Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

How Does It Work: Toggle Actions

June 3, 2021 Ian McCollum 25

Toggle actions are a relatively exotic locking system that are relatively common and well-known because the system was used in a pair of particularly successful early guns: the Luger and Maxim/Vickers. There have also been […]

Portugal’s Model 1886 Trooper’s Model Abadie Revolver

June 2, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

Isaac Abadie’s gate-loading system was a significant improvement in revolver technology in the 19th century, and Portugal was one of the first to adopt it. The initial Portuguese model was adopted in 1878 specifically for […]

How William Fairbairn Created the Modern SWAT Team in Warlord Era Shanghai

June 1, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

The Kickstarter for my new book, “Pistols of the Warlords” is live here! William E. Fairbairn is best know for his work with Eric Sykes and their “”Commando” knife design during World War Two. However, […]

Mauser 1912/14 Development in .45ACP

May 31, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

Mauser did not limit their Model 1912 and 1912/14 pistols to just being chambered in 9mm – they also developed a number of prototypes in .45ACP. Today we have a series of three such prototypes […]

How Russia Captured its First MKb-42(H)

May 30, 2021 Ian McCollum 99

This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. When a new weapon model gets to the front, there is always a risk of it getting captured by the enemy. Armed forces go to great lengths to […]

An Economy Model WWSD: The Civil Defense Rifle

May 29, 2021 Ian McCollum 47

The initial rollout of the WWSD2020 rifles has been slow, as a shortage in a couple key components (primarily carbon fiber hand guards) has been a bottleneck in completing rifles. However KE Arms and Brownells, […]

Chinese Warlord Pistols: the “Horn Grip Type”

May 28, 2021 Ian McCollum 8

Interested in these guns? Check out the Kickstarter for my new book on the subject, “Pistols of the Warlords”! In the course of researching Chinese domestic pistols of the Warlord Era, I sorted through several […]

Why Guns Take Years to Get Into Production

May 27, 2021 Ian McCollum 34

Today, let’s take a few minutes to discuss why it’s hard to actually put guns into production. Making a functional prototype is one thing, but the truly hard part is often translating that one prototype […]

DS-39: The Failed Soviet Machine Gun of World War Two

May 26, 2021 Ian McCollum 40

The Soviet Union recognized the need for a modernized machine gun to replace the Maxim, and in the late 1920s Degtyarev began work on a “universal” type of gun. This would be air cooled, use […]

Tipo Alleggerito Beretta: Because Italian Gun Laws are Wacky

May 24, 2021 Ian McCollum 19

Today we are looking at two examples of prewar/wartime Beretta compact pistols. The first is a Tipo Alleggerito Model 34 in .380. This was developed because of a quirk in Italian law which prohibited the […]