Book review - Forgotten Weapons

Book Review: Vickers Guide AR15 Volume 2

July 30, 2017 Ian McCollum 2

Larry Vickers and James Rupley have followed their first volume of AR-15s with a second one – as we should have expected when the first one was title “Volume I”. Where the first volume covered […]

Literature Review: English-Language Books on French Firearms

July 23, 2017 Ian McCollum 24

Since we are in the middle of a series on French rifles, I figured it would be an appropriate time to take a look at what printed reference books are out there in English on […]

Book Review: Ott-Helmuth von Lossnitzer, Technical Director of the Mauser Company 1933-1945

July 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Ott-Helmuth (Otto, after he emigrated to the US) von Lossnitzer was a remarkable firearms engineer. He served through World War One as a machine gunner, gaining extensive experience with a variety of different machine guns […]

Book Review: Weapon of Choice by Dr. Matthew Ford

July 9, 2017 Ian McCollum 11

It may look like an airport bookshop thriller, but don’t let the cover fool you – Dr. Matthew Ford’s “Weapon of Choice” is a seriously rigorous academic study of the military small arms adoption process. […]

Book Review: Paul Mauser – His Life, Company, and Handgun Development 1838 – 1914

July 2, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

The new book on Paul Mauser from Mauro Baudino and Gerben van Vlimmeren is an excellent exploration through the labyrinthine corners of the Mauser Archives. Written with an assumption that the audience will already have […]

Book Review: Deadly Beauties – Rare German Handguns

June 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 5

Deadly Beauties is a photographic collection of rare and collectible German pistols from 1871 through 1945, split into two volumes. The written sections are quite brief, and the photography is beautiful. More importantly, the […]

Book Review – The Lee Enfield, by Ian Skennerton

May 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 4

Ian Skennerton is a leading authority on British rifles, having written extensively on Sniders, Martinis, Enfields, and more. This specific book, “The Lee Enfield” is the most recent iteration of his compendium of Lee-Enfield information, […]

Book Review – The Last Enfield: SA80 the Reluctant Rifle

May 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Available from Amazon: Available from Collector Grade Publications: Since we are in the midst of an ongoing video series looking at the development of the SA80 weapons family, I figured this would be a good […]

Book Review: Firearms Developed and Manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000

May 7, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

FIREARMS: Developed and Manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000 Until recently, there has been very little published information on South African and Rhodesian firearms outside of a few sporadic magazine articles – but that is no […]

Book Review: The Italian Vetterli Rifle by Robert Wilsey

March 9, 2017 Ian McCollum 36

Here in the United States, the Italian Vetterli is overwhelmingly found in the 1870/87/15 guise, and considered unsafe to shoot. However, this is simply the final transformation of a rifle which saw substantial military service […]