In the early 1960s, Portugal found itself in a rather unusual position. It had to choose a new service rifle at precisely the moment when three exceptionally ...

Place a Soviet AKM next to a late-production Yugoslav Zastava M70 and the ancestry of the latter is immediately obvious. The same long-stroke gas-piston ...

In 1997, China unveiled a weapon that was supposed to symbolize the new People's Liberation Army. The QBZ-95 looked exactly like what people in the 1990s ...

In September 1916, the British Army used tanks in battle on the Somme for the first time. The new weapon was slow, unreliable, and extremely crude, but the ...

In 1861, when the standard American infantry weapon was still a muzzle-loading rifle, a mechanical gun appeared that could fire around 120 rounds per minute. ...

When a Weapon Outlives Its Era Some firearms become symbols of their time. Others prove so well-designed that they continue evolving long after their creators ...

For most firearms enthusiasts, the name Colt Python immediately brings to mind one of the finest revolvers ever built. With its hand-fitted action, elegant ...

Just a decade ago, discussions about modern infantry equipment usually revolved around body armor and load-bearing vests. The primary objective was simple—stop ...

Until recently, net launchers seemed like equipment with no place on the modern battlefield. They were associated with police tactical units, rescue teams, ...

Few firearms have earned a reputation comparable to that of the Soviet Dragunov Sniper Rifle. Adopted in 1963, the SVD has remained one of the defining ...

In the nineteenth century, every great power had a weapon that became a symbol of its era. For the United States, it was Colt's revolver. For the Russian ...

The First World War gave rise to many weapons that have since become symbols of the industrial nightmare of the early twentieth century. Machine guns cut down ...