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Pre-Production FG-42 (Type C)
Thanks to the generosity of a collector in the Association of Maltese Arms Collectors and Shooters, we have a chance today to take a look at a pre-production FG-42, serial number 015. This is one of the guns manufactured by Rheinmetall (the series production would be handed over to Krieghoff) in ...
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FESAC and the Rights of European Arms Collectors
Today I am joined by Mr. Stephen Petroni, chairman of FESAC - the Foundation for European Societies of Arms Collectors. FESAC is an organization set up to advocate for and protect the rights of European arms collectors at the European Union level. Here in the United States many people shrug off g...
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M1916 Fedorov: Russia's First Assault Rifle?
I have been trying to get my hands on Fedorov M1916 rifle for a while, and I finally had the opportunity at the NFC, part of the British Royal Armouries. The Fedorov was designed in the years just before World War One, and originally chambered for a proprietary 6.5mm cartridge (also designed by F...
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Ammunition Evaluation: Ethiopian .30-06
Century International Arms has imported a quantity of Ethiopian ammunition, and asked me to do a video on it. So, I have a three-part evaluation here: appearance and packaging, live fire testing (including velocity and consistency), and teardown and bullet weight consistency. This ammunition was ...
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Egyptian FN49 Sniper (Late Pattern)
Egypt was the first country to adopt the FN-49 rifle, and its purchases actually predated FN's development of a method for mounting a telescopic sight to the rifles. So Egypt came up with its own solution, using Czech Meopta 2.5 power scopes.
However, by the time Egypt was making its last ord...
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Dreyse M60 Needle Rifle (Updated)
This video has been updated from its original form to remove a reference to an erroneous claim that it did not effectively obturate, and was thus fired from the hip.
The Dreyse needle rifle (or zundnadelgewehr, which translates to needle firing rifle) was a major step forward in military rifle...
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Denel NTW 20: A Multi-Caliber Anti-Materiel Rifle
Created by noted South African gun designer Tony Neophytou, the NTW-20 is a bolt action anti-materiel rifle made in 20x82mm, 20x110mm, and 14.5x115mm. The weapon began as idea to use the large quantities of surplus 14.5mm ammunition available at the time, and a recognition that the 14.5mm Soviet ...
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CZ-2000 "Lada" - AK Czechnology in 5.56mm
Development of the CZ-2000 began in the 1970s as a replacement for the vz.58 rifle. The project was named "Lada", and was essentially an improved AK-74 rifle chambered for the 5.45x39mm cartridge. The new rifle was mechanically an AK, but had a number improved features including a thumb-operated ...
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Rhodesian Cobra SMG/Carbine
The Cobra was one of a variety of semiautomatic compact carbines designed and manufactured in Rhodesia in the latter half of the 1970s for sale as civilian self-defense weapons (primarily for rural farming families). Unlike most of these guns, the Cobra was designed as a hammer-fired, closed bolt...
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Charlie Taylor Interview: Blank Fire Guns for the Movies
I had a chance to spend a couple days filming at Movie Armaments Group up in Toronto, and took a minute to speak with Charlie Taylor, their Managing Director. MAG is has been around for 25 years supplying guns to the film and TV industry, and Charlie has immense experience working with blank-fire...
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China's CF-98 Service Pistol
China adopted this pistol in 1998 in a domestic 5.8x21mm cartridge, and also manufactured examples like this one in 9x19mm Parabellum for export. It is a design built around a sheet metal skeleton holding the fire control parts, with a polymer grip assembly that can be changed out. A rotating bar...
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Brownells BRN-10A: A Retro Cold War AR-10 Reproduction
We have a new Brownells BRN-10A reproduction AR-10 to take a look at today, hot off the production line! Brownells is making both AR-15 and AR-10 rifles in their "Retro" reproduction line, but this is definitely the more interesting one to me. You can piece together a good retro AR-15, but the AR...
