2026 - Forgotten Weapons

Conch Fritters & Cuban Bread: Arms of the Conch Republic

April 1, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

Check out the full Conch Republic history video on @DeepDiveWithIan : More details on the Conch Republic Military Forces: http://www.conchrepublicmilitaryforces.com Conch Battle Hymn in full, sung by Conch First Sea Lord Finbar Gittelman here:

TRW Low Maintenance Rifle: America’s Roller Locked Flechette Rifle

March 30, 2026 Ian McCollum 50

TRW’s Low Maintenance Rifle seems to have been the result of a program to use a blank slate and a modern space age scientific mindset to develop a rifle that would be more reliable and […]

Using Thermal in a Night Vision Match (Moons Out 2026)

March 28, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

I am really interested in the use of thermal optics for night shooting. As we can see from lots of footage in Ukraine, thermal imaging is a really important technology in modern warfare, and IR […]

Austrian Mosin Nagant Rifles Rechambered for 8x50mm in WWI

March 27, 2026 Ian McCollum 17

The Austro-Hungarian Empire captured a very large number of Mosin Nagant rifles from Russian forces during World War One. They decided as early as November 1914 to convert many of these rifles to the 8x50mm […]

Austrian Sniper Prototype: SSG-1917A4 (M1917 and 03A4 Springfield Hybrid)

March 25, 2026 Ian McCollum 12

In the years after World War Two when the Austrian Army began looking for new sniper rifles, one of their experiments was to use available M1917 rifles and M73B1 scopes (from M1903A4 sniper rifles). The […]

M15 Automatic Rifle (aka T44E5): Adopted But Not Produced

March 23, 2026 Ian McCollum 59

When the US replaced the M1 Garand, the plan was to adopt both a select-fire infantry rifle and a heavy-barreled support weapon on the same platform. During development, both the T44 (later M14) and T48 […]

Laugo Alien Remus: Making the Best Pistol Better

March 21, 2026 Ian McCollum 7

The Remus is the new version of the Laugo Alien pistol. It was released about a year ago, and just recently also made available in a left-handed version – which I have been eagerly awaiting. […]

March 2026 Q&A: Introduction to Night Vision (w/ PSR, Brass Facts, Hop, Luke, & Kit Badger)

March 20, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

I took the opportunity to film this month’s Q&A at the Moon Out 2026 night rifle match, where I was joined by Hop, Brass Facts, Kit Badger, Luke (Ballistic Aviation), and PSR. These guys have […]

Lithuanian Model 24L Mauser

March 18, 2026 Ian McCollum 0

The history of early Lithuanian small arms usage is hard to trace, as most records were destroyed over the course of a German invasion, two Russian invasions, and a 50-year communist occupation. When Lithuania gained […]

US Army M68 Close Combat Optic aka Aimpoint CompM Series

March 16, 2026 Ian McCollum 4

When Aimpoint entered the competition for a US Army standard-issue combat optic in the 1990s, they really didn’t expect to win. The other finalists were Trijicon and Meprolite, and it seems like a safe bet […]