Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

H&R’s Prototype Simulator, M14, .22 Caliber, Mark I

March 28, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

Harrington & Richardson was one of the main contractors for the M14 rifle program, and they also had been a major producer of the M1 Garand rifle. In particular, H&R had produced a .22 rimfire […]

Arcflash Labs’ EMG-01B Handheld Gauss Pistol

March 26, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

The EMG-01B is a small portable rail gun made by Arcflash Labs. Introduced in 2017, it can throw magnetic dowel pins approximately 1/4″ x 3/4″ (6mm x 19mm) at about 150 fps (45m/s). It does […]

Radical Defense M249FVS: Laser Sintering Meets Lewis Gun

March 25, 2022 Ian McCollum 19

One of the problems with using suppressors on machine guns is that suppressors or generally much more susceptible to heat buildup than the guns themselves. In 2019, US SOCOM put out a request for a […]

The Crimea Catalyst

March 24, 2022 Ian McCollum 50

Editor’s Note: We are posting this article by guest writer David Reeder as some useful background information for current events. The Crimea Catalyst Looking at events in Crimea in 2014 to inform current Russian operations. […]

m/26 Suomi: Aimo Lahti’s First Production Design

March 23, 2022 Ian McCollum 8

Aimo Lahti was the premier firearms designer, and the m/26 was his first significant design. Lahti was a Civil Guard armorer, and upon seeing the Lindelof copy of the Bergmann SMG in 1921 he thought […]

Bren 807: An Economy Model Hybrid of the 805 and Bren 2

March 21, 2022 Ian McCollum 16

The Bren 807 is an interesting hybrid of the Bren 805 and Bren 2. It was introduced by CZ in 2016 as a lower-priced model than the Bren 2. It was offered in both 5.56mm […]

MDRX Micron: A Truly Tiny SBR Bullpup

March 19, 2022 Ian McCollum 4

The MDR has been out in the market for six years now, and DesertTech has been making some improvements. The current production model I called the MDRX, to denote several incremental improvements that have been […]

Ukrainian DShK as Infantry Support Weapon

March 18, 2022 Ian McCollum 20

The initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 stagnated into trench warfare after a few months, and Ukrainian forces found themselves often in entrenched positions 500m or more from Russian opposition. At that range, their […]

In Search of Hard Currency: Prototype 9x19mm vz52 Pistol

March 17, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

The vz.52 pistol was originally adopted by Czechoslovakia as a short-term option, with an intention to quickly replace it with something better. The problem was that without a viable domestic pistol, the Soviet Union would […]

Ukrainian Adaptation of PKTs to Infantry Use

March 15, 2022 Ian McCollum 30

I have had several people send me this video, showing a Ukrainian shop converting PKT machine guns to an infantry configuration. The PK machine gun is used in a lot of Russian armored vehicles, but […]