The Baker Rifle Transformed Soldiers Into Long-Distance Killers
Originally published on June 16, 2015. On a freezing January day in 1809, rifleman Thomas Plunkett of the British 95th Rifles was flat on his back in the snow outside of the Spanish town of Cacabelos. Some might say that was no place for an Irishman, but this was... Read more
Airborne Fighting Vehicles Rolled Through Hell in Eastern Ukraine
In April 2014, a few months after Russian troops seized Crimea, a pro-Russian uprising broke out in Eastern Ukraine centered on Donetsk Oblast. The province had a substantial ethnic Russian population which supported the pro-Moscow government of Pres. Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the country that February after the Euromaidan... Read more
The USSR’s Air-Dropped Fighting Vehicles Tore Through Cold War Conflicts
Since the 1970s, the Russian military has possessed a diverse fleet of armored vehicles it can drop out of airplanes … with parachutes, of course. The BMD family of infantry fighting vehicles is armed to the teeth with autocannons, machine guns and anti-tank missiles. And despite being very much a... Read more
France’s FAMAS Rifle Is Simple and Compact
In 1967 the French army requested a new infantry weapon to replace both the MAS 49/56 rifle and MAT-49 submachine gun. Three years later, the French military standardized on the new 5.56-by-45-millimeter cartridge. With requirement and cartridge in hand, Paul Tellie, Manufacture d’Armes de Saint-Étienne — MAS — began... Read more
The Soviet DP-28 Was a Brute-Simple Machine Gun
In the mid-1920s the Soviet military realized it needed a new, locally-produced light machine gun. Vasily Degtyaryov had anticipated the demand. He began developing the DP-27 light machine gun in the early 1920s. Following trials and some modifications, the Soviet army adopted Degtyaryov’s gun in 1928 as the DP-28.... Read more
The French Army Has a Passion for Rifle Grenades
More than four years ago, French troops dropped into Mali to fight back Islamic militants. While in combat, the French soldiers with their bullpup FAMAS rifles lobbed rifle grenades — a relatively rare weapon in the 21st century and distinguished from modern grenade launchers by being launched from a rifle’s... Read more
With the MP-57, Mauser Valiantly Tried to Best the Israeli Uzi
In November 1955, West Germany stood up its new, postwar military — in the process, creating the Bundeswehr. Almost immediately, the new ground-combat branch began looking for new small arms. Between 1956 and 1959, the Bundeswehr organized trials of nine-by-19-millimeter submachine guns. The trials spurred wide-ranging submachine-gun development in... Read more
La Edad de Oro de los Supresores para Armas de Fuego nació en 1909
Los primeros supresores viables para armas de fuego aparecieron a principios del siglo XX. Entre 1909 y 1920 se patentaron una amplia variedad de dispositivos de supresión de sonido. Hiram Percy Maxim, hijo de Sir Hiram Maxim, inventor de la ametralladora, fue uno de los primeros ingenieros en entrar... Read more
Armed With a Sten Gun and a PIAT, Stanley Hollis Was Fearless
In June 1944, during the Allies’ inland push following their successful landing in Normandy, British Army company sergeant-major Stanley Hollis — from the 6th Green Howards — won the Victoria Cross for two conspicuous acts of gallantry involving two iconic weapons. By the time he landed on Gold Beach... Read more
The Beretta Machine-Pistol Spits 1,000 Rounds per Minute
The machine-pistol was hardly a new concept when, in the 1970s, Italian gun-maker Beretta began developing the 93R, a sleek little weapon that practically spews bullets. Machine-pistols first appeared during World War I. In the 1920s and ’30s Spanish manufacturers Astra and Star produced fully automatic versions of the... Read more