Forgotten Weapons

Forgotten Weapons

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Forgotten Weapons
  • Rifles on the Danube: Hungarian AK-Pattern Firearms - NOW SHIPPING

    Now Shipping! Order your copy here:
    https://www.headstamppublishing.com/danube-book

    At the end of the Second World War, Hungary was occupied by Soviet troops and soon fell into the Soviet sphere of influence, joining the Warsaw Pact in 1955. Like most other socialist countries behind the Iron Cu...

  • Ice Baths and Skis: Finnish Brutality 2025 Day 1

    Varusteleka's Snow Camo Anorak that I was using today is available here:
    https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/sarma-tst-l7-camouflage-anorak/58285

    Finnish Brutality 2025 took the standard for practical shooting matches and raised it again - by making it a true winter match. Run by Varusteleka,...

  • Molotovs at the Range: Finnish Brutality 2025 Day 2

    Varusteleka's Patrol Coverall that I was using today is available here:
    https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/sarma-tst-l5-thermal-patrol-coverall/76574

    Finnish Brutality 2025 took the standard for practical shooting matches and raised it again - by making it a true winter match. Run by Varuste...

  • Finland's Next Service Rifle (Mostly): Sako ARG S 40

    Finland and Sweden are both in the process of adopting AR-pattern rifles, and for the Finns this will be their first service rifle in 5.56mm NATO. It is a transition that has been anticipated for nearly 20 years, but was finally put into high gear by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Finland's ...

  • Q&A: Finland and Finnish Small Arms (From Berdan to New Sako AR)

    I figured that Finland would be a good subject for this month's Q&A, as I am visiting the country to shoot Finnish Brutality this month. In fact, this video was filmed during the trip (the match took place last weekend, and its video coverage will be coming soon!).

    00:39 - Development of the Suo...

  • Department of Energy 633 Clone at a PCSL 2-Gun Match

    The new Colt 633 Department of Energy clone from PSA/H&R was really quite a lot of fun to shoot, so I decided to take it to a PCSL match. This was basically a USPSA pistol match with two sets of targets, one for pistol and one for rifle (in theory PCSL goes out to much longer range, but that matc...

  • Primary Arms' HTX-1: A Completely US-Made Red Dot Sight

    Primary Arms just recently announced their HTX-1 red dot, and it sounds pretty cool. From a technical perspective, it has a lot of good points - a clever adapter plate mounting system, two different reticles, and a fully enclosed emitter. However I think the more interesting (and less appreciated...

  • Optic and Reticle Choices (featuring Mike Branson)

    I'm speaking with Mike Branson of Gideon Optics at SHOT Show 2025, and today the topic is scope and reticle choice. What is good, what is bad, and what is best for you?

  • Red Dots: How Cheap is too Cheap? (featuring Mike Branson)

    I met up with Mike Branson of Gideon Optics at SHOT Show 2025. Today, we are talking about red dot price and quality. It's easy to get a good red dot if you are willing to spend enough, but how cheap can you go and still have a reliable product?

  • Book Review: ERMA Erfurter Maschinenfabrik 1924–2003 (Three Volumes)

    Available from Schiffer Publishing as three separate volumes:

    https://www.schiffermilitary.com/collections/military-new-releases/products/erma-erfurter-maschinenfabrik-1924-2003-vol-1

    https://www.schiffermilitary.com/collections/military-new-releases/products/erma-erfurter-maschinenfabrik-1924-...

  • Mean Arms' Bearing Delay System

    Mean Arms has developed probably the most refined and sophisticated 9mm AR delaying system on the market, what they call Bearing Delay. This began as an exploration into fitting HK-style roller delay into and AR, and ended up with a system using three spherical bearings to redirect chamber pressu...

  • PSA/H&R Clones the Department of Energy Colt 9mm SMG

    Palmetto State Armory, under their Harrington & Richardson brand, has released a particularly neat model of 9mm AR. They talked about doing this "at some point" at SHOT Show 2024, but lo and behold it's here and available on the cusp of SHOT 2025! Specifically, this is the Colt 633, an extra-shor...

  • Q&A: British Small Arms of World War Two

    Today's Q&A is brought to you by the fine folks at Patreon, and by Penguin Brutality:

    https://www.varusteleka.com/en/search?q=penguin
    http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

    01:11 - Was the Vickers .50 any good, and why did the British use 4 different heavy cartridges instead of consolidating?
    ...

  • Rate of Fire: What Determines it and How to Change It

    What determines the rate of fire of a machine gun, and how can that rate of fire be determined or changed from a design perspective? Let's talk about pressure, mass, and distance...

  • BD-44: The New Semiauto Sturmgewehr from D-K Productions

    D-K Productions is a collaboration between the German company Sport System Dittrich (SSD) and an American partner. SSD has been making reproductions of German World War Two small arms for something like 20 years - including Sturmgewehrs. Their guns are really good recreations of the 1940s origina...

  • Enjoying Black Powder Episode 8: The Mauser 71/84

    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 ...

  • Enjoying Black Powder Episode 9: 1869 Swiss Vetterli

    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 ...

  • Enjoying Black Powder Episode 7: The M1871 Beaumont

    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 ...

  • ZB37: Czechoslovakia's Super-Heavy Machine Gun

    The ZB37 began in 1930 as a design by none other than classic Czech arms designer Vaclav Holek. The Czechoslovakian military was still using the Schwarzlose heavy MG, and wanted something to replace it. To fill all the roles intended, there would eventually be three different models of the ZB37 -...

  • Glock 18 & 18C Machine Pistols: How Do They Work?

    After the success of the Glock 17 in Austrian military trials, the company chose two specific markets to target for expansion. One was competition shooters, for whom the Glock 17L was released. The other was the international law enforcement and military market, for whom they decided to make a ma...

  • Stamm-Zeller 1902: A Swiss Straight-Pull Converted to Semiauto

    Today's rifle was designed by a Swiss inventor named Hans Stamm while working for the Zeller et Cie company in Appenzell Switzerland. The company originally made embroidering machinery, but turned to military rifle parts subcontracting to bring in additional revenue in the early 1890s. Stamm had ...

  • Våpensmia NM-149S: Norway's Sniper Conversion of the Kar 98k

    After World War Two, there were a lot of K98k rifles left in Norway. Like, a whole lot of them. So many that even in the 1980s they were still a popular basis for hunting and competition rifles. The Norwegian military contracted with the firm Våpensmia to make a batch of their VS 84S hunting rifl...

  • Beretta Tries a Machine Pistol: the Model 951A

    Beretta's first machine pistol was actually a full-auto variant of the Model 1923, complete with shoulder stock - but that did not sell well. They tried again in the 1950s with an automatic model of the new Beretta Model 51 (aka M951). This was a 9x19mm pistol using a P38 style locking wedge, and...

  • Virtual Tour: Swiss Shooting Museum Bern

    Today we are taking a virtual tour of the Swiss Shooting Museum (Schweizer Schützenmuseum Bern) in Bern, Switzerland. The museum has been in this building since just before World War Two, and focusses on the history of the Swiss competitive shooting culture and community. At the time of posting, ...