2021 - Forgotten Weapons

How Does it Work: Short Recoil Operation

January 19, 2021 Ian McCollum 38

Short recoil is the most common system used today in self-loading handguns, and it also used to be fairly popular in machine gun designs. The basic principle is that the bolt and barrel (in a […]

Pistols of Denmark’s Artist-Turned-Inventor Bent Agner Nielsen

January 18, 2021 Ian McCollum 16

Bent Agner Nielsen was a Danish tinkerer born in 1925, who studied art as a young man and worked as a painter. In the 1970s he became interested in firearms, beginning with engraving work. This […]

Terrible 2-Gun: Lebel, 1892 Revolver, and a WW1 Gas Mask

January 16, 2021 Ian McCollum 35

Today, I thought it would be fun (or at least interesting) to shoot a 2-gun match in a reproduction World War One gas mask and helmet. Specifically, a French M2 pattern, which was used extensively […]

Indian 4-Shot Repeating Matchlock Toradar

January 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

Today, courtesy of Mike Carrick from Arms Heritage magazine, we are taking a look at a quite old Indian matchlock “toradar”. Not just any matchlock, but one with a 4-shot revolving cylinder. Matchlocks appeared in […]

Rifles of Simo Häyhä: The World’s Greatest Sniper (w/ 9 Hole Reviews)

January 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 26

In light of the approaching Finnish Brutality: The Winter War match, I though we could take a look at the two rifles associated with the world’s most successful sniper: Simo Häyhä. Häyhä was born in […]

The First SMLE Trials Rifles: Lessons From the Boer War

January 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 41

In the aftermath of the Boer War, the British military needed to address critical issues of practical marksmanship with its troops. The Long Lee rifles it had deployed to South Africa suffered significant problems in […]

Modernizing a Classic: the Brownells BRN-180 Project

January 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

Today I am chatting with Paul Levy of Brownells about their BRN-180 upper; a modernization of the original Armalite AR-180. This particular project is an interesting combination of recreating an older design but simultaneously modernizing […]

“NATO Burp Guns” – Winchester’s 1950s Experimental SMGs

January 11, 2021 Ian McCollum 35

In the mid 1950s, the Winchester company designed a compact 9mm submachine gun for military use. It was internally called the. “NATO Burp Gun”, and according to Winchester historian Herbert House, was developed in part […]

First Range Trip with a Type 96 Nambu LMG (I Think I’m in Love)

January 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 36

What goes into preparing a gun for filming? Function checking, zeroing, and generally building some familiarity. Today we will go through that process with a Japanese Type 96 Nambu LMG. Rather like some French guns, […]

Curators Speak Out: Danny and Ashley on the World of Firearms Museums

January 8, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

When I posted my video last week about some of the problems with museum firearms collections, I touched on issues that Danny Michael and Ashley Hlebinsky deal with on a daily basis. They invited me […]