I have been procrastinating the addition of a good book on the M1 Garand rifle into my own library, reading the various published material off of friends' shelves. Now I'm glad that I have put off the purchase, because hot off the presses is a new tome by Bruce Canfield, a 900-page encyclopedia on the Garand rifle. And not just the M1, but all the developmental iterations (primer-actuated, .276, gas trap, etc) and all the post-war experimental modifications (E-series, T-series, and more) that led to the M14. Unlike many reference books that tend to focus on either collector's minutia or developmental history or firsthand account of field use, Canfield's new book does a great job of covering all the bases. In it you'll find plenty of firsthand reports of M1 use in all sorts of environments, a great in-depth history of the self-loading rifle trials of the 1920s, detailed assessments of the M1's primary competitors, and also comparative descriptions of all the different production variants of each individual part of the rifle. Really, it's a one-stop-shop for information on this iconic rifle.

Today we're looking at one of the most recent additions to the Collector Grade ensemble: Tim Mullin's MAGNUM: the S&W .357 Magnum Phenomenon. It's a very good history of one of American's iconic handguns.

Australian Vickers gun converted to 7.62x54R (so we can shoot cheaper ammo). Water-cooled, and when it gets hot it boils the water and vents steam. This is why the military used hoses and condensing cans - so the jet of steam doesn't give away your position!

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons For this month's 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, we had a loaner .308 FG-42 from SMG Guns, which I handed off to my friend Karl to shoot. I went up against him with an M1 Garand, to see if e could get an idea of how these two rifles would have fared against each other in WWII. The match had a good mix of situations, from 200-yard targets down to 1-yard targets, and it tested a wide array of shooting skills. For handguns, Karl an I stuck to the WWII theme - he used a Walther P38 and I used my Ballester Molina (for all practical purposes, a 1911A1).

Handing an SMG reproduction FG42 (in .308 caliber) to a bunch of shooters at the end of a 2-gun match to see their impressions of it.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro theme by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The JoLoAr pistol was a combination of a poor-selling and unremarkable Spanish blowback semiauto pistol called the Sharpshooter and an idea by a man named Jose Lopez Arnaiz (whose name is the source of the pistol's name). Arnaiz conceived the idea of mounting a lever (palanca in Spanish) onto a pistol slide, to allow the pistol to be charged one-handed. There is a rumor (unsubstantiated) that he was inspired by the one-armed commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion, Colonel José Millán-Astray. But whatever the inspiration, Arnaiz patented his idea, and went looking for a manufacturer. (continued at ForgottenWeapons.com)

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Ludwig Olsen's Mauser Bolt Rifles is one of the foundational reference books on the Mauser rifle, and deserves a place in the library of any bolt action rifle enthusiast. Olsen studies the rifle from its early single-shot, black powder beginnings through its ultimate expression as the Model 98, and the various offshoot models adopted by so many military forces worldwide.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com I've been meaning to put this video together for a while, and finally have it - a detailed look at the mechanics and internal workings of the Frommer 1910. This was the third major iteration of Rudolf Frommer's long-recoil locked-breech pistol design, and the most successful up to it's time (although that isn't saying much; fewer than 10,000 were made). It would hold that place for only two years before the 1912 Frommer Stop went into production and proved much more popular. The 1910 model suffered from a number of problems that kept it from ever achieving real commercial success. It used a pretty wimpy cartridge, even by the standard of 1910. It was 7.65x13mm cartridge that pushed a 71gr bullet at about 820fps - roughly 80% the velocity of a the .32ACP. It was not a particularly ergonomic pistol, and it was far more complex than necessary for its cartridge, thanks to its rotating bolt and long recoil action. Of course, characteristics that made it a commercial disappointment also make it a pretty interesting gun to look at today.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Days at the range don't always go as planned. After over a year of looking, I finally managed to recently find a box of 7.65mm Frommer (Short) ammo that I could use to test-fire my Frommer 1910. Huzzah! It sure is tiny little stuff...and I was able to get is for a great price because the seller (a professional ammo seller, surprisingly) thought it was 7.65mm Browning. So anyway, I packed up the gun, the ammo, and the cameras and headed out to the range. Well, it turned out that the test-firing was a flop. The hammer spring in my 1910 is really weak - much to weak to successfully overcome the firing pin spring and also detonate a primer. But there is no firing pin safety on the 1910, so it should be possible to fire the gun manually by hitting the firing pin, right? Well, I really wanted to get some slow-motion footage of the thing operating... Epilogue: I need to replace the firing pin spring, and then we can try again. I think there is a decent chance that resistance from the rod used to hit the firing pin slowed the slide enough to cause the action to short-cycle. It is possible that there are other problems with the action that need to be addressed, though. Oh, and I also discovered that the feed lips on my magazine are pretty sketchy - the mag likes to fountain all the cartridges out if you load more than two at a time. Not that I was ever planning to do any very rigorous shooting with this particular pistol, but I would really like to get it running well enough to get some better video.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The US military experimented almost continuously with new repeating rifles between the end of the US Civil War and the beginning of the 20th century, and the rifles submitted for testing are a fascinating spectrum of ideas. Many were purchased in relatively small quantities for military field testing, and many also saw at least some commercial production (as the manufacturers and inventors sought to recoup development costs when full-scale military contracts proved elusive).

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The AKU-94 was a bullpup conversion kit made for standard AK rifles by K-Var a while back. They were never particularly popular, probably because in stock form they weren't particularly good. The sights are wobbly and mediocre, the triggers were awful, the magazine was a very tight fit, and the furniture seemed pretty cheesy. In theory, they are sort of copying the short-lived Norinco 86S bullpup, but those were actually built from the ground up as bullpups, and a better design than this conversion. A friend of mine recently took one of these AKU conversions as a project to see what he could fix, and made some pretty remarkable - and simple - improvements. With a better trigger and a good red dot optic, the AKU-94 really became a fairly nice gun, especially considering the cost relative to other bullpups. Of course, it will still knock your teeth out with the charging handle if fired left-handed, but hey, nothing's perfect.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The Remington Model 8 (and the 81, which is mechanically identical) was an early self-loading rifle design by John Browning, and was produced from 1906 into the 1950s. It was available in 4 calibers initially, all of them being rimless, bottlenecked proprietary jobs - the .25, .30, .32, and .35 Remington. The .35 was the most effective on game and was the most popular seller, with the .25 being the lest popular. When the Model 81 was introduced (with a heavier forestock and semi pistol grip), it was also made available in .300 Savage. At that time, the Remington factory also offered to rebarrel existing Model 8s for the .300 Savage. The Model 8 was a long-recoil design, something that saw little further development and remains one of the least-common types of action. It is interesting to compare the Remington 8 to the Winchester 1905/07/10 series of rifles that came on the market at almost the exact same time. Both were well-made and effective self-loaders, but with much different target markets and mechanical systems. Winchester opted to make a replacement for the pistol-caliber lever action saddle rifle, and did so using a simply and somewhat brute-force operating system: direct blowback with a heavy bolt and recoil spring. Remington, on the other hand, wanted to make a big-game rifle with very fast follow-up shot capability, and used the far more complex long recoil locked breech system. Both guns are largely forgotten by the gun-owning public today, although they both were widely used and appreciated by hunters for decades.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The Smith & Wesson 1940 Light Rifle is one of the spectacular failures of arms design, on several levels. It was too expensive, too heavy, too fragile (ironically, given the weight), too difficult to manipulate, and just all-in-all bad. To put the bad-ness in perspective, the British cancelled their order of these guns and rejected those already delivered - right in the aftermath of Dunkirk, when they were in serious need of arms. To completely reject a gun that was being actively produced and delivered under those circumstances says a lot!

