Swedish Paratrooper Prototype: AK Fm/57
Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten As Sweden was looking to adopt a new self-loading infantry rifle in the 1950s,...
View ArticleFrench Trials FN CAL: Adding Rifle Grenade Capability
Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books! In the 1970s when the French Army was looking for a new rifle 5.56mm, they tested a number of foreign rifles alongside...
View ArticleS.R.E.M.: Britain’s Experimental WW2 Bullpup Sniper
Want to know more about the S.R.E.M. and other British bullpup rifles? Check out Jonathan Ferguson’s book on this subject, “Thorneycroft to SA80”:...
View ArticlePrototype vz.38 “Nutcracker” in 9x19mm
Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten The Czechoslovakian military adopted the vz.38 pistol as a simple blowback...
View ArticleBommarito: America’s First Toggle-Locked Battle Rifle
Designed by Giuseppe Bommarito, this was one of the many independent rifle designs submitted to the US War Department in the 1910s hoping for military adoption. It is a short recoil operated,...
View ArticleGerat 06: Germany’s Incremental Steps Towards Roller Delay
The Gerät 06 is one of the steps in the development of the roller delay system that became H&K. The initial experiments involved replacing the flaps in a G43 rifle bolt with simpler rollers. In...
View ArticleZK-466: CZ Makes a Folding Submachine Gun
The ZK-466 was one of the post-war submachine guns developed in Czechoslovakia as part of the competition for a new Czech military SMG. Developed by Josef Koucky (who was also designer of the ZK-383...
View ArticleM1E10 Garand-Ljungman Prototype
Springfield Armory was involved in experimenting with he M1 Garand throughout its production, looking at various different elements that could be improved. A series of experimental models were made,...
View ArticleProject PRAK: Converting the CZ50 Pistol to 9x18mm Makarov
In 1966, CZ undertook Project PRAK (“Slingshot”) to investigate the possibility of converting the CZ50 pocket pistol to 9x18mm Makarov. The PM Makarov was adopted in the 1950s and used throughout the...
View ArticleThe Original AR-15: Serial Number 6 in Original Configuration
The very first AR15 rifles submitted to US government trials were extremely light rights, with an assortment of interesting features that did not last long. They had top-mounted charging handles,...
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