December, 2022 - Forgotten Weapons

Vektor Mini-SS: South Africa’s Answer to the FN Minimi

December 9, 2022 Ian McCollum 37

While under international embargo and at war in the late 1970s, South Africa needed a new 7.62mm GPMG. The answer was Vektor’s SS77, a design which would replace the FN MAG in South African service […]

Colt vs Collier: Patents Lawsuits and Lawyers Oh My!

December 8, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

“Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers of Elisha Collier and Artemas Wheeler” is available right now for preorder on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/clockwork-basilisk?ref=7zdbzu Most of the historical recognition of Elisha Collier comes from the 1851 and 1852 patent […]

MSBS Grot: The Complete History of Poland’s New Army Rifle

December 7, 2022 Ian McCollum 9

The MSBS Grot is Poland’s current military service rifle, and has gone through several iterations in the many years of its development that led to its current 2nd generation form. It is best known in […]

How the No2 Revolver Lost its Hammer Spur (A Correction & A Story)

December 6, 2022 Ian McCollum 35

In my previous video on the Albion-production No2 revolvers, I said that the removal of the single action capability and hammer spur from the design was done because of problems armored vehicle crews had with […]

Tobacco of the Emperor: Japanese WW2 Military Cigarettes and More

December 5, 2022 Ian McCollum 11

Pre-order your copy of Tobacco of the Emperor today! Today I’m happy to have Patrick Phillips with me, author of the upcoming Headstamp book “Tobacco of the Emperor”. We are going to look at several […]

Bonus Material: Flux Raider at Desert Brutality 2022

December 4, 2022 Ian McCollum 2

I ran Desert Brutality 2022 this year with a B&T USW-320; a modern stocked pistol chassis for the SIG 320 pistol. One similar product on the market right now is the Flux Defense Raider, and […]

Evaluating the Modern Stocked Pistol: USW-320 at Desert Brutality 2022

December 3, 2022 Ian McCollum 12

This year I was able to shoot Desert Brutality twice – one during the normal match and once the day before as part of “Trooper” division. That’s where you carry all of your gear for […]

Iceland’s Domestic Guns: The Drífa and Others

December 2, 2022 Ian McCollum 7

Today I have the very cool opportunity to bring you a history of Icelandic domestic firearms manufacturing, courtesy of the Veiðisafnið – the Hunting Museum of Iceland: https://www.hunting.is/english/ The first documented record of a firearm […]

Clockwork to Percussion: Collier Revolver Types and Timeline

December 1, 2022 Ian McCollum 16

“Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers of Elisha Collier and Artemas Wheeler” is available right now for preorder on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/clockwork-basilisk?ref=1s3pxu What were the different patterns of Collier, and what was the timeline of their development […]