BROWNING AMMUNITION – Winchester and Browning, Together Again
Born in 1855 in Ogden, Utah, John Moses Browning is arguably the most influential gun designer in human…
Benefits of Selective Breeding: Faxon Firearms ARAK-21
Mendelian Genetics is a fascinating field of study. By carefully manipulating breeding patterns, scientists can produce orange roses, grain that is resistant to blight and foul weather, the fastest horses in all of human history, and carp that will eat the weeds out of my farm pond while remaining unable to reproduce.
Subgun Smackdown: SIG MPX vs. Zenith Z-5 MP5
The submachine gun was birthed in the blood and filth of World War I as a compact combat tool optimized for trench clearing. Typical infantry rifles were cumbersome bolt-action monsters that could reach out past a kilometer and serve double duty as a proper pike with a bayonet attached. But when the engagement distance was close enough to smell what your opponent had for breakfast that morning, something handier and faster was needed.
Offbeat: Hot Lead and Human Health
Elemental lead is an integral part of modern life. There are untold tons of lead in our car batteries. Lead was in the paint used in most American houses up until 1978, and it remains in contaminated soil pretty much forever. The CDC estimates that about half a million American kids between the ages of one and five already have dangerously high blood lead levels.
Small Arms at a Crossroads: Origins and the ArmaLite AR-180
Starting in the 1950s, Eugene Stoner began unconventionally applying modern manufacturing techniques adapted from the aerospace industry. In so doing, he shaped the complexion of the world’s small arms even into the Information Age.
Teutonic Titan: German MP40
Lieutenant Waverly Wray was an officer in D Company of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in June 1944.…
Confessions of a Cheapskate Prepper: Cool Gear, Fewer Dollars
It took more than a year of saving from my after-school job working as a janitor in a…
Turbocharge Your AK: Classic Kalashnikov Meets the 21st Century
As the legend goes, Mikhail Timofeyovich Kalashnikov began work on his infamous assault rifle in 1942 while recovering…
Arms Through the Ages: Military Arms in the Hands of Citizens
While the history of mankind is characterized by war and conflict, that history is often driven by technology. Starting when that hypothetical early soldier tied a sharp rock to the end of a stick and made himself a spear, man has tried to produce weapons superior in effect and efficiency to those of his enemies. While the current public discourse on “assault weapons” incites frenetic opinions on both ends of the political spectrum, what seems to be lost is simply how tired the argument itself has become. The scariest full-auto polymer “assault rifle” of today will be ancient history a century from now.
Blast from the Future: UTS-15 Tactical Shotgun
Doc Holliday used a side-by-side shotgun to help the Earps against the Clanton gang during the gunfight at…