Weapon 2024, November

Once in the active army in 1941, after the United States entered World War II, the M1 quickly became very popular among the soldiers and quickly migrated from the "second line" to the "first". It was successfully used in short-range combat, and was superior in

I have always advocated that it is necessary to write about what you know well. Or what I read about in different sources (the more there are, the better!), Or what you have been doing for a long time, that is, in fact, you get a second (third) higher education. Here, for example, tanks … The first model i did in 1980 and

Automatic vz. 58 in Czechoslovakia was produced in three main versions: vz. 58 P (Pěchotní, "Infantry"), which had a rigidly fixed plastic stock, although older models also used wooden stocks. Vz. 58 V (Czech. Výsadkový, "Landing", it was used by the Airborne Forces and tank crews) had

The inertia of consciousness is a terrible thing, but it also protects humanity from unnecessary expenses. Yes, the new is always interesting, but the old is more familiar. Nervous energy has already been spent on its development, which means that energy and food have been spent. Here it would be just to enjoy the result, when suddenly it appears again

In the second part of the material about the Czech machine gun vz. 58, it was said that from 1946 to 1949 the German designer Ludwig Forgrimler and his colleague Theodor Loeffler managed to create three variants of the machine gun for different cartridges at once and worked for France and Spain, where Forgrimler moved to 1950 year. And so

With the end of World War II, the French army faced the need for rearmament, and here it turned out that the French were lucky to a certain extent. Fortunate that their soldiers had to become familiar with many types of weapons, including the Garanda M-1 automatic rifle and carbine

You probably think that we will be talking about beer, because in the past beer was not only a drink of soldiers of many European countries, but to some extent served as food for them - not only quenched their thirst, but also gave satiety, because they brewed something it on cereals: malt, hops … and this is always energy, plus some

And it so happened that when I was in Prague last year, I found myself changing the guard of the National Guard at the presidential palace. There are such striped booths at the gate, soldiers in beautiful uniforms approach them, make different movements with their legs and arms, well, but in the end, all this is needed in order to

France over the years used its Lebel rifle, model 1886, in 8 mm caliber, so that, in the opinion of the French military, it was good. And although already during the First World War, the Berthier rifle was adopted, and then the Riberolis automatic rifle arr. 1917

So, we are finishing a series of articles about a man and a machine gun, united by one name - Maxim. Hiram Stevens Maxim, who was born on February 5, 1840 near Sangerville in Maine, entered the history of technology as a completely extraordinary person, and, and this should be emphasized, extraordinary in

The not very high reliability of early firearms, due to the long loading process, dependence on weather conditions and a number of other factors, sometimes put its owner in a difficult position. During the battle, seconds often decided the outcome of the battle, and damp gunpowder on gunpowder

Nowadays, it is difficult to find good illustrations of short-barreled match weapons, and if you can find photos of combined match weapons, then this is generally a great success. An Indian battle ax - stylet - wick pistol from the mid-18th century is presented at one of the weapons auctions

I squeeze the sword - He is a loyal friend to thunders - And he is ready for battle, Brave and stubborn. Others spend their days in vain, Brave in spirit They will not understand. Tsao Ji, translated by L.Ye. Not so long ago, an article appeared on VO about samurai swords and how briefly and exhaustively everything was written in it, I liked it. However, the topic

It may very well be that pretty soon a soldier will go to war, among other luggage, with a plastic suitcase weighing no more than five kilograms in his hand. It will have four lifting plastic pipes, each of which will house a 750-gram (the weight of the Russian offensive

O. Henry has a rather amusing, or rather, a very amusing book under an unusual title - "Kings and Cabbage". The case there takes place in the fictional Latin American country of Akchuria, but it could, in principle, be Guatemala, and Puerto Rico, and Cuba - whatever. There is relaxing everywhere

Today we continue our journey across countries and continents in search of the bolt action rifles adopted in them. Today we have three countries next in line: China, Denmark and Ethiopia - well, it just so happened, this is how the “source base” has developed. So, China is a state with

Just as it is impossible to imagine a Caucasian mountaineer without a dagger, so it is impossible to imagine a real Indonesian in his national costume without a kris - a very specific type of double-edged dagger, characteristic exclusively of the Malay world, intertwined with its culture and peculiarities

Bulgaria is a good country, and Russia is the best! (“Under the Balkan Stars” Words: M. Isakovsky) Today we continue our journey across countries and continents where various bolt-action rifles were used. In accordance with the alphabetical order, today we have the first letter "B", that is

Chapter Three The Bayonet and Its Influence on the Accuracy of a Three-Line Rifle Having completed our research on why the three-line was fired only with a bayonet attached, let's move on to the next - did the bayonet affect rifle shooting, and if it did, how. We will answer the first part of the question right away. - influenced

Through successive improvements I must say that the appearance of the new Swiss rifle really turned out to be very unusual. Firstly, the store was not located next to the trigger guard, but was carried far ahead. Secondly, the details of the shutter were unusual - the ring protruding from it from the back, and

