Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: An Introduction to Early Lever-Action Rifles

February 6, 2016 Ian McCollum 18

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? […]

RIA: Greener’s Humane Horse Killer

February 5, 2016 Ian McCollum 23

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 […]

RIA: MP3008 Sten Copy

February 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 71

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 […]

Smoothbore Spencer: Tracing a Mystery Gun

February 3, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

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 […]

RIA: Russian Winchester 1895 in 7.62x54R

February 2, 2016 Ian McCollum 64

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 […]

RIA: Norwegian M1914 Kongsberg Colt (Video)

February 1, 2016 Ian McCollum 36

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) […]

Le Français .32ACP Pistol (Video)

January 31, 2016 Ian McCollum 90

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 […]

RIA: Imperial Gewehr 71 (Video)

January 30, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

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 […]

Prototype Italian MBT 1925 Straight-Pull Rifle (Video)

January 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 34

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. […]

Viet Cong Handmade Luger Lookalike

January 27, 2016 Ian McCollum 51

In the continuing occasional series on crude handmade firearms, we have an entry sent to me by a reader on Facebook (thanks!). It’s a Vietnamese Luger lookalike, which was being sold by Arundel Militaria in […]