Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

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

March 20, 2026 Ian McCollum 0

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 3

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 […]

Moons Out 2026 Night Rifle Match by Nocturn Industries (Night 2)

March 14, 2026 Ian McCollum 0

Moons Out is the premier annual night vision rifle match, held at the Echo Valley Training Center in West Virginia. This year I am shooting in the Passive division, using a CMMG Banshee 9mm carbine […]

Moons Out 2026 Night Rifle Match by Nocturn Industries (Night 1)

March 13, 2026 Ian McCollum 0

Moons Out is the premier annual night vision rifle match, held at the Echo Valley Training Center in West Virginia. This year I am shooting in the Passive division, using a CMMG Banshee 9mm carbine […]

Clearing Bannerman’s Island: Tales from the Golden Age of Surplus

March 11, 2026 Ian McCollum 3

The Bannerman family decided to sell Bannerman’s Island tot he state of New York in the 1950s, but the sale required that they first clear all the ordnance off it. That was no simple task, […]

Madsen Model 1945: A Rather Unusual SMG

March 9, 2026 Ian McCollum 20

At the end of World War Two, the Danish Madsen company wanted to replace its production of licensed Suomi submachine guns with a design of its own. The result was the Model 1945, a quite […]

Will FRTs Kill Machine Gun Values? (feat. DIAS)

March 7, 2026 Ian McCollum 32

When bump stocks made their appearance on the market, people suggested that they might cause a drop in the value of registered transferrable machine guns. That didn’t happen, largely because bump stocks were tricky to […]

Eugene Stoner’s Future Assault Rifle Concept (F.A.R.C.)

March 6, 2026 Ian McCollum 57

After developing the AR-15 with Armalite, Eugene Stoner worked for a number of different companies. In 1972 he cofounded Ares Inc, where he and his partners worked on a wide variety of weapons platforms. Their […]

Adventures in Surplus! Type 38 Arisaka Carbine in World War One

March 4, 2026 Ian McCollum 8

“Forged in Snow”, my book on Finnish small arms, is available for pre-order right now along with all the other cool options at: https://www.headstamppublishing.com In the fall of 1914 it became apparent that the minor […]