What is the beauty of publishing materials on the TOPWAR website? In the fact that there are those who have knowledge and therefore are able to give a detailed commentary on some topics, readers. Not just - "blah-blah-blah - but I know so, I think, I think", but a really serious analytical analysis. it

So, Switzerland, a small country in the center of Europe, with a small army, a stable economy and traditionally adhering to neutrality (since 1814), turned out to be the first European state that overcame the inertia of thinking and managed to introduce several revolutionary developments in the field

"When building a village, the Swiss first build a shooting gallery, then a bank, and only then a church" (Old Swiss proverb) How did it all start? I would like to start this material with the question: which country has the most banks per capita? And it is clear that there will be only one answer - in Switzerland! Second question

“You have sails, and you grabbed the anchor …” (Confucius) The Kingdom of Belgium has always been small in size and did not seem to stand out in anything special. Well, except that the great detective Hercule Poirot was born there, began his career there, but was forced to emigrate from there at the beginning of the First World War

"… they seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear, and do not understand" (Gospel of Matthew 13:13) In the two previous materials, we examined the genesis of the sliding shutter and saw that its development proceeded along two paths almost simultaneously. In the first case, a sliding bolt in the form of a piston was used in rifles

"Trust in God, but keep the powder dry" (Oliver Cromwell) The second direction on the path to perfection … So, we got acquainted with the first direction of the slide bolt development and it turned out that its first samples were created for primer rifles (including conversion ones) who shot old

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied" (Matthew 5: 6) Foreword In previous articles on rifles of different systems, each of them was considered separately, and only indicated in which other countries these rifles (except for the one where it comes from) were also used. However, the volume

Already at the beginning of the history of firearms, its creators tested two types of loading - from the breech and from the muzzle. The first was simple, the design of the muzzle-loading gun was simple, but loading it, especially if the barrel had a considerable length, was very inconvenient. When loading from the breech

“For the fact that you asked for this and did not ask for yourself a long life, did not ask for riches for yourself, did not ask for the souls of your enemies, but asked for reason for yourself to be able to judge, - behold, I will do according to your word: behold, I give you a wise and reasonable heart …; and what you did not ask, I give you both wealth and glory "

"… give Caesar's things to Caesar, and God's things to God" (Gospel of Luke 20: 20-26) It is time to note that this material would never have appeared if it had not been for the kindness of Nikolai Mikhailov from St. Petersburg, who volunteered to work with the archival materials of the Museum Artillery and signal troops, as well

"Le mieux est I 'ennemi du bien": "The best is the enemy of the good" (Commentary by M. Giovanni (1574) to Boccaccio's Decameron) So, we examined the history of a rifle for the Russian imperial army, designed and put into service in 1891 year. Obviously, it was developed by … a whole labor

It always happened that there was someone who… opened the way for the rest. And then he had followers. This is how, by the way, the so-called "umbrella brands" are born. There was Smirnoff vodka. One "F" was replaced by "ff", the experience was recognized as successful and appeared: "Dvernoff", "Mehoff", "Dvernisazheff", "Zamkoff". That

There is nothing better than writing systematically when everything you need is at your fingertips. By the word "all" I mean the arms "back room" of the Museum of the Russian Army in Moscow, the storerooms of the Museum of Artillery and Signal Corps in St

The Mannlicher-Carcano carbine is a very average weapon, but its own. It happened more than once that, instead of buying good weapons abroad, the state, with perseverance worthy of much better use, continued to cling to its own, national. That is, your own, national, albeit bad, is better

It is now the American military who do not spare money for the F-35 aircraft and the Zumwalt destroyers, that is, they acquire everything new, “fresh” and expensive for their army. And there was a time when American congressmen saved on the army so that weapons for it were purchased on a leftover basis, so that with

"He fired once, and fired two, and a bullet whistled into the bushes … You shoot like a soldier," Kamal said, "I'll see how you ride!" ("Ballad of the West and East", R. Kipling) Colonel and the chief of scouts fired at Kamal with a revolver, which is why he missed. Shoot it

Historically, many peoples have their own, unique models of edged weapons, which have become national. For the Spaniards, this is a Navaja knife, for the Americans - bowies, for the Malays - kris, the Caucasian highlanders wear kama daggers on their belts. But for the inhabitants of Nepal - not all of Nepal, but the main

“Everything will be the way we want it. In case of various misfortunes, We have the Maxim machine gun, They don't have Maxim "(Hilary Bellock" New Traveler ") Two materials published in a row about machine guns of the First and Second World Wars aroused great interest of the VO readership. Someone even said that it is better, they say, "maxim"

“Bran” - it's better to see it than read ten times … And it so happened that when I was working on the first material about the “Bran” machine gun, I had to select information for it. It is clear that 80 or even 90% of what we, journalists, write here, is a compilation. But the compilation is also different. Someone has material

Appetite comes with eating, as you know. So I, having found a voluminous "folder" of Martin Vlach's photographs, dedicated to the Bran machine gun, was very happy to see his own photographs of the Schwarzlose machine gun. An article about him on VO was published in 2012 (see: