Commentary

That Fine Line Between Smuggling and Legal Trade: Anecdotes from Val Forgett

July 15, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

Dealing in firearms internationally is a trade scrutinized pretty closely by governments, and its practitioners can often end up acting as agents for government priorities, and also victims of said priorities changing. Val Forgett of […]

How to Make Reproduction Guns (And How Not To)

July 10, 2026 Ian McCollum 16

Since I continue to get a lot of questions about reproductions, I figured I’d devote today’s video to looking at different elements that go into producing a reproduction firearms. Why some work out and some […]

Hunting the African Big 5 with Percussion Muzzleloaders (w/ Val Forgett)

June 22, 2026 Ian McCollum 22

Today we are back with Val Forgett and another story about the history of Navy Arms. When his father was making reproduction sidelock percussion guns, he wanted to prove that they were still viable hunting […]

The Surplus Guns Gold Rush When Communism Fell (w/ Val Forgett)

May 20, 2026 Ian McCollum 9

When the Soviet Union collapsed, there was a gold rush for the surplus guns held by all the various newly independent republics, as well as the Warsaw Pact nations. Lord of War is not far […]

ZB-26 vs Bren LMGs (w/ John Keene)

May 1, 2026 Ian McCollum 50

ZB-26 Available from Morphys here: https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_N__UTTERLY_FANTASTIC_CONDITION_WWII_GERMAN_NAZI_P-LOT655878.aspx Today John Keene and I are comparing two light machine guns: the Czech ZB-26 and the British Bren. Of course, the Bren is a development of the ZB, so […]

Franchi LF-57 vs Colt SMG (w/ John Keene)

April 17, 2026 Ian McCollum 12

LF-57 Available from Morphys here: https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_N__MARS_EQUIPMENT_CORP_FRANCHI_M1962_MACHINE_GUN_-LOT667044.aspx Today John Keene and I are comparing and contrasting a pair of quite different submachine guns. One is a Franchi LF-57, a rare second generation stamped Italian design very […]

That Fine Line Between Smuggling and Legal Trade: Anecdotes from Val Forgett

How to Make Reproduction Guns (And How Not To)

Hunting the African Big 5 with Percussion Muzzleloaders (w/ Val Forgett)

The Surplus Guns Gold Rush When Communism Fell (w/ Val Forgett)

ZB-26 vs Bren LMGs (w/ John Keene)

Franchi LF-57 vs Colt SMG (w/ John Keene)

The Origins of Aldo Uberti and Reproduction Cowboy Guns

Will FRTs Kill Machine Gun Values? (feat. DIAS)

Bannerman, the Father of Gun Collecting: Tales from the Golden Age of Surplus

Which Customer Are You? (w/ Mike Branson of Gideon Optics)