazine in the stock, under the barrel. In...

The Ottoman Empire purchased a staggering number of Mauser rifles over many decades, and Turkey would update many of them to a standardized pattern in the 1930s. This particular example is very rare, with an attached folding bayonet.

The base rifle here is (was) a 1903 model Mauser carbine, ch...

Sergei Korovin was a Russian designer who was kicked out of the Kharkov Technical Institute in 1905 for his revolutionary political activities. He emigrated to Liege in Belgium, where he worked in the arms industry until returning home to Russia when World War One broke out in 1914. He attempted ...

Czechoslovakia adopted a whole new slate of small arms in the 1950s, including the vz.52 pistol vz.52 rifle, and vz.52 light machine gun. They also adopted a new sniper rifle, developed by a Moravian designed names Otakar Galaš. Galaš was a skilled competitive shooter as well as an arms designer,...