Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

WW1 Prideaux Speedloader for the .455 Webley Revolvers

November 12, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

The Prideaux speed loader was one of several early such devices patented and manufactured as early as 1893, but neither it nor any competitor saw much demand until the outbreak of World War One. At […]

.38 ACP Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver

November 11, 2020 Ian McCollum 35

The rarest variation of the Webley-Fosbery automatic revolver is the .38 ACP model. Only 341 of these were made by Webley, in an attempt to compete with the new semiautomatic pistols appearing on the market […]

Russian World War 1 Contract Colt 1911

November 10, 2020 Ian McCollum 22

During World War One, the Russian Government purchased some 51,000 Colt 1911 pistols. These were standard commercial production guns, chambered for .45 ACP, and were shipped in 1916 and 1917, with JP Morgan acting as […]

Marlin 7MG aka Model 1917 Aircraft Machine Gun

November 9, 2020 Ian McCollum 24

John Browning’s original Model 1895 gas-lever machine gun was still in production by Colt when World War One broke out. It was not the most modern gun around by then, but it was available – […]

Ruger AC-556 at the Range: How Does it Compare to the M16?

November 7, 2020 Ian McCollum 25

Yesterday we took a look at the internals of Ruger’s select-fire AC-556, and today we have it out at the range. The main question for me was, how does it compare to the M16/AR-15? And […]

Ruger’s M16 Alternative: the Select-Fire AC-556

November 6, 2020 Ian McCollum 41

Ruger introduced their semiauto Mini-14 rifle in 1973, and followed it in 1979 with the AC-556, a select-fire version intended for military and police sales. Offered with either an 18.5 inch barrel and solid wood […]

Russian Model 1828 Musket from the Battle of Inkerman

November 5, 2020 Ian McCollum 42

For a long time, Russian small arms were patterned closely after French designs – the Russian 1809 family was based on the French 1777 muskets, and the Russian 1828 model – like this one – […]

Hitler’s Zipper: The MG-42 Universal Machine Gun

November 4, 2020 Ian McCollum 79

The MG42 was developed to be a more reliable and easier to manufacture replacement for the MG34, although both would serve side by side until the end of World War Two. Designed by Grossfuss company […]

Vickers Ltd Luger Pistols for the Dutch East Indies

November 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 17

The Dutch government adopted the Luger for the KNIL (Dutch East Indies colonial forces) in 1910, and placed an initial order for 4,182 pistols from DWM in Germany. These were standard 9mm New Model Lugers, […]

Valmet M78: Finland’s Hypothetical Squad Automatic Weapon

November 2, 2020 Ian McCollum 11

The M78 was Valmet’s RPK-style heavy barreled squad support weapon pattern of the Finnish AK. It was initially developed as the M74 cavalry machine gun for Finnish military service, but never adopted. Instead, that experimental […]