The RPG-series of weapons is the most widely used family of lightweight antitank weapons in the world today. RPGs have been used not only against their intended targets, but against personnel, fortifications, buildings, soft-skin vehicles,...
Entering service in 1931, the 9x19mm Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun saw extensive combat with Finnish troops during their fight against Soviet forces in 1939-44. It was also manufactured under licence in Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden, and remained in...
Winchester lever-action repeating rifles are an integral part of the folklore of the American West. Introduced after the American Civil War, the first Winchester, the M1866, would go on to see military service as far afield as Bulgaria, but it was...
In the opening days of the Blitzkrieg campaign, few aircraft could invoke as much terror as the Junkers Ju 87. Nicknamed the "Stuka” (an abbreviation of Sturzkampfflugzeug - the German term for "dive-bomber”), the Ju 87 was perhaps the most...
Developed to replace the Model 1892 Krag-Jørgensen rifle, the Model 1903 Springfield was a five-shot bolt-action rifle that introduced the .30-06 cartridge - the standard US round until the introduction of the 7.62mm NATO cartridge - and gave the...
In 1938 the US Chief of Infantry requested that the Ordnance Department develop a carbine to be used by service and support troops, artillerymen, machine-gun crews, tankers, mortar crews and other troops not needing the power of the M1 Garand rifle....
The Kalashnikov AK-47 is the most ubiquitous assault rifle in the world, with more AK-47s and its variants in use than any other individual small arm. Created by Senior Sergeant Mikhail Kalashnikov, and first adopted by the USSR soon after World War...
The Thompson submachine gun, or Tommy gun developed an almost iconic status during the 20th century. It had an unusual beginning, for it was developed during the dying days of World War I as a 'one-man, hand-held machine gun.' The war ended before...
The Uzi submachine gun is one of the most recognizable weapons in history. Its familiarity stems in part from the sheer diversity of its users. Uzis have been seen being wielded and fired by US Secret Service agents and SWAT teams, Israeli soldiers,...
The world's first self-powered machine gun, the Maxim gun became a potent symbol of Victorian colonialism in the closing years of the 19th century. It was the brainchild of Sir Hiram Maxim, the American-born firearms inventor who founded the company...