Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Book Review: A Revolution in Arms

February 21, 2013 Ian McCollum 5

When I cracked open Joseph Bilby’s 2006 book A Revolution in Arms: A History of the First Repeating Rifles, I was hoping for a history of the development of repeating rifles, and didn’t quite get […]

“Rakov” DP-28 Magazine Loader

February 20, 2013 Ian McCollum 13

If you think about it for a minute, it suddenly seems odd that there aren’t any military surplus loading tools out there for DP28/DPM pan magazines. At least, that was my reaction when our friend […]

It’s always interesting to look at the propaganda that military organizations put out regarding their opponents – it can often reveal what was particularly worrisome to men in the field at the time. A good […]

Action Match Video: Leader T2 and Ballester Molina

February 18, 2013 Ian McCollum 11

I’m always up for the chance to put unusual guns through practical trials, so I jumped at the chance to try out the 2-Gun Action Challenge Match north of Tucson AZ this past weekend. For […]

Vintage Saturday: Garand’s Garand

February 16, 2013 Ian McCollum 17

With all the discussion this week of replacements for the M1, I feel obligated to post this very cool photo of John Cantius Garand and the business end of his rifle.

Earle Harvey’s T25: Replacement for the Garand

February 15, 2013 Ian McCollum 22

During the late years of WWII, the US military worked diligently on a replacement for the M1 Garand rifle, which was designated the T20. This was basically an M1, with the addition of a trigger […]

Book Review: The Great Rifle Controversy

February 14, 2013 Ian McCollum 17

Here’s a question: considering that by 1945 John Garand had developed working prototypes of the T20 rifle (basically an M1 with a select-fire trigger mechanism and a 20-round box magazine), why did it take the […]

PM-63: Poland’s First PDW

February 13, 2013 Ian McCollum 34

Today we have another guest post, and this time Leszek has really outdone himself. The subject is the Polish PM-63 machine pistol… PM-63: Poland’s First PDW by Leszek Erenfeicht Almost twenty years before the West […]

Historical What-If

February 12, 2013 Ian McCollum 45

I happened to catch a show on the History Channel the other day about a group of archaeologists doing a forensic reconstruction of Custer’s annihilation at the Little Bighorn. One of the things they determined […]

DShK Video

February 11, 2013 Ian McCollum 18

We’re still working on an extended write-up on the DShK heavy machine gun, but thanks to our friend Leszek in Poland, we have some nice HD video of one firing: The Russian counterpart to to […]

Articles by Ian McCollum