Grayman & Co Tailoring:
Because of the scheduling of Finnish Brutality 2025 early this year and Finnish Brutality 2026 in late summer next year, there is a really drought of Finnish Brutality right now - so Varusteleka decided to hold a Remote Brutality. This is one rifle and one pistol stage...
2025-10-06 12:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
"Born a Soldier: The Times and Life of Larry Thorne" by J. Michael Cleverley; recommended English language book on Thorne:
Törni/Thorne shirts & patches:
https://varusteleka.com/products/forgotten-weapons-lauri-torni-t-shirt-cotton
"Born a Soldier: The Tim...
2025-10-04 11:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
"Born a Soldier: The Times and Life of Larry Thorne" by J. Michael Cleverley; recommended English language book on Thorne:
Törni/Thorne shirts & patches:
https://varusteleka.com/products/forgotten-weapons-lauri-torni-t-shirt-cotton
"Born a Soldier: The Tim...
2025-10-03 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Designed by Giuseppe Bommarito, this was one of the many independent rifle designs submitted to the US War Department in the 1910s hoping fo
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, toggle-locked system chambered for .30-06 and using detach...
2025-10-01 12:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Today we are taking a look at an interesting silenced Bulgarian Makarov with a mechanism added to lock the slide. This sort of feature is us
Today we are taking a look at an interesting silenced Bulgarian Makarov with a mechanism added to lock the slide. This sort of feature is usually thought of as a sneaky way to avoid ejecting brass and leaving it behind, but it actually serves a much ...
2025-09-29 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Today at the Back-Up Gun Match we have a showdown between shotguns. But not proper shotguns; oh no - we are using only tiny shotguns! Friend of the channel (and regular BUG Match enjoyer) Matt Haught from Symtac Consulting is shooting a Serbu Super Shorty and I am shooting a MIL Thunder Five (a .410 revolver). Matt has three rounds of 12ga 9-pellet buckshot and then can reload; I have 5 rounds ...
2025-09-27 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Small fast boats with torpedos (or other explosives) have always been a threat to large warships. One of the weapons the British Royal Navy adopted to counter that threat was the Hotchkiss Model 1886 "Quick Fire" gun. This meant that it was a breech-loaded gun that used self-contained cartridge ammunition, instead of separate powder bags and projectiles. Mounted on a recoil-adsorbing soft mount...
2025-09-26 12:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Check out Headstamp Publishing's extensive catalog of excellent firearms books:
https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten
Prior to 1986, Group Industries imported BAR parts kits and then manufactured and registered full-auto receivers for them. This produced transferrable guns which w...
2025-09-24 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been wearing Varusteleka clothing in my daily life and using their military kit for many years now, because t'swell made, high quality, and comfortable. They very much fit the Nordic stereotype of "buy once, cry once" and making things that will last a lifetime. They have just recently relaunched a new web store, which you should check out:
The Hovea M44 was tested by the Danish and Swedish militaries in 1945, competing agains the Carl Gustaf M45. It was designed and produced by
The Hovea M44 was tested by the Danish and Swedish militaries in 1945, competing agains the Carl Gustaf M45. It was designed and produced by Husqvarna (yes, the chainsaw company) and just 10 of them were made for testing. It was designed around the S...
2025-09-22 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
NATO Battle Rifles book:
https://www.headstamppublishing.com/cold-war-battle
00:30 - What is a "battle rifle"?
03:02 - What is the specific definition of "full power cartridge"?
07:59 - Will the US 6.8x51 lead to more widespread battle rifle adoption?
10:54 - Full auto pract...
2025-09-20 11:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
The Czechoslovakian military adopted the vz.38 pistol as a simple blowback action chambered for .380 ACP (well, the Czech military version of .380 ACP). Other countries were interested in other calibers though, and the factory looked at making the gun in 9x19mm Parabellum as well. They first tried a simple blowback version, but that was not satisfactory. So next they developed a locked breech m...
2025-09-19 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
The FAMAS G1 was developed as a lower-cost option for FAMAS export sales. The original F1 model had been offered for international sale, but
The FAMAS G1 was developed as a lower-cost option for FAMAS export sales. The original F1 model had been offered for international sale, but it attracted little interest largely because of its high price. In response, GIAT created the G1 with many of...
