Book review - Forgotten Weapons

Book Review: AK47 – The Grim Reaper (Second Edition)

January 6, 2019 Ian McCollum 16

The expanded second edition of Frank Iannamico’s “AK47: The Grim Reaper” is a hefty 1100-page tome which tackles the ambition goal of being a single reference for all things Kalashnikov. Ot begins with a section […]

Book Review: Italian Partisan Weapons in WWII

December 30, 2018 Ian McCollum 8

“Italian Partisan Weapons in WWII” was originally written and published in Italian by Gianluigi Usai, and recently (2016) translated into English by Ralph Riccio and published by Schiffer in the US. It was intended to […]

Book Review – Smith & Wesson Model 76 SMG by Frank Iannamico

December 16, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

Available from Amazon or direct from the publisher. Frank Iannamico’s new book on the Smith & Wesson Model 76 submachine gun is in fact a book about much more than just the Model 76. It begins […]

Book Review: Vickers Guide, Kalashnikov Volume 1

December 2, 2018 Ian McCollum 6

I am proud to announce the newest book in the Vickers Guide series: Kalashnikov (Volume 1)! Cowritten by Larry Vickers, Rob Stott, and myself, this is a beautiful exhibition of 7.62x39mm AK rifles (smallbore AKs […]

Book Review: Desert Sniper, by Ed Nash

October 30, 2018 Ian McCollum 9

“Desert Sniper” is an autobiographical account of Ed Nash’s time fighting as a volunteer with Kurdish forces against ISIS in Syria in 2015 and 2016. Nash had been working as a volunteer with the Free […]

Book Review: Collector’s Guide to the Savage 99 Rifle

September 16, 2018 Ian McCollum 11

Savage is an often under appreciated gun company, and the Savage Model 99 a rifle often not given the credit it is due. How many other firearms can claim to have been in active production […]

Book Review: Cold War Pistols of Czechoslovakia

August 12, 2018 Ian McCollum 17

Recently, we have been looking at a selection of books on Cold War eastern bloc pistols – and James D. Brown’s “Cold War Pistols of Czechoslovakia” is the best of them. While its scope is […]

Book Review: The Suomi M/31 by Michael Heidler

August 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 9

Michael Heidler’s bi-lingual (German and English) book on the Finnish Suomi m/31 submachine gun is a small but dense history of one of the best submachine guns of World War Two. It covers Aimo Lahti’s […]

Book Review: Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns 1893-1945

July 29, 2018 Ian McCollum 2

What began as Harry Derby’s “Hand Cannons of Imperial Japan” in 1981 was revised, expanded, and reprinted in collaboration with James Brown in 2003 as “Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns 1893-1945”. That new edition is both […]

Book Review: The Makarov Pistol Part 2 (China, Bulgaria, Khyber Pass)

July 22, 2018 Ian McCollum 4

Henry Brown and Cameron White have released the second part of their work on the Makarov pistol, this time with additional assistance from Edwin Lowe. This second volume covers Chinese, Bulgarian, and craft-made (“Khyber Pass”) […]