Category Archives: Historical

Man, don’t that really take you back?

A golden oldie from our pal Kevin O’Brien OK, this article from The Grauniad is a good three years old. But we seem to have missed it then, so there’s a good chance you missed it then, too. Let’s not miss it now! Here’s why stone-tipped spears were important: the first known spears date from 600,000 years ago, butContinue reading “Infantry Weapons, 498,000 BC: Stone-tipped Spears”

As a kid in the sixties, you couldn’t get away from ’em. Turn on Combat with Vic Morrow, and there’d be one in every few episodes, hauling American infantry up to the point where they’d start walking. A couple years later, The Rat Patrol stuck German Balkankreuz symbols on them and made ’em the bad guys. Around that time, they made the TVContinue reading “Weaponsman: The Rise and Fall of the Halftrack”

Captain K.K.V. Casey, the most outstanding military marksman of the Krag era.

Mythbusting time: This is NOT the Garand T31!

From Walter J. Kuleck When the U.S Army adopted the U.S. Rifle, Cal..30, M1, they were faced with a dilemma. A short-term dilemma, to be sure, but a dilemma, nonetheless. The requirement placed on John Garand to incorporate an en-block clip into his rifle design, rather than the detachable box magazine Garand had adapted hitherto,Continue reading “M1 Garand Clip Loader”

Jason over at Vintage Gun Leather Today has shared a couple of pictures from back in the day. The first from Chic Gaylord and a recreation of that.

For Forty-Four Friday, I thought that I’d mention the rare Armament Systems & Procedures (ASP) .44 Special conversions of Ruger Service Six and Speed Six revolvers. Given that they lost one round in cylinder capacity after the conversion, one wag dubbed them the “Fast Five.” Supposedly, only 96 of these conversions were completed, with theContinue reading “ASP “SWT” Ruger Revolver Conversion”