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com They Type 26 was an indigenous Japanese revolver introduced in 1893 (26th year of the Meiji era) to replace the Smith & Wesson No. 3 in Japanese military service. In many ways the Type 26 was akin to the other military revolvers of the day, like the Russian (and Belgian) Nagant, the French M1892, as well as the later models of Webley. It uses a fairly weak (by today's standards) 9x22mm rimmed cartridge, which was roughly equivalent to a light .38 S&W load. Type 26 revolvers were manufactured until 1930, and although the Type 14 and Type 94 Nambu automatic pistols were adopted to replace it, the Type 26 revolver saw service through the end of WWII. In fact, these revolvers tended to live quite harsh lives, and the majority were arsenal refurbished at some point (some being refurbished more than once). In shooting and handling, I found the Type 26 very similar to the British Enfield No2MkI. Both have quite light recoil thanks to their light-powered ammunition, and both are double-action only designs. As with the Enfield, the Nambu trigger feels too heavy when target shooting or general handling, but I suspect it would prove well suited to combat shooting (as the Enfield certainly does). One interesting potential defect of the Type 26 is that its cylinder can spin freely until the trigger is pulled, at which point it is indexed by one position and locked in place. This theoretically makes it possible for a partially-fired cylinder to be inadvertently rotated, and a previously-fired round to wind up under the hammer when the shooter is expecting a live round. This seems unlikely to happen very often, but it is possible. The rapid unloading of the break-action design is nice, although (again, as with the Enfield) loading cartridges individually prevents the gun from being very fast to get back into action. Overall, I like the Type 26. It isn't flashy or power

http://www.forgottenweapons.com I've been looking forward to shooting one of the local 2-Gun Action Challenge Matches with a Swiss straight-pull rifle for a while now, and had the chance this past weekend. I was debating between using a Gewehr 1911 (the older style long rifle) or the K31 (newer carbine variant), and so I left it up to a vote of folks of the Facebook page. They chose the K31, so that's what I shot. The K31 has the advantages of being shorter and lighter than the G11, and it also has a rear sight that is calibrated down to 100m, where the G11 rear sight begins at 300m (which would have required a bunch of estimated hold-unders for a match like this). Both rifles have 6-round detachable magazines, fed by 6-round waxed cardboard chargers. There are bandoliers and ammo pouches available for those chargers (general clip pouches don't work because the 6-round capacity makes the Swiss clips too large to fit in most other nations' web gear) but I didn't have that gear available for the match. I just kept the clip in my pants' cargo pockets, which definitely cost me some time. Other than ammo storage, I found the handling on the K31 to be excellent. It is superbly accurate; any missed shots were entirely my own fault (I admit I have not practiced roll-over prone with a bolt gun much...or ever). The action was 100% reliable in the dust and sand, which is more than I can say for the SMLE I previously used in a similar match. Reloading was smoother and faster than with traditional type stripper clips - overall an outstanding rifle.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com William John Whiting spent about 10 years trying to get the British military to adopt his automatic pistol, and finally achieved his goal in 1913 with a contract for pistols supplied to the British Royal Navy - only to have the expense of World War I wipe away all interest in self-loading pistols.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com Today we're looking at an example of a cheap pocket pistol from a century ago - a 6-shot Belgian revolver chambered for .22 Short (sometimes called a Velodog revolver because of their use by cyclists to ward off dogs). Scads of these type of guns were made, often with no markings beyond the legally-required proofs, making them difficult to research today. This particular one is just such an example - beyond its Belgian origin, we know very little about it.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com I had the chance to play with a friend's new Chiappa Triple Threat at the range last week, so I took the opportunity to put together a video. It was intended for a different website, but they already have someone reviewing the gun - so I figured I might as well post it here. It's not a forgotten weapon yet, but I suspect it will be before too long. Not because the gun is bad - it's actually quite nice as far as I could tell. But it is definitely a niche market item, and way overpriced.

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Intro music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com While we normally stick to small arms here, this beast of a gun was just way too impressive for me to not pay attention to. I was at a cannon and machine gun shoot just recently where some folks brought out what is (I believe) the only functional Pak-40 in the United States. And shot it. The Pak-40 was the backbone of German antitank guns during WWII, and fired a 75mm AP shell out to an effective range of about a mile in a direct-fire role, with enough energy to defeat pretty much any Allied tank except the late-war Russian heavies. It was fairly light weight given its effectiveness, and makes one hell of a concussion when fired. Thanks to the gun's owners for being awesome!

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com We have another new unique item today - a prototype pistol made by Savage in .38ACP caliber.

My first experience shooting a Lahti AT gun. Just using it as a single shot; no magazine and the gas system turned off. It kicks like a mule! The skis allow it to slide back on recoil, and push me right along with it. The Solothurn S18/1000 is a much nicer gun...but also much more expensive to buy.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The Volcanic was not the first repeating pistol, but it was an early one of the first in a line of firearms that would develop into the iconic lever action rifles of the American West. Patented in 1854, the Volcanic used a toggle-action lock operated by a finger lever - simply a smaller version of the hand lever used in the later rifles. The Volcanic had a tube magazine beneath its barrel to hold 7 rounds, and fired a conical bullet in which the powder and primer were both contained within the hollow base of the bullet. The Volcanic never really caught on very well primarily because of its ammunition. The limited powder capacity of the design meant that the cartridge was fairly weak (in the .41 caliber, it pushed a 106gr bullet at about 500-600 fps), and it was not particularly reliable either. The Volcanic Arms Company went bankrupt in 1857, and was bought up by Winchester. Winchester would continue to produce Volcanic pistols for several more years, and in 1860 put into the market the Henry rifle, which used the basic Volcanic mechanism but with the much more potent (although still relatively weak) .44 rimfire cartridge.

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The MG-34 and MG-42 machine guns were the mainstay of German infantry (and vehicle) firepower during World War II, and it will take several videos to properly cover them. For now, we are shooting them both, and explaining how to load, unload, and operate them (including changing barrels on the MG42). Enjoy!

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The M6 Gun Motor Carriage was the first American tank destroyer of WWII - a 37mm antitank gun (basically identical to the M3 gun) mounted on the back of a Dodge 3/4 ton weapons carrier. A large armor shield protected the gun crew from small arm fire, but the vehicle was otherwise highly exposed. The truck was powered by a flathead 6-cylinder engine producing 99 horsepower, and had a top speed of 55 mph. The gun was effective and modern in the late 1930s when its design process began, but was underpowered and insufficient by the time the M6 first saw action in 1942/3 in Tunisia. Not many complete M6 carriages remain in existence today, as they were replaced quickly after their poor showing in North Africa. Most had the guns removed and were converted back into utility trucks, while some were used by the Free French forces and some saw use in the Pacific theater (where the underpowered gun was less of a concern).

http://www.forgottenweapons.com I didn't have the opportunity to do a full video with the folks who own this M18 Hellcat, but I did get some footage of it firing. Enjoy!

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The 37mm gun was found in many guises during World War One - that caliber was the smallest allowed to use exploding projectiles by the 1899 Hague accords. Every nation in the world, it seems, used 37mm guns of one type or another. Well, one particular version I had the chance to look at was built by Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania for the French Army. Chambered for the same 37x136mm Hotchkiss Heavy cartridge used in US naval service, 200 were purchased in 1916. Only 15 were actually shipped before the US Army seized the bulk of the order in 1917 - but they were never put into any sort of service by the US military. The French tested the guns for suitability as n infantry gun, anti-tank gun, anti-aircraft gun, and naval landing gun - and found unsuitable for all roles. It was probably tested only as a backup in case the redesign of the Mle 1916 Tir Rapid ran into problems. At any rate, the 15 guns sent to France were sent back at the end of the war, and the guns remained in US Army inventory until 1921, when they appear to have been distributed out the National Guard units. I think this is a very cool gun for the present-day enthusiast. In addition to the historical links to WWI, it has the practical benefits of being relatively light and using ammunition relatively inexpensive to reload. And, of course, the free mount and shoulder rest and iron sights give it more the feel of a shoulder rifle than later light artillery that use precisely adjusted mounts. This one is just more fun to shoot! Alas, there are very few still in existence. Perhaps an opportunity for someone who wants to make a reproduction Big Boy's Toy?

