Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Afghan Martini Carbines: The Kabul Arsenal (Video)

January 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 3

In the late 1880 or early 1890s, a British engineer and adventurer settled himself in Kabul, Afghanistan and at the request of Emir Abdul Rahman organized and build a rifle factory for the Afghan government. […]

Benelli MR-1 (Video)

January 24, 2017 Ian McCollum 29

The MR-1 is a recently introduced 5.56mm tactical black rifle from Benelli, which is remarkably not an AR15 or AR18 in disguise. Instead, Benelli took the gas system from the M4 Super 90 shotgun and […]

RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) Enfield Carbine

January 23, 2017 Ian McCollum 7

Enfield carbines are marvelous little guns, in my opinion, and just ooze history. This particular one is a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) carbine, 10,000 of which were converted from obsolete British military Lee Enfield and […]

Finnish Mosin Nagant Overview (M91/24, M27, M28, M28/30, M39)

January 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 24

Finland found itself with nearly 200,000 Mosin Nagant rifles in its possession after breaking away from Russian rule in 1917, and those rifles would for the basis of Finnish infantry arms until the adopted of […]

Star Model A Carbine (Video)

January 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Star introduced the Model A as the commercial sale version of the Model 1920 and 1921 pistols which they had entered into Spanish military trials in 1920. The pistol was rejected by the Army in […]

Bergman 1920s Trials Prototype Pistol

January 20, 2017 Ian McCollum 28

This was, as far as I can tell, the final iteration of the Bergmann pistols, developed by AEP in Liege for potential military contracts. It retains the locking system of the 1910 pattern pistol, but […]

Carl Ehbet’s Gas Operated Bergmann?

January 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 43

I got a really interesting patent in my mail recently, from Othais at C&Rsenal. It’s and idea clearly based on a Bergmann 1894 or 1896 pattern pistol, but instead of being blowback it uses a […]

Bergmann 1908, 1910, and 1910/21 Pistols

January 18, 2017 Ian McCollum 20

By the time Bergmann found a production subcontractor in AEP for the Spanish order of 1903 Bergmann pistol, the Spanish had added a few new changes to their order, which became known as the Model […]

Woodhull Export Model 35 Carbine

January 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

Does anyone recognize this rifle? It was designed by Fred Woodhall in 1945 (after his unsuccessful entry in the M1 Carbine trials), and now his son Tad Woodhull is trying to track it down. If […]

Magnificent Engraved Bergmann Pistols

January 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

Today we are taking a brief side trip in Bergmann development to look at a couple of magnificent engraved Bergmann pistols – specifically, a pair of model 1896 No.3s, a Bergmann Mars 1903, and a […]