March, 2018 - Forgotten Weapons

George Hyde’s First Submachine Gun: The Hyde Model 33

March 11, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

George Hyde was a gun designer who is due substantial credit, but whose name is rarely heard, because he did not end up with his name on an iconic firearm. Hyde was a German immigrant […]

Darne “Canardière Portatif” Shoulder-Fired Punt Gun

March 10, 2018 Ian McCollum 19

In the days when market hunting was a normal practice, hunters would use pretty huge shotguns to harvest large numbers of waterfowl. These were called punt guns, named after the small shallow-draft boats which they […]

Shooting the M3A1 Grease Gun

March 9, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

The M3 (and its followup improved M3A1 model) was the United States’ answer to the high cost and manufacturing complexity of the Thompson submachine gun. The M3 “Grease Gun” (because really, that is what it […]

M20 75mm Recoilless Rifle: When the Bazooka Just Won’t Cut It

March 8, 2018 Ian McCollum 46

The M20 75mm Recoilless Rifle was developed starting in 1944 as a replacement for the 3.5” bazooka in an antitank role. It was developed and produced in parallel with a 57mm recoilless rifle (the M18), […]

Porter Turret Rifle (2nd Variation) – Unsafe in Any Direction

March 7, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

The Porter Turret Rifle was patented in 1851 by Perry W. Porter, and is a vertical turret design – meaning that it has a revolving cylinder in which the chambers are aligned pointing outward radially […]

Parallel-Bore Side by Side Shotgun – Look Ma, No Rib!

March 6, 2018 Ian McCollum 17

Virtually all side by side shotguns are not actually made with the barrels parallel – they are made pointing just slightly together, so that the shot patterns will converge and meet up at a particular […]

The Uzi Submachine Gun: Excellent or Overrated?

March 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

The Israeli Uzi has become a truly iconic submachine gun through both its military use and its Hollywood stunts – but how effective is it really? I found this fully automatic Uzi Model A to […]

SC Robinson Confederate Sharps Carbine

March 4, 2018 Ian McCollum 6

During the Civil War, the Confederacy was perpetually in serious need of armaments, as the South did not have the amount of industrial infrastructure that the North did. This led to many attempts at arms […]

Nock’s Volley Gun: Clearing the Decks in the 1700s

March 3, 2018 Ian McCollum 27

The Nock Volley Gun was actually invented by an Englishman named James Wilson in 1789, and presented to the British military as a potential infantry weapons. This was declined as impractical, but the Royal Navy […]

Colt R75A: The Last Commercial BAR (With Shooting)

March 2, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

The R75A was the last version of Colt’s commercial BAR, with 832 made between August and December of 1942 for the Netherlands Purchasing Commission. It was a derivative of the commercial R75 BAR, with a […]