Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Colt M13 Aircrewman Revolver: So Light it was Unsafe

March 5, 2019 Ian McCollum 48

In 1951 and 1952, Colt supplied a small number of extremely lightweight revolvers to the US Air Force, designated the M13 Aircrewman. These guns were very similar to the commercial Colt Cobra; .38 special 6-shot […]

Yugoslav M52 Sniper: East Meets West

March 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

In 1947, Yugoslavia received about 4600 Russian M91/30 PU sniper rifles as military aid, which were basically not used, as Yugoslavia had standardized on the 8mm Mauser cartridge. In 1952, however, a new sniper rifle […]

Merckelbagh Needlefire Conversion Rifle

March 3, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

This is an example of a needle fire conversion of a French 1822 rifle based on the patent of L. Merckelbagh. The conversion was done in Paris, probably in the early 1870s. Other base rifles […]

Benelli B76 vs MP3S at the Range

March 2, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

The Benelli MP3S is a very rare pistol in .32 S&W, and a nearly unheard of one in 9mm Parabellum. Well, thanks to viewer Todd we have one of those 9mm examples to take to […]

Benelli B76 Family: Italian Inertial Locking Autopistols

March 1, 2019 Ian McCollum 32

Benelli is not the company we think of today for modern service pistols – and according to the sales record of the B76 family, they weren’t in the 1980s either. Designed in the early 1970s […]

Project Lightening Episode 05: Reload

February 28, 2019 Ian McCollum 25

Project Lightening is a collaborative series with Othais and Mae of C&Rsenal in which we test all seven light machine guns and automatic rifles of World War One and put them through a series of […]

Parker Hale M85: Traditional Sniper in a Modern World

February 27, 2019 Ian McCollum 32

The 1985 competition to pick a new sniper rifle for the British military came down to a closely fought contest between the Accuracy International PM and the Parker Hale M85. The M85 was a fantastically […]

Dig Hill 80: Presentation of Findings

February 26, 2019 Ian McCollum 11

More than a year ago, viewers of Forgotten Weapons stepped up and were instrumental in successfully funding the Dig Hill 80 project – an archaeological excavation of a remarkably intact series of trenches from Wrold […]

South Africa’s Berettas: The Vektor Z88 and SP1

February 25, 2019 Ian McCollum 16

In the 1980s, the South African military and police were using substantial numbers of different handguns, and began looking for a way to consolidate to simply maintenance and logistics. Studying the different guns they had, […]

Book Review: Système Lefaucheux

February 24, 2019 Ian McCollum 10

The pinfire system, as invented by Casimir Lefaucheux and expanded by his son Eugene, is one of the most significant corners of cartridge firearms development that has been thoroughly overlooked by collectors and firearms enthusiasts. […]