2024 - Forgotten Weapons

P99: The Pistol that Rejuvenated Walther

November 20, 2024 Ian McCollum 21

For a couple decades after World War Two, Walther survived on legacy designs – the PP/PPK and P38 (eventually made with an aluminum frame as the P4) primarily. In the 1970s they developed the P5 […]

Single-Rune bnz43 SS Contract K98k

November 18, 2024 Ian McCollum 17

In 1942, the SS devised a plan to rent out concentration camp labor to companies in the German armaments industry. Several different rifle production lines were set up to make use of this source of […]

Franchi SPAS-12 at the Range

November 16, 2024 Ian McCollum 29

Today I’m taking the SPAS-12 out to the range, to try a variety of ammunition and see what runs in it. The SPAS is a gas-operated shotgun that can be switched to manual pump operation […]

A DAO Service Revolver in the Civil War: the Pettengill Army

November 15, 2024 Ian McCollum 8

The Pettengill revolver is a 6-shot, muzzleloading double-action-only system designed and patented by C.S. Pettengill in 1856, and improved by Edward Raymond and Charles Robitaille in 1858. In 1859, the Rogers & Spencer company was […]

Colt Boa: Rarest of the Snake Revolvers

November 13, 2024 Ian McCollum 20

Of the seven revolvers Colt named after snakes, the rarest is the Colt Boa. Only a single production run of these were made totaling just 1,200 guns. They were made in 1985 as a custom […]

Spoils of War: French Occupation-Production Mauser K98k svwMB

November 11, 2024 Ian McCollum 9

Allied troops occupied the Mauser factory complex in Oberndorf in April of 1945, right at the end of the war. The factory was put under French administration and by May that same year production lines […]

Shooting a WWII German 50mm Light Mortar (L.Gr.W.36)

November 9, 2024 Ian McCollum 18

The standard German light mortar in World War Two was the model 1936 5cm Leichter Granatwerfer. It was a very precise (Germanic, one might say) machine, and a bubble lever for careful aiming, and it […]

G33/40: Special Carbine for the Gebirgsjager

November 8, 2024 Ian McCollum 4

When the Germans took over control of the Czechoslovakian arms industry, they took some time to work out what out to be mass produced at the Brno factory. In the interim, they decided to restart […]

SPAS-12: Franchi’s Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun

November 6, 2024 Ian McCollum 10

Enter to win this iconic SPAS-12! https://www.fanathem.com/forgottenweapons Deadline to enter is 11/22/24 @11:59 PM PST Franchi introduced the Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun (SPAS-12) for Italian military and police agencies in 1979 and it quickly because […]

Beretta M38A vs Suomi kp/31 (w/ John Keene)

November 4, 2024 Ian McCollum 64

If you had to pick one, would you take an early Beretta 38A (with bayonet), or a Finnish kp/31 Suomi? Both have semiauto selectors, although the Beretta’s its easier to use. The Suomi has a […]