Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Our Triumphant Return!

May 15, 2012 Ian McCollum 5

We’re back! We arrived in the US late last night from an absolutely outstanding three weeks in western Europe (France, Belgium, and the UK). We spent almost the entire trip visiting great collections and very […]

ABC’s of Machine Guns

May 14, 2012 Ian McCollum 1

Here’s another neat manual – A.B.C du Mitrailleu – the ABCs of Machine Guns. This was published in 1917 (the fifth edition, anyway) in French, and does a nice job showing all the most useful […]

Vintage Saturday: Shivering with an AVS-36

May 12, 2012 Ian McCollum 4

Invading Russian never goes well, for any of the parties involved. These two certainly don’t look they’re having such a good time.

1899 Remington-Lee Magazine Rifle

May 11, 2012 Ian McCollum 3

James Paris Lee is one of the less recognized prolific arms designers in American history, between the Lee straight pull rifle adopted by the US Navy and the British Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield rifles. One of […]

Book Review: Monster Hunter International

May 10, 2012 Ian McCollum 5

Monster Hunter International is the story of an accountant and 3-gun competitor changing careers and becoming a mercenary hunter of supernatural evil – and who hasn’t had that daydream during a long day in the […]

Russian AVS-36 Rifle

May 9, 2012 Ian McCollum 5

Russia (or the USSR, for these purposes) had an early self-loading rifle in the 1916 Federov, but it was not a satisfactory combat weapons, for several reasons. The Soviet military held a number of trials […]

Browning 1919 Modifications That Never Were

May 8, 2012 Ian McCollum 3

It is generally known that John M. Browning never retired, instead working on firearms design right up until the day of his death in 1926. His final gun would eventually be completed by Dieudonné Saive […]

Egyptian Rifle Overview

May 7, 2012 Ian McCollum 4

After World War II, Egypt experimented with several types of new rifle as a series of leaders bought arms from both Western and Communist nations. They included FN49 rifles from Belgium and vz52 and vz52/57 […]

Vintage Saturday: Russian 1910 Maxim

May 5, 2012 Ian McCollum 0

Ah, the Sokolov mount. Designed, I have no doubt, when the leading medical studies urged you to lift with your back instead of your legs.

English Villar Perosa Manual

May 4, 2012 Ian McCollum 8

We found an English language manual for the Italian M1915 Villar Perosa – the predecessor of all submachine guns. It includes a bunch or interesting photos, as well as a good description of the gun. […]