2015 - Forgotten Weapons

Colt 1855 10-Gauge Revolving Shotgun at RIA

June 4, 2015 Ian McCollum 15

In 1855, Colt introduced a new revolver unlike the others in their lineup – it was a side-hammer design with the cylinder stops built into the axis pin instead of the cylinder. They then proceeded […]

Chassepot Needle Rifle at RIA (Video)

June 3, 2015 Ian McCollum 30

The Chassepot was the French answer to the Dreyse needle rifle, and also the only other needlefire rifle to see major military service. It was adopted in 1866 and served as a primary French infantry […]

Dreyse M1860 Needle Rifle at RIA (Video)

June 2, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

The Dreyse needle rifle (or zundnadelgewehr, which translates to needle firing rifle) was a major step forward in military rifle technology, although it did not remain at the forefront for very long (much like the […]

Campo-Giro M1913 at RIA (Video)

June 1, 2015 Ian McCollum 26

The Campo-Giro was Spain’s first indigenous self-loading military pistol, adopted in 1912 to replace the Belgian 1908 Bergmann-Mars. Only a small number were made of the original M1913 variety, with the vast majority being the […]

German soldier with a PPSh-41 submachine gun

Vintage Saturday: Cover

May 30, 2015 Ian McCollum 45

German soldier with a PPSh-41 submachine gun somewhere in Russia. Gotta be careful with those as a German; the drum magazine was a distinctively Russian feature and could lead to friendly fire incidents.

Andrew Burgess’ Blow-Forward Pistols

May 29, 2015 Ian McCollum 24

You may recognize Andrew Burgess from guns like the Burgess folding shotgun and the 1883 Colt-Burgess lever action rifle…but you probably don’t know him for his semiauto handgun designs. Until recently, I had not even […]

Slow Motion: Remington Model 8

May 28, 2015 Ian McCollum 15

This week’s slow motion footage is a Remington Model 8, in .300 Savage (when the .300 was offered in the Model 81, Remington offered a service rebarreling existing Model 8 rifles for the spiffy new […]

Looking for Ideas, and Selling Two Rifles. Also, Trench Armor.

May 27, 2015 Ian McCollum 38

First up, I am selling two rifles. One is a Yugoslav M72 RPK (semiauto), which I am replacing with a Romanian RPK for Slidefire experimentation. Second is a gorgeous 1891 Argentine Mauser – too nice […]

Three Videos: Finland, Spain, and Hungary

May 25, 2015 Ian McCollum 30

From Vesamatti, a Finnish gunsmith student who reads the site, we have this neat video of a few older Finnish Army machine guns. The KP-31, KP-44, Sten, KVKK, and DP-27. Not guns we get all […]

The SVD with a Red Dot Optic (2-Gun Match)

May 24, 2015 Ian McCollum 20

This isn’t exactly a “forgotten” weapon, but it is a very cool one, and one we have been unable to pry out of Karl’s hands. In the recent May 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, Karl opted […]