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P320 Flux Legion Raider at the Range
Today I am taking the SIG P320 Flux Legion (aka the SIG Legion edition of the Flux Raider) out to the range. I'm a big fan of PDW systems, and the Raider is one of the best - in my opinion it is better than some purpose-built PDWs, much less other pistol chassis conversions. Anyway, I registered ...
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So Many Ways to Fail at Making a Pistol
Making a successful and popular new handgun requires doing a whole lot of things right...today we are going to consider what happens when they don't go so well.
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Book Review: The U.S. Model 1917 Rifle - "America's Enfield"
Available from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Model-Rifle-Americas-Enfield/dp/1931464928Available from the publisher, Mowbray:
https://gunandswordcollector.com/product/us-model-1917-rifle-canfield/Bruce Canfield is one of the most prolific and prominent authors on American military small ...
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How Is Ammunition Made? A Tour of Sellier & Bellot's Factory
Today I am in Vlašim in the Czech Republic, where Sellier & Bellot has allowed me to film a tour of their ammunition plant. This is one of the largest ammo manufacturers in the world, and they start with basic raw material like lead, copper, and brass and ship out complete case ammunition. The ma...
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Q&A: The Falklands War of 1982
Want a patch or t-shirt with our adorably heavily armed rockhopper penguin? Both are available from Varusteleka:
https://www.varusteleka.com/en/search?q=penguinSince I spent a couple weeks hiking across the Falklands and then visiting battlefields (and penguins), it seems reasonable to do a Q&A...
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In the Footsteps of 45 Commando: 60 Miles Across the Falklands
Want a patch or t-shirt with our adorably heavily armed rockhopper penguin? Both are available from Varusteleka:
https://www.varusteleka.com/en/search?q=penguinI was recently joined by my friends Les Winner (Polaris Logistics) and Jari Laine (Varusteleka) for an epic trek across Eat Falkland in...
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Enjoying Black Powder Episode 6: Berdan II
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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Gear for Carrying DP27 Pan Magazines
Today we are taking a look at three different pieces of kit developed to carry Degtyarev DP pan magazines. These mags are really inconveniently shaped, and traditional magazine pouches just don't work for them. Instead, the Soviets initially fielded a stamped steel can that held three pans. This ...
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The Unique Challenges of Self-Loading Shotgun Design
I think a lot of people under appreciate the difficulty of making a reliable self-loading shotgun. Between the rimmed case, wadcutter-type cylindrical shape, varying shell length, and massive variations in loadings, the variability that a designer has to work around is insane...
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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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Franchi SPAS-12 at the Range
Today I'm taking the SPAS-12 out to the range, to try a variety of ammunition and see what runs in it. The SPAS is a gas-operated shotgun that can be switched to manual pump operation for use with underpowered ammunition. This was originally intended as a way to allow things like beanbag and othe...
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P99: The Pistol that Rejuvenated Walther
For a couple decades after World War Two, Walther survived on legacy designs - the PP/PPK and P38 (eventually made with an aluminum frame as the P4) primarily. In the 1970s they developed the P5 for German police use, and this was a reasonably successful pistol, but expensive and complex. Somethi...
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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 5: The Remington Rolling Block
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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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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Sten MkII vs Ingram M10/9 (w/ John Keene)
If you had to pick one, would you take a Sten MkII or an Ingram M10/9? This applies specifically to the guns in their original factory configurations; no Lage products allowed! It's hard to come up with a mass-production SMG that isn't obviously better than a MkII Sten, but the stock Ingrams migh...
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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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The First Sturmgewehr: The MKb42(H)
The first iteration of the iconic German Sturmgewehr was developed by Haenel starting in 1938. It was a select-fire rifle chambered for the short 8x33mm cartridge, developed by the Polte company. It used a long-stroke gas piston and a tilting bolt patterned after the Czech ZB-26 light machine gun...
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SVD Dragunov: The First Purpose-Built DMR
The development of the Dragunov designated marksman’s rifle was spurred by the NATO adoption of the 7.62x51mm cartridge. The Red Army had standardized on a new suite of infantry weapons using the intermediate-sized 7.62x39mm round, and feared being out-ranged in open terrain by NATO units. The So...
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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...