Cold War Shadows: The VSS Vintorez and AS Val Silent Weapons

The VSS Vintorez emerged during the late Cold War as part of a highly specialized Soviet effort to develop a quiet, compact rifle capable of delivering accurate fire without revealing the shooter’s position. Designed in the 1980s at the Central Research Institute of Precision Engineering (T...

By Lynndon Schooler

Paradox of the German Tiger II Tank

The Tiger II tank, officially designated as Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B and introduced in 1944, was Germany’s most advanced heavy tank of World War II. Known as the Königstiger (King Tiger) by the Germans and often referred to as the Royal Tiger by Allied forces, it was designed to dominate...

By Eugene Nielsen

The Soviet PSS Pistol and the Rise of Captive-Piston Ammunition Guns

The captive-piston (integrally silenced) ammunition concept is often assumed to be a Soviet invention; in fact, it dates back to 1902 in the United States (US Patent No. 692,819). Fast-forward to the Cold War, when the KGB carried out extensive clandestine espionage and counter-espionage worldwid...

By Lynndon Schooler

Kingfisher vs. Zero: Shocking Victory Over Iwo Jima

A wide range of really well-known aircraft types were used in World War II, by both sides. But for every Mustang, British Spitfire, Bf109, Zero, Flying Fortress, Corsair or Mitchell bomber, there were many other hard-working planes that received little to no attention. Quite often their operation...

By Tom Laemlein

Curious Relics #128: Nagant 1895 Part I – Belgian Design Russian Hands

Welcome, if you are a newcomer to this fun bi-weekly segment of AllOutdoor.com! The last time around we closed out our four-part run covering the M1 Carbine. Today we are kicking off something completely different and heading back across the Atlantic. Ladies and gentlemen, today we are starting c...

By Sam.S

Arado Ar 234 Blitz: Germany’s Jet-Powered Bomber

Despite around-the-clock bombing by British and American heavy bombers, the Germans during World War II produced an ever-increasing volume of advanced military materiel right up until the end of the war. Even though they had terribly limited resources and were being squeezed on all sides, they st...

By Will Dabbs, MD

Brewster F2A Buffalo: WWII’s Forgotten Fighter

The air war during World War II saw the transition from the last of the biplane fighters to the beginning of the jet age. A myriad of aircraft were in action around the globe; some have become enduring icons while others faded into obscurity. The Brewster F2A Buffalo can legitimately claim member...

By Tom Laemlein

The Soviet AO-29 Lightweight GPMG

In the early 1960s, the Soviet military found itself at a crossroads. The recently adopted Kalashnikov PK general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) has solved many problems by easing logistics and supporting a single machine gun type. Still, its adoption also revealed new tactical expectations: a single...

By Lynndon Schooler

POTD: A Cold War Whisper - The PB Silenced Pistol

Today’s Photo of the Day features the Kalashnikov PB (Pistolet Besshumnyy), a Soviet-era integrally suppressed semi-automatic pistol that remains in limited production under Kalashnikov Concern. Originally developed and entering service in 1967, the PB was designed to provide a suppressed s...

By Eric B

AKs From Azerbaijan (IGLIM) Are Coming to the USA?

If you’re into Kalashnikov rifles, you probably miss the good old days. It has been a while since AK enthusiasts heard any good news about their hobby, and it seems that things are only getting worse every year: sanctions, tariffs, bans, and other troubles are constantly driving prices up a...

By Vladimir Onokoy
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