@historicalfirearms / www.historicalfirearms.info
We've previously seen HK416s in use with a variety of Ukrainian units, but since mid-August there have been sightings of a small numbers of some interesting Heckler & Koch rifles in Ukraine - HK G36s and the new HK433. In this video we'll examine which units are using, where they've been sighted and try and get to the bottom of how many might be in Ukraine.
This week interesting footage of an improvised weapon was shared online. social media quickly described it as the 'Ukrainian Minigun' but the anti-drone weapon consists of 6 AK-74s on a static anti-aircraft mount, seemingly designed to combat small, low flying drones.
In this video we talk to Danny Michael, curator of the Cody Firearms Museum, about the mysterious Burton Machine Rifle - our own research into the rifle and how it links to the republishing of some important, out of print volumes of the ARMAX journal.
The UK has been providing training to Ukrainian personnel in the UK, in some of the videos and photos showing their training it appears that in addition to the AK pattern rifles provided by the UK the Ukrainians have been using the British SA80 / L85 bullpup rifle in some of their training.
Check out the video:
Check out the accompanying article here.
On the 16 July, I gave a talk at the UK’s National Army Museum in London. Organised by the Vickers Machine Gun Collection & Research Association the event commemorated the 100th anniversary of the disbandment of the British Army’s Machine Gun Corps but also commemorated the legacy of the Vickers Machine Gun itself. In support of the event I gave a talk on how the Vickers was used in the indirect fire role.
You can watch the talk below:
A look at this an original NWM fold out brochure for the CETME / G3 dating from the mid 1950s. The brochure details the design and accessories for the weapon with some brilliant illustrations.
One of the most prominent rifles of the ongoing war in Ukraine has been a bullpup - the Vulcan / Malyuk. Designed and developed by Ukrainian company IPI, the Vulcan has been adopted by elements of the Ukraine's Special Forces and frequently seen in imagery from the war.
Check out the video:
The VHS-2 bullpup rifle manufactured by Croatia’s HS Produkt became one of the most frequently seen rifles during the Iraqi counter-offensives against ISIS during 2015-17. The rifle regularly appeared in news reports and social media posts and became somewhat synonymous with the fighting for Fallujah and Mosul.
Check out this week’s Armourer’s Bench video on the VHS-2 in Iraq below!
In this video we take another look at Malta's small military and their interesting choice of service rifle - the AK!
Since the late 70s Malta has used a succession of AK-pattern rifles including Chinese Type 56/IIs.
A wild MCEM-2 appears!
Recently, while looking though British Army Cold War training films, I stumbled upon something I never expected to see: a clip of an MCEM-2 firing.
Check out the video below:
The MCEM-2 (Machine Carbine Experimental Model No.2) was a small, compact, innovative submachine gun developed towards the end of the Second World War. In this video we will examine the gun's origins and theorise about how it came to appear in a 1953 training film - long after it had been rejected!
Check out my full-length blog accompanying the video here.
Did you know that the Royal Bermuda Regiment used the Ruger Mini-14 as its service rifle for over 30 years? If not, this video will give you the low down!
Check out this week's Armourer's Bench video for more:
Read the accompanying article over on the TAB website here.
This week's video takes a look at an interesting example of a copy or clone of a Sterling Mk4 / L2A3 submachine gun, believed to have been assembled during The Troubles by Loyalist paramilitaries. Although which group made it is unknown and its origins are unclear, it's a fascinating example of clandestine engineering which shows considerable skill in its assembly.
Check out the accompanying blog here.
In today's video we look at an interesting Sten Gun that the UK's greatest wartime Deputy Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, brandished while visiting Polish troops!
Check it out below:
While doing some archival digging in the IWM's online image collection I came across a couple of intriguing photos. Featuring the UK's WW2 Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee examining a STEN MkII with an intriguing ad hoc front grip!
By the mid-19th century many major militaries were beginning the hunt for a reliable and robust breechloading system. France was no exception with a number of systems trialled during the 1850s, following the Prussian adoption of the Dreyse rifle.
Today we’re lucky enough to be examining one of France’s early breechloaders with some interesting features – the Arcelin... and its impressive, but excessive sabre-bayonet!
