Semiauto Rifles
MAS 49/56 manual
Not a huge addition for you today, but we do have two slightly different versions of the French 1974 MAS49/56 manual. The French have had a thriving experimental arms program for decades, and the MAS49 […]
Year: 2011
Semiauto pistol
Luger automatic pistol
Ok, so the Luger isn’t exactly a Forgotten Weapon. In fact, it’s one of the most recognizable handguns ever made. But it traces its lineage directly so some much more obscure models (namely the Borchardt […]
Uncategorized
Benet-Mercie photos
Thanks to a reader, we have a handful of vintage photos of US troops training with the M1909 Benet Mercie light machine gun, including a couple of its use on early military motorcycles. You can […]
Uncategorized
Stgw-57, aka SIG AMT
In 1957, the Swiss finally adopted a self-loading infantry rifle after more than ten years of development and experimentation. The SIG Stgw57 was an improvement of the roller-delayed system designed by the Germans during WWII, […]
Uncategorized
Unit photographs
One of the more common type of vintage military photos you’ll see around is the formal unit portrait. The kind where that whole platoon or company stands at attention in a neat and orderly manner, […]
Light MGs
Beardmore-Farquhar manual
Sometimes you can have a good idea, well executed, and well promoted – but just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Beardmore-Farquhar machine gun is an example of just this unlucky […]
Uncategorized
SGM in Afghanistan
We received an email from a trooper in Afghanistan whose unit found a buried IED stash that included an SGM machine gun. There are a lot of interesting old weapons floating around Afghanistan, and we’re […]
Light MGs
Benet-Mercie 1909 manual
The Benet-Mercie 1909 was the first light machine gun adopted by the American military. Although named for two designers, the Benet-Mercie was basically a Hotchkiss Portative machine gun chambered for the .30-06 cartridge. The guns […]
Semiauto Rifles
Swedish Ljungman rifle
Some successful weapons have taken a decade or more to get into production, and some – like the Swedish AG42 – have gone from schematic to general issue in barely a year. The Swedes started […]
Light MGs
MG13 manual (in Spanish)
German machine gun designations are pretty easy to understand – the two digit number is the year of adoption. MG34? 1934. MG08/15? 1908, and modified in 1915. Easy, until you stumble over the MG13, adopted […]