Following its experience in the Russo-Turkish War, the Romanian Army was quite impressed by the Martini-Henry rifle in Turkish service. Unlike so many Western observers who were taken by the Winchester repeating rifles that actually didn't make much battlefield impact, the Romanians recognized th...

East Germany purchased a license for production of the AK-74 in 1981, but that license was for domestic use only. There was an apparent market for export production AKs in the western 5.56mm cartridge, and so the East Germans developed their own new rifle to fill that demand and bring in some muc...

With the fall of communism in Romania, the Cugir Arsenal complex lost its government financial support. Looking for commercial products to sell to keeps its workers employed, the factory turned to producing hunting rifles for the domestic Romanian market. This was possible because the factory had...

The Landstad Model 1900 is a magazine-fed, semiautomatic revolver designed by Norwegian Halvard Folkestad Landstad, who lived in Kristiana (now called Oslo). He designed the gun on his own dime, and presented it to military trials in 1901, which it failed miserably. The gun has a six-round detach...

I decided to use a home-built Romanian AK for Lynx Brutality 2024. It began as a Romanian PM-63 AKM made at the Cugir factory complex in 1976, which was sold to the US about 20 years ago as a parts kit (with its original barrel at that time). I used a Nodak Spud receiver and reassembled it. For a...

Polenar Tactical has done it again, setting the bar for Brutality matches with this year's Lynx Brutality. Held at the Lynx Pro Training Center outside Kočevje Slovenia, this year's match was 10 stages over two days. I used a Romanian PM63 AKM that I assembled myself with a PK-A com bloc red dot ...

Polenar Tactical has done it again, setting the bar for Brutality matches with this year's Lynx Brutality. Held at the Lynx Pro Training Center outside Kočevje Slovenia, this year's match was 10 stages over two days. I used a Romanian PM63 AKM that I assembled myself with a PK-A com bloc red dot ...

In 2008, Ukrainian manufacturing conglomerate RPC Fort received a license from IMI to produce a variety of Israeli small arms, including the Tavor TAR and Tavor X95. In Fort's catalog, these were designated the Fort-221 (TAR) and Fort-224 (X95). A small number were allegedly produced for special ...

I had the chance to take a .32ACP Welrod MkII out to the range for a bit of shooting. These use a combination of baffles and rubber wipes, and the suppressor's effectiveness quickly drops from "fantastic" to merely "very good" after a few shots put a hole in the front wipe. This example already h...

Today we are checking out a bespoke gunsmith's project; a DeLisle-inspired .45ACP Mauser built by Lars Rannstad Slang of Oslo. Using a commercial small-ring Mauser action, he fabricated a new bolt head, trigger guard, follower, and large aluminum mono-core suppressor to built a rifle that functio...

Lynx Brutality 2024 is a wrap! Full match videos are coming in a couple days, but for now Jari and I will give you a brief overview of how the match went and what kit we used...

LMT's new line of suppressors is designed for multi-purpose use in mind. The .30 caliber Ion 30 and Ion LT are rated for anything from .17 HMR to .300 Winchester Magnum, including automatic use. Both .30 and .22 caliber endocarps are available, and the mounting system is the standard Hub type. Th...

PTR's new "Vent" line of suppressors are a really cool use of new technology to better execute an old design concept. The idea is that forcing muzzle gasses through a porous material will work well to slow and cool them, providing good sound suppression. Back in the 1940s (through the 60s or 70s)...

Get Entered to WIN this legendary WW2 Remington Rand M1911A1!
https://go.getenteredtowin.com/forgottenweapons
DEADLINE to ENTER is 06/28/24 @ 11:59pm (PST).

What more classic backup gun is there than the M1911A1, beloved by GIs as a backup to their M1 Carbines, M1 Garands, BARs, and tanks? Toda...

Elbonian Royal Air Service merch:
https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/forgotten-weapons-royal-air-service-elbonia-t-shirt-cotton/78756

In the early 2000s, the Elbonian Royal Air Service was looking for an aerial interdiction rifle - something to arm snipers in dirigibles, for shooting down li...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/rifles-on-the-danube?ref=64v2l6
Today is your last chance to join the preorder for Rifles on the Danube!

Until the end of today, you can still join the Kickstarter for "Rifles on the Danube: Hungarian Kalashnikov Firearms 1959-2002". This is the las...

Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively reasonably priced, and they are actually pretty easy to reload for. The unavailability of factory ammunition (for most, although not so much for the Trapdoor) makes them seem like a ...

Bloke on the Range Challenge Video:
https://youtu.be/BM3SHvYosSs

Bloke and Žiga have challenged us - and you! - to shoot a 1 MOA group on demand, with a non-benchrest sort of rifle. The idea is that a whole lot of people will happily insist that their regular hunting rifle will quite easily shoo...

Two pieces of surprisingly good news regarding the NFA :

First, ATF has recognized that about 4,000 machine guns imported prior to 1986 for police agencies were mis-classified as dealer samples when they should have been fully transferrable. Those guns are being reclassified as transferrable now...

In 1785, Joseph Belton (an American inventor) and William Jover (an English gunmaker) sold 560 repeating flintlock rifles to the British East India Company. The guns were a very remarkable design which used a detachable magazine tube of 7 rounds stacked in series with a seven sequential touch hol...

The Strike One pistol originated around 2011 as a collaboration between Nicola Bandini and Dimitry Streshinskiy as a pistol to replace the Makarov in Russian police use. By 2014 is was progressing very successfully through testing and trials, and had gained some international interest, and that's...

Steinel Ammunition has started making a rather niche new product, but one that I think is quite convenient: .45 ACP downloaded to .455 Webley pressure. This is for use in Webley revolvers that were shaved to use moon clips and .45 ACP when they were imported. This is a common modification done by...

"Rifles on the Danube" Kickstarter is live!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/rifles-on-the-danube?ref=ewy77i

Today I took my AMD-65 out to the range. I've shot regular AKMs with AMD muzzle brakes, but never had the chance to try the AMD-65 in its original proper configuration. And ...

Rifles on the Danube: Hungarian Kalashnikov Firearms 1959-2002 is available now on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/rifles-on-the-danube?ref=ezuyuv

Nic Jenzen-Jones, Director of Research for Headstamp Publishing, spent some time in Budapest speaking with László Becz, a...