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Book Review: The Wipers Times
Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2jzWnkI
Or here: https://amzn.to/2JOpMm3The Wipers Times was a satirical trench newspaper printed from February 1916 until December 1918 by British Captain F.J. Roberts and a crew of assistants. Such papers were not particularly uncommon, but the Wipers Ti...
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Book Review: Vickers Guide, Kalashnikov Volume 1
Available direct: https://www.vickersguide.com/books
I am proud to announce the newest book in the Vickers Guide series: Kalashnikov (Volume 1)! Cowritten by Larry Vickers, Rob Stott, and myself, this is a beautiful exhibition of 7.62x39mm AK rifles (smallbore AKs and other types will be cover...
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Book Review: Experiment and Trial
Experiment and Trial, by Mathieu Willemsen, is a catalogue of the 218 guns in the collection of the Dutch School of Musketry, which existed from 1855 until 1933. It includes a large number of very unusual prototypes, as the School was a testing ground for designs submitted by inventors hoping to ...
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Book Review - The P38 Pistol by Alexander Krutzek
If you have been looking for a comprehensive reference work on the P38 pistol but balked at paying $400 for the out-of-print three volumes by Warren Buxton, the solution is here. Newly available in English is "The P.38 Pistol" by Alexander Krutzek, with Dietrich Jonke and Orvel Reichert. Based in...
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Book Review - The Mac Man: Gordon B Ingram and His Submachine Guns
Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2pVQ26w
Gordon Ingram served as an infantryman during World War Two, and decided to get into the gunmaking business after the war. He though there was a market for a submachine gun for police and military forces, and to that end designed the very Thompson-es...
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Book Review - Smith & Wesson Model 76 SMG by Frank Iannamico
Frank Iannamico's new book on the Smith & Wesson Model 76 submachine gun is in fact a book about much more than just the Model 76. It begins with several sections on earlier S&W 9mm carbines, like the 1940 "Light Rifle" and 1945 SMG. These sections taken alone are the most informative material on...
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Book Review: Serbian Army Weapons of Victory 1914-1918
Serbia, as one of the minor powers of World War One, if usually overlooked by history books - and is especially overlooked by firearms reference books. Want to know about the M1899/07 Mauser rifles? The Koka-Djuric M1880/07 conversion of single shot 10.15mm black powder rifles to magazine-fed 7x5...
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Book Review: Collector's Guide to the Savage 99 Rifle
Savage is an often under appreciated gun company, and the Savage Model 99 a rifle often not given the credit it is due. How many other firearms can claim to have been in active production by their original company for 103 years, with more than a million examples made? Well, for those who are inte...
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Book Review: The Makarov Pistol Part 2 (China, Bulgaria, Khyber Pass)
Henry Brown and Cameron White have released the second part of their work on the Makarov pistol, this time with additional assistance from Edwin Lowe. This second volume covers Chinese, Bulgarian, and craft-made ("Khyber Pass") versions of the Makarov. This volume is very similar to the first in ...
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Book Review: The Kalashnikov Encyclopaedia by Drs. Cor Roodhorst
All three volumes available worldwide from: http://www.kalashnikov-encyclopaedia.com
While there are several books available which showcase a decent number of different Kalashnikov variants (like Tokoi's work), and there are good reference works on the history and development of the system (Ia...
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Book Review: Italian Partisan Weapons in WWII
"Italian Partisan Weapons in WWII" was originally written and published in Italian by Gianluigi Usai, and recently (2016) translated into English by Ralph Riccio and published by Schiffer in the US. It was intended to fill the hole in histories of the Italian Resistance and partisans during WWII ...
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Book Review: The Suomi M/31 by Michael Heidler
Michael Heidler's bi-lingual (German and English) book on the Finnish Suomi m/31 submachine gun is a small but dense history of one of the best submachine guns of World War Two. It covers Aimo Lahti's background, the development of the submachine gun, its adoption by the Finnish Defense Forces, t...