Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Potato Digger at War: Marlin Model 1917 Machine Gun

August 27, 2025 Ian McCollum 17

John Browning’s first machine gun design was a gas operated system that used a swinging lever instead of a linear piston. He presented the first prototype to Colt in 1890, and it went into production […]

“The World’s Assault Rifles”: Essential for any Firearms Library

August 26, 2025 Ian McCollum 0

Available from Chipotle Publishing: https://chipotlepublishing.com/product/the-worlds-assault-rifles/ I am often asked about what books someone interested in firearms should get. That’s a really hard question to answer because most good books have a pretty narrow focus, but […]

Soviet World War Two 50mm Light Mortars (RM-39 & RM-40)

August 25, 2025 Ian McCollum 20

The Soviet Union decided to adopt a 50mm light mortar in 1937 as a company-level armament. The first such weapon they used was the RM-38, introduced in 1938. It was a complex design, with a […]

OSS Lockpick Pocketknife for Secret Intelligence Operatives

August 23, 2025 Ian McCollum 23

In early 1944, the Office of Strategic Services purchase 1,000 specialized pocketknives made by Schrade. Instead of regular blades and tools, these were lock picking knives, with one small blade, three different picks, and two […]

Pauly/Roux Pistols: The First Self-Contained Cartridges

August 22, 2025 Ian McCollum 4

EDIT: Please note that apparently the Priestel book I used as a major source for this video is partially incorrect, in that Pauly did create a traditional percussion system in France. The fire piston / […]

A Modern Integrally Suppressed Pistol for Everyone: The SilencerCo Maxim 9

August 20, 2025 Ian McCollum 40

SilencerCo announced the Maxim-9 pistol in late 2015. Having gone through some huge growth of the past few years, the company wanted to expand its capabilities and thought that the time was right for a […]

The Official American Boy Scout Rifle: Remington 4-S

August 15, 2025 Ian McCollum 10

The scouting concept exploded into the American culture after 1907, with a multitude of local, regional, and national organizations setting up in the years before World War One. Among these was the American Boy Scouts, […]

Interdynamic MP-9 SMG: Origin of the TEC-9

August 13, 2025 Ian McCollum 28

The story of the Tec-9 begins with a Swedish company called Interdynamic AB and their designer Göran Lars Magnus Kjellgren designing a cheap and simple submachine gun for military use. It found no interested clients, […]

Baker Pattern 1800 Rifle for Napoleonic Wars Sharpshooters

August 11, 2025 Ian McCollum 10

The British military decided to organize their disparate small units of riflemen into a single standardized group in 1800. The 95th Regiment – the British Rifle Corps – was founded and it was equipped with […]

Four-Barrel Mule Ear Custom Rifle from the 1850s

August 9, 2025 Ian McCollum 16

This is a custom rifle made by gunsmith P.E. Hall of Ashtabula, Ohio most likely between 1848 and 1854. It has a cluster of four .36 caliber rifles barrels (24 inches long) in an octagonal […]