Commentary
How Governments Choose Weapons: Israel
I recently got an email from Clément, asking about the choices Israel has made in small arms for the IDF. Why did they switch from the FAL to the Galil? And then why take M16s […]
Year: 2013
Semiauto pistol
Roth-Steyr 1907 Pistol (Video)
We had the chance to dig into a Roth Steyr 1907 selfloading pistol recently, and put together a video on it. The pistol is quite unusual, with a fixed internal magazine, rotating barrel locking system, […]
Accessories
Sunday Miscellanea
A couple things that came in through the week… First up, Mark Serbu (owner of Serbu Firearms) has a neat video comparing the ATI .22 cal StG44 copy to an original StG44: Also, Leszek pointed […]
Light MGs
Vintage Saturday: Baywatch
A soldier of the Black Watch stands (well, sits) guard with a Lewis LMG. Thanks to reader Michael G. for the photo (and many others)!
Prototype
The T28 Rifle: American Roller Locking
In the world of small arms engineering, one of the most exciting developments of World War II was the German work on roller locking and roller-delayed blowback actions. British, French, and Soviet armies were jumping […]
Book review
Book Review: Astra Automatic Pistols
Our book today isn’t particularly flashy or exciting, but it is a solid piece of research. It is Astra Automatic Pistols by Leonardo Antaris – and the subject is pretty self-explanatory. Antaris follow a simply […]
Biography
Biography: Christopher Miner Spencer
“[A] quiet little Yankee who sold himself in relentless slavery to his idea for six weary years until it was perfect” – John Hay, secretary to Abraham Lincoln Christopher Spencer was born on a farm […]
Interview
John Garand on US Weapons Development (Video)
Thanks to a tip from Big Al last week, we found a couple minutes of video of John Garand talking about the development of US small arms. It was buried in an episode of “The […]
Semiauto Rifles
Ljungman AG42B Video
Being right in the depths of winter, it seemed like a good time to take a Scandinavian rifle out to the range. Specifically, a Swedish Ljungman AG-42B. This is one of the few semiauto military […]
Vehicle
Vintage Saturday: Wood-Spoked Technical
British soldiers with a Lewis-gun-armed truck in Palestine. Photo courtesy of reader Ruy A. Thanks, Ruy!