December, 2025 - Forgotten Weapons

The Extremely Rare Folding Stock Beretta 38/43

December 12, 2025 Ian McCollum 2

The Beretta Model 38 SMG was a very successful design, and a folding-stocked version of it was a natural development. Beretta first made a prototype of such a thing in 1941, but it never went […]

Small Arms of the Cold War: NATO Battle Rifles – Book Now Shipping!

December 11, 2025 Ian McCollum 1

Available and shipping now from: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/cold-war-battle Sorry to our European folks, but the copies allocated to the European shipping center have already sold out, so we can only fulfill orders from the US. The Battle […]

T31: Garand’s Bizarre Bullpup

December 10, 2025 Ian McCollum 17

The T31 was John Garand’s last project during his employment at Springfield Armory. It was proposed in 1948 as a bullpup configuration rifle to minimize muzzle blast and flash. It was a select-fire rifle with […]

Steyr M1912/16 Automatic “Repetierpistole”

December 8, 2025 Ian McCollum 6

In the latter half of World War One the Austro-Hungarian military experimented with a number of select-fire pistol type weapons. One of these was the Steyr Repetierpistole M1912/16, an automatic adaptation of the regular M1912 […]

Why the M7 and 6.8x51mm are Bad Ideas: Welcome to my TED Talk

December 6, 2025 Ian McCollum 62

NATO Cold War Battle Rifles and much more: https://www.headstamppublishing.com Cappy Army video on the SIG M7A1: CBJ Armor Piecing ammunition: The plan to replace the 5.56mm M4 Carbine with the 6.8mm M7 as the US […]

“Forged in Snow” Launch Ends Tonight: Livestream Announcement!

December 5, 2025 Ian McCollum 1

You still have a few hours to get in on the discount and the Kickstarter Exclusive “frozen” cover: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=4esibx

Walther’s Forgotten SMG: The MPK (and MPL)

December 3, 2025 Ian McCollum 29

https://youtu.be/3qElfsloKH8 Walther began developing a modern stamped sheet metal SMG in the late 1950s, and it entered production in 1963. It was an open-bolt, simple blowback gun available in a short (MPK; 6.75” barrel) and […]

The First M60 Prototype: FG42 + MG42 = T44

December 1, 2025 Ian McCollum 56

The FG-42 caught the attention of a lot of countries at the end of World War Two. The British and Swiss both used it as the starting point for some developments. The US went one […]