Older, Odd, Offbeat and Forgotten Guns & Ammo

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Brandon Herrera - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Brandon Herrera

My name is Brandon Herrera. I'm an online content creator as well as the founder of The AK Guy Inc. I also am the one developing the .50 caliber rifle known as the AK-50. I'm a passionate AK Guy, and hope you enjoy the content I post up here and can gain something from it! You can also follow...
www.youtube.com

AK50: How Hard Could it Be? Brandon Herrera's 10-Year Project​

Nov 5, 2025
Scaling the AK up to .50 BMG...how hard could it be? Today we find out, with a detailed look at all three iterations of Brandon Herrera's AK-50 project.

26:42
 

Drum-Fed LMG for Chinese Warlords: the Finnish LS-26/31​

After the Finnish Defense Forces adopted the LS26 light machine gun, Aimo Lahti and the Tikkakoski factory continued to work on further developing it. They designed a 75-round drum for antiaircraft use, and built 50 trials examples in 1931. The design used a specially cut receiver of fit the drums, but also had an adapter to allow use of the original LS26 box magazines.
The Finnish military turned down the new design, but there was export interest from Lithuania and China. China actually placed an order for 30,000, chambered for the 8mm Mauser cartridge. Only about 1,200 were shipped before the Japanese government persuaded the Finnish government to cut off exports, as Japan was fighting in China at the time.
There was actually some use of the LS26/31 in the Winter War. About 30 of the trials guns remained at Tikkakoski in 1939, and they were pressed into service following the Soviet invasion. They were used until the available drum magazines were all lost or destroyed, and then had their box magazine adapters permanently attached and continued in service as standard LS26 guns.

10:12
 

Super Technicals of Burkina Faso ( 2020 - Present )​

Nov 6, 2025 #burkinafaso #africa #youtube
Rare homemade armoed technical pick-up trucks / Super Technical's of Burkina Faso's military in thr on going Sahel conflict.
Rare camionnettes techniques artisanales blindées / Super techniques de l'armée du Burkina Faso dans le conflit en cours au Sahel.

15:19
 
New Weapons of Mongolia ( 2022 - Present )

Nov 8, 2025 #mongolia #military #youtube
New Armored Military Vehicles and Drones made in the Mongol nation of Mongolia since 2022.
  • 2022 оноос хойш Монгол улсын Монгол үндэстний бүтээсэн шинэ хуягласан цэргийн машинууд ба нисдэг төхөөрөмжүүд.
Sources :
- Khilentset - Light Strike Vehicle - https://rg.ru/2021/07/06/mongolskie-s...
- Mazaalai MRAP Infantry Mobile Vehicle - https://vpk.name/news/521657_mongoliy...
- "Chono" ("Wolf") Drone Launching MRAP - https://vpk.name/news/521425_novyi_mo...
- Yol-1 ( Borodach-1 ) UAV - https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4345324....
- Yol-2 ( Borodach-2 ) UAV - https://vpk.name/en/541246_the-first-...

10:00
 

Early Armalite AR Weapons​

Dec 3, 2020 #military #usa #youtube
AR-10 Prototypes These are the earliest known Fairchild / Armalite AR-10 prototypes ever designed by Eugene Stoner and the armalite company between 1954 and 1956

13:50

Sources –
- AR-1 "Parasniper", bolt-action rifle ( 1954 prototype ) - https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/ArmaLite...
- AR-3, 7.62×51 mm NATO select-fire battle rifle ( prototype ) - https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/ArmaLite...
- AR-5, .22 Hornet bolt-action survival rifle (1954–1955) Air Force's standard survival rifle.
- AR-7 "Explorer", .22 LR semi-automatic survival rifle
- AR-9, semi-auto 12-gauge shotgun (1955 prototype of the AR-17) - https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/ArmaLite...
- Stoner M-8 SN X01 Prototype Rifle –
- Armalite AR-10 SN X02 –
- Armalite AR-10A SN X03 –
- Armalite AR-10 No.4 " Hollywood " -
- http://werewolf0001.livejournal.com/5...
- http://jekoong-textcube.blogspot.com/...
- http://ww2.rediscov.com/springar/VFPC...
- http://maximus67.livejournal.com/8349...
- http://weaponland.ru/load/shturmovaja...
- http://www.firearmsworld.net/usa/m16/...
- http://guns.wikia.com/wiki/AR-10
- http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/ar-talk/...
- http://guns.wikia.com/wiki/AR-10
- http://www.tircollection.com/t14931-a...
- http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.p...
- http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/sh...
- Mechanix Illustrated,Apr, 1957
- http://forums.gunboards.com/showthrea...
 

