Percussion
RIA: Porter Turret Rifle
The Porter was one of the few turret rifles ever put into serial production. Turret rifles are similar in principle to revolvers, but they is a cylinder with radial chambers (like the spokes of a […]
Articles by Ian McCollum
Lever Action Rifles
RIA: An Introduction to Early Lever-Action Rifles
We’ve all seen lever action rifles galore in movies about the old west, and most of us have handled and shot a bunch of them as well. But do you know where they came from? […]
Video
RIA: Greener’s Humane Horse Killer
Humans have been killing animals for thousands of years, and with the development of the self-contained cartridge, the Greener company started making a compact and efficient Humane Horse Killer. Used by veterinarians for euthanizing creatures […]
Submachine Guns
RIA: MP3008 Sten Copy
The MP 3008, aka Gerät Neumünster, was one of two German efforts to copy the British Sten gun. The first was the Gerät Potsdam (“gerät” meaning device or project; basically project code name), which was […]
Conversion
Smoothbore Spencer: Tracing a Mystery Gun
Today’s firearm is not a normal gun; it is a conversion of a Spencer into a shotgun. My question is, what path did this weapon travel? What did it begin as, and how did it […]
Lever Action Rifles
RIA: Russian Winchester 1895 in 7.62x54R
The Winchester 1895 was the last of Winchester’s lever-action rifles, and has an interesting place in a couple different parts of world history. On the one hand, the 1895 in .405 Winchester caliber is known […]
Semiauto pistol
RIA: Norwegian M1914 Kongsberg Colt (Video)
After a series of pistol trials, Norway adopted a copy of the Colt 1911 in .45 ACP as its standard service pistol in 1914. A license was purchased from FN (while under German occupation, interestingly) […]
Semiauto pistol
Le Français .32ACP Pistol (Video)
The Le Français was a staple of Manufrance production, being first designed in 1912 and produced until the late 1960s. This example is in .32ACP caliber, which was only made for the commercial market in […]
Single Shot Rifles
RIA: Imperial Gewehr 71 (Video)
The Gewehr 1871 was the first rifle adopted by the newly-formed German state after its unification at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. It replaced the decades-old Dreyse needle rifles, and fired an 11x60mm black […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Prototype Italian MBT 1925 Straight-Pull Rifle (Video)
Note: This video was filmed over a year ago, but I have been holding it in anticipation of the rifle going to auction. That doesn’t seem to be happening, so I’m posting the video now. […]