The M1 Carbine has long been a bit of an enigma to me, because I have never had really good luck with the design, and yet they were extremely popular with American soldiers, German soldiers, Korean soldiers, Vietnamese soldiers, and a great many other countries. So what's the deal? Is it as simpl...

Today I am speaking with Ken Hackathorn about submachine guns - specifically the Thompson and the MP5. Mr Hackathorn has an extensive resume that he is quite humble about, but I will point out that it includes being a US Army Special Forces Small Arms Instructor. He has a great deal of practical ...

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...

Today I am chatting with Paul Levy of Brownells about their BRN-180 upper; a modernization of the original Armalite AR-180. This particular project is an interesting combination of recreating an older design but simultaneously modernizing it - so let's pick Paul's brain about some of the unexpect...

When I posted my video last week about some of the problems with museum firearms collections, I touched on issues that Danny Michael and Ashley Hlebinsky deal with on a daily basis. They invited me onto their weekly podcast to discuss the subject, and we decided to record the discussion on video ...

I don't cover politics here, but I know many of you folks are interested or invested in gun law current events. I recently found the FuddBusters channel, and it was a real breath of fresh air in this realm - and I figured many of you would also appreciate it.

Matt Larosiere is a gun rights att...

My opportunity to drive and shoot a T62 tank yesterday was a ton of fun - but there is so much more to that vehicle - and everything Battlefield Vegas is doing with their motor pool - than we could cover in one video. Today, I'm taking a moment to talk with Steve, who led the restoration of this ...

Brownells has produced a substantial line of retro AR-15 pattern rifles, from the "Proto" with the trigger-shaped charging handle to the M16A1 and XM-177 rifles and carbines. Today I am joined by Paul Levy from Brownells at RIA to discuss how these rifles came to be, and what the future plans are...

Today I'm sitting down with Paul Levy from Brownells to talk about the development process for the BRN-10, their Retro copy of the original Armalite AR-10. Brownells is one of a small cadre of companies who have actually been able to successfully execute a project like this, and I wanted to pick ...

Note: Some explicit language in this video.

I am honored today to have a chance to interview Neil Vermillion about his experiences in Iraq, Kurdistan, and Ukraine. Neil is a US Army veteran (2002-2006) who served contracts in Kurdistan (2016) and Ukraine (2022) for the nonprofit PMC Sons of Li...

We interviewed Duncan McCollum, author of "Japanese Rifles of WWII". He showed us some interesting aspects of a Japanese Type 2 paratrooper takedown rifle. These guns are like regular Type 99 Arisakas, but can be quickly disassembled into two piece for carrying in a leg bag when parachuting.

Forgotten Weapons is joined by author Bin Shih, an expert on Chinese firearms of the second Sino-Japanese War (aka World War 2). We discuss the state of Chinese weapons manufacture in the 1930s and 40s, as well as several specific weapons including Mauser-type bolt action rifles, grenade launche...

While we were at SAR West this past weekend, we of course took some time to check in with Jeff from Apex Gun Parts. We've been buying goodies from Jeff long before we started up the blog, and his customer service is second to none.

At the SHOT Show last weekend, we has the opportunity to interview Charles St. George, designer of the Leader T2 rifle we have previously discussed. We ended up having to run this interview twice, as background noise made the first take unfortunately inaudible - but our second take came out quite...

Forgotten Weapons is joined by author Bin Shih, an expert on Chinese firearms of the second Sino-Japanese War (aka World War 2). We discuss the state of Chinese weapons manufacture in the 1930s and 40s, as well as several specific weapons including Mauser-type bolt action rifles, grenade launche...

We have another interview segment with Bin Shih today, this time discussing the commonly used bolt action rifles that were the backbone of the Chinese infantry during the war with Japan. Specifically, Hanyang rifle, the Manchurian Mauser, and the Chiang Kai-Shek rifle (aka Type 24).

We have another piece today from our interview with Dolf Goldsmith, this time on the subject of $5 Finnish mortars used for fun and profit. Well, actually just for fun. To clarify one of Dolf's comments, I believe these mortars were Soviet made, and Finnish captured - the Finns used mortars made ...

While I was visiting Galesburg, I had the pleasure of meeting Nicole Wiley. She is working on organizing a massive reference book on German .22 training rifles (like the Sportmodell and KKW), and was kind enough to give me a tour of Robert Simpson's collection of these guns. It was a very interes...

When I visited Biofire, I was able to spend several hours discussing the history of the gun with its creator, lead designer, and lead engineer. We also completely stripped one of the guns down to its component circuit boards and pins - but much of this information is still under NDA until the gun...

I am honored today to be able to bring you an interview with Christian Prouteau, the founder and original leader of GIGN. This is France's premier elite counter-terrorism force, who have been at the forefront of developing modern special operations techniques and standards. Prouteau led more than...

My interview with Christian Prouteau focused on the MR-73 revolver and how his men in GIGN trained with it. However, I did also ask him about the FR-F1 rifles, and figured I would separate that brief conversation out since it was on a different subject. Specifically, I asked why the FR-F1 used su...

The introductory clip was from my interview with Tony Neophytou, a talented and successful South African firearms designer (his work includes the Neostead 2000, Inkunzi PAW, and NTW-20 rifle). He doesn't mince words; it's a very difficult field to succeed in - and I regularly get inquiries from h...

Uli Wiegand is the President of InterOrdnance, and recently invited me to his facility to take a look at the first shipment from a huge batch of collectible firearms he spent 8 years working to import from central Africa. The cache includes all manner of models, including Enfields, Mausers, Carca...

Ralf Dieckmann is a German-born firearms designer who grew up as a small child in Berlin during World War II. His interest in firearms developed in the post-war years with war detritus literally lying about in the streets. He emigrated to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian military, where he fir...