Check out the video below:
There’s more photos and information over at www.armourersbench.com
Thanks for watching!
It’s been a while since we did a book review so let’s take a look at the latest Vickers Guide. The latest edition of the successful +P+ coffee table series examines the pistols and submachine guns of SIG Sauer and its predecessors.
Check out the accompanying article over on the TAB site!
The 7.62 Tarkkuuskivääri 85 (7.62 Sniper Rifle 85) entered service with the Finnish Defence Forces in the mid-1980s. Developed by Valmet it took the standard Mosin-Nagant action and placed it in an improved stock. The second photograph above features three Finnish snipers armed with the new Tkiv 85 in 1989. Today, it holds the distinction of probably being the last Mosin-Nagant actioned rifle in service with a European military.
The Tkiv 85 replaced the also Mosin-Nagant-based Kiikarikivääri M76. The Tkiv 85 uses the Finnish 7.62×53mmR rifle cartridge and feeds from a standard 5-round internal magazine. Interestingly, the 7.62 Tkiv 85 is the only rifle in the Finnish Army’s inventory which is still chambered in 7.62×53mmR. A venerable derivative of the Russian cartridge with similar dimensions.
Finnish sniper with Tkiv 85 (source)
Sadly there is little information available on the rifle, an archived Finnish Army page lists the weapons length as 130cm (51in) and weighs approximately 7kg (15.4lbs) - likely a weight including optic and bipod, and has a range of 800m. The barrel is said to be around 27.5in long and it is most frequently seen paired with a Zeiss 1.5-6x scope. There are some variations to the stock profile and scope used.
While built on old receivers, it appears that the rifle’s barrel is free floated within the bulky wooden stock and it has a height adjustable buttstock. The scope is mounted just ahead of the action and a bipod can be fitted to a spigot at the front of the forend and folded back, flush with the stock. It has been somewhat supplanted by the Sako TRG and in May 2020, a fresh effort was launched to replace it, and the SVD-63, in Finnish service.
Sources:
Images: 1 2
7.62 Tkiv 85, FDF [archived] (source)
________________________________________________________
Many of us will be familiar with the SIG Sauer P320 polymer framed, striker-fired pistol, recently adopted by the US military as the M17. What we may not have known, however, is that the P320 isn’t the only ‘320′ to have been developed by SIG. In the early 1970s SIG developed a futuristic looking new submachine gun - the MP320.
The MP320 was apparently the last submachine gun developed by SIG Neuhausen as a successor to the utilitarian MP310. Dispensing with the folding magazine housing that characterised SIG’s line of submachine guns the new MP320 had a futuristic profile with svelte side-folding stock and a top-mounted charging piece which removed the need for a protruding charging handle and reduced snag points and with no large charging handle slot it also limited the ingress of dirt into the action.
In terms of disassembly it appears that unlike the earlier MP310, the MP320 has a barrel bushing which unscrews and allows the action to be removed through the front of the weapon rather than the rear. It’s unclear if any of the upper receiver lifts out of the lower.
The rear peep sight is enclosed in a protective stamped housing while the low profile front sight is positioned just in front of the knurled barrel nut. The weapon appears to make extensive use of stamped, rather than machined, parts with the visible parts of the upper receiver appearing to be largely stamped.
SIG MP310 (source)
The weapon had a large rotating selector switch on the left side of the receiver, just above the pistol grip with positions for safe, semi, three-round burst and fully automatic. While the MP320 abandoned the classic SIG folding magazine feature it retained the same double stack, double feed magazine which had been used right back to the MKMS developed in the 1930s. The magazine relieve can be seen at the rear of the magazine housing.
It is unclear what the weapon’s rate of fire would have been although its predecessor, the MP310, had a high rate of fire of around 900-1,000 rounds per minute. It is also unclear if, like its predecessor, the MP320 uses a standard blowback action - but this seems likely.
I came across it while reading the Vickers Guide SIG Sauer Vol.1 and this appears to be the only current source of information on this interesting submachine gun. The book notes that the gun never went into production and development was abandoned after only a handful of prototypes were produced.
Sources:
Vickers Guide: SIG Sauer, Vol.1, (source)
________________________________________________________