Austrian River Warships of World War II ( 1939 - 1945 )​

Nov 24, 2025 #military #austria #youtube
Austrian built and manned River Gunboats and Monitor Warships of the German Kriegsmarine's Danube River Flotilla ( Donauflotilla ) in World War II ( 1939 - 1945 ).
( Österreichisch gebaute und bemannte Flusskanonenboote und Monitor-Kriegsschiffe der Donauflottille der deutschen Kriegsmarine im Zweiten Weltkrieg (1939 - 1945).

14:28

Sources :

Lots of sources / links can be found below the vid on youtube.
 

Rare Chinese Weaponz ( Second Sino-Japanese Conflict )​

Oct 29, 2019 #Beijing #Japan #China
Rare chinese tech from the frontlinees between china and japan ( 1937 - 1945 ).

20:07
 

Death of Adolf Hitler - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Where is Hitler's Death Pistol Today?​

Dec 7, 2025
What happened to the pistol Hitler used to allegedly shoot himself with? It hasn't been seen since 1 May 1945. Does it still exist? In this programme we examine the three pistols present in the room when Hitler died and what became of each, and we will find out that one probably does still exist!

19:25

To watch the videos mentioned in this programme, see below:
 

PSS: Russia's Silent Captive-Piston Handgun​

Dec 13, 2025
The PSS is a semiautomatic pistol using captive piston ammunition to achieve a comparable level of sound suppression to a .22 pistol with a good normal suppressor. It was developed to replace a couple multi-barrel derringer style captive piston pistols in Soviet use, with the semiautomatic action and (6-round) detachable magazines making it suitable for a wider variety of missions than the previous guns.
It was given the GRU catalog designation 6P28 and entered service in 1983. It fires a cylindrical steel projectile weighing 155 grains at about 620 fps, with a noise of 122 dB (1m left of the muzzle) as measured by silencer legend Phil Dater. Mechanically, the design takes its fire control system from the Makarov but uses a floating chamber system to cycle reliably with the unique ammunition. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the pistols were available for commercial export by Russian state-run export companies, although that ended in 2018. In Russian service, the PSS was replaced with the much improved PSS-2 in 2011.

15:17
 

Beretta: Celebrating 500 Years of Tradition and Innovation​

The Beretta 500 celebration begins with the start of 2026. H&B got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what the future of this storied gunmaker looks like as 2025 was coming to a close.

The first thing you notice in Beretta’s storied manufacturing plant, located in Gardone Val Trompia, is the sound. It’s not loud; it’s layered. The craftsmen there carefully rasping walnut stocks. The hum of machines milling steel frames. A thrumming heartbeat of a factory that has been perfected across half a millennium.

The “Valley of Arms,” as it is commonly referred to, due to its long and prolific tradition of firearm manufacturing, centered in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy, is steeped in history, and one company, Beretta, is its crown jewel.

Read the rest here:

 
I have five Berettas, all used surplus types, I will get more...
 
Interesting vids here

Khyber Armoury 🍁

🍁 Khyber Armoury is an English language research and analysis project, run by a group of arms researchers and based in the UK. We specialise and focus on the firearms of the Pak-Afghan region, mainly the locally made arms. We have more interesting videos in the works, subscribe to see them when...
www.youtube.com
 

Hitler's Weapons - Vietnam War​

May 18, 2022
During the Vietnam War, US forces encountered many WW2-era German weapons being used by North Vietnamese forces, from small arms to anti-tank guns

9:36

Primary Sources:
Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Swedish Army Museum; The Full 9; Quickload; Ivan Makin; Askild Antonsen.
 
Got them from the French when they dropped them...
 

