Accessories - Forgotten Weapons

American Viven-Bessières WW1 Grenade Launcher

November 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

The standard American grenade launching system in World War One was the Viven-Bessières, borrowed directly form the French. It had been adopted by France in 1916, replacing copies of the British Martin-Hale rod grenades. The […]

The Good Idea Fairy Strikes: American Trowel Bayonets

November 13, 2017 Ian McCollum 27

The United States first experimented with a combination trowel and bayonet in 1868, producing 200 experimental examples made from standard socket bayonets. This was immediately followed by an additional 500 Model 1869 trowel bayonets made […]

Klienen Waffenwerkzeugatz – A German Armorer’s Tool Kit

October 10, 2017 Ian McCollum 11

This is a “Klienen Waffenwerkzeugatz” – a small armorer’s tool kit used by a German Waffenmeister. It is a really neat little set of handy and essential tools for working on small arms, which folds […]

WW1 Rifle Mud Covers: Lebel & Gewehr 98

July 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 20

Given the prevalence of muddy horrible trenches in World War 1, why didn’t anybody design dust covers to protect the actions of their combat rifles? Well, they actually did… and today we are looking at […]

The Ching Sling – A Simpler Shooting Sling Compromise

June 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 7

The Ching Sling is an answer to the question, “how can one have a sling that is both a useful shooting aid and also quick to get in and out of?” The formal shooting sling […]

Browning M1919A6 Double Size Training Model Machine Gun

June 2, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

During World War II, the US military had a simultaneous need to put machine guns into combat service, and also a need to train new soldiers on the operation of those machine guns. Cutting up […]

SA80 History: Underbarrel Grenade Launchers

May 31, 2017 Ian McCollum 5

Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]

Some of Ian’s Gun Collection, on a Matrix Armory Display Wall (Video)

April 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 13

Matrix Armory is a new gun display system developed by Jeff High (a long-time Forgotten Weapons supporter, incidentally) who wanted something that would really do justice to guns that you want to display and appreciate. […]

Bonus: Sight Protectors! (Video)

January 28, 2017 Ian McCollum 10

The Lee-Speed rifle we looked at yesterday came with a set of really neat sight protectors, which I think are worth a separate video on their own. Quite a lot of work went into these, […]

Two Strange Project SPIW Magazines (Video)

December 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 38

Today we are taking a look at two unusual magazines from unusual firearms. These are a 60-round double-column mag from a Springfield 1964 SPIW bullpup and a 50-round box magazine from an AAI XM-19 serial […]