The Mauser 1912/14 automatic pistol was the final stage of a dead-end development track for a military sidearm in 9mm Parabellum made by Mauser. The program began as a plain blowback pistol in 1909, which did not work effectively, and was replaced by a series of different locked or semilocked systems culminating in this, the 1912/14. The same 1909 design was also the basis for a parallel development track that resulted in the smaller .25 and .32 caliber Mauser pocket pistols, which were quite successful. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The Soviet Union produced more sniper rifles during WWII than any other country, and was one of very few to have a well-developed sniper program in place before the war began. Starting in the early 1930s, they developed a sniper variant of the standard M91/30 infantry rifle, with technical assistance from Germany (of all places). The early (PE) scopes had adjustable focus and 4x magnification, with a relatively large objective lens. Experience in the Spanish Civil War exposed a weakness in the adjustable focus ring of these scopes, and they were replaced by a new PEM version without that feature. By 1940, the plan was to replace the 91/30 with the new SVT-40 as the standard sniper's rifle. This plan fell apart when the SVT rifles proved to be inferior in accuracy to the Mosins, and not capable of meeting the requirements for snipers. In a scramble for a new solution, it as decided to just mount the PU scope onto 91/30 rifles. The PU had been designed for the SVT, as the older PEM scopes were too large to effectively mount on the Tokarev rifle. The PU was smaller, lighter, simpler, and cheaper to manufacture, and it made good sense to make use of the development work put into them. They has a smaller field of view and slightly reduced 3.5x magnification - a very pragmatic choice for a country that needed to mass produce weapons in wartime conditions. Starting in 1942, the 91/30 PU sniper rifles began flooding out of Russian factories - by the time major production ended in 1945 hundreds of thousands had been made. The 91/30 PU was given better fit and finish than the typical 91/30 rifles produced during the war, but they are still rather cruder than the typical Western idea of the custom-made and hand-polished masterpiece sniper's weapon. These were practical tools, and their design reflects that. Cheek welds in particular are difficult to maintain, because t

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com We have often touched on the series of US magazine rifle trials that took place through the late 1800s - those trials brought out a slew of interesting new ideas and clever (or not so clever) designs. However, the trials were also responsible for an experimental version of the old standby Allin conversion Trapdoor Springfield. In order to have some rational standard to judge the new rifles against in the later trials (after the .30 Army, aka .30-40, cartridge had been specified instead of the old .45-70), the Ordnance Department decided to rebarrel a handful of Trapdoor rifles for the .30-40 cartridge. These would act as the baseline against which the recoil, accuracy, rate of fire, handling, etc of the new designs would be judged. Few if any of those original conversion exist today (I have not ever seen one, but I suspect one or two are probably in museum collections somewhere), but I did have the opportunity to try out a modern reproduction of the pattern made from original parts.

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The Swedish Bofors company developed a sophisticated and very high-quality light anti-tank gun in the early 1930s, and found significant commercial success with it. A variety of countries either purchased the guns outright from Bofors or paid for licenses to produce them domestically. These countries included Denmark, Finland, Poland, the Netherlands, and Sweden itself. The largest number were in Poland (1200 or more), and there is speculation that some may have been sold to Spain during the Spanish Civil War (both these guns and a 40mm AA gun which definitely went to Spain were designated wz.36). A significant number were also captured and reused by German and Russian forces during WWII. On the Allied side, some of the guns were sold to the Sudan and used by British forces in North Africa (generally mounted on trucks). The gun itself was an excellent design, capable of 12 rounds/minute of accurate fire and potent enough to deal with most of the smaller tanks in existence at the beginning of WWII. New tank developments made it obsolete, but it was at least effective against Russian light tanks (BT, T-26, T-28) in the Winter War if not the heavier T-34s. The gun has a sophisticated suspension system to help absorb recoil energy, and fired a 37x257mm shell with a 740g projectile at about 825 m/s (26oz @ 2700 fps). The action was semi-automatic, meaning that once fired, the action would recoil on the carriage, and automatically eject the empty case. It would then return to battery with the breech open, ready for a new shell to be loaded (in the video, the ejection mechanism has been disabled to help preserve the brass cases).

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The Colt model 1903 pocket hammer is based of of the 1902 sporting model, which is in turn a civilian market variant of the Colt 1900. Like it's immediate forerunners it is a .38acp chambering, of course not to be confused with the later .38 Super, more on that later. It's a locked breech design featuring a swinging link much like the 1911. However unlike its progeny this pistol is blessed with dual swinging links; one at the rear of the barrel and the other at the front. Another noticeable difference of this earlier design family is the lack of a barrel bushing, rather the front of the barrel is flared in such a way that as the slide returns to battery it forces the barrel forward and back up into it's locking notches; not unlike certain sub-compact models of the 1911 today.

This is a recording of a workshop given at the 2014 AFTE (Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners) conference in Seattle, on the subject of proof marks and other identifying marks on firearms, specifically arms made between roughly 1880 and 1945. I am available to present classes on this and other topics related to historical firearms to police and law enforcement agencies, collectors' groups, trade associations, and other interested groups. For details, please contact me at admin@forgottenweapons.com .

This is a recording of a workshop given at the 2014 AFTE (Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners) conference in Seattle, on the subject of magazines and clips as firearms feeding devices, including their history, development, function, and application. I am available to present classes on this and other topics related to historical firearms to police and law enforcement agencies, collectors' groups, trade associations, and other interested groups. For details, please contact me at admin@forgottenweapons.com .

By popular request, this month we are doing a head-to-head match of the awesome FG-42 (second model, in 8mm, made by SMG Guns) and the much-revered Browning BAR (M1918A3, in .30-06, made by Ohio Ordnance). Lots of people suggested that this would be a fair match, since both guns were intended to be support-type weapons. In reality, though, the FG-42 is a far superior design. The BAR was designed more than 20 years earlier, and the M1918 version used by the US Army was obsolete before WWII ever started. That said, Karl (who is shooting the BAR) is a significantly better shooting than I am - will the FG-42 give me enough of an advantage to actually win the match?

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The Girardoni (also spelled Girandoni) air rifle was a very advanced design adopted in 1780 by the Austrian Army. While the standard arm of the day was a single-shot flintlock, the Girardoni offered a massive firepower advantage to the men who carried it. The guns (designed by Bartholomäus Girardoni, of Vienna) had a magazine capacity of 22 round balls, which could all be fired within 60 seconds. The balls were .46 caliber, weighing approximately 153 grains, and were propelled at 400-450 feet per second. They were rumored to be silent, but actually had a loud report (although quieter than gunpowder firearms). One of these rifles was carried by the Lewis & Clark expedition into the American West. The Austrian Army used them for a relatively short time - they were taken out of service by Imperial order in 1788, and issued back to Tyrolian sniper units only in 1792. The reasons for their replacement were more logistical than the result of any actual shortcoming with Girardoni's design. The problem was that they required special training to use (compared to a normal firearm), required specially trained and equipped gunsmiths to repair and maintain, and difficulty maintaining them in combat conditions. Dr. Robert Beeman has written an outstanding illustrated article on Austrian airguns in general and the Girardoni in particular, which I highly recommend for anyone interested in more detail on these fascinating weapons: http://www.beemans.net/Austrian%20airguns.htm However, I am privileged to be able to share with you this video of an original 1780 Girardoni put together by Luke Haag for presentation at the 2014 AFTE conference in Seattle. Mr. Haag does a great job explaining the operation of the gun, its capabilities and accessories.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The Sedgley Glove Gun was one of the goofiest projects actually funded by the US military during WWII. Designed for the Navy, it was basically a leather gardening glove with a single shot .38 S&W pistol attached to the back. A plunger fired the gun, and the idea was literally that the user would make a fist and punch his adversary, shooting them in the process. Depending on which numbers you believe, somewhere between 52 and 200 of these were actually made, and there is no confirmed record of any actually being used in combat. There are suggestions that the OSS also used them, but these are also unconfirmed. We had the privilege to examine this mint-condition example at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, and very much appreciate the opportunity!