2025-09-17 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
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":
https://www.headstamppublishing.com/bullpup-rifle-book
The Sniper Rifle Experimental Model (S.R.E.M.) was designed by the "Czech Section" of sm...
2025-09-15 12:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
There is a well-documented incident of the French intercepting a couple hundred CETME-B rifles being smuggled to the FLN in Algeria, and putting them into service with the Marine Commandos. I managed to get a CETME-B parts kit and have it built into a complete rifle (thanks, Parabellum Combat Systems!) and I figured that a 2-Gun match would be a good place to try it out, complete with French li...
2025-09-13 12:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
In 1951, Czechoslovakia received the technical data package for the Soviet SPSh flare pistol. This was a simple single shot break-action 26.5mm signal flare launcher, and they put it into production from 1952 through 1958. However, it was made with mediocre materials and the guns wore out in as few a 1,000 rounds fired. In 1966 the CZ factory at Uhersky Brod began a program to improve the guns ...
2025-09-12 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Check out Headstamp Publishing's extensive catalog of excellent books:
https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten
In the 1970s when the French Army was looking for a new rifle 5.56mm, they tested a number of foreign rifles alongside development the FAMAS at St Etienne. These included t...
2025-09-10 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Japanese bayonets followed the same trend of simplification as Arisaka rifles towards the end of World War Two, culminating in what is today called the "pole bayonet". Abandoning even the fittings to mount to a rifle, these bayonets were intended to be lashed to a pole to create a spear. The Japanese government did not have the military forces to pulse an American invasion of the home islands, ...
2025-09-08 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Steyr has just released its first new handgun since the M9. This new design is call the AT (Austria), with a competition model (AT-C) and a service/carry/defense model (AT-D). The gun is a Browning short recoil system that takes a lot of cues from the original Sig P226 handling and design. In fact, part of the concept is to fill the market gap left by the shuttering of European Sig production. ...
2025-09-06 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMaybe this is too specific a subject, but let's give it a try. For the September Q&A, how about the topic of battle rifles...what would you like to ask?
2025-09-06 03:28:08 +0000 UTC View Post
The “American 180 Security Briefcase” is the best execution of the operational briefcase concept that I have yet seen. The idea is simple; hide a submachine gun inside an ordinary looking briefcase so that it can be carried in the open by VIP security without arousing attention. Sometimes this is done strictly for stowage (see the Uzi coming out of a Secret Service briefcase during the atte...
2025-09-05 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Most of the transferrable Uzis in the US are not factory original guns, but rather semi autos that were converted and registered as machine guns in the US before 1986 (when such activity was legal). There were several different ways to do this, with the two main ones being the registered bolt route and the registered receiver route. Today we are looking at what these different methods were, and...
2025-09-01 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Today we are considering two late World War Two rifles: the American M2 Carbine and the German MP-44 Sturmgewehr. Which would you take into combat? The Sturmgewehr is certainly iconic, with a more powerful cartridge, easy controllability, and a solid combat record. The M2 Carbine is much lighter and shorter, but often considered underpowered and difficult to control in full automatic fire. Whic...
2025-08-30 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Webley made a variety of .22 rimfire revolvers and revolver conversions for most of its history. Rimfire conversions were used by the military for reduced-cost training, and they were popular on the civilian market for sport and competition shooting. When Webley introduced its MkIV small-frame revolver, it was available in .38 and .32 caliber, and in 1932 they introduced a factory .22 rimfire m...
2025-08-29 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
John Browning’s first machine gun design was a gas operated system that used a swinging lever instead of a linear piston. He presented the first prototype to Colt in 1890, and it went into production in 1895. The US Navy bought a couple hundred, but the Army opted not to adopt it (much to Colt’s surprise). It was offered for sale internationally, but didn’t become very popular until World...
2025-08-27 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Available from Chipotle Publishing:
https://chipotlepublishing.com/product/the-worlds-assault-rifles/
I am often asked about what books someone interested in firearms should get. That's a really hard question to answer because most good books have a pretty narrow focus, but th...
2025-08-26 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post
