While I was working on my book, I had a chance to visit the Zastava factory and see their new firearms.
One rifle that is often overlooked is called 'Black Spear,' and I think it has an interesting history
A few weeks ago, we made a video about some interesting aspects of Zastava M70 history.
I talked about some lesser-known facts: how Poland helped the Zastava factory establish M70 production and why designers abandoned some interesting features on the Zastava M64 prototype.
I think we are all familiar with the gold-plated AK rifle that Saddam was giving to his friends.
I've seen plenty of those AKs when I was working in Iraq, and in this video and try to summarise all the information and talk about some of the problems I had with those guns.
In 2018, I was approached by producers of the 'Kalashnikov' movie who were planning to make a film about his life and the history of the AK-47.
The final result was not at all what I expected. In this article, I tried to share my experience as a historical consultant and explain why movies often have gun-related mistakes
I saw this AR15 many years ago in Iraq. It was broken in half.
One of my colleagues suggested that the gun was stored between the seat and the center console in a car, and someone pulled the barrel sideways, while the stock and grip were stuck in that "gap'. Maybe, but I wasn't there.
Not a typical failure by any means, but an interesting example of what some 'end users' are capable of. Did you see any bizarre failures with AK or AR?
There are a lot of things in life I don’t understand, and one of those things is why some people in the AK community look down on 5.56 AK rifles.
Back in the day, I tested AK 101, AK 102, and 5.56 Saigas extensively and never had a problem. On top of that, Galils have been around since 1972, longer than the AK 74.
So let me know what you think, maybe I am missing something.
New article about my experience with the Czech VZ58 rifle in the Gulf of Aden and Iraqi gun markets:
"A few years ago, I was visiting an acquaintance at the gun market in the city of Sulaymaniyah, in Northern Iraq. His small shop had an excellent selection of rifles, primarily AKs and some new M4s that looked like they were at the US military warehouse just a few months ago. You know what they say: “Never ask a woman her age, a man his salary, an Iraqi gun dealer - where did he get the guns displayed at his store”
Last year, when I was writing my book "From Balkans to Babylon: Zastava AKs of Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Iraq", I visited Zastava factory and their showroom, where they have a collection of AKs and other guns produced by the factory.
I managed to get detailed photos of some of the most interesting stuff. Let me know if you wanna see some of those guns in more detail in future posts.
Yesterday, the publisher announced my first serious book: "From Balkans to Babylon: Zastava AKs of Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Iraq". Growing up, I read books about war in Yugoslavia, collected military uniforms, but there wasn't much to read about weapons in Yugoslavia.
Many years passed, but still, there were no books in English on that topic. So I decided to write one, learned the language, spent three years conducting research, and published a book in which I discuss Yugoslav weapons history as well as my personal experience repairing those weapons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.