April, 2022 - Forgotten Weapons

A Belgian Sten Replacement: Vigneron M2 at the Range

April 30, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

The Vigneron was adopted to replace the Sten in Belgian service – so is it actually better than the Sten? In my opinion, yes. The sights and overall handling are better. The pistol grip is […]

Vigneron M2: Belgium’s Little-Known Post-War SMG

April 29, 2022 Ian McCollum 26

After World War Two, the Belgian military wanted to replace its many Sten guns with a better standard SMG. The solution was designed by Colonel Georges Vigneron in 1953, and adopted by all branches of […]

Reject Modernity; Embrace Tradition: The Type 95 Shin Gunto

April 28, 2022 Ian McCollum 9

“Swords of the Emperor” still available for discounted preorder – get your copy today! https://www.headstamppublishing.com/swords When Japan opened up to the outside world and began to industrialize in the late 1800s, it instituted major military […]

HK Ziel Punkt Projektor: A Flashlight For Aiming

April 27, 2022 Ian McCollum 23

In the late 1970s, H&K partnered with Hensoldt to create the ZP/AP (Ziel/Aiming; Projektor/Projector) and then ZPP/APP (Ziel/Aiming; Punkt/Point; Projektor/Projector). This was essentially a calibrated flashlight with an aiming point and pressure switch. It projected […]

Origins of a Book: Japanese Swords with Nic Jenzen-Jones & Stephen Weese

April 26, 2022 Ian McCollum 2

Nic Jenzen-Jones and Stephen Weese talk today about some of the background of Headstamp Publications’ newest book, “SWORDS OF THE EMPEROR: A Guide to the Identification of Imperial Japanese Swords, 1873 – 1945”. Nic and […]

Swedish K Comparison: Model m/45 v m/45B

April 25, 2022 Ian McCollum 15

Since I have the rather unusual opportunity to examine both the early Swedish m/45 and the improved m/45B at the same time, I figured this would be a good opportunity for a video. There were […]

Danish Madsen-Saetter GPMG at the Range

April 23, 2022 Ian McCollum 7

The Madsen-Saetter is a general purpose machine gun that had the unfortunate luck to compete against the MG42/MG3 and FN MAG. It is a quite nice gun to shoot, but not quite up to the […]

Madsen Saetter: Denmark’s Remarkable Unsuccessful GPMG

April 22, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

The Maden-Saetter was the Madsen (DISA) company’s entry into the GPMG arena. It Wass developed by Eric Larsen-Saetter in the early 1950s, although it did not enter production until 1960. The design was heavily German-influenced, […]

Historical Comparison: Finland’s Winter War vs Russian Invasion of Ukraine

April 21, 2022 Ian McCollum 50

I have been reading about the Winter War in past few months as part of my work on a book about Finnish small arms, and I have been really struck by the similarity in images […]

Beretta SCS-70 for Italian Special Forces

April 20, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

The SCS-70 (Special Carbine, Short) is a version of the standard Beretta AR-70 rifle made for Italian special forces use. It has a 12.7” barrel, no gas cutoff or rifle grenade capability, pistol grip storage […]