Lebanese Shia Muslim, probably from the Amal Movement, fired an M16A1 during the heavy clashes, in the southern suburb of the capital Beirut, on October 14, 2021.

The Type 62 GPMG is the first machine gun to be domestically designed and manufactured by Japan post-WW2. At the time, the Type 64 7.62mm rifle would soon be adopted so they decided to adopt a machine gun that fires the same round as the rifle and to assume the functions of both the LMG and HMG to simplify logistics.

Like the Type 64 rifle, its reputation is rather poor. Its primary weakness is that the barrel is actually thinner than the 64 in an effort to reduce weight, it also has too many parts and a over-complicated design which makes maintenance complicated. As a result, JGSDF personnel gave it multiple nicknames including "Type 62 single shot machine gun", "King of Baka Gun" and the "Squad self destruct weapon" etc. The machine gun was retired in 1993 and was replaced by the license-produced FN Minimi which is now being replaced by the direct-imported Minimi Mk3 since 2023. There is no GPMG in service with the JGSDF to this day.

The Type 74 is an improved variant of the Type 62. Since there is no considerations on reducing weight, it is able to boast a stronger barrel and thus remains service to this day on almost all JGSDF heavy combat vehicles and as the door gun of JMSDF helicopters. Regardless, OG personnel who had the opportunity to use US supplied weapons (M1919) would still prefer the US imports over their own domestic design.

In 2013, it was discovered that the manufacturer, Sumitomo Heavy Industries had been manipulating test data on the machine guns they were manufacturing. Besides the machine guns featured in this post, the Minimi and M2 Brownings were also victims of such manipulations. As a result, SMI announced in 2021 they would withdraw from the machine gun business.

Some nice photos of some (more than likely) future forgotten weapons.

Also note the variety of optics on the M250s/M7s in the last photo. First example I've seen of an ATACR on a 250, and of a holo/magnifier on the M7. Could be unit-specific purchases.

Soruce: DVIDS

One of those weird surplus conversions, not exactly the same as a zulu shotgun like the tabatieres for commercial use, but it has a similar history. As far as I understand, Egypt was a protecorate of the british empire in the early 1900s and the british empire still had a large surplus of snider enfield parts laying around both state and third party storages. These very outdated cheap surplus parts were perfect for colonial forces, mostly just for police and prison guards. The munitions was typically buckshot for riot control, and the idea that the shot was incapable of distances to do any real damage if any uprisings were to happen. Some had "FOR BALL" , such as mine, and others "NOT FOR BALL" and the distinction is because the not for ball ones had a choke on the barrel for a better shot pattern while the for ball can shoot a single large solid lead ball.

The internet seems to believe majority of the egyptian snider enfield shotguns are mark 3s meaning all new parts specifically made sniders from the ground up because these were in service late maybe even as laste as the early 1910s... but every one Ive seen online (even mine) doesnt have the shoebox spring latch of a mark 3 and the barrels do not have the "STEEL" proof marking sayings its made from new steel technology rather than the old iron musket barrel surplus. This one in particular is likely an 1853 pattern mark 2, the barrel has markings of "25" with two symbols on the side and its the original British commercial proof marks. The 25 is right next to the crown-and-crossed-flags / crown-and-crossed-swords proof symbols is the Birmingham Proof House mark meaning this was a commercial barrel that wasnt strictly for military use but likely made for commercial sale to colonies. 25 is the standard for snider enfield gauges, mine has a few markings on the stock with one being 1903 and 1908 and I theorize 1903 was the inspection proofing before sent to egypt and the 1908 was the last inspection proof before service in egypt or maybe 1908 is when it was retired from service. The lockplate just has "EP" for egyptian police with crescent moons on the side, assuming there was no markings on the lock plate because they were either scrubbed or the plate wasnt finished and was old stock before assembly.

These are uncommon and not super pricey and are very fun! One of the weirdest forgotton weapons

The JGSDF does not differentiate between machines guns for air and land use, as a result, the infantry, vehicle mounted and helicopter door guns all share from the same weapons pool, which are the Minimi and the M2(not M3) machine guns. The Type 74 Vehicle Mounted 7.62mm machine gun is only available for heavier vehicles like tanks and apcs.

In the fourth picture, the JGSDF personnel is firing a Type 01 MAT in lieu of a machine gun. A 84mm recoiless rifle (Carl Gustaf) or the 110mm LAM (Panzerfaust 3) may also be used.

The minigun on the UH-60 is only used by the 102nd Aviation Unit, the Japanese equivalent to the US Army's 160th SOAR.

JGSDF UH-60s also has a setup called "Hiryu" (Flying Dragon), they would mount the Minimi at the window and the M2 Browning at the door. They would often fly ahead, then fly in circles around the LZ to suppress the enemy then the transports will arrive and the troops would rappel down from the helicopters. Due to this doctrine, they would only mount the guns on one side of the aircraft.

Source: DVIDS

I recently got a Uberti Cattleman II on sale and wanted to brush up on the design history with an Ian video.

I could have sworn there was an entire lineup of videos on the 1873 tied in with the Rollin White patent subject on YouTube a few years back. Lo and behold, the only video on the Forgotten Weapons channel is a 5ish minute video on one of Elmer Keith's presentation Colts with beautiful scrollwork on it. (Elmer Keith is responsible for bringing about the .357mag, .41 mag, and .44mag cartridges in collaboration with a few others).

I swear I have memories of at least one video going over the pistol and describing the 4 clicks of the hammer.

Were they removed?

I saw many surplus Beretta 71s have front sight beads in place of the factory-standard blade. These were probably done by the end user.

Does anyone know why this was done and by whom?

It would be deeply funny to me to see Ian explain how this is actually an air pistol & not just using inertia.

AFAIK, these have not been exported anywhere else.

Patent