Category: History

I am a HUGE fan of the broomhandle Mausers. Always have been. Ian from Forgotten Weapons gets his hand on a truly unique variant of this world famous firearm. Here is what he has to say: “This scoped C96 carbine is serial number 12 of the original run of just 30 large-ring C96 carbines. It […]

The M1D was the final adopted form of John Garands sniper M1 rifle, originally the M1E8. If you have not checked out Forgotten Weapons’ YouTube channel, you need too. Ian really knows his stuff and gets his hands on some AMAZING firearms. Here is what Ian has to say about the M1D Garand. “It was […]

The Lahti L39 was the Finnish answer to the need for an anti-tank rifle, developed just before the Winter War. The rifle was created by noted Finnish designed Aimo Lahti, who had pressed for it to use a 13.2mm cartridge. However, arguments for using a 20x138B cartridge won out, based on hopes to use that […]

The SL-8 was Heckler & Koch’s civilianized version of the G36 military rifle. There was, unsurprisingly, a major interest in semiautomatic civilian copies of the G36, but H&K was in a difficult position to meet the demand. At the time (mid-1990s) such a rifle was subject to both the 1989 assault weapon importation ban and […]

During the 1920s, a lot of experimental rifle development work was being done in the US. The military was interested in finding a semiautomatic rifle, and plenty of inventors were eager to get that valuable military contract. One particular item of interest to the military was the possibility of being able to convert large existing […]

A Civil War soldier misidentified when he was buried at an Ohio cemetery more than 150 years ago is to get a new headstone. (FOX)- Confederate soldier Augustus Beckmann was fatally wounded in the Battle of Shiloh on April 7, 1862. But he was buried at the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus under the […]

A centuries-old hand grenade that may date back to the time of the crusaders is among a host of treasures retrieved from the sea in Israel. (FOX)- The metal artifacts, some of which are more than 3,500 years old, were found over a period of years by the late Marcel Mazliah, a worker at the […]

Scientists have released incredible pictures of sunken light aircraft carrier USS Independence that were taken by underwater robots exploring the wreck. (FOX)- The historic ship, which served in World War II and was used in the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, was intentionally sunk off California in 1951. The 622-foot-long Independence sits […]

The ZH-29 was an influential early semiautomatic military rifle, although not one that saw any significant adoption. As best as Ian can tell, only two countries purchased them in any quantity: China and Ethiopia. This ZH-29 is an Ethiopian contract example, with an Ethiopian Lion of Judah on the receiver and stock. The other rifle we […]

Vanderbilt University announced Monday that it will pay more than a million dollars to remove an inscription containing the word “Confederate” from one of its campus dorms. (FOX)- The private university has referred to the Confederate Memorial Hall simply as “Memorial Hall” since 2002, but was blocked in court from changing the name chiseled on […]