Germany - Forgotten Weapons

Book Review: ERMA Erfurter Maschinenfabrik 1924–2003 (Three Volumes)

January 19, 2025 Ian McCollum 0

Available from Schiffer Publishing as three separate volumes: https://www.schiffermilitary.com/collections/military-new-releases/products/erma-erfurter-maschinenfabrik-1924-2003-vol-1 https://www.schiffermilitary.com/collections/military-new-releases/products/erma-erfurter-maschinenfabrik-1924-2003-vol-2 https://www.schiffermilitary.com/collections/military-new-releases/products/erma-erfurter-maschinenfabrik-1924-2003-vol-3 Hot off the presses from Schiffer Publishing, we are looking at Holger Schlemeier’s expanded English version of “ERMA: Erfurter Maschinenfabrik, 1924–2003”. This is a […]

BD-44: The New Semiauto Sturmgewehr from D-K Productions

January 13, 2025 Ian McCollum 21

D-K Productions is a collaboration between the rGerman company Sport System Dittrich (SSD) and an American partner. SSD has been making reproductions of German World War Two small arms for something like 20 years – […]

Steyrs for the Luftwaffe: The G29(ö) aka Gewehr 12/34

December 9, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

When the German government bought up the controlling interest in Steyr in 1938, they made use of its production facilities to start making rifles for the Luftwaffe. Steyr had tooling for the Mauser 98, but […]

The Hungarian Alternative: G98/40 Rifles in German Service

December 2, 2024 Ian McCollum 5

The German Wehrmacht was always hungry for more rifles during World War Two, and adopted substitute designs made in friendly (or subservient) countries when possible. Almost all of these were minor variations on the Mauser […]

The First Sturmgewehr: The MKb42(H)

November 27, 2024 Ian McCollum 16

The first iteration of the iconic German Sturmgewehr was developed by Haenel starting in 1938. It was a select-fire rifle chambered for the short 8x33mm cartridge, developed by the Polte company. It used a long-stroke […]

G24(t): Germany’s Take on the Czechoslovakian vz24

November 25, 2024 Ian McCollum 7

When Germany took over Czechoslovakia, one of the things they did was buy out a controlling interest in what became known as Waffenwerke Brunn. Headquartered in Prague, the company had two factories; one in Brno […]

“Grey Ghost” – The French Occupation Production P38 Pistol

November 23, 2024 Ian McCollum 34

When the French took over control of the Mauser factory complex in May 1945, the plant had some 85 tons of pistol parts on hand – 7.3 million individual components in various stages of production. […]

P99: The Pistol that Rejuvenated Walther

November 20, 2024 Ian McCollum 21

For a couple decades after World War Two, Walther survived on legacy designs – the PP/PPK and P38 (eventually made with an aluminum frame as the P4) primarily. In the 1970s they developed the P5 […]

Single-Rune bnz43 SS Contract K98k

November 18, 2024 Ian McCollum 16

In 1942, the SS devised a plan to rent out concentration camp labor to companies in the German armaments industry. Several different rifle production lines were set up to make use of this source of […]

Spoils of War: French Occupation-Production Mauser K98k svwMB

November 11, 2024 Ian McCollum 9

Allied troops occupied the Mauser factory complex in Oberndorf in April of 1945, right at the end of the war. The factory was put under French administration and by May that same year production lines […]

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