Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

The Importance of Primary Sources

October 23, 2012 Ian McCollum 13

One of the problems when trying to learn about rare and unusual firearms (rare and unusual anything, actually) is the lack of primary source material. In other word, information about the gun written by someone […]

Reising M55 SMG Video

October 22, 2012 Ian McCollum 9

The Reising series are some of the forgotten weapons the were formally adopted by the US military and used during WWII without getting much attention today, being overshadowed by the Thompson and M3 Grease Gun. […]

Vintage Saturday: More BAR!

October 20, 2012 Ian McCollum 11

The BAR sure got around, didn’t it? This is a Polish wz.28 Belgian Modele 30 model in China (thanks to Leszek for the correction).

Spanish Eibar/Ruby Pistols

October 19, 2012 Ian McCollum 10

Back at the beginning of the 20th century, Spain had a significant number of relatively small gunmaking shops throughout its northern Basque area. The area has been known for its metalworking resources and prowess for […]

Book Review: Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols

October 18, 2012 Ian McCollum 10

The Luger pistol is one of the most iconic firearms ever built, and has been a favorite of collectors for many decades. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of literature out there on the Luger […]

Japanese Model II-A SMG

October 17, 2012 Ian McCollum 7

Japanese submachine guns are a particularly unknown corner of firearms history – the most common model is the Type 100, and ever it is exceedingly rare today. So we were pretty interested when we found […]

Bren Magazines and the Charlton Rifle

October 16, 2012 Ian McCollum 7

We see it a lot – folks wanting to convert their Enfield rifle to use 30-round Bren gun magazines. And it’s often a bit difficult to convince them of the complexity of doing so, because […]

The Pig – M60E3 Video

October 15, 2012 Ian McCollum 38

The M60 light machine gun is something of a contentious subject. Many veterans who used it in combat in Vietnam remember it very fondly despite its design defects, while many more recent users detest it. […]

Vintage Saturday: La Decena Tragica

October 13, 2012 Ian McCollum 6

La Decena Tragica (the Tragic Ten) is the common name for the ten days in February 1913 when Mexican president Francisco Madero was deposed and executed by military coup.

Australian Electrolux Charlton

October 12, 2012 Ian McCollum 12

As we mentioned earlier this week in the Charlton Automatic Rifle article, the Australian government expressed an interest in converting rifles to Philip Charlton’s self-loading design. Charlton spent several months in Australia negotiating the deal, […]