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SPAS-12: Franchi's Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun
Franchi introduced the Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun (SPAS-12) for Italian military and police agencies in 1979 and it quickly because popular worldwide. Based originally on the gas-operated Franchi 500, that SPAS-12 was robust, reliable, and designed as a semiautomatic action with a backup p...
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New Imports: French MAS 49/56 and MAS 36/51 Rifles
Yeah, I'm a sucker for nice French rifles. So when Old Western Scrounger brought in another batch of them, I offered to do a video. These are rifles taken out of French long-term storage, having been rebuilt at French arsenals to like-new condition, and are in beautiful condition.
Full video on ...
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Legacy of the K5: Daewoo DP51 Through Lionheart Vulcan-9
The South Korean military was using old Colt M1911A1 pistols in the 1980s, and as they became worn out a new pistol was needed. This would be something designed and built domestically, and chambered for 9x19. The small arms division of the massive Daewoo industrial conglomerate, called Daewoo Pre...
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Semiauto MGs: How Are They Made?
Semiauto versions of machine guns are a way to have examples of historically significant and mechanically interesting guns without having to wrangle with NFA transfers and the astronomical price of transferrable legal machine guns. However, they are not particularly common. Very few OEM manufactu...
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Enjoying Black Powder Episode 4: The Mauser Gewehr 1871
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 ...
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Degtyarev Upgrades: DP27 vs DPM
The Degtyarev DP (aka DP-27) was the subject of a bunch of experimentation during the 1930s, but none of the trialed modifications were actually adopted. It was only in 1944, after several years of combat experience, that the design was updated to correct a number of shortcomings. Specifically:
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The Infamous Klobb: Guns of GoldenEye N64
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/licensed-troubleshooter?ref=e0y2xl
We are really close to hitting the stretch goal to add a section on the Guns of GoldenEye N64 to Licensed Troubleshooter!
For a lot of people, James Bond was introduced not by Sean Connery, but by a 64-bit rendit...
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Beretta M38A vs Suomi kp/31 (w/ John Keene)
If you had to pick one, would you take an early Beretta 38A (with bayonet), or a Finnish kp/31 Suomi? Both have semiauto selectors, although the Beretta's its easier to use. The Suomi has a higher rate of fire and larger magazine capacity, but is slower to use. Both have roughly equivalent sights...
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G33/40: Special Carbine for the Gebirgsjager
When the Germans took over control of the Czechoslovakian arms industry, they took some time to work out what out to be mass produced at the Brno factory. In the interim, they decided to restart production of the Czech vz33 Mauser carbine as the Gewehr 33/40 for German mountain troops. This was a...
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Enfield MkII: Better Than the MkI, I Guess
The Enfield MkI had only been in service for two years when the MkII was adopted in March 1882 to resolve some of its problems (and reduce its cost). At the same time, a new cartridge was adopted (the MkIII) with a heeled .477” bullet - also in hopes of resolving some o the problems with the Enfi...
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Portuguese Navy Lugers: Model m/910 from DWM and Mauser
Following Portuguese Army adoption in 1908, the Portuguese Navy adopted the Luger in 1909 as the m/910. The pattern they chose was a “new model” Luger in 9x19mm, with a 100mm / 4” barrel. A total of 650 were ordered in late 1909 and delivered between 1910 and 1912. The guns had Portuguese-languag...
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RP-46: The Rarely Seen Belt-Fed Degtyarev
After World War Two, the Red Army moved from a full power infantry rifle cartridge to an intermediate one, and the 7.62x39mm RPD became the new squad machine gun. At the same time, the heavy Maxims were replaced by the new SG-43 Goryunov. This left a gap in capability, with nothing available with...
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Spoils of War: French Occupation-Production Mauser K98k svwMB
Allied troops occupied the Mauser factory complex in Oberndorf in April of 1945, right at the end of the war. The factory was put under French administration and by May that same year production lines were restarted to supply French forces (who needed as many arms as they could get). In total, ju...
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Tunnels and Door Breaching: Czech Combat 2024 Day 2
Czech Combat is a 2-day, 12-stage practical match using rifle and pistol, sponsored by CZ and Sellier & Bellot. It is not a Brutality match, although it shares a lot of elements with Brutality. There is not as much physical challenge to the stages, instead having a mixture of tactically-oriented ...
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Welcome to the Mystery Fun Van: Czech Combat 2024 Day 1
Czech Combat is a 2-day, 12-stage practical match using rifle and pistol, sponsored by CZ and Sellier & Bellot. It is not a Brutality match, although it shares a lot of elements with Brutality. There is not as much physical challenge to the stages, instead having a mixture of tactically-oriented ...
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Shooting a WWII German 50mm Light Mortar (L.Gr.W.36)
The standard German light mortar in World War Two was the model 1936 5cm Leichter Granatwerfer. It was a very precise (Germanic, one might say) machine, and a bubble lever for careful aiming, and it threw a roughly 2 pound projectile out to a maximum range of 550 meters. Today I have the chance t...
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Leaning Westward: Galils for Estonia
When Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it was initially armed with a wide variety of miscellaneous small arms. They clearly needed a primary standardized rifle for the new armed forces. The one definitive criteria for making a selection was than the new rifle must b...
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Gothic Serpent: Shughart M14 Clone & Delta 1911 at the 2-Gun Match
Today I decided to do a Gothic Serpent memorial 2-gun match, using my Shughart M14 clone and a surplussed Delta 1911. This was a 5-stage match at the Rio Salado Sportsman's Club, and it was a complete dumpster fire for me. I don't know what changed, but the reliable-in-testing M1A became a comple...
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B&T APC-9: The Swiss Answer to the MP5
B&T owner Karl Brügger is a big fan of 9mm PCCs and SMGs, and decided that his company ought to offer an alternative to the MP5 and this was the Advanced Police Carbine (APC). In order to compete effectively, it needed to be simple to manufacture, since manufacturing costs in Switzerland are exor...
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MP9 and TP9: A Complete History From Steyr to B&T
Steyr introduced their TMP (Tactical Machine Pistol) and its semiauto SPP counterpart in 1989, but it was never a very popular item. After the company was purchased, the new ownership decided to scrap the TMP (along with other low-performing product lines). At that point, Swiss firm B&T purchased...
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sa81 KRASA: Czechoslovakia's Ultra-Compact Lost PDW
The Krása project (which translates as "beauty", but is also a shortening of "short assault rifle" - "KRÁtký SAmopal") is a fascinating piece of Czech small arms development. In 1976, the Czechoslovakian military requested development of a compact personal weapon for special troops (paratroops, a...
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Creating my Shughart Black Hawk Down M14 Clone
I figured it might be worthwhile as a bonus video to document the process of putting together my clone of Randy Shughart's M14 from 1993 Mogadishu...so here we go.
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Boring, Durable, Unsexy Bricks: The Remarkably Successful Ruger P85
The Ruger P85 - like so many of Ruger's products - is not particularly attractive or exciting. It introduced no particular mechanical innovation besides the casting-based manufacturing that would actually probably be seen as a detriment if it were advertised. And yet, the gun (and those developed...
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Estonia's Domestic Arms Production: Arsenal Tallinn SMG
At the end of Estonia's war of independence in 1920, the new nation's government began working on military infrastructure. One thing it would need was a repair depot to maintain military equipment, everything from barracks furniture to arms and vehicles. A large building was obtained in Tallinn (...