January, 2016 - Forgotten Weapons

Le Français .32ACP Pistol (Video)

January 31, 2016 Ian McCollum 88

The Le Français was a staple of Manufrance production, being first designed in 1912 and produced until the late 1960s. This example is in .32ACP caliber, which was only made for the commercial market in […]

RIA: Imperial Gewehr 71 (Video)

January 30, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

The Gewehr 1871 was the first rifle adopted by the newly-formed German state after its unification at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. It replaced the decades-old Dreyse needle rifles, and fired an 11x60mm black […]

Prototype Italian MBT 1925 Straight-Pull Rifle (Video)

January 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 34

Note: This video was filmed over a year ago, but I have been holding it in anticipation of the rifle going to auction. That doesn’t seem to be happening, so I’m posting the video now. […]

Viet Cong Handmade Luger Lookalike

January 27, 2016 Ian McCollum 51

In the continuing occasional series on crude handmade firearms, we have an entry sent to me by a reader on Facebook (thanks!). It’s a Vietnamese Luger lookalike, which was being sold by Arundel Militaria in […]

Stopping Tanks with Rifles?

January 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 44

Picture the year 1939 – lots of light tanks are out there in various armies, but there isn’t much practical experience on how to stop them in combat. The heavy anti-tank rifles pioneered at the […]

SIG KE-9 & M29A Prototype Rifles (Video)

January 25, 2016 Ian McCollum 18

The SIG KE-9 and M29A were several in a series of developmental rifles made by SIG in Switzerland and designed by Pal Kiraly. These ultimately found no commercial or military sales, although the related KE-7 […]

US troops in the Pacific Theater with 1903 Springfields and a 1919A4 machine gun

Vintage Saturday: Combined Arms

January 23, 2016 Ian McCollum 35

I have seen this image described as being from both Burma and Okinawa – not sure myself which (if either) is correct. The array of armament present is interesting, though – a 1903A3, a 1903A4 […]

SHOT Show 2016

January 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 15

The SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trades) Show is the annual firearms industry trade show, and I have attended it for several years. There is generally not very much there of direct relevance to the […]

Swedish Hamilton Trials Pistol (Video)

January 21, 2016 Ian McCollum 23

The Hamilton was a handgun entered into the Swedish military pistol trials of 1903, where it competed against guns like the Luger and Colt/Browning 1903. The Hamilton was a simply blowback action chambered for 6.5mm […]

The World Standard Maxim Gun

January 20, 2016 Ian McCollum 14

From 1887 onward, the gun Hiram Maxim was producing was what he called the World Standard. He had finally perfected the machine gun design to his satisfaction in 1887 and with this design in hand […]