In the 1970s, Heckler & Koch began licensing companies worldwide to produce various models of its legendary roller-delayed blowback firearms: MP5, G3, HK33, HK21 and others. In addition to manufacturing these guns for their host-country military and police forces, most licensees also have or at least had a healthy export business. Examples include POF in

The 9×19 is the most popular handgun cartridge of our era, serving military, law enforcement, and civilians worldwide. And unlike other handgun cartridges of the same general time period, such as the .38 Special and the .45 ACP, the 9×19 — officially 9x19mm Parabellum, 9mm Luger, or 9 mm NATO (I will explain each of

Although the British SAS, or Special Air Service, was not the first unit to adopt the MP5, it can certainly lay claim to being the unit that made the MP5 internationally famous. The SAS enjoys notoriety in the modern world for its counterterrorism exploits, but it also has just about the longest and most contiguous

The FN FAL is often referred to as “The Right Arm of the Free World.” If one examines the NATO table of organization and equipment from the 1950s through the 1990s, this title seems difficult to dispute on the surface. However, the Heckler and Koch G3, and its more ubiquitous little brother, the MP5, can

The Soviet experience during World War II differed greatly from that of the United States. Whereas the U.S. suffered virtually no direct attack on its soil (save for a few Japanese balloon bombs and one or two long range ship-based planes), the Soviet Union was ravaged by Germany, Hungary, Romania, Italy, and Bulgaria. After decidedly

The MG 42 is perhaps the most infamous general-purpose machine gun in existence. While the Maxim and Vickers guns have been around longer, the MG 42 and its immediate predecessor, the MG 34, changed the way machine guns were made. The new general-purpose machine guns were sleeker, lighter, and much more ergonomic than the clunky,

Few guns in existence owe their fame to the units that used them. The Thompson submachine gun, for instance, is among the most iconic guns ever produced, as are the Luger P08, various models of Winchester lever-action rifle, the M1911 pistol and the Mauser model 98. While each of those guns was employed by one

The roller-delayed and roller-locked firearms produced from the Cold War to the present, and used by NATO and countless combatants around the world, have their origins in World War II. Under the Nazis, engineers had a field day producing everything from the first operational fleet of jet-powered bombers and fighters, to the rockets that would

If you’re like us at Zenith, you too are an irritating person to watch firearm-rich action movies with. You probably point out everything from chronological problems, to poor trigger discipline, to those endless magazines we all wish we had. And since you’re reading this particular blog, we’re going to assume you are also a true

This is the first in a series of installments focused on the history of the roller-delayed platform. Following World War II, there was one clear superpower, the United States. In short order, the Soviet Union would rise to superpower status mostly as a result of pillaging occupied Eastern Europe to rebuild its devastated infrastructure, and