2026 - Forgotten Weapons

Sweden’s Green Trials Galil: the FFV-890C

August 3, 2026 Ian McCollum 10

When Sweden decided to replace the AK-4 (a license-built H&K G3) with a 5.56mm rifle in the 1970s, they tested nearly every potential rifle on the market. Only two survived the stringent Swedish arctic trials; […]

Origins of Tiger Stripe: British Windproof and French Lizard Camouflage

August 1, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

Reserve your copy of “Tiger Stripe: The Vietnam Camouflage Story” on Kickstarter today: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/tiger-stripe?ref=evt699 Today I am speaking with Owen Thornton (author of Headstamp’s new book on Tiger Stripe camo) about the origins on Tiger […]

Q&A July 2026: Elbonian SMGs and HICAR (Feat. Comrade Clower of Type 56)

July 31, 2026 Ian McCollum 22

Tired of YouTube unsubscribing you or just not showing you my videos? Join Patreon and get a regular feed of ad-free videos: http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons 01:05 – Elbonian service handguns and training 06:16 – My contrarian views? […]

Announcing “Tiger Stripe: The Vietnam Camouflage Story” from Headstamp Publishing

July 30, 2026 Ian McCollum 13

Reserve your copy of “Tiger Stripe: The Vietnam Camouflage Story” on Kickstarter today: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/tiger-stripe?ref=45nn7u With historical roots based in the “Lizard” camouflage patterns worn by French colonial troops in Indochina in the years following the […]

Canadian No4 MkI(T) “Trade Pattern” Sniper w/ Lyman Alaskan

July 29, 2026 Ian McCollum 13

During World War Two, the Canadian military adopted the No4 MkI (T) Enfield as their standard sniper’s rifle, and placed an order for 441 of them from the Long Branch arsenal. However, after receiving just […]

Only for Algerian Terrorists: The Sola Super and Sola Leger SMGs

July 27, 2026 Ian McCollum 19

Sola (Société Luxembourgeoise d’Arms) was a company in Luxembourg that attempted to get into the arms business in the 1950s making simple, stamped 9mm open-bolt submachine guns. They produced two models, the Solar Super and […]

Aimpoint Square: An Ambitious Failed Prototype

July 24, 2026 Ian McCollum 6

Between 1990 and 1993, Aimpoint experimented with a red dot optics that was pretty ambitious on several fronts. It used a rectangular window to maximize field of view for hunting rifles and shotguns (this was […]

Silenced SOE Lugers: Setting Europe Aflame Before the Welrod

July 22, 2026 Ian McCollum 33

In the early days of World War Two, Britain had a branch of the SIS for sabotage operations, called Section D. It became part of Special Operations Executive in 1940, but in the early days […]

Prototype SAKO Boy’s Rifle Version of the m/39

July 20, 2026 Ian McCollum 3

My Finnish guns book “Forged in Snow” is available for preorder here: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/forged-in-snow In 1944, SAKO made two prototype boy’s rifles. They were intended to be used by essentially Boy Scout type organizations for both […]

Testing 9×39 SP6 AP Ammo Against Body Armor

July 17, 2026 Ian McCollum 28

Today I have a chance to test out a couple rounds of SP6 armor-piercing 9x39mm ammo, using an ex-Russian AS Val rifle. First I’ll try an MNIJ Level 3A soft vest, which is rated for […]