Manuals
Vickers Class F Manual
After the conclusion of World War One, the RAF was looking for a replacement for the Lewis for an observer’s gun in aircraft use. The Lewis had reliability issues, and was not a particularly fast-firing […]
Articles by Ian McCollum
Interview
An Interview With Author Bin Shih
Today, we’re 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 […]
Light MGs
One More KE7 Manual
So just this past weekend I ran across another KE-7 manual, this one with a bunch of plates and a great full cutaway diagram. Figured I’d put that one up on the site now, since […]
Light MGs
SIG KE-7 Light Machine Gun
The KE-7 was the product of two Swiss designers, Pal de Kiraly and Gotthard End, and was introduced in 1929 by the Swiss manufacturer SIG. It was a recoil operated design and fired from an […]
Manuals
Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
As light tank development progressed through the interwar years, most nations worked on producing antitank weapons for the infantry. Early on, this was done by solid projectile, as early tanks were relatively lightly armored. Armor […]
Video
Early Automatic Pistols
Let’s take a look at some of the early (but reasonably successful) automatic pistol designs, shall we? We have a Mauser and a Bergmann to compare – unfortunately a Mannlicher pistol was not available for […]
Light MGs
Czech ZB-30 Manuals
After a few year of production, the ZB26 was given an overhaul and redesignated the ZB30. The two designs look externally very similar – the only distinctive way to tell them apart is the addition […]
Light MGs
Czech ZB-26 manuals
The Holek brothers began what would ultimately become a very successful light machine gun design in 1923 with the production of a prototype gun. It was refined over the next several years and adopted by […]
Manuals
Ultimax 100 manual
The Ultimax 100 was designed in the late 1970s in Singapore as a lightweight squad automatic weapon. It’s a gas-operated design, with special attention paid to reducing felt recoil. The receiver is longer than most […]
Manuals
Stoner 63 System
After his success with the AR 10/15/16/18 series of rifles, designer Eugene Stoner went on to develop the Stoner 63 weapons system with the Cadillac Gage company. The Stoner 63 was in many ways a […]