2025 - Forgotten Weapons

ATF Hates This One Trick to Get a Short Barreled Shotgun!

July 20, 2025 Ian McCollum 16

How can you have a 12ga with a 14″ barrel but not have it be an NFA-regulated Short Barreled Shotgun? And how can you have a .410 shotgun-firing pistol that isn’t an NFA-regulated Any Other […]

H&R Handy Gun: A Smoothbore Pistol Killed Off by the NFA

July 19, 2025 Ian McCollum 11

The Handy Gun was introduced by Harrington & Richardson in 1924. H&R took their Model 1915 single-barrel break-action shotgun and cut it down into a handgun. It got a pistol grip and an 8” barrel, […]

Fox .32: Police Prototype of CZ’s First Pistol

July 18, 2025 Ian McCollum 23

Alois Tomiška, best know for the Little Tom pistol, was one of the original founders of the South Bohemia Armory, which became CZ of Strakonice. The first pistol produced by the company was his “Fox” […]

CZ247: Experimental Swivel-Action SMG

July 16, 2025 Ian McCollum 11

The CZ247 was developed for Czechoslovakia’s post-war submachine gun trials, where it was pitted against the ZB47. It was a simple blowback 9x19mm SMG with a number of interesting elements, most notably the ability to […]

Roller Delay in France: The H&K 33F (Trials & Export Models)

July 14, 2025 Ian McCollum 15

Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten When France was looking to replace the MAS 49/56 rifle for military service in the 1970s, it tested all of the major rifle options available. […]

Valmet M78 vs FN-D (w/ John Keene)

July 12, 2025 Ian McCollum 46

If you had to pick one, would you take a Valmet M78 (in 7.62mm NATO) or an FN-D (in .30-06)? Both are reliable and well-made machine guns and they use essentially the same caliber. The […]

ASAC Foundation Arms Research Grants & Scholarships

July 11, 2025 Ian McCollum 3

ASAC Foundation Grant and Scholarship Applications: Grants and Scholarships About the ASAC Foundation: ASAC Foundation ASAC Reference Articles: 2020-2029 Articles ASAC Research Reports: Research Reports By ASAC Members

AK fm/54: Prototype Swedish Paratrooper Rifle

July 9, 2025 Ian McCollum 15

Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/home-forgotten As Sweden experimented with updating the AG42 Ljungman in the 1950s, one of the intermediate patterns was the fm/54. This took the 7.62mm NATO short […]

URZ: Czech Prototype Universal Modular Weapon

July 7, 2025 Ian McCollum 24

The URZ (Univerzální Ruční Zbraň, or Universal Hand Weapon) was a 1966 project designed by Jiří Čermák (designer of the vz.58 rifle). He envisioned a weapons system family with largely interchangeable elements that could be […]

FK Brno 7.5mm at the BackUp Gun Match

July 5, 2025 Ian McCollum 45

The FK Brno is a take on the classic CZ75 pistol made in the Czech Republic. It was originally released as a boutique steel-framed gun, and then later as a much more affordable polymer-framed model. […]