Binocular 101: How to Buy Smart

Charred lodgepoles scratching a gunmetal sky reflected my mood. This morning the elk had won. No plan in mind, I climbed beyond where they’d scattered. Probing the slope’s crest from the sit with my binocular, I saw it. Among ranks of black boles with low-arcing limbs, a branch curved up...

By Wayne van Zwoll

War Stories: Bill the Tommygunner

Bill was a happy, jovial man. He was a patient of mine for many years. He always came to the clinic in the company of his sweet wife, who clearly adored him. Bill looked like a professional grandfather. He was also my friend. Bill was a gifted woodworker. He loved football, golf, and dancing with...

By Will Dabbs, MD

Cimarron Firearms Is Building a Winchester Model 1897 Replica

Cimarron Firearms is working on a Winchester Model 1897 replica, and from what President Mike Harvey has shared in a recent product development video, this one is being built to a level of authenticity that Cimarron is well known for. The prototype, serial number one, has been produced, tested, a...

By Sam.S

M41A Pulse Rifle: The Ultimate Aliens Gun

Private Dwayne Hicks sat in an expansive classroom alongside the rest of his platoon of newly minted boots. Each Marine had a well-used Pulse Rifle sitting on the table in front of them. The weapons were clean enough to be used as surgical implements and smelled vaguely of CLP. Gunnery Sergeant M...

By Will Dabbs, MD

Ayoob: The 1911 at War

I recently heard someone say that handguns have no place in military combat. History shows us otherwise. For the tanker, artilleryman, radio operator or medic whose hands are too busy at designated tasks to hold a rifle, the pistol makes enormous sense. Behind the lines when unpleasant surprises ...

By Massad Ayoob

POTD: General Harding’s USMC 1911 – A General’s Sidearm

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a 1913-frame Colt Model 1911 in the USMC serial range, documented as owned by U.S. Army Major General Edwin Forrest Harding. He gifted it to a family friend named Robert James when James came home to Franklin, Ohio after the Korean War. Hardin...

By Sam.S

POTD: James D. West Grease Gun – 1968 Amnesty, Fully Transferable

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a James D. West manufactured “Grease Gun” submachine gun, built post-WWII and registered during the 1968 amnesty. Homemade emulation of the GM Guide Lamp M3 and M3A1, alloy tube and sheet construction, with some original M3 compone...

By Sam.S

USS Saratoga: WWII Carrier Sunk by an Atom Bomb

The USS Saratoga (CV-3) was one of just three United States Navy aircraft carriers—along with USS Ranger (CV-4) and USS Enterprise (CV-6)—to survive the entirety of the Second World War. Although outdated by 1943, as the newer and more capable Essex-cla...

By Peter Suciu

Shifty Powers: The Gun Guy from “Band of Brothers”

Editor’s Note: Today’s article is about Sgt. Darrell Powers, a World War II hero who served with the 101st Airborne Division. Nicknamed “Shifty”, Powers saw action in the American airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. Powers was more than “j...

By Massad Ayoob

What Was the Best Sniper Rifle of WWII?

Editor’s Note: Especially adapted for The Armory Life from The Matchless Enfield .303 No. 4 Mk I (T) Sniper and Britain’s Elite Scout/Snipers Who Dominated WWII Battlefields Book No. 2 Mk II revised and expanded by Jeff John. Available at Amazon.com. I’ve long believed the En...

By Jeff John
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