AKs from Finland. Part 1: Development History The small European country of Finland always had a great reputation when it comes to arms production. For collectors, Finnish-made Mosin-Nagants are some of the most desirable Mosin rifles, but there is another rifle design that the Finnish took to a whole other level. It is called RK…
Category: Military History
AK Corner: Story of the RPK-74
Story of the RPK-74 The 5.45x39mm RPK-74 was an evolutionary development of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s original 1940’s-vintage AK-47. The earliest AK (Avtomat Kalashnikova) rifle fired the then radically new M43 7.62x39mm round and was built around a stamped steel receiver. This 35″, 7.7-lb. infantry rifle legitimately changed the world. Alas, those early stamped receivers weren’t…
On This Day in History: Japanese Soldier Hiroo Onoda Surrenders 29 Years After the End of WW2
One-Man War Finally Ends March 9, 1974 — Nearly 30 years after the end of the Second World War Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda finally surrendered on this day. He had been waging his own war from a jungle and the mountains. In December, 1944, towards the end of the global conflict, Onoda, an intelligence officer, was…
The Bad Ass Files: Robert “R.J.” Thomas – The Story of a Real American Gunfighter
A REAL AMERICAN GUNFIGHTER AND HIS GUNS When those who grew up in my era hear the words “gunfight” or “gunfighter,” we immediately get a vision of something that never existed. Spending many of my Saturdays in the late 1940s at the West Theater to watch western movies with the likes of Roy Rogers,…
Know Your WW2 History: Masters of the Air Twofer
DID YOU KNOW WHY THE GERMAN PLANES ATTACKED FROM THE FRONT IN MASTERS OF THE AIR? DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE AERIAL ROCKETS SEEN IN MASTERS OF THE AIR? Highly recommend this mini-series along with the book upon which it is based: Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War…
Last of the Cold War Gunfighters: Vought F-8 Crusader
Vought F-8 Crusader: Last of the Gunfighters The Vought F-8 Crusader was a single-engine, supersonic, carrier-based, high-performance jet fighter that first flew in 1955, a mere decade after the end of World War II. The Crusader was the first American fighter to break 1,000 miles per hour. The F-8 earned its testosterone-besotted moniker because…
In Memoriam: Major Mike Sadler, SAS (1921-2024)
Major Mike Sadler: Founding member of SAS dies at 103 Major Mike Sadler, a founding member of Britain’s Special Air Service, has died in Girton aged 103. The World War II navigator died at Arlington Manor Care Home on Thursday (January 4). His death was confirmed by John Allcock, the secretary of the Special…
Know Your Military History: Operation Barras (SAS Hostage Rescue)
Via: Bulldog Breed Operation Barras was a British Army operation that took place in Sierra Leone on 10 September 2000, during the late stages of the nation’s civil war. The operation aimed to release five British soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment and their Sierra Leone Army (SLA) liaison officer, who were being…
Guerilla Warfare History: Commercial and Artisanal Hand Grenades of the Spanish Civil War
Commercial and Artisanal Hand Grenades of the Spanish Civil War Hermit Notes: There are only a handful of Substack Subscriptions I would recommend and Karl Dahl’s is at the top of the list. I also Highly recommend his Fiction. WARNING! Don’t get any silly ideas – the information contained herein is for historic…
Know Your Real Civil War History: It was Really “Deconstruction”
It Was Really “Deconstruction” What the “history” books referred to as “Reconstruction” after the War of Northern Aggression was really the complete destruction of what was left of the Old South when the war ended. It was what Karl Marx glowingly referred to as “the reconstruction of a social world.” The Northern government, peopled…