Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Swiss Prototype Pistols: P44/8 and W+F Bern P43 (Video)

July 27, 2015 Ian McCollum 29

Switzerland was an early adopter of the Luger pistol as a standard military sidearm, but by WWII that design was becoming obsolete and the Swiss began looking for a newer sidearm. Several lines of development […]

Irish troops unpacking a new Boys Anti-Tank Rifle

Vintage Saturday: Big Boys Toy

July 25, 2015 Ian McCollum 37

The Republic of Ireland opted to copy the German WWI Stahlhelm design rather than use British Brodie-style helmets. Until 1940, anyway, and I think it’s pretty clear why they changed. The rifle here, of course, […]

British trials Bang Rifle, caliber .303 (photo courtesy National Firearms Centre, Leeds, UK)

Danish Bang Rifle for British Trials

July 24, 2015 Ian McCollum 26

One of the first semiautomatic rifles tested by the US military was a design by a Dane named Søren Hansen Bang, which was first presented to the government in 1911. The rifles used a […]

Slow Motion: Scotti Model X

July 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 47

The Scotti Model X (the X standing for the 10th year of the Italian Fascist era, or 1932) was one of a bunch of semiauto rifles tested by the Italian military during the late 1920s […]

ARES Research Note: Durability of Self-Loading Rifles

July 21, 2015 Ian McCollum 12

I occasionally do work for Armament Research Service, and they recently published one of my pieces as Research Note #8, on the subject of self-loading rifle durability. Rifles, in general, are pretty durable items, with […]

Remington 870 Competition – Hidden Features!

July 20, 2015 Ian McCollum 25

So a friend of mine handed my this Remington 870 Competition, and asked me if I would like to do a video on it…and my immediate thought was, why would I? The 870 is one […]

Father (Grandfather?) and Son in Afghanistan with a Martini and an SMLE

Vintage Saturday: Father and Son

July 18, 2015 Ian McCollum 29

One day the boy will inherit the SMLE, and probably go on fighting whichever country has decided to occupy Afghanistan by that time. Maybe it will be China? They haven’t taken a turn yet. Having […]

Rifle Sale! SMLE, MAS-36, Spanish Mauser

July 17, 2015 Ian McCollum 20

I have a couple of rifles that I no longer need in the collection and might interest folks here. All prices include shipping, and the guns are all C&R eligible. No international sales – sorry. […]

Elmer Keith’s ka-BOOM (Video)

July 16, 2015 Ian McCollum 27

Even the legendary Elmer Keith started out as a total newbie to shooting and reloading, and blew up a gun with wildly dangerous handloads in 1923. I got my hands on the remnants of the […]

Biography: Léon and Émile Nagant

July 15, 2015 Ian McCollum 22

Note: Today’s post was written by our friend and occasional contributor Robert White. Thanks, Robert! One of the oldest pistols still in service is the Russian M1895 Nagant, designed by Léon and Émile Nagant. Léon […]