2020 - Forgotten Weapons

Shooting an Original Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon

October 18, 2020 Ian McCollum 6

Several years ago, my friend Joe Lozen had an opportunity to fire an original Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon. He kindly sent me this clip – it is the only footage of one of these actually firing […]

The Most Popular Percussion Colts: 1848 Baby Dragoon and 1849 Pocket

October 17, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

The most-produced Colt percussion revolver was not one of the big sexy Army models, but rather the humble 1849 Pocket. It was first introduced as the Model 1848 Baby Dragoon, in .31 caliber. By 1850, […]

CETME Paratrooper Top-Folding Stock

October 16, 2020 Ian McCollum 5

Spain adopted the CETME Modelo B rifle for service in 1958. These early rifles were chambered for the reduced-pressure 7.62mm CETME cartridge, and had a few other unique features. Some of these were made with […]

The 1843 Side-Lever Hall Carbine by Simeon North

October 15, 2020 Ian McCollum 8

The final production version of the Hall was Simeon North’s Model 1843 Carbine, of which 10,500 were made between 1844 and 1853. It used North’s percussion update to the design, and a cleverly simple calming […]

Polytech AKS – The First Wave of Semiauto Chinese AK Rifles

October 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 14

The first semiauto commercial AK rifles to enter the US were Finnish Valmets. These established a US collector interested but while excellent in quality, they did not quite fit the visual pattern of the classic […]

Bilharz Hall & Co : A Crude Confederate Cavalry Carbine Copy

October 13, 2020 Ian McCollum 7

In 1863, the Bilharz, Hall, & Co firm of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia (now Chatham VA) received a contract to make 1,000 examples of a simple percussion cavalry carbine modeled after the US Model 1855 […]

The Last Swiss Battle Rifle: SIG-Manurhin 542 (in .243)

October 12, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

After the failure of the SIG 530 rifle (a gas operated, roller locked design), SIG looked for a much simpler rifle design, in both operation and manufacture. Wheat they came up with was fundamentally AK-like, […]

Valkyrie Silenced DeLisle Carbine at the Range

October 10, 2020 Ian McCollum 18

The DeLisle carbine was a conversion of the Lee Enfield to .45 ACP made by the British during World War Two for SOE use. They used modified 1911 magazines to feed, and included a very […]

Vetterli-Ferracciu for the Italian Navy

October 9, 2020 Ian McCollum 7

The Italian military adopted the single-shot Vetterli rifle in 1870, and by 1882 the Italian Navy was looking for something with a bit more firepower. The proceeded to adopt the Vetterli-Bertoldo in 1882, a version […]

1926 Tula-Korovin: The First Soviet Semiauto Pistol

October 8, 2020 Ian McCollum 17

Sergei Korovin was a Russian designer who was kicked out of the Kharkov Technical Institute in 1905 for his revolutionary political activities. He emigrated to Liege in Belgium, where he worked in the arms industry […]