Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Book Review: SOE Equipment Air Dropped in Europe 1940-1945

July 14, 2016 Ian McCollum 23

A while back I posted a review of a great little paperback account of Winston Churchill’s Toyshop – the development of clandestine warfare gear for use by saboteurs and resistance movements in occupied Europe during […]

Semiauto RPD Light Machine Gun (Video)

July 13, 2016 Ian McCollum 67

The RPD was the first belt-fed light machine gun (or squad automatic weapon) developed by the Soviet Union. It was designed in 1944 for the then-new M43 cartridge (7.62x39mm), although wartime exigencies followed by post-war […]

Bernardon-Martin 1909 Pistol in a Chinese Museum

July 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 38

Note: I’m slipping! I initially identified this as one of the mystery Chinese pistols, having not recognized it as a Bernardon-Martin. A bunch of folks in the comments did, though, and I have corrected the […]

Interview: Ashley Hlebinsky, Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum

July 11, 2016 Ian McCollum 39

Sorry about the sound quality! I did my best to clean it up, but the air conditioning system in the museum had a more significant impact on the video that I had anticipated. Ashley Hlebinsky […]

CETME-L Flats: HMG vs Prexis

July 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 29

You may recall a while back I picked up a CETME-L flat from Prexis, because it was the only option available for building a CETME-L rifle. Well, there is now another option available. Hill & […]

Pavesi Model 1942 Prototype Semiauto (Video)

July 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 22

The Pavesi Model 1942 is a prototype Italian semiauto rifle chambered for the 8×59 Breda cartridge. It is a short recoil action with a 4-lug rotating bolt, and appears to use a Mannlicher type en […]

A 75mm Maxim-Nordenfelt Cannon and the Type 30 Arisaka

July 7, 2016 Ian McCollum 18

First up, a 75mm Maxim-Nordenfelt cannon that was on display at the Carabinieri Museum in Rome. Guns like this one were pretty widely used by countries all over the world, with a wide variety of details […]

Cody Firearms Museum Virtual Tour

July 6, 2016 Ian McCollum 14

The Cody Firearms Museum is a part of the Buffalo Bill Center for the West, and one of the very best firearms museums in the US (if not the world). It incorporates a number of […]

The kit of a French Private Soldier in the Battle of Verdun, 1916

World War One Soldiers’ Loadouts

July 5, 2016 Ian McCollum 54

A reader sent me a link to a pretty cool image gallery showing the basic clothing and equipment of five different major combatant powers from mid-WWI. I have re-uploaded the individual photos in case the […]

Burton 1917 Light Machine Rifle

July 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 58

America’s first assault rifle? Well, it does meet all the requirements – select-fire, intermediate cartridge, and shoulder-fired. It was never actually fielded, though. The Burton Light Machine Rifle was developed during World War One, with […]