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com Today we're looking at one of Ohio Ordnance's semiauto M1918A3 BARs - how it shoots, how it works, and what the pros and cons of the military BAR variants were in World War I and World War II.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com http://www.schifferbooks.com/italian-small-arms-of-the-first-and-second-world-wars-5432.html Good news for everyone interested in collecting Italian military firearms (yes, both of you)! Ralph Riccio has just recently published a new book on Italian Small Arms of the First and Second World Wars. Until now, there have been very limited options for English-language books on Italian guns, and Riccio's new work is an outstanding end to that drought. It is 224 pages of very good research and even better photography, covering everything from the 1874 pattern revolver to the Breda heavy machine guns in glossy full color. Copies are available for $69.99 through Schiffer (see the link at above).

http://www.forgottenweapons.com http://www.armorplatepress.com Most of the books I look at are primarily text-based, and today I figured we should do something a little bit different. Armor Plate Press, run by Tom Laemlein, specializes in photographic studies of various weapons (and vehicular) topics. Today's book is The Yanks Are Coming! Firepower of the American Doughboy in World War One - a volume that appealed to me in particular because of the wide variety of gear used by American troops in that conflict. Instead of researching the history and development of a particular piece of equipment, Laemlein has collected a plethora of photos of that piece of gear throughout its service use. He is clearly quite passionate about the work (publishing books came as an idea after many years of collecting photographs), and I think it adds a valuable extra dimension to a library of academic textual research. As an example, consider the American use of shotguns for trench warfare. The evidence is quite substantial that US forces used them, between formal paper records, anecdotal troop recollections, and even German formal protest against the practice. However, in decades of searching, no photograph of one actually being used in combat has ever been found. Why not? Laemlein believes it is due to censorship - US leadership wanting to prevent German propaganda from being able to portray the US as using uncivilized weapons (whatever that means in the war that gave us poison gas and the flamethrower). It is only the search for photographs that brings this to light. The pictures in The Yanks Are Coming! ranges from training camps to front line combat, and from candid to carefully posed. For the student of history interested in the era, it brings a touch of the human perspective to a topic so often relegated to dry text.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com For this month's 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, I decided to try using my Yugoslav M76, in 8x57mm. The M76 is one of the triad of eastern marksmen's rifles - the PSL, the SVD, and the M76. Like the PSL, the M76 is mechanically just a scaled-up AK - but made to a much higher standard of fit and finish than the PSL. It is also chambered for the 8mm Mauser cartridge, as that was a standard cartridge in the Yugoslav army. The M76 is obviously better suited for long range slow fire, and this month's match was all up close and personal - so it gave me a good opportunity to try out the M76 under non-optimal conditions. The M76 did pretty well for me, with no malfunctions of any kind. At long range, I have been able to make hits on 12" plates out to 400 yards with it, which is pretty well at the limit of my own shooting ability, so I can't complain there. In this match, I found the scope to be a handicap, because the targets were all within 50 yards - after the first stage I shot almost everything using the iron sights, which are visible through the scope mount.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com On this day 138 years ago, the combined forces of the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho tribes delivered a staggering defeat to the US Army's 7th Cavalry under the command of General George Armstrong Custer. The battle was glorified in the East for largely political reasons in its immediate aftermath (and there were no white survivors to contest the story), and it has only been in the last few decades that the true story of what happened in that fight has become well understood. A major academic revelation (not counting the Indian accounts of the battle, which gave a pretty accurate description all along) came from a field study in 1984 and 1985 which collected and mapped thousands of artifacts, mostly cartridge cases and bullets (for a full account, the book written on the study is "Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn"). One of the results of that study was indisputable evidence that the Indian forces were much better armed than had been previously believed. Among the 40+ different types of firearms carried by the warriors were a large number of lever-action Henry and Winchester rifles and carbines. With that in mind (and because of his interest in frontier history), my friend Karl decided to shoot this month's 2-gun match with a replica 1866 Winchester. He used it in place of both rifle and pistol, since handguns saw minimal practical use at the Little Bighorn (or the Greasy Grass, as the Indians called it). He isn't shooting black powder, simply for ease of use (it was 105F during the match), but his .45 Colt ammo pretty much matches the ballistics of the original loads.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com I picked up a copy of this book a couple years ago when Bin Shih first published it, but by the time I got around to doing a review it had sold out - so I didn't bother. Well, a seconds printing run has been made, so it seems that now would be a good time to take a closer look at it. There are very few English-language resources on Chinese WWII small arms, and this is a good one...

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com Taking a look at another artillery piece today, a 50mm mountain gun made for Siam (now Thailand) by the German Krupp company. It is a relatively simple (and thus relatively inexpensive at the time) design, with no recoil mechanism or adjustable traverse.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Prototype Savage .25 ACP pistol. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Brief clip shooting a round from a Solothurn S18/1000. Note that in normal use, the gun ejects cases automatically. The owner here had disabled the ejection in order to preserve the brass - that's why the manual unloading was necessary.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com For this month's 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, I decided to shoot my Remington Model 8, in .300 Savage. It's a semiauto sporting rifle designed by John Browning, which went into production in 1906. It's a long-recoil action, and has pretty hefty recoil from the prone position. I incorporated use of my new GoPro and quadcopter - let me know what you think! (and yes, I am working on finding a way to get rid of the 'copter rotor noise). The Remington had one malfunction, which appears to have been caused by the barrel takedown screw coming loose - which was easily fixed. Other than that it ran very well. The buckhorn sights were definitely better at close range than long, though.

Slow motion footage of a Luger pistol firing - 500 fps and 2000 fps.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com This is a replica 1860 Army with a 5.5" barrel, in .44 caliber and using true black powder. Footage shot at 2000 fps. Note the delay (6 frames / 0.003 seconds) between the cap detonating and the powder charge igniting.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com I am getting high speed footage of a bunch of interesting pistols right off the bat now that I have my Edgertronic camera, and one that has been on my list ever since I first shot it was the blow-forward Schwarzlose 1908. It's a very fast action, and my initial attempts at high speed a year or two ago didn't turn out well. Now, however, I have much better gear for this... The initial footage is at 2000 fps, and then I sped it up to 3500. At that point it is starting to get a bit dark (the Arizona desert sunlight will need an artificial boost if I am to record at any higher of a frame rate, but you can get a pretty clear view of what is happening. It's awfully crowded inside that action, and I'm really surprised that I haven't had it malfunction on me. Counting frames of the video gives me a total cyclic rate of 0.024 seconds per shot, or (in theory) 2500 rounds per minute. Wow!

2000 fps footage of a C96 "Broomhandle" Mauser pistol, chambered in 7.63mm Mauser. This was the first really successful commercial automatic pistol, and uses a short recoil action to operate.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com Thanks to the hospitality of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, we had a chance to examine and disassemble a Type 11 light machine gun, chambered for 6.5mm Japanese. This is, of course, the very unusual hopper-fed design from Kijiro Nambu, which entered service in 1922. The action is largely derived from Hotchkiss guns, but the feed mechanism is unique to the Nambu.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The All-American 2000 was Colt's attempt to compete with Glock for the military and police service pistol market. It had a polymer frame (except a few early ones with aluminum frames), a double-action-only striker firing system, double-stack magazines, and used a rotating barrel to lock. The design was originally the brainchild of C. Reed Knight and Eugene Stoner, and the production rights were sold to Colt. The Stoner/Knight prototypes worked well, but Colt made some design changes and did a poor job adapting it to mass production. The result was a huge commercial flop, as the guns were beset by accuracy and reliability problems (despite a massive whitewashing by print gun magazines at the time).

http://www,forgottenweapons.com This week's slow motion gun is the Frommer Stop, put into production in 1912. The Hungarian designer Rudolf Frommer was responsible for a series of long-recoil pistols, of which the Stop was the last and best. It is chambered for 7.65mm Frommer, which is identical in size to the .32 ACP, but loaded slightly hotter. Stop pistols will generally run reliably on .32ACP as long as it isn't underpowdered. Anyway, it was a far over-engineered design, with a 3-lug rotating bolt to lock, and a long recoil action. It was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian military and saw service in WWI. The other long-recoil firearms that saw commercial success were the M1915 Chauchat LMG, the Remington Model 8/81, and Winchester Auto-5.

