Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Lewis info, and some site changes

September 2, 2011 Ian McCollum 2

Okay, I promised I’d be posting some Lewis gun documentation – and I’ve got it ready for you today. There’s a very nice selection – some in English, some in Russian, brief handbooks, detailed manuals, […]

General Liu rifle assessment

August 31, 2011 Ian McCollum 4

Thanks to a friend of the site in the Far East (who would prefer to remain anonymous), we have a good English translation of the Hanyang Arsenal testing report on the General Liu rifle. There […]

Lewis Gun at the Range

August 29, 2011 Ian McCollum 6

We’re back at the range again today, this time with a 1914 Lewis Gun. The Lewis is a fairly distinctive gun, with a its large radiator shroud for air cooling. These guns were used primarily […]

Bren Manuals

August 26, 2011 Ian McCollum 2

As a followup to the Bren video, I figure I should post the Bren gun documents that we have right now: (1942) Bren Small Arms Training (South Africa) (English) Bren Light Machine Gun – Description […]

Bren Gun Video

August 24, 2011 Ian McCollum 26

Is the Bren gun a forgotten weapon? Well, maybe not. But it is an important piece of firearms development history, and probably an under-appreciated weapon. It is also important to be familiar with the Bren […]

Prototype FAL manual

August 22, 2011 Ian McCollum 8

The FN FAL was in development very shortly after the conclusion of World War II, during the height of assault rifle fever. Everyone (more or less) was very interested in the concept of the sturmgewehr […]

Polish Instruction Manuals – TT33, Mosin-Nagant, PPS-43

August 19, 2011 Ian McCollum 15

As you may have noticed, a lot of the manuals we post have a definite international flavor to them. Fpor some reason, governments in non-English-speaking countries often don’t print military documents in English. 🙂 Original […]

Bin Shih on Chinese Rifles of WW2

August 17, 2011 Ian McCollum 3

We have another interview segment with Bin Shih today, this time discussing the commonly used bolt action rifles that were the backbone of the Chinese infantry during the war with Japan. I do want to […]

Taking video requests…

August 16, 2011 Ian McCollum 12

This coming weekend, I’m going to have the opportunity to shoot some video with a Bren gun and a Lewis gun at the range. I’d like to make this more interesting than your typical YouTube […]

Italian Genar SMG

August 15, 2011 Ian McCollum 4

The Genar submachinegun was a development of the TZ45, which was developed during WWII and manufactured into the 1950s. We don’t have much more information on the Genar, but we do have a nice set […]