Conversion
Semiauto ZK-383 on the Range
The Czech ZK-383 is a magnificent submachine gun, but sadly very scarce in the United States. So when I saw the semiauto example, I wanted to take it out to the range for some plinking. […]
United States
Antiques
Howard’s Thunderbolt: A Remarkably Compact Carbine
Designed by brothers Charles and Sebre Howard and first patented in 1862, this is a single shot lever action produced by the Whitneyville Armory between 1866 and 1870. It is a really neat compact design […]
Heavy MGs
Colt’s Model 1915 Vickers Gun in .30-06
After extended testing in 1913 and 1914, the US formally adopted the Vickers gun as the Model 1915. A contract was placed for licensed production of 125 guns by Colt, who had also taken contracts […]
Aircraft MGs
Savage M1918 Aircraft Lewis at the Range (With Rare Tripod Mount!)
Yesterday we looked at the Savage M1918 aircraft version of the Lewis gun, used by American aviators during World War One. Today, we are taking it out to the range along with a very scarce […]
Aircraft MGs
Savage M1918 Aircraft Lewis Gun
As an open-bolt machine gun, the Lewis was not well suited to synchronization on WW1 aircraft – but it was an ideal gun for flexible mounting. To suit this use, a series of aircraft-specific Lewis variations were […]
Antiques
Springfield Model 1795 Musket: America’s First Military Production
The first US-production military arm was the “US musket, Charleville pattern” – known today as the Model 1795 Springfield Musket. Copied from the French 1766 model Charleville which made up the bulk of existing US […]
Antiques
Movie Conversions: The Flintlock Trapdoor Springfield
The movie industry has always had special requirements for firearms. Flintlocks, for example, can be rather finicky guns for folks to use without practice and care, and that does not work will in a filming […]
Antiques
The First Trapdoor Springfield Carbine, Model 1870
The first production of a carbine model of the Trapdoor Springfield was the Model 1870 (excluding 4 prototypes produced in 1868). There was a focus infantry rifles in theTrapdoor program, and just 362 of these […]
Prototype
Colt’s Prototype Scaled-Down Model 1910 in .38/9.8mm
With the impending success of Colt’s program to develop new .45 caliber pistol for the US military (the 1911), the company began to look for ways to exploit the work that had gone into it. […]
Accessories
Scattergun Science! Testing Diverter and Duckbill Chokes
Matt Haught joins me one more time to try out some practical testing of the Diverter and Duckbill shotgun chokes. We are using a 2-liter bottles of seltzer water on strings at 10 yards, and […]