Firearms

Firearms

Machine Guns

From Puckle's 1718 revolving gun to the MG 42 — how machine guns work, who used them, how to identify them, and why no private American can buy a new one.

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sten gun
pages with both words
"sten gun"
the words together, as a phrase
sten OR sterling
either one (| works too)
sten -replica
leave out pages that mention “replica”

Without quotes, the last word also matches longer words that start with it (sten finds Stenophylla), and close word forms count (rifle finds rifles). Tick Exact words to match whole words only.

Whole deep dives are listed first, then the pages inside them.

Chauchat Live
Chauchat The French Fusil-mitrailleur Modèle 1915 C.S.R.G. and the American Model 1918 in .30-06, from the French and US manuals of 1916–1918: its origins at Puteaux, mass production at a Paris bicycle factory, the AEF's experience, the foreign users, how the long-recoil open-bolt mechanism works, the half-moon magazine, identifying models and makers, field strip and stoppages, the reputation checked against the record, and the law of owning one. Live
Lewis Gun Live
Lewis Gun Samuel McClean's patents, Isaac Newton Lewis's air-cooled redesign and the 1913 trial the US Army failed it on; BSA and Savage production, the ground and aircraft guns, the US Navy and Marine guns, the Home Guard and the Japanese Type 92; how it works, how to tell the models apart, stripping, care and stoppages from the period manuals, and US law. Live
MG 42 Live
MG 42 Germany's stamped-steel general-purpose machine gun: the MG 34 background, Werner Gruner and the Großfuß works, the roller lock, muzzle booster and two-stage feed, the barrel change and the rate of fire set source by source, the Lafette, identification by codes and markings, stripping and care from the 1943 US handbook and the maker's MG 3 manual, the MG 1, MG 3, M53, MG 42/59 and MG 74, and US law. Live
Puckle Gun Live
Puckle Gun James Puckle's 1718 "Defence": the patent and what it actually says, the bubble company and the 1720 satire, the 1722 trial and the two guns shipped to St Lucia, the surviving guns from Boughton to Beijing, how the charger, screw and tripod worked, care and repair, building a working flintlock reproduction, and US and Michigan law. Live