2017 - Forgotten Weapons

A Japanese Officer’s Pistol: the Baby Nambu

April 23, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

The Nambu Automatic Pistol Type B, or “Baby Nambu” as it is known in US collecting circles, is a scaled-down companion to the 1902 “Grandpa” Nambu pistol. It was intended as a private purchase option […]

The Beretta PM-12S Submachine Gun

April 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 43

For several decades, the Beretta company’s handguns and submachine guns were nearly all designed by the very talented Tulio Marengoni…but nothing can last forever. After World War 2, Beretta engineer Domenico Salza began working on […]

Carl Gustav m/42: A 20mm Recoilless Antitank Rifle

April 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 38

The Swedish Pansarvärnsgevär fm/42 made by the Carl Gustav company was an interesting early hybrid antitank weapon – a recoilless rifle firing solid armor-piercing projectiles. It used a 20x180mm case, propelling the 108g (1650gr) bullet […]

Dragunov Variations: Military SVD, Izhmash Tiger, Chinese NDM-86

April 20, 2017 Ian McCollum 28

The SVD Dragunov was the Soviet marksman’s rifle that finally replaced the failed attempt to issue the SVT-40 as a precision rifle. It was introduced in 1963, after about 5 years of development, and its […]

Failed Gun Yoga: The Fagnus Revolver

April 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 13

Produced by Alexandre Fagnus of Liege, this is a military style, six-shot, .450 caliber revolver with a particularly interesting and unusual unloading mechanism. The rear half of the trigger guard is a lever which can […]

Ljutic Space Gun

April 18, 2017 Ian McCollum 12

Al Ljutic (LEW-tic) was quite the interesting character, from his early days as a professional boxer to his selection for the US 1940 Olympic rifle team, to his eventual primary business making excellent high-end trap […]

Remington-Rider Magazine Pistol

April 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 41

One of many firearms developed for Remington by Joseph Rider was the Rider Magazine Pistol – a manually operated 5-shot repeater chambered for the .32 extra-short rimfire cartridge (the same round used by the Chicago […]

Bern Prototype Carbine: Intermediate Cartridges in the 1920s

April 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 23

Designed by Adolf Furrer, this carbine represents a very early experiment with intermediate power ammunition. It is a long recoil semiautomatic carbine with an under barrel tube magazine – quite the interesting combination of 19th […]

Lamson & Ball Carbine: Henry Meets Spencer (Sort of)

April 15, 2017 Ian McCollum 11

The Lamson & Ball repeating carbine was one of the last Civil War arms manufactured, as an initial order of 1,000 units was placed in June of 1864 but not actually delivered until April and […]

M3 and M3A1 Grease Guns

April 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 67

The US began looking for a cost-effective replacement for the Thompson submachine gun in 1942, and the “Grease Gun” was the result. Designed by George Hyde (a noted firearms designer at the time) and Frederick […]