Courtesy of PGM Precision USA, we have a chance to take a look at a Hecate II sniper rifle today. This rifle's story begins with the Ultima Ratio, a classic-based 7.62mm precision rifle designed by Gilles Payen in France circa 1991 for the French RAID police unit. The rifle was very well-received...

Since SHOT Show this year, I have gotten three different 9mm carbines that are all interesting in their own ways. The Kalashnikov USA KP-9 is a virtual copy of the Russian Vityaz submachine gun, much more sophisticated than the other 9mm AKs available today. The CMMG Banshee is a delayed blowback...

Today I am running an early-configuration M1 Carbine through my standardized Pistol-Caliber Carbine course of fire. This consists of a selection of cool target systems from MOA Targets - an 8-plate dueling tree, a mini-Mozambique, and a Redneck Star. These will serve to test target transitions, p...

Before I even started filming this video, the Calico's muzzle brake fell off...not an auspicious beginning! But we will push on without it, and see if the Calico can even finish the course without malfunctioning...and what sort of of time it gets if it does!

Every year, the Rio Salado Sportsman's Club host's the Arizona PCC (Pistol-Caliber Carbine) Championships. I signed up initially planning to use my Calico carbine, but my travel schedule kept me from getting the gun in shape to use in time. Instead, I polled my Patrons to choose a replacement, an...

Everyone has an off day eventually, and for H&K one of those off days took the form of the P7M10. Introduced in 1991, the M10 was based on the frame and magazine body of the double-stack P7M13, with a .40 caliber barrel and a substantially increased slide mass. This extra mass was deemed necessar...

North Vietnam set up a small arms factory north of Hanoi (12km north of Yên Bái, to be specific) with the assistance of Chinese factory #296, starting in 1959. The goal was for this to become a substantial arsenal for both repair and production of arms, including barrel-making and forging capabil...

Sometimes it makes sense to use convenient existing magazines. Sometimes it doesn't. Like all things in firearms design, magazine features are all compromises. Single feed vs double feed, polymer vs steel, and straight vs curved...one size does not fit all.

Most of the significant wartime simplifications we see on rifles from World War Two are from Germany and Japan, but the rear sight of the No4 Lee Enfield is a good example of a similar action taken by Britain. By 1942, the finely-made milled rear sight assembly of the rifle had become a limiting ...

When the Tula Arsenal restarted production of M1895 Nagant revolvers in 1924 after the Russian civil war, they made both full sized standard guns and also compact "Commanding Officer" models. These had a shorter grip and barrel (85mm), and were intended specifically for people who would carry the...

In the mid 1950s, the Winchester company designed a compact 9mm submachine gun for military use. It was internally called the. "NATO Burp Gun", and according to Winchester historian Herbert House, was developed in part (or with the assistance of) Melvin Johnson. The design was a simple tubular re...

My recent video proposing a particular set of definitions for three generations of submachine gun design generated a lot of comments about the H&K MP-7 and FN P90. I focused largely on the first and second generation guns in that video - as they were the bulk of what I had available to use as exa...

I have had a bunch of requests to comment on the recent movie 1917 by Sam Mendes, and I finally had a chance to watch it...

The Dutch government adopted the Luger for the KNIL (Dutch East Indies colonial forces) in 1910, and placed an initial order for 4,182 pistols from DWM in Germany. These were standard 9mm New Model Lugers, with grip safeties, no stock lugs, and manual safeties marked “RUST”. When more pistols wer...

The M78 was Valmet’s RPK-style heavy barreled squad support weapon pattern of the Finnish AK. It was initially developed as the M74 cavalry machine gun for Finnish military service, but never adopted. Instead, that experimental design would serve as the basis for the commercial export M78 (using ...

Edit: The three interlocking rings are Krupp's logo, not a Thai property mark - sorry!

In 1906, Siam (now Thailand) purchased a batch of 50mm mountain guns from Krupp of Germany. These were simple fixed barrel guns with steel-belted wooden wheels. Designed to be carried by elephant, mule, or e...

During World War One, the Russian Government purchased some 51,000 Colt 1911 pistols. These were standard commercial production guns, chambered for .45 ACP, and were shipped in 1916 and 1917, with JP Morgan acting as purchasing agent. They have serial numbers between about C21,000 and C89,000. Th...

Ruger introduced their semiauto Mini-14 rifle in 1973, and followed it in 1979 with the AC-556, a select-fire version intended for military and police sales. Offered with either an 18.5 inch barrel and solid wood stock or a 13 inch barrel and side folder, the AC-556 incorporated a selector switch...

The Prideaux loader was one of several early such devices patented and manufactured as early as 1893, but neither it nor any competitor saw much demand until the outbreak of World War One. At that point, a substantial number were purchased privately by individual officers for use in the trenches ...

While the MP5SD is made with a barrel ported right at the chamber to reduce bullet velocity, I am curious to see if it will actually work. Can I tell the difference between 115gr supersonic ammunition and 158gr subsonic? Let's find out...

Shortly after introducing the MP5 submachine gun, Heckler & Koch added an integrally suppressed model to its line at the request of special operations forces. It was called the MP5SD, for “schalldampfer”, or suppressed. In order to minimize noise, the barrel was drilled with holes immediately in ...

The MG42 was developed to be a more reliable and easier to manufacture replacement for the MG34, although both would serve side by side until he end of World War Two. Designed by Grossfuss company engineer Werner Gruner with no previous military or small arms design experience, the MG42 used heav...

John Browning’s original Model 1895 gas-lever machine gun was still in production by Colt when World War One broke out. It was not the most modern gun around by then, but it was available - and that was the most important feature for many potential buyers. Colt, however, had a lot of other larger...

For a long time, Russian small arms were patterned closely after French designs - the Russian 1809 family was based on the French 1777 muskets, and the Russian 1828 model - like this one - were taken from the French 1822 model. This is a .69 caliber (7-line) smoothbore musket, manufactured at the...