This month for the 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, Karl and I square off with WWII snipers' rifles. I have a No4 MkI (T) Enfield sniper with a 3.5x No.32 scope, and Karl has a Mauser K98k with a 1.5x ZF41 designated marksman's optic. Both rifles are authentic, although both scopes are reproductions. The question is, will the ZF41 allow Karl to shoot faster, or will the greater magnification on the Enfield provide a bigger advantage?

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The 1875 Lee Vertical Action was an experimental rifle designed by James Paris Lee (of Lee Enfield and Lee Navy fame) as an idea to increase the rate of fire from single-shot Army rifles. He touted an impressive 30 rounds in 45 seconds with the rifle, thanks to several design elements that combined to make a very fast manual of arms. In total only 143 of these guns were made at Springfield Armory, and this example is the only known carbine variant. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Today's item is a rather unusual percussion pistol. It began life as an underhammer gun, and was rebuilt by an unknown gunsmith as a percussion gun that fired four superposed charges with a creative repeating action. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Only a few dozen of these are in private hands in the US, and they are an extremely advanced design for WWII. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com This prototype 1895 Krnka automatic pistol, serial number 7, was the first in the developmental line that led to the 1907 Roth-Steyr cavalry pistol. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com This very odd one-off pistol first appeared in a 1958 Golden State Arms catalog, with no description of its history or mechanical design. I have often seen it referred to as an automatic revolver, but this is a misconception - what appears to be a cylinder is actually a rotary magazine, akin to a Ruger 10-22. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons There is a fair amount of debate as to whether these are authentic WWII German artifacts, as opposed to post-war creations to feed the market for Nazi memorabilia. Authentic or not, they are a very neat mechanism to take a look at. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Many unique and interesting pistols were made in China in the 1920s and 1930s, and this pistol is a good example of them. It is not a copy of any specific Western handgun, although mechanically it works like a Mauser 1914 pocket pistol. It is chambered for .32ACP (the other common caliber for these handguns is 7.63mm Mauser). Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Today's item is a very cool piece - a German Sturmgewehr with a "krummlauf", or curved barrel attachment. This is the 30 degree type, intended (as goofy as this sounds) for firing around corners and over barricades in urban combat. A 90-degree version was also made for use in armored vehicles. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The P66 was a prototype .22LR semiauto pistol designed by a German immigrant to the United States by the name of Rolf Dieckmann. It never went into production, but had a number of interesting features, including a removable firing mechanism and a combination extractor and firing pin. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Today's item is an example of the smallest centerfire pistol ever made - a 2.7mm Kolibri semiauto. About a thousand of these were made between 1910 and 1914, firing a 3-grain projectile at about 650 fps (for a total of 3 ftlb of muzzle energy). It may be insanely impractical, but it's a great piece of mechanical art - and it comes with 7 rounds of ammo! Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com This is a Belgian-made Schulhof bolt action rifle. It is notable for its 9-round rotary magazine, and this same model of rifle was tested by the US Army in 1889. The magazine and overall design of the rifle was found to be quite good, but the bolt was too weak for Army approval. Regardless, it is a creative and quite elegant design. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The MKb-42(H), or Maschinenkarabiner-42 (Haenel), was the first production iteration of the German Sturmgewehr. It was chambered for the then-new 8x33mm kurz cartridge, and fired both semiauto and full-auto from an open bolt. Approximately 11,000 of these were made before production changed to the closed-bolt MP43. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Before standardizing on the Type 2 paratroop rifle (a 7.7mm Arisaka that broke in half at the chamber), the Japanese military tested a variant of the Type 38 carbine with a folding stock retrofitted into place. Very few of these were made. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Harmonica guns were a short-lived type of firearm that was developed in an effort to have reliable repeating weapons prior to the the modern centerfire cartridge. They were made in both muzzleloading and cartridge varieties, and one notable (and reknowned) American maker of such guns was Jonathan Browning, father of John Moses Browning. These two harmonica pistols was made by a man named Jarre in France (also a noted manufacturer), and both use pinfire cartridges. In addition, while early harmonica guns had to be manually indexed for each shot, these two automatically advance their slides when their triggers are pulled. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The Gyrojet was the closest thing to a commercially successful rocket pistol, although not many were sold before the company went out of business. This is the 13mm pistol version (the most common type of Gyrojet), and fires a 180 grain rocket projectile. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Today we're looking at a pair of military survival rifles. One is a Luftwaffe M30 drilling - the most finely finished and luxurious survival rifle ever issued by a military force. The other is a US Air Force M6 survival gun - spartan and utilitarian - the polar opposite of the M30. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The M1819 Hall rifle was the first breechloader adopted on a wide scale by a military force (the British Ferguson predated it, but was only made in small numbers). The Hall stayed in production on and off for several decades, being made in many configurations. This particular one is an 1836 pattern smoothbore Hall carbine, with a retracting spike bayonet. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

(FYI, this is the last of the full-length videos I had completed in SD before getting my new gear) http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The M50 was one of a series of submachine guns developed and marketed by the Danish Madsen company after World War II. The first was the M46 (1946), followed by M50 and the M53. Each version was progressively a bit better than the last, but they never sold particularly well because of the easy and cheap availability of war surplus arms.

I will be competing in the Pecos Run and Gun in the Sun next weekend, and figured I'd post some video of some of my practice for it. It's a 2-gun match (rifle and pistol) with rifle shooting out to 400 yards and between 6 and 7 miles of running. I'm using a Ballester Molina pistol, Swiss Gewehr 1911 rifle, and a cool original Swiss ammo bandolier provided by Liberty Tree Collectors. I expect the match will be grueling and miserable, but fun when I'm finished - and my goal is the be the fastest bolt-action competitor. I will have some commentary and followup on Forgotten Weapons, and the match video will be a segment in an upcoming episode of InRange TV.

A bunch of people requested that I post the sale prices items at the Rock Island September 2014 Premier Auction - so I put together this brief piece with the final sale prices.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The Type 94 Nambu is a much-maligned pistol used by the Japanese military from 1935-1945. It's actually a much better gun than people give it credit for, but we will address that in a later video. For now, enjoy some high-speed footage of it firing!

