Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Biography: William John Whiting

September 6, 2013 Ian McCollum 16

Today is a continuation of an occasion series on the life stories of notable gun designers. I find it interesting to learn more about the men whose inventiveness and industriousness are responsible for the guns […]

Book Review: The Fighting Submachine Gun, Machine Pistol, and Shotgun

September 5, 2013 Ian McCollum 11

I’ve really enjoyed spending this summer shooting some unusual old guns in “practical” type matches, both because it’s simply a lot of fun to do, and because I think it can really help give some […]

RIA Premier Auction (Part II)

September 4, 2013 Ian McCollum 13

Continuing yesterday’s post, today I want to take a look at some of the long guns that jumped out at me while I was perusing the catalog for the RIA Premier Auction coming up in […]

RIA Premier Auction (Part I)

September 3, 2013 Ian McCollum 5

There is another Rock Island Premier Auction coming up in a couple weeks (September 13-15, to be specific), and as usual there is some really cool stuff going on the block. Unlike the regional auctions, […]

Union Automatic Revolver (Video)

September 2, 2013 Ian McCollum 16

The most well-known historic automatic revolver is the British Webley-Fosbery, but there were other handguns of the type that were put into production. One example is the Union auto-revolver, made in Toledo, Ohio shortly before […]

Looking for a Bergmann 1910?

September 1, 2013 Ian McCollum 28

I’ve always had a crush on the Bergmann 1910 pistol, and I’ve posted about them enough that people looking to sell them often seem to find my comments. Today, for example, I have a gun […]

Vintage Saturday: Marine Snipers

August 31, 2013 Ian McCollum 27

Soviet marines from the Baltic Fleet ashore at Leningrad, armed with PEM 91/30 sniper rifles.

Prototype Clausius Model 1905?

August 30, 2013 Ian McCollum 14

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about a series of pistols designed by a German inventor named Claus Claudius, which began with a long-recoil design in 1895. He then progressed to a floating […]

Book Review: Webley & Scott Automatic Pistols

August 29, 2013 Ian McCollum 11

Having previously read and quite enjoyed Gordon Bruce’ Evolution of Military Automatic Pistols, I was looking forward to checking out his much more in-depth volume on the Webley semiautos, appropriately titled Webley & Scott Automatic […]

TRW’s Proposed Caseless Machine Gun

August 28, 2013 Ian McCollum 17

TRW was a large engineering corporation which had decided to diversify into the arms business in the 1950s. Its first major contract was production of the M14, and its success in that endeavor led the […]