Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Ecia Model 1930 Family: Competitors to the Astra

September 16, 2019 Ian McCollum 11

Juan Esperanza was one of the two partners who formed the Astra company (with Pedro Unceta). When the two had a falling-out in 1925 and parted ways, Esperanza formed his own company and went on […]

Book Review: Arms & Accoutrements of the Mounted Police 1873-1973

September 15, 2019 Ian McCollum 5

The Royal North West Mounted Police (later merged with the Dominion Police to become the RCMP – Royal Canadian Mounted Police) are an interesting and often overlooked element of the western frontier. We Americans tend […]

Shooting the Mle 1866 Chassepot

September 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 26

A while back, I visited @CanadianGunLover, and we did a bit of shooting with an 1866 Chassepot. I lost track of the footage and only just now found where I had put it – so […]

Apocrypha – WW1 Battlefield Tour Sneak Peek

September 13, 2019 Ian McCollum 4

I partnered up with Military Historical Tours to guide a World War One battlefield tour this week, and I figured I’d give you a bit of a peek into it. We are looking at the […]

Too Late and Not Much Better: the Austen Mk II SMG

September 12, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

The story of the Austen submachine gun did not end when the Mk I guns were pulled from combat service in 1944. The manufacturer continued to work on an improved version, which would be ready […]

The Diggers’ Dismay: Austen Mk I SMG

September 11, 2019 Ian McCollum 20

When World War Two began, Australia saw little threat of invasion from Germany (obviously), and sent a substantial number of firearms to Britain to help arm the Home Guard there, which was seriously concerned about […]

AS Val, VSS Vintorez, OTs-14 Groza, and more: 9x39mm with Max Popenker

September 10, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

Today we welcome back Max Popenker of ModernFirearms.net to discuss the Soviet and Russian development of the 9x39mm suppressed rifle cartridge. From the early unsuccessful and sidetracked efforts to replace the PBS suppressor through the […]

Star Pistol-Carbines: Model MMS and Model MB

September 9, 2019 Ian McCollum 8

Star produced 1911-style pistols in a wide variety of calibers and configurations for more than 50 years, including several models with shoulder stocks. Two of the later such models were the MMS and MB. These […]

Book Review: The Ross Rifle Story

September 8, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

“The Ross Rifle Story” is the Bible of Ross rifle collecting – it is the only substantial reference work on the subject and it has a tremendous amount of information about the development of the […]

Arsenals of History 2019: 3D Printing & Scanning for Museums

September 7, 2019 Ian McCollum 4

Arsenals of History is an annual symposium of firearms museum, and met this year at the newly renovated Cody Firearms Museum. The theme of this year’s symposium was social media and museums. This presentation was […]