Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: Steyr-Hahn Pistol Variations

June 2, 2016 Ian McCollum 37

The Steyr-Hahn is one of the less glamorized pistols used in WWI, despite being made in quite large numbers (250,000-313,000, depending on who you read). The gun is an interesting mix of features, including bits […]

Wolfgang Riess, one of the Commandos who used these CETMEs, later to work as an H&K weapons technician

French Marine Commandos with CETME Rifles

June 1, 2016 Ian McCollum 40

I was doing some reading up on the early roller-delayed rifles (in Blake Stevens’ exquisitely technical and detailed book Full Circle: A Treatise on Roller Locking) and came across this very cool story, which I […]

Detailed Photos: Hamada Pistols (7.65mm and 8mm)

May 31, 2016 Ian McCollum 12

The Hamada pistols were two of the few examples of Japanese military arms made by private companies rather than government arsenals. Hamada ran a shop making sporting arms before the war (and after), and converted […]

Japanese Type 100 Flamethrower

May 30, 2016 Ian McCollum 30

The Japanese Type 93 and its slightly-improved sister the Type 100 were the standard flame weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army for its fighting in China and the Pacific. They are a smaller and handier […]

Belgian soldier smokes a cigarette during a fight between Dendermonde and Oudegem Belgium in 1914.

Vintage Saturday: Smoke Break

May 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 54

This is a really good photo of a Belgian Maxim, although it appears to be staged – the man has his thumbs on the trigger, but there does is not ammo belt in the gun.

Why We Don’t Use Turkish 8mm Surplus

May 27, 2016 Ian McCollum 56

There is a lot of Turkish surplus 8mm Mauser ammunition on the market here in the US. It used to be super cheap (under 5c/round), but in the last few years I have seen it […]

Savage Prototype Longslide .380 (Video)

May 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 29

Savage made just a few experimental long-slide versions of their pistols (most of the ones out there are fakes made by modifying existing guns). Personally, I think that this version in .380 would have made […]

Trench Warfare Notes, 1915

May 25, 2016 Ian McCollum 22

I have a really neat document to share today, generously sent to me by a reader named Chris in the United Kingdom. These are the notes from a 1915 course on trench warfare as recorded by […]

Japanese Type 4 Garand Photos

May 24, 2016 Ian McCollum 20

Towards the end of WWII, in 1944, the Japanese Navy developed a copy of the American M1 Garand rifle, chambered for the 7.7mm cartridge. This followed attempts to simply rebarrel captured US guns, which did […]

Greener MkIII Police in a 2-Gun Shotgun Match (Video)

May 23, 2016 Ian McCollum 39

Every few years, there is a special 2-Gun match at my local club, using shotgun and pistol instead of rifle and pistol. The rules of this match are a bit different than most multigun competition […]