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Simpson Ltd is a great gun shop with an impressively extensive selection. In addition to a wide variety of military and sporting rifles, they are also the largest Luger dealer in the country, if not the world.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Today's slow motion subject is a Russian PKM general-purpose machine gun, often considered the best overall machine gun design in service today. These clips were filmed at 2000 frames/second.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The M1898 Rast & Gasser revolver was the last iteration of a series of revolvers, and was a standard Austro-Hungarian sidearm during WWI (despite the adoption of the Steyr M1912 selfloader). The M1898 an often underappreciated handgun, with a number of useful features and a very high standard of manufacturing. These features include use of the Abadie system to disconnect the hammer form the trigger when the loading gate is open, to allow much faster reloading, and a hinged sideplate for easy and complete access to the working parts. In addition, it has an 8-round cylinder, equal (or greater!) in capacity to any semiauto pistol in service during WWI and for some time thereafter.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The 1907 Dreyse is an early automatic pistol whose design is attributed to Louis Schmeisser. It saw fairly extensive use by the German military during World War I, and was also used by various German police organizations into the early 1930s. Overall, nearly a quarter million were manufactured. It is a simple blowback action chambered for .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning), and not particularly comfortable. It has an awkward grip angle, awkwardly-short distance from grip to trigger, and top-heavy balance.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The MAS 49/56 was the final evolution of a French direct gas impingement rifle design that nearly entered mass production in 1940, but was interrupted by the German invasion. It uses a tilting bolt to lock (similar to the FAL) and a direct gas inpingement system to operate (very similar to the AG-42B Ljungman). It is chambered in 7.5x54mm, and is a highly under-rated rifle in the US.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The Frommer/Femaru 37M was the last in the line of handguns designed by Rudolf Frommer. The 37M was a single-action blowback pistol chambered for .380, although it was also purchased by Germany in .32 ACP caliber (and with the addition of a manual thumb safety). It was adopted by the Hungarian military in 1937, replacing the 29M - which was mechanically basically identical but more expensive to produce. The 29M, in turn, was basically a scaled-up Frommer Lilliput.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Today's high speed video analysis is the first Browning-style pistol that was at hand when I took out the camera: a Star Model B Super. Manufactured in Spain for many years, this basic pistol was made in both 9mm Luger and 9mm Largo variations as well as full-size and shortened varieties. This particular one is in 9mm Largo, and is a fine example of the tilting-barrel action developed by John Browning that dominates handgun design to this day.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com I recently had a chance to take a look at a rifle that has been floating around the Japanese collector's community causing grief since for at least 25 years. It is a Type 99 Arisaka, specifically a first-series Nagoya production gun, serial number 84664. What makes it unusual is that it had a Type 96 or Type 99 Nambu light machine gun bipod attached to the muzzle. In theory, this is supposed to be an experimental rifle from Nagoya during the period when they were about to stop mounting bayonets on new-production Type 99 rifles. It is supposed to be one of several different test models made to evaluate different bipod/monopod options, which does fit the time period when this rifle was originally made. The rifle's monopod lug was ground off of its barrel band, and the stock and handguard were cut back several inches to make space to mount the bipod. The bayonet lug on the bipod is correctly positioned, so a standard Type 30 bayonet will still fit and latch securely. The bipod and bayonet lug are numbered to match the rest of the rifle, and the dust cover and stock have been marked with characters suggesting that it is test rifle #22 from Nagoya. Problem is, the bipod was added by a US collector in the late 70s or early 80s, not by Nagoya Arsenal. It was produced as a practical joke on another collector, and later found its way into circulation, being advertised as a real Japanese prototype. I learned this backstory from a noted collector who was offered the rifle back in the 80s, and spoke to its original creator. Unfortunately, prior to the internet it was difficult to make this sort of thing widely known, and each time someone went to sell it they had already invested in it as if it was legit, and thus wanted to recoup their money or make a nice profit on it. Having handled the gun, I have to say that I really liked the way it handled. The Nambu bipod is

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The Swiss experimented with scoped sniper rifles during World War II, and the results were the K31/42 and the K31/43. Only a couple thousand were made between the two models, and they were not considered particularly successful. Ultimately they were replaced by the ZfK-55 (a much better rifle for the purpose) a decade after the war. The two earlier versions are pretty interesting to see though.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The M1 Garand really doesn't need an introduction, does it? The first semiauto service rifle issued in mass quantities, and the mainstay of US Army infantry in the Second World War.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com This month I chose to shoot the 2-Gun Action Challenge Match with a French MAS 49/56, in the original 7.5x54 caliber. I really like the handling of the rifle, and I was curious to see how the sights (rear aperture and a large front post) would work in a practical setting like this competition. As it turned out, I rather like the sights, Not great for target work, but they are pretty effective for making shots like this match is designed around. I do want to see if I can improve the trigger, though, and I may look into making myself a couple extended mags from 24/29 Chatellerault mags. As usual, my pistol was a late 1940s Argentine Ballester-Molina in .45ACP (which served me well on stage 3, compared to the folks using 9mm). Overall, I placed 28th of 47 shooters.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com The All-American 2000 was Colt's attempt to break into the polymer high-cap pistol market in the early 1990s, when Glock was dominating that field. Colt took what appears to have been a pretty good pistol designed by Eugene Stoner and Reed Knight and made some pretty terrible decisions when adapting it for mass production - and the result was a huge failure. The pistols were remarkably unreliable and inaccurate, and the debacle nearly ran Colt into bankruptcy.

Sold for $5,750. This is a factory prototype of the Colt's entry into the Offensive Handgun Weapon System as requested by US SOCOM in the early 1990s. It featured a rotating barrel locking system, double action trigger system (with manual safety and decocker), and single stack 10-round magazine. Only about 30 were ever made, as military testing resulted in the H&K USP being chosen for further refinement instead of the Colt design. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Walther KPK was a modified version of the PPK automatic pistol made in very small numbers by Walther in hopes of winning a new military contract. Mechanically identical to the PPK, the KPK has a lengthened slide to effectively shroud the hammer, preventing it from catching or snagging on clothing or obstacles in the confines of an aircraft or armored vehicle. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com While I was visiting Galesburg, I had the pleasure of meeting Nicole Wiley. She is working on organizing a massive reference book on German .22 training rifles (like the Sportmodell and KKW), and was kind enough to give me a tour of Robert Simpson's collection of these guns. It was a very interesting look into another corner of the gun world that many people aren't familiar with. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

Charles Lancaster was a master London gunsmith who made 2-barrel and 4-barrel pistols in a variety of British revolver cartridges (commonly known as Howdah pistols). Many of his pistols was purchased privately by British military officers, explorers, and big-game hunters to use as backup weapons throughout the Empire. These three examples are chambered for the .380, .476, and .577 centerfire cartridges, and are all excellent examples of Lancaster's work and the quality of Victorian-era British craftsmanship. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

"The Protector" was a very discreet palm pistol developed in the late 1800s by a French inventor, produced in bulk by the Ames Sword Company, and sold by the Chicago Firearms Company. They are mechanically double-action turret revolvers with a unique grip design meant to be to be fired by squeezing. The first few were made in France by the original inventor, and later licensed to an Irish-American who sold them through first the Minneapolis Firearms Company and later the Chicago Firearms Company. Most are in an extra-short .32 caliber rimfire cartridge, but a few were also made in both .41 and .22 calibers. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Gaulois (Gallic) was a compact squeeze-type palm pistol made by the Manufrance concern in St. Etienne in the 1890s. It held 5 rounds of 8mm ammunition (similar to the .32 Extra-Short used in other types of palm pistols) and was fired by squeezing the rear grip into the body of the gun. As with the other weapons of this type that achieved some popularity in the 1880s through early 1900s, the Gaulois eventually faded from the market because of the improvements in conventional handguns. Something like a compact Iver Johnson revolver offered all the capabilities (if not more) of a Chicago Protector or My Friend or Gaulois, without the loading and aiming difficulties of those designs. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Walther HP was the immediate predecessor to the P38 pistol that was adopted into widespread German service. The HP (Heeres Pistole, or Army Pistol) was offered for commercial sale and export by Walther. It was formally adopted by the Swedish army in 1939, but only a small number were shipped before the outbreak of war caused Walther to reprioritize for German military production. A number of HPs were also sold commercially to Austria military men, and those pistols often wound up in German military service after the annexation of Austria. When the German military adopted the pistol, it dictated a few minor changes from the standard HP design, and the result became the P38. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The 1883 Colt-Burgess was the Colt company's single, brief endeavor to enter the lever action "cowboy" rifle market. Winchester had been making some moves to break into Colt's lucrative shotgun and pistol markets, and Colt reacted by hiring noted gun designer Andrew Burgess to design them a rifle to compete with the Winchester 1873. Only about 6400 of these were made (in both rifle and carbine configurations) before Colt and Winchester executives got together and negotiated a deal to stay out of each others' areas of specialty. As a result, Colt stopped manufacturing the 1883 Colt-Burgess rifle, and Winchester stopped developing (and importing) revolvers. Because of its short production span, the Burgess remains a particularly rare lever action rifle today. For folks who are interested in shooting one without investing the money to own and original, reproductions are available today from Uberti. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

