The M3 and M3A1, famously also nicknamed the ‘Grease Gun’ due to their appearance, are a straight blowback submachine gun design, chambered in the U.S. military’s then standard issue pistol round – .45 ACP cartridge, and designed in the USA. The M3 was first adopted by the U.S. military in a limited capacity in early 1943, eventually supplanting the M1 and M1A1 Thompson submachine guns. Fascinatingly, a significant number have also been seen in the Pak-Afghan Region.
Central Asia
V31: Persian Fire and Steel With Dr. Manouchehr Khorasani
In this episode, Miles and Dr. Manouchehr Khorasani dive deep into the amazing history of firearms in Persia throughout different time periods as well as the cultural and religious relation with weapons. Dr. Khorasani is a historian who has delved deep into the history of Persian arms and armor, including Persian martial arts. He has an incredibly vast knowledge of the subjects and authored seven books and won three major book prizes.
The Khyber Diaries: A Glimpse Into An ‘Antique’ Arms Shop
An often-nostalgic thing to do is reminisce of the arms shops in the days of old. Those well-stocked dealerships. They were once a lot like Aladdin’s cave with large arrays of plentiful, but now hard-to-find arms on display and for sale, at extremely affordable prices by today’s standard. Luckily, we can occasionally encounter some remnants of these days in Pakistan where an abundance of now-antiquated firearms are still to be found in the arms bazaars of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within places like the infamous town of Darra Adamkhel and to a lesser degree, in those within and close to Peshawar city.
The Pak-Afghan Side-Folding AK Phenomena
Over the past few decades, a certain style of AK-pattern self-loading rifle or more specifically an AK variant feature has come out on top to be nicknamed the iconic ‘Khyber AK’ style by arms enthusiasts outside the Pak-Afghan region. This was destined to be so, especially after being seen in the hands of the infamous Usama Bin-Ladin, which helped propel this AK style into the limelight. Although it would be incorrect to assume one specific style to be the definitive Khyber modified or built AK type self-loading rifle ‘design’ due to the multitude of styles and variants manufactured in the Khyber region. The AKM or an AK-pattern rifle fitted with the iconic Russian skeleton triangle side-folding buttstock found on the AKS-74 and AKS-74U, has become that iconic piece. Not only that, but it truly is also one of the more popular choices for a folding buttstock within the Pak-Afghan region in general.
The Khyber Strikes Again: Unusual Modified SKS
A friend of ours in the Pak-Afghan border regions within Pakistan recently shared a couple of photos with us showcasing a somewhat unique firearm. This was a highly modified SKS-pattern 7.62×39mm self-loading rifle, likely of Russian origin, and probably a left in the region after the Soviet-Afghan War. By now we should all be very familiar with the some of the wackier work coming out of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region and this was an interesting piece to see. It is highly unusual configuration to see an SKS-pattern rifle in and the work done to the weapon makes it quite unique.
Silah Report on High Caliber History Podcast
Our Khan in Chief, Miles Vining, was recently a guest on historian Logan Metesh’s High Caliber History podcast. The episode, titled “Khyber Pass Guns” is a No-No!, sees Miles and Logan discuss a whole range of subjects including the driving force behind Silah Report, Miles’ interest in MENA firearms and culture, why ‘Khyber Pass guns’ is a misnomer and Miles’ new book.
Here’s the description from Logan’s podcast:
Today’s guest is Miles Vining, one of the co-founders of Silah Report. He’s here to tell us why we should stop referring to Middle Eastern firearms copies as Khyber Pass guns, plus plenty of other great conversation!
You can buy Miles’ new book, Into Helmand with the Walking Dead, on Amazon.
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The Captured Cannon of Kabul, 1879
In 1869, the Emir of Afghanistan, Sher Ali Khan, began a process to rapidly improve the quality and quantity of artillery pieces in the Afghan Army. Informed by the experiences of the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839 to 1842) and internal territorial wars that he had previously fought, Sher Ali was determined to see his forces equipped with the latest rifled iron breech-loading guns. Whilst he was able to achieve this, his successes would be short-lived. Ultimately, failings in leadership and discipline would prove more important than his modernised guns.
The Pistol Caliber AK Submachine Guns of Darra Adam Khel
In Pakistan, just as in the US, compact firearms such as submachine guns and carbines chambered in pistol calibre cartridges are a hot ticket. They are also popular in neighbouring Afghanistan. Pistol calibre ammunition is widely available, affordable, manufactured domestically and licenses for firearms chambered in it are relatively easy to acquire. This is a major factor in their popularity. In this article we’ll examine some of the pistol calibre AK-pattern firearms which have grown in popularity in the region in recent years.
Northern Iraq PKK-Weapon Caches of Operation ‘Claw Tiger’
On 17 June, 2020, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) commenced Operation ‘Claw Tiger’ against the PKK in the so-called Haftanin region. Haftanin is an unofficial region North of Zakho, a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This marks the fourth Turkish incursion into Iraq’s Kurdistan Region since May 2019. As
per usual, TAF personnel confiscated and captured numerous weapons from the PKK. This article will
investigate some of the more noteworthy weapons.
AR15 Rifles from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Based Royal Arms Company
The AR15 or ‘M16’ & ‘M4’ pattern self-loading rifles are a very popular choice in many commercial and military markets the world over, Pakistan is no exception. Some Pakistani law-enforcement and military units utilise varying models of this platform already and a large prevalence of M4 and M16 5.56×45mm rifles of various types and manufacturers have been creeping onto the market slowly in the last few decades or so, none more so than the Colt or FN marked M4A1 and M16A2/A4 rifles seeping through from Afghanistan in the last decade. There is such a high demand for these particular firearms and a low supply and high price for genuine examples that various manufacturers stepped up-to-the plate and have started to manufacture their own copies within the ex-FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, mainly in Peshawar’s small-arms manufacturing zones but also within the infamous arms manufacturing town of Darra Adamkhel.