About a year ago, back in 2018, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced results of the “Ratnik” trials in regard to new assault rifles….
Despite their diminutive size, pistols still are important military firearms, and they are even more important as law enforcement weapons. The venerable 9x18mm Makarov PM…
ABOVE: Infantry rifle should perform adequately on any possible terrain, but some current battlefields overstretch the capabilities of weapons that were built for total war…
ABOVE: T-5000 with night vision adapter. Until recently, Russian small arms were famous mostly for their ruggedness, durability and reliability, even under the harshest of…
Up until the 1960s all machine guns manufactured in China were of foreign design. The first heavy machine gun to be produced in China was the 12.7mm Type 54, a straight-up copy of the Soviet DShKM 1938/46, made on Soviet machinery, using Soviet documentation and assistance. This weapon fired the 12.7x108mm round of Soviet origin, which was roughly similar in performance to the American .50 BMG round….
Up until the 1960s, all machine guns manufactured in China were of foreign design. Earliest of these were well known copies of the German Maxim MG 08, generally known as Type 24 machine guns, chambered for 7.9mm Mauser ammunition of German origin. Lesser known weapons were locally made copies of the Browning M1917 and Schwarzlose M1907/12 machine guns, made between the two World Wars in very limited numbers. Light machine guns included domestic copies of Czechoslovak ZB-26 and ZB-30, as well as the Swiss SIG KE-7 machine guns, also chambered for 7.9mm Mauser ammunition…..
This story begins in 1925. That year the Red Army requested the development of a large caliber machine gun with the intention of using it as an anti-aircraft and anti-armor weapon. Initial research suggested a caliber of 12.7mm (0.5 inch, or “five lines” in contemporary Russian measuring system, where “one line” was equivalent of 1/10 of an inch), with the earliest work being based on the British .50 Vickers cartridge. However, it was soon discovered that the British round was not effective enough, so an indigenous round…
Left side of the VKS rifle less scope, with iron sights raised. Over the last several decades, counter-terrorism operations became very important for most ‘civilized…
Pair of OMON (SWAT-type unit) operators prepare for entry exercise, armed with suppressed 9-A91 rifles. By the late 1980s, special operations elements of the Soviet…
OMON (Russian Police Spetsnaz) operator with OTs-14 rifle in GL configuration. As discussed in previous articles on the subject, Soviet Army Spetsnaz troops and specialized…