Many people are aware of the .45 caliber Lugers made for US military field trials - but far fewer people realize that Lugers were both tested by the US military and sold commercially several years prior to the .45 tests. In 1900, the US military put several hundred 7.65mm Luger pistols into field trials with both infantry and cavalry units. These pistols were marked with a large and elaborate American eagle crest, in an attempt by DWM to enhance the gun's appeal to Americans. A similar tactic was used in production of Lugers for Swiss sale, with a large Swiss cross (and it worked well). After complaints about the small caliber of the early 1900 Lugers, DWM developed the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, and attempted to sell them commercially in the US (and elsewhere). A small batch were also purchased for further military testing. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

When the US military decided to seriously look at replacing the 1903 Springfield with a semiautomatic service rifle, two designers showed themselves to have the potential to design an effective and practical rifle. One was John Garand, and the other was John Pedersen. Pedersen was an experienced and well-respected gun designer, with previous work including the WWI "Pedersen Device" that converted a 1903 into a pistol-caliber semiauto carbine and the Remington Model 51 pistol, among others. Pedersen's rifle concept used a toggle locking mechanism similar in concept to the Borchardt and Luger pistols, but designed to handle the much higher pressure of a rifle cartridge. Specifically, the .276 Pedersen cartridge, which pushed a 125 grain bullet at about 2700 fps. Both Pedersen's rifle and the contemporary prototypes of the Garand rifle used 10-round en bloc clips of this ammunition. Ultimately, Pedersen lost out to Garand. Among the major reasons why was that his toggle action was really a delayed blowback mechanism, and required lubricated cartridges to operate reliably. Pedersen developed a hard, thin wax coating process for his cartridge cases which worked well and was not prone to the problems of other oil-based cartridge lubricating systems, but Ordnance officers still disliked the requirement. This combined with other factors led to the adoption of the Garand rifle. After losing out in US military trials, Pedersen still had significant world-wide interest in his rifle, and the Vickers company in England tooled up to produce them in hopes of garnering contracts with one or more other military forces. About 250 rifles were made by Vickers, but they failed to win any contracts and production ceased - making them extremely rare weapons today. Pedersen lived until 1951, and was well regarded for his sporting arms development with Remington - none other than John Moses Browning described him as "the greatest gun designer in the world". http://www.forgott

Colonel LeMat is best known for his 9-shot muzzleloading .42 caliber revolver with its 20 gauge shot barrel acting as cylinder axis pin - several thousand of these revolvers were imported and used in the field by Confederate officers during the US Civil War (and modern reproductions are available as well). What are less well-known are the pinfire and centerfire versions of LeMat's revolver, and the carbine variants as well. In this video I'm taking a look at a centerfire LeMat revolver and a centerfire LeMat carbine, both extremely rare guns. They use the same basic principles as the early muzzleloading guns, but look quite different. In these guns, the shotgun remains 20 gauge but uses a self-contained shell loaded form the rear, and the 9 rifles shots are designed for an 11mm (.44 caliber) cartridge very similar to that used in the French 1873 service revolver. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Model 320 Revolving Rifle was one of Smith & Wesson's least successful commercial products, and as a result has become one of the most collectible of their guns - less that a thousand were ever made. The problem with the guns was the same problem that has plagued virtually all other revolving rifles: the cylinder gap sprays the shooter's forearms with hot gas and lead particles if they use the fore-end to support the gun. The S&W 320 was no exception. It was built on the action of the vastly more popular No. 3 revolver, and made with 16-, 18-, and 20-inch barrels (this particular one is the 20-inch type) with a detachable shoulder stock. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The official issue sidearm for the Iraqi Army (and many of its police agencies) is the Tariq, a domestically-manufactured copy of the Beretta M1951 pistol. The Beretta is a pretty decent pistol, mechanically fine and comfortable to shoot but hampered by an awkwardly-placed magazine release and safety. Copies of it were used by several middle-eastern nations, including Egypt (the Helwan) and Iraq. The Iraqi-made guns are of an impressively low quality, as you'll see in the video, and apparently an option of last resort for Iraqis able to carry handguns. The same Iraqi factory makes a copy of the Beretta model 70 also called the Tariq (named after a general from the 8th century), but that gun and this one share only the name (and probably manufacturing quality standards). Tariq pistols have never been commercially imported into the US, and all the ones here (there aren't very many) were brought back by veterans of the various US military missions in Iraq. The paperwork required to legally bring one back has varied in level of difficulty, and is sometimes outright impossible, and a significant fraction of them were brought back without following those formal procedures (aka, illegally). Still, a neat addition to a collection of enemy sidearms from US military history. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Spencer repeating rifle was a major leap forward in infantry firepower, and more than one hundred thousand of them were purchased by the US military during the Civil War. The Spencer offered a 7-round magazine of rimfire .56 caliber cartridges in an era when the single-shot muzzleloading rifle was still predominant. This particular Spencer is a long rifle which was one of roughly 1100 rebuilt from damaged carbines in 1871 at Springfield Arsenal. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The miquelet lock is generally considered the first true, mature flintlock action in the progression of firearms technology. It combined the pan cover and frizzen (the plate against which the flint strikes) into a single multi-purpose part. This particular pistol is a good example of the characteristics of a miquelet, despite its rather rough condition. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless was a very popular pistol for civilians - it was compact, comfortable, reliable, and exceptionally modern for its day. The initial production was all in .32ACP, but 5 years after it was introduced a variant in .380 caliber was introduced - the model 1908 Pocket Hammerless. By the end of World War II, more than 570,000 1903s and 138,000 1908s had been manufactured. More than a few corporate and government organizations adopted the Colt Pocket Hammerless, among them the Shanghai Municipal Police. This department was led at the time by an Englishman named William Fairbairn, who was an extremely influential developer of combat tactics. His work would prove to be a fundamental foundation for modern police organizations and military Special Forces (he was one of the men primarily responsibly for training WWII Allied special units, including the OSS). http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The "My Friend" knuckle-duster revolver was a defensive weapon sold on the civilian market from the late 1860s until the early 1880s. It functioned both as a revolver (this one is in .22 caliber, with a 7-shot capacity) and a blunt weapon for striking. These were made in upstate New York (in the Catskills, specifically) by a man named James Reid and his company. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