Khyber Pass Handmade Bolt Action AK Lookalike​

Dec 13, 2017
Today we are looking at a unique rifle in the National Firearms Centre collection - at first glance it appears to be an AK in a full-length rifle cartridge, using a Bren gun magazine. A closer look will show that it is actually a bolt action rifle, and a careful inspection just makes things stranger.
The entire weapon is manufactured from scratch, not using scrounged parts. While the magazine looks like a Bren magazine and the bolt looks like a P14 Enfield, both are actually handmade. The "gas tube" is entirely decorative, and the "cleaning rod" is fake; both too short and too large in diameter to fit down the barrel. Intriguingly, the caliber of the rifle is a bit of a mystery - it is crudely marked "7MM", but the barrel is larger than 7mm in diameter. The most likely cartridges for a rifle from this area of Afghanistan or the Khyber Pass / Darra region of Pakistan would be 8mm Mauser, .303 British, or 7.62x54R - and none of these fit. It is entirely possible that the rifle is intended to be just a decoration. I would certainly not want to the the first person to try firing it...
Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of this rifle-like object, don't miss the ARES companion blog post:
http://armamentresearch.com/pakistani...

9:10
 

Nielsen Device: How it Works and Why it's Necessary​

Aug 4, 2025
The Nielsen Device is a type of suppressor mount that allows a suppressor to move forward upon firing and thus allow a recoil-operated firearms to cycle reliably despite the added weight of a suppressor. Popularized by Doug Olsen in the 1980s, they allow pistols to be readily suppressed without needing to tinker with spring strength, slide weight, and suppressor weight. They are not necessary or useful on fixed-barrel pistols, however.

12:29
 

WWII Veteran 'Bring Backs' - How Allied Troops Obtained Axis Trophy Guns​

Jun 11, 2023
The term 'Bring Back' is often heard in firearms collecting circles, and refers to enemy weapons brought back as souvenirs by Allied troops. But US and British troops faced very different rules regarding 'bring backs', and trophy guns remains a difficult subject in some countries.

7:09
 

WTF? A Cordless Drill-Powered Minigun Kit?​

Feb 1, 2026
At SHOT Show 2026, Tippmann Arms showed off one of the dumbest and most entertaining .22 LR range toys to ever be technically legal: a drill-powered .22 LR Gatling gun that they are now selling as a factory-supported kit. Based on Tippmann’s long-running hand-crank Gatling design, this version replaces the crank with a standard electric drill interface, letting the user spin the barrel cluster electrically while the firing mechanism remains mechanically semi-automatic. Each round is still fired individually as the barrels rotate, keeping it non-NFA and legal under current ATF interpretations. The kit includes the multi-barrel assembly, feed system, frame, firing mechanism, and drill coupler, with the user supplying their own cordless drill. Rate of fire is entirely drill-speed dependent, reliability is classic .22 LR ammo dependent, and practicality is nonexistent. This thing exists purely to make people laugh, dump bulk ammo, and generate chaos at the range, and Tippmann leaning into it as an official kit makes this one of the most absurd and attention-grabbing releases we saw at SHOT Show 2026.

4:19
 

Bannerman's Surplus: Whole Militaries to Single Cartridges​

Feb 11, 2026
Francis Bannerman is really the father of the modern military surplus industry, and in many ways a father of gun collecting as we know it today. Before Bannerman, "gun collecting" was generally something for the wealthy and revolved around fancy and bespoke guns. It was not about have representative pieces of normal arms, it was about having the fancy and exclusive things. Bannerman changed that by offering all manner of ordinary surplus at affordable prices to anyone who was interested. In addition to complete guns and other equipment, Bannerman also dealt in huge numbers of bits and pieces, and sometimes assembled them into various odd hybrid guns for sale, which we still see occasionally today...
Sample Bannerman catalog (1903): https://archive.org/details/francis-b...

13:13
 

Azizi UGCV - Afghanistan’s Unmanned Tank Project​

Nov 7, 2021 #afghanistan #wot #youtube
Azizi UGV - Azizullah Azizi, who is a student of the grade, made this tank with the help of many primary tools in 2017 - 2018. worth $30,000 afghanis or $329.67 USD. Azizullah Azizi, an 11th grade student at Jibril School in Herat province, built a tank using basic equipment. He says the construction of this tank cost $ 500, which my friends paid for, but so far all government agencies have refused to support me.
Video: Masouma Heidari Herat - / 1813743015330501
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
/ 1070711611256659970

7:03
 
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