2025 - Forgotten Weapons

Pienoiskivääri m/91 Finnish .22 Mosin Trainer

November 21, 2025 Ian McCollum 1

This and all the other Finnish Mosins are detailed in my new book “Forged in Snow”: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=b8ft1r In the 1920s the Finnish Defense Forces wanted a reduced-power training rifle to allow low-cost marksmanship practice and […]

Aly & Kaufman AKB-23: Better Than the SA80 / L85

November 19, 2025 Ian McCollum 47

Penguin Brutality t-shirt available from Varusteleka: https://varusteleka.com/en/products/forgotten-weapons-penguin-brutality-t-shirt The Aly & Kaufman AKB-23 is a set of parts that allows one to use a Brownells BRN-180 upper to create an SA80 / L85 lookalike. It’s a […]

T20 Family: Springfield Makes the Garand a Grenade Launching Sniper Machine Gun

November 17, 2025 Ian McCollum 29

Late in 1944 the Ordnance Committee recommended adoption of a magazine-fed, select-fire version of the M1 Garand as a new standard US infantry rifle. Both Springfield and Remington developed rifles to meet the requirement, with […]

m/27PH aka m/37: Finland’s First Standard Sniper Rifle (and it’s really bad)

November 14, 2025 Ian McCollum 4

Join the Forged in Snow launch here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=55a9yv The m27PH, aka the m/37, was the first standardized Finnish sniper rifle. It was developed as part of the plan to make a whole family of m/27 […]

Rideout Arsenal Dragon: A New Low-Bore-Axis Lever-Delayed Pistol

November 12, 2025 Ian McCollum 35

Wauser t-shirt available from Varusteleka: https://varusteleka.com/en/products/forgotten-weapons-wauser-cotton-t-shirt The Rideout Arsenal Dragon is a very interesting new pistol from an independent entrepreneurial designer, Travis Rideout. It is a lever-delayed action with a very low bore axis and […]

Adventures in Surplus! Finnish M28 “Ski Trooper”

November 10, 2025 Ian McCollum 14

Get your exclusive preorder copy of Forged in Snow today! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=3xnziv Today we are going to take a look at just how much historical be read from the features and markings of an individual rifle. […]

Drum-Fed LMG for Chinese Warlords: the Finnish LS-26/31

November 8, 2025 Ian McCollum 29

Join the Forged in Snow launch here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=2sw39d After the Finnish Defense Forces adopted the LS26 light machine gun, Aimo Lahti and the Tikkakoski factory continued to work on further developing it. They designed a […]

MY NEW BOOK! Forged in Snow: Finnish Small Arms 1917-2025

November 6, 2025 Ian McCollum 4

Join the book launch on Kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=f1ouec Forged in Snow: Finnish Small Arms 1917 – 2025 is a reference guide to military firearms manufactured and modified in Finland. Intended for collectors and historians alike, […]

AK50: How Hard Could it Be? Brandon Herrera’s 10-Year Project

November 5, 2025 Ian McCollum 48

Scaling the AK up to .50 BMG…how hard could it be? Today we find out, with a detailed looks at all threee iterations of Brandon Herrera’s AK-50 project.

Apache Arms Carbine: A Saga of Compliance and Crappy Manufacture

November 3, 2025 Ian McCollum 20

The Apache Arms carbine was a Thompson SMG lookalike that was made in small numbers in the late 1960s. It was the successor to the Spitfire carbine made by the same people, after the Spitfire […]