In the buildup to the US War of Independence, "Committees of Safety" were organized in the colonial state to form shadow governments for the independence movement. These committees (our councils, as a few were named) had, among other tasks, the responsibility of sourcing arms for the local militia forces. This was done both by purchasing arms available at the time from gunsmiths, commercial dealers, and private individuals and also by contracting with gunsmiths to manufacture guns specifically for the council or committee. Typically these guns were not specially marked - there was no particular reason to do so - and as a result they are very difficult to authenticate today. A Revolutionary War weapon could have been anything available at the time. One notable exception is an order placed by the Maryland Council of Safety. They ordered quite a lot of guns from area manufacturers, including a batch of 500 pistols. In addition, they hired an inspector to verify the quality of the finished guns, and mark them. The inspector was named Thomas Ewing, and his marking looked rather like a tulip. Records about the guns he oversaw and marked remain in existence, and allow them to be identified - including this example. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The firm of Sedgley Inc of Philadelphia was a gun company involved in many aspects of the industry. They made rifle barrels for the US military, they made the rather goofy "Glove Guns" for the US Navy, and they did a lot of commercial gunsmithing, including high-quality sporter conversions of military surplus rifles. This particular rifle is a .22 caliber design from Sedgley which does not appear to have ever gone into mass production. It is interesting for it's bolt mechanism, which is a typical semiauto blowback type. However, its handle allows it to be locked in the closed position for each shot, effectively turning the gun into a bolt action. It also has an uncommon style of safety, which is a lever that slides under the trigger to block its movement. Overall, a .22 with some interesting and rather uncommon features. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Roth-Sauer is a rare early automatic pistol designed by Karel Krnka, financed by Georg Roth, and manufactured by J.P. Sauer & Sohn in Germany. It is mechanically quite complex - much moreso than strictly necessary. The action is a long-recoil type, in which the bolt and barrel remain locked together through the full rearward travel of the bolt. The bolt then stays to the rear while the barrel recoils forward, clears the empty case, and ejects it. Once the barrel is fully forward, the bolt is released to strip a new cartridge from the magazine and chamber it. The bolt has a single locking lug, which rotates into a recess in the barrel extension to lock. The firing mechanism on the Roth-Sauer is very similar to the later Roth-Steyr 1907 pistol - and to the modern style of the Glock and others. It uses a striker to fire, which is tensioned to half-cock by the bolt and barrel recoiling with each shot. Full tension on the striker is delivered by the trigger pull, resulting in a approximation of a double-action system. Very much ahead of its day. The Roth-Sauer is chambered for the 7.65mm Roth-Sauer cartridge, which uses a 13mm-long case and it practically identical to the short 7.65mm Frommer (the pistol also shares characteristics with Frommer pistols, as Roth was involved with both designers). It is a quite light cartridge, propelling a 71 grain bullet at 820 fps. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

This double-barreled sporting rifle made by Christoph Funk in Germany is not much like the typical over-under double-barreled rifle. It began as a fairly standard Mauser bolt action, chambered in 7x57 Mauser with a 5-round magazine and a nice double-claw scope mount. What Funk added to this was a .22 caliber rimfire action and barrel inside the front handguard of the Mauser action. The .22 action is simple, and its barrel is very light - their addition does little to disturb the balance or handling of the gun. A striker cocking lever was added behind the Mauser bolt to actuate the .22 firing mechanism, and what appears to be a double set trigger is actually a trigger for the Mauser action and a trigger for the .22 action. A very clever way to allow a sportsman to have a round of proper rifle ammunition ready for medium game while simultaneously having a round of .22 rimfire ready for a shot at a small game animal. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The first US military night vision system used in active combat was the T3 Carbine system - an infrared light-amplifying scope and IR floodlight mounted on an M1 Carbine. About 150 of these were used on Okinawa, and were quite effective. The system was refined over time, and by the Korean War this version was in service. The M3 scope here has a longer effective range (125 yards), and still required the user to carry a heavy backpack-mounted battery pack to power the scope and light. They were used primarily in static defensive positions in Korea to locate troops attempting to infiltrate in darkness. In total, about 20,000 sets were made before they became obsolete, and were surplussed to the public. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Here I present the developmental history of the 1911. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The M1908 Mondragon is widely acknowledged to have been the first self-loading rifle adopted as a standard infantry arm by a national military force. There are a couple earlier designs used by military forces, but the Mondragon was the first really mass-produced example and deserves its place in firearms history. Designed by Mexican general Manuel Mondragon (who has a number of other arms development successes under his belt by this time), the rifles were manufactured by SIG in Switzerland. They are very high quality guns, if a bit clunky in their handling. The design used a long-action gas piston and a rotating bolt to lock. Interestingly, the bolt had two full sets of locking lugs; one at the front and one at the rear as well as two set of cams for the operating rod and bolt handle to rotate the bolt with. The standard rifle used a 10-round internal magazine fed by stripper clips, but they were also adapted for larger detachable magazines and drums. Unfortunately, the rifle required relatively high-quality ammunition to function reliably, and Mexico's domestic production was not up to par. This led to the rifles having many problems in Mexican service, and Mexico refused to pay for them after the first thousand of their 4,000-unit order arrived. The remaining guns were kept by SIG, and ultimately sold to German for use as aircraft observer weapons. http://www.forgottenweapons.com Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

https://www.full30.com/video/9b50f8a825ab510b4c227c7b32a76bc1 Today we had the opportunity to speak with L. James "Jim" Sullivan, one of the original designers of the AR-15 rifle. He started working as a draftsman for Eugene Stoner at Armalite, and wound up being largely responsible for converting the AR-10 down to .223 caliber. His later work would include the Ultimax LMG, Ruger Mini-14, and many other firearms. Recently, Jim has gone back to the AR-15, designing 60- and 100-round quad-stack magazines for Surefire. He has also designed a number of modifications to the rifle to improve its controllability and ability to handle a continuous high rate of fire. Hopefully these modifications will be brought to market by Surefire, but if not they will become available to any other manufacturer interested in licensing them from Mr. Sullivan. Follow InRange! https://www.facebook.com/inrangetv http://www.inrange.tv

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Thanks to web site reader John D, we have a chance today to look at a very scarce Danish-made copy of the AG-42B Ljungman rifle. The Madsen company in Denmark made about 50 of these rifles for military trials, in several different calibers. This one, and a few others, were imported with a batch of other guns into the US and quickly snapped up by collectors who recognized what they were. Mechanically they are identical to the Ljungman, but differ in many ancillary details like the sights, bayonet lug, magazine, handguard, and charging knobs.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Today we're looking at a luftgekühltes maschinengewehr 08/15 in slow motion - a lightened and air-cooled version of the Maxim used on German WWI aircraft. This particular example is set up as a Zeppelin gun, with a buttstock and pistol grip (guns mounted on fixed-wing aircraft had different fire-control mechanisms). It is also missing the original AA spider sights, and instead has a regular MG08/15 top cover and rear sight. Lastly, it is firing with an inverted MG34 belt - a workaround that was actually used during WWII when proper Maxim belts were not available. Anyway, I am indebted to Mark D. for firing the gun on camera, and his father for making it available. Thanks, guys!

http://www.forgottenweapons.com This happened to be at a shoot I attended recently - the prototype for a commercial reproduction of a 3-barreled Nordenfelt. These were competitors to the Gatling (along with the Gardner) and eventually the early Maxims. This one is chambered in .45-70. Pushing the lever forward fires the three barrels sequentially, although so close together that is sounds like one shot. Because they are sequential and not simultaneous, it's not an NFA item. I don't know when they will be available for sale or who the distributor will be, but it's neat to see someone actually making Nordenfelts. The originals included variants with anywhere from 1 to 5 barrels, in calibers up to 37mm.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com http://www.gunlab.net This particular rifle is a prototype of the reproduction VG1-5 (or more correctly called the Gustloff MP-507) rifles that will be available for sale soon from Chuck at GunLab.net. The VG1-5 was a gas-delayed blowback design that has been used in handguns, but not in any other rifle designs. For more details on the gun, check out my full video on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anW7HWFlueg

http://www.forgottenweapons.com Formally adopted in 1877, the I.C.1 Martini Henry was formally designated the "Arms Interchangeable, Carbine Breech loading Rifled, with clearing rod Martini Henry Mk1". The word "interchangeable" refers to its use for both the artillery and cavalry services, instead of needing a separate design for each, as was typical of military forces at the time. It was chambered for the massive .577/450 cartridge, with a 21.3 inch barrel and an overall weight of 7.5 pounds. I am shooting it today with 1950s Kynoch ammunition, a batch of which came into the US several years ago and can still be found without much trouble. However, it gave me significant hangfires and split cases, and I would not recommend it. Theme music by Dylan Benson - http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

http://www.forgottenweapons.com The Lewis Gun was developed by American Isaac Newton Lewis shortly before WWI, but the US military was not interested in it (in part because of a bitter dislike between Lewis and the Chief of Army Ordnance Crozier). Lewis instead licensed production to BSA in England, and the gun because a major part of UK armament during the First World War, both in ground and aerial roles. For a more complete view of the Lewis, check out my previous video on it, with disassembly and shooting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l73mR4D9pYw