2020 - Forgotten Weapons

Arcelin Mousqueton: An 1850s Breechloader with a Ludicrous Bayonet

June 26, 2020 Ian McCollum 39

The Arcelin system was a capping breechloader provisionally adopted by the French military in 1854. It was a bolt action system with a folding bolt handle, firing a paper cartridge. It impressed Emperor Louis Napoleon […]

Q&A 42: Books, Machine Guns, Cannons, and Forgotten Weapons by Mail

June 25, 2020 Ian McCollum 33

Q&A time again! This time we have: 00:17 – Favorite military uniform or camo pattern 01:12 – Stockpile of odd ammo? 02:15 – Bolts closing automatically when a new magazine is inserted 04:18 – Filming […]

A Walther copied by Hungary for Egypt: the WALAM 48

June 24, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

The WALAM 48 was a copy of the Walther Model PP made by Fegyver- és Gépgyártó Részvénytársaság (aka FÉG) in Hungary in the years after World War Two. It was originally produced as the 48M […]

Wartime Evolution of the No4 Lee Enfield Rear Sight

June 23, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

Most of the significant wartime simplifications we see on rifles from World War Two are from Germany and Japan, but the rear sight of the No4 Lee Enfield is a good example of a similar […]

WW1 Night Sights: Gewehr 98 and SMLE

June 22, 2020 Ian McCollum 19

Germany, Britain, and France all introduced luminous night sights for their service rifles in 1916. Today we are looking at a Gewehr 98 and an SMLE that have detachable WW1 night sights fitted (and the […]

PCC Showdown: H&K SP5 vs Kalashnikov USA KP9 vs CMMG Banshee

June 20, 2020 Ian McCollum 10

Since SHOT Show this year, I have gotten three different 9mm carbines that are all interesting in their own ways. The Kalashnikov USA KP-9 is a virtual copy of the Russian Vityaz submachine gun, much […]

Samopal vz.58: The Czechoslovakian Answer to the AK

June 19, 2020 Ian McCollum 114

Among the nations of the Warsaw Pact, only Czechoslovakia designed and produced its own infantry assault rifle – everyone else used the Kalashnikov. The Czech vz.58 is often mistaken for an AK because it has […]

The Worst AK Build I Have Ever Seen, Bar None

June 18, 2020 Ian McCollum 48

This AK was purchased by someone I know, and it is so utterly awful that I just had to put it on camera. I’m obscured the name of the shop that did the build because […]

S&W Chemical Company 37mm Gas Gun

June 17, 2020 Ian McCollum 19

The Smith & Wesson company was purchased by the Bangor Punta conglomerate in 1964, and BP also owned one of the early pioneers in police tear gas products, the Lake Erie Chemical Company. Once it […]

High Speed Low Drag in the 30s: Arisaka QD Sling

June 16, 2020 Ian McCollum 6

People tend to think of quick-detach slings as the stuff of nylon and fast-ex buckles, but these things have actually been around for a long time. One example is this Japanese Arisaka sling. Using two […]