@historicalfirearms / www.historicalfirearms.info
In January the first sign of M16A4s being issued in Ukraine came when the newly raised 47th Brigade posted several videos showing troops armed with them. Check out the video below.
Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video 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:
There have been a considerable number of sightings of the MP-443 pistols in Ukraine over the past two months, unsurprising as it is the Russian armed forces issue sidearm. In this video we look at the pistol's history, design and use in Ukraine.
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.
During the Second World War the British Home Guard were extensively issued American .30 calibre Browning M1917 machine guns. These water-cool medium machine guns contributed significant firepower to the Home Guard fighting units. They began to enter service in late 1940 and by November 1942 there were some 6,330 in service.
With so many guns in service there needed to be a way of describing, categorising and identifying the weapon’s parts so an identification list booklet was drawn up giving the American and British nomenclature for the gun’s individual parts.
Check out the video above and the full blog over at ArmourersBench.com
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 this video we’re taking a look at something very rare, a pre-1911 catalogue produced by Colt. But it isn’t a catalogue to order guns from. Instead, it’s a catalogue to order gun advertisements from! Old firearms ad from this period are fascinating and give us an insight into who markets company's were aiming their products at.
There are dozens of pages of gorgeous illustrations and ads, including a pair of pages dedicated to the 1911-predecessor the Colt Model 1907 Military - with its optional combination stock/holster!
If you love old gun ads, this is the video for you! 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!
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)
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In 1970 Heckler & Koch introduced the futuristic looking VP70 (VP standing for Volkspistole/People’s Pistol). Building on the idea behind the Mauser’s 9x19mm blowback Volkspistole. Heckler & Koch designed the pistol to be simple and cost effective and utilised a revolutionary polymer frame - making the VP70 the first production polymer handgun.
The VP70 was designed by a team headed by Alex Seidel, Tilo Moller and Helmut Weldle. It was chambered in 9x19mm and fed from a double-stack, double-feed 18-round magazine. This was a marked increase on Heckler & Koch’s first commercial pistol, the HK4. Work began on the design in 1968 and the pistol was was introduced in 1970, predating the Austrian Glock 17 by 12 years. The pistol used a polymer frame and receiver which supports the barrel.
The weapon used a standard blowback action, while this is typically ill-advised with 9x19mm ammunition Heckler & Koch alleviated the potential problems of the blowback action by machining extra deep rifling which allowed propellant gases to bleed past the projectile as it moved up the barrel. This dropped the pressure in the barrel - though in turn reducing the round’s muzzle velocity by around 10%.
The VP70′s action was striker fired with a very heavy double action trigger. The VP70 doesn’t lock open on an empty magazine and has no manual slide lock. Unloaded the VP70 weighed 0.82kg/29oz, significantly heavier than the later Glock at 0.65kg/23oz. Unlike the Glock, the civilian VP70 had a conventional cross-bolt safety positioned behind the trigger. The magazine release is located on the heel of the magazine - common with European pistols.
Patent drawing showing the stock assembly for the VP70M (source)
The VP70 was designed with an impending Soviet invasion in mind, it was designed to be cheap and easy to manufacture. It was intended to arm the German people should they need to resist a Soviet invasion, though what good arming the population with handguns would do is unclear. It was reportedly intended for stay-behind guerilla elements inside territory occupied by advancing Russian forces. Its possible to see it in this role as a concealable weapon offering considerable controllable close range firepower when used with its stock. The military variant, the VP70M (Militar)’s attachable polymer stock/holster is perhaps the pistol’s most interesting feature. It allowed the weapon to become a select-fire personal defence weapon (PDW), with a controllable 3-round burst option. The selector switch is located on the left hand side of the stock. While ostensibly designed as a cheap and simple weapon for mass production the addition of the stock’s burst mode necessitated a somewhat complex trigger mechanism. From examination of the pistols its clear the final product was not intended as a throwaway.
The pistol was also entered into the US military’s Joint Services Small Arms Program Trials in the late 1970s but suffered ammunition-related cycling issues and was rejected. Though originally designed for military purposes a civilian variant, the semi-automatic VP70Z (’Zivil’/Civil) was marketed. A limited run of VP70Z pistols were also chambered in 9x21mm for the Italian market. An even smaller run of ‘ZH’ pistols were produced with the civilian gun being sold with the attachable holster, without the burst fire mechanism.
The VP70 combined elements of the past and present with features like its holster/stock harking back the the earliest German automatic pistols while its polymer construction was at the cutting edge of manufacturing techniques in 1970. Production ceased in 1989 but the VP line continues with the unrelated HK VP9.
