Series: Weapon

Featuring specially commissioned artwork and carefully chosen photographs, this study charts the SVD Dragunov rifle’s development, combat use and lasting legacy, from Vietnam to Syria. Developed as a medium-range sniping rifle in the Soviet Union during the 1960s, the Dragunov stood out against most Western sniping rifle types by being semi-automatic. This configuration marginally lowers accuracy compared to bolt-action sniping...

While the PP and PPK were intended for police work, the Walther P 38 was produced for the German military; all three pistols have garnered a formidable international reputation since the 1930s. The innovative Walther PP (Polizeipistole), a double-action semi-automatic pistol intended for the law-enforcement market, became available in 1929 and went on to arm the police of several European...

Fully illustrated, this absorbing study explores the evolving sniping technology and tactics employed by both sides in Asia and the Pacific during 1941–45. During World War II, both the Japanese and their Allied opponents made widespread use of snipers armed with a variety of rifles, scopes, and accessories, prepared by widely differing levels of training and tactical doctrine. The challenges...

Russian Machine Guns since 1945, written by noted authority Leroy Thompson, is a fully illustrated study that describes and depicts the machine guns used by Soviet and Russian troops after 1945. Following the USSR’s victory in World War II, the Soviet armed forces adopted a series of new or improved machine guns. At the squad level, the 7.62mm RPD and...

Between the late 8th and late 11th century, Viking warriors had a massive impact not just in northern Europe, but across a huge arc from the western Mediterranean, through northern Europe and the Baltic, to the Middle East and Central Asia. Their success depended in part on their skills in battle, their unique sense of strategic mobility, and on the...

This is the absorbing story of the handguns credited to Nambu Kijiro, the principal personal-defence weapons of the Imperial forces. Featuring full-colour artwork and carefully chosen photographs, this book charts the origins, development, combat use, and legacy of the Nambu pistols. Cutaway artwork reveals the inner workings of these important handguns, while specially commissioned battle scenes depict them in use...

Developed as a fusion of the XM177E2 Colt Commando and the M16A2 assault rifle, the M4 has been tested and proven in major combat operations worldwide. This study describes the development process in detail, from production of the first XM4 prototypes in 1984 through numerous modified types until its official use as the M4 in 1994. Weighing 1lb less and...

For nearly fifty years, the hard-hitting, mobile Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR, served in US infantry units as a light squad automatic “base of fire” weapon, providing quick bursts of concentrated fire. Designed in World War One, it didn't reach the front until September 1918. In the interwar years, US forces used the BAR across the world, from China to...

This study looks at how the Soviet armed forces developed and deployed a range of machine guns that fitted with their offensive and defensive infantry tactics across six years of total war. In 1939, three machine guns dominated the Red Army’s front-line infantry firepower – the DShK 1938 heavy machine gun, the PM M1910 medium/heavy machine gun and the Degtyaryov...

The Samurai sword of Japan is probably the finest edged weapon ever made. This volume by leading Samurai expert Stephen Turnbull reveals the story of how and why it achieved this distinction. Particular attention is paid to the development of the familiar curved blade from the original straight blades, the associated development of Japan's famous steel-making techniques, and the challenges...

The Browning .50-caliber Machine Guns has become the longest serving weapon in the US inventory. The "fifty" has been employed in every imaginable role for a machine gun. It is considered such an effective and reliable weapon that few countries ever attempted to develop an equivalent. Even the Japanese created a copy of it during World War II when the...

The Fairbairn-Sykes Commando Dagger has become iconic as the most widely recognised fighting knife in the world. The origins of the dagger can be traced to Shanghai in the 1930s where W. E. Fairbairn and US Marine officers, including Sam Yeaton, carried out experiments to develop what they considered the perfect knife for close combat. When Fairbairn and Sykes became...

Noted authority Steven J. Zaloga charts the development, combat use, and influence of man-portable air defense systems from the late 1960s to the present day. The first attempts at developing a man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) based around a guided missile began in the mid-1950s, as a response to the increased speed and manoeuvrability of jet aircraft. Infantry Antiaircraft Missiles...

This volume offers an insight into the iconic Mauser family of German bolt-action rifles. Drawing on first-hand accounts of the weapons in combat and primary sources regarding their mechanical performance, this fully illustrated study charts the Mauser's origins, combat record, and lasting influence. It explores the full range of Mauser rifles, beginning with the hugely successful Gew 98, which entered...

The emergence of the tank in World War I led to the development of the first infantry weapons to defend against tanks. Anti-tank rifles became commonplace in the inter-war years and in the early campaigns of World War II in Poland and the Battle of France, which saw renewed use in the form of the British .55in Boys anti-tank rifle...

In 1990, the Beretta M9 replaced the venerable Colt 1911 as the main pistol of choice for the US Army, and it has seen widespread use in Iraq and Afghanistan. Written by a leading pistol expert who currently trains US Special Forces in the use of this weapon, this book is an honest appraisal of the successes and failings of...

During World War I, the British adopted the US-designed Lewis gun as an infantry weapon, realising that its light weight and the fact that it could be fired both prone and on the move made it ideal for supporting advances and defending captured trenches. Later adopted by an array of countries from the Netherlands to Japan, the Lewis successfully served...