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)
‘The H&K VP70 Machine Pistol’, Firearms News, L. Thompson, (source)
‘Self-loading pistol with a stock’, US Patent #3861273, 23/06/73, (source)
‘Self-loading pistol having forwardly extending breech slide’, US Patent #3696706, 10/10/72, (source)
‘Self-loading pistol with cocking trigger‘, US Patent #3678800, 25/07/72, (source)
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In 1970 Heckler & Koch introduced the futuristic looking VP70 (VP standing for Volkspistole/People’s Pistol). Building on the idea behind the Mauser’s 9x19mm blowback Volkspistole. Heckler & Koch designed the pistol to be simple and cost effective and utilised a revolutionary polymer frame - making the VP70 the first production polymer handgun.
The VP70 was designed by a team headed by Alex Seidel, Tilo Moller and Helmut Weldle. It was chambered in 9x19mm and fed from a double-stack, double-feed 18-round magazine. This was a marked increase on Heckler & Koch’s first commercial pistol, the HK4. Work began on the design in 1968 and the pistol was was introduced in 1970, predating the Austrian Glock 17 by 12 years. The pistol used a polymer frame and receiver which supports the barrel.
The weapon used a standard blowback action, while this is typically ill-advised with 9x19mm ammunition Heckler & Koch alleviated the potential problems of the blowback action by machining extra deep rifling which allowed propellant gases to bleed past the projectile as it moved up the barrel. This dropped the pressure in the barrel - though in turn reducing the round's muzzle velocity by around 10%.
The VP70′s action was striker fired with a very heavy double action trigger. The VP70 doesn’t lock open on an empty magazine and has no manual slide lock. Unloaded the VP70 weighed 0.82kg/29oz, significantly heavier than the later Glock at 0.65kg/23oz. Unlike the Glock, the civilian VP70 had a conventional cross-bolt safety positioned behind the trigger. The magazine release is located on the heel of the magazine - common with European pistols.
Patent drawing showing the stock assembly for the VP70M (source)
The VP70 was designed with an impending Soviet invasion in mind, it was designed to be cheap and easy to manufacture. It was intended to arm the German people should they need to resist a Soviet invasion, though what good arming the population with handguns would do is unclear. It was reportedly intended for stay-behind guerilla elements inside territory occupied by advancing Russian forces. Its possible to see it in this role as a concealable weapon offering considerable controllable close range firepower when used with its stock. The military variant, the VP70M (Militar)’s attachable polymer stock/holster is perhaps the pistol’s most interesting feature. It allowed the weapon to become a select-fire personal defence weapon (PDW), with a controllable 3-round burst option. The selector switch is located on the left hand side of the stock. While ostensibly designed as a cheap and simple weapon for mass production the addition of the stock's burst mode necessitated a somewhat complex trigger mechanism. From examination of the pistols its clear the final product was not intended as a throwaway.
The pistol was also entered into the US military’s Joint Services Small Arms Program Trials in the late 1970s but suffered ammunition-related cycling issues and was rejected. Though originally designed for military purposes a civilian variant, the semi-automatic VP70Z (’Zivil’/Civil) was marketed. A limited run of VP70Z pistols were also chambered in 9x21mm for the Italian market. An even smaller run of 'ZH' pistols were produced with the civilian gun being sold with the attachable holster, without the burst fire mechanism.
The VP70 combined elements of the past and present with features like its holster/stock harking back the the earliest German automatic pistols while its polymer construction was at the cutting edge of manufacturing techniques in 1970. Production ceased in 1989 but the VP line continues with the unrelated HK VP9.
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)
‘The H&K VP70 Machine Pistol’, Firearms News, L. Thompson, (source)
‘Self-loading pistol with a stock’, US Patent #3861273, 23/06/73, (source)
‘Self-loading pistol having forwardly extending breech slide’, US Patent #3696706, 10/10/72, (source)
‘Self-loading pistol with cocking trigger‘, US Patent #3678800, 25/07/72, (source)
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Had the pleasure of working with RM Military History on his latest video about the Battle for Government House. Check it out below:
This footage from the 1944 British Ministry of Information film ‘One Man - Two Jobs’ shows Home Guard team manning a 20mm Anti-Aircraft gun. The film shows the various role that the Home Guard played in home defence. The sequence also shows members of the Home Guard manning Z-Battery AA rocket launchers and a huge 3.7in AA gun.
In this still we can see one of the assistant gunners bringing up a drum of 20mm ammunition. Note the large pedestal mount and anti-aircraft sights. At the rear of the gun is a large counter weight.
In this still we can see the gunner about to squeeze the trigger lever at the side of the gun as he looks through the sights.
This clip show’s the Home Guard manning a smaller 20mm cannon. The gun in question is likely a Hispano-Suiza Type 404 (H.S. 404), designated the Hispano 20mm, Mk1 gun in British service. Britain had acquired the license to produce the gun before the outbreak of war and the gun was extensively used to arm aircraft.
Source:
‘One Man - Two Jobs’, Ministry of Information, (source)
H/T - Neil Gibson for help IDing the cannon!
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