• Contact Ian
  • Full30
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Forgotten Weapons

Support Forgotten Weapons

Enjoy what you read on Forgotten Weapons? Please consider supporting me on Patreon with $1/month! Thanks!
  • Home
  • Special Collections
    • M1 Carbine Development
    • M1 Garand Development
    • Bergmann Automatic Pistols
    • Carbine Williams and Winchester
  • Handguns
    • Machine Pistols
    • Revolvers
    • Semi-Auto Pistols
  • Shotguns
  • Rifles
    • Anti-Tank Rifles
    • Bolt-Action Rifles
    • Lever-Action Rifles
    • Revolving Rifle
    • Select Fire Rifles
    • Semi-Auto Rifles
    • Single Shot Rifles
    • Sniper Rifles
  • Machine Guns
    • Aircraft MGs
    • GPMGs
    • HMGs
    • LMGs
    • Manual Machine Guns
    • SMGs
  • Other
    • Accessories
    • Ammunition
    • Artillery
    • Biographies
    • Book Reviews
    • Cannon
    • Flamethrowers
    • Flare Guns
    • Interviews
    • Q & A
    • Rocket Launchers
    • Tours
  • Shop
HomeCommentary

Commentary

Commentary

The FG-42 as a Sniper Rifle?

February 23, 2021 Ian McCollum 22

The FG-42 was specifically made with a scope attachment on every rifle, and intended to serve as a marksman’s or sniper’s rifle. But how much of that actually happened during World War Two? And was […]

Commentary

What’s Up With Norway and Military Scout Scopes?

February 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 18

Aside from the German widespread issue of the ZF-41 type scope, I have only come across three other military uses of long eye relief optics – and they are all Norwegian! One is simply Norwegian […]

No Picture
Commentary

Curators Speak Out: Danny and Ashley on the World of Firearms Museums

January 8, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

When I posted my video last week about some of the problems with museum firearms collections, I touched on issues that Danny Michael and Ashley Hlebinsky deal with on a daily basis. They invited me […]

Commentary

True Crime Collector Skulduggery: R.L. Wilson and the “Trade of the Century”

January 5, 2021 Ian McCollum 42

RL Wilson Case R.L. Wilson was a pillar of the firearms collecting community, and especially the Colt collecting community, in the 1970s and 80s. He wrote a slew of books on Colt, and was a […]

Commentary

It Belongs in a Museum! Or, “Ian Offends Curators”

December 31, 2020 Ian McCollum 78

Have museums fundamentally changed since the advent of the internet? Does this impact decisions about whether artifacts like firearms are best held in museums versus private collections for the sake of study and understanding? How […]

Commentary

Evolution of the Submachine Gun: Three Distinct Generations

October 20, 2020 Ian McCollum 98

Submachine guns have gone through a distinct evolution over the past one hundred years. Today we will look at these changes, specifically identifying: – 1st Generation guns from World War One and through the 1930s […]

Commentary

Saga of the AR15 Forward Assist: A Solution Searching for a Problem

July 30, 2020 Ian McCollum 50

In 1963, the US Army set out to purchase 85,000 AR-15 rifles as a one-time procurement to hold the infantry through until final adoption of the expected Project SPIW rifle. Where the previous Air Force […]

Bolt Action Rifles

What is a Duffel Cut?

July 21, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

American service members in World War One and World War Two brought a tremendous number of firearms back to the US as trophies and souvenirs. While some mailed guns home, most brought them back in […]

Commentary

Buying a Machine Gun with a C&R License

July 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 14

I am often asked how a C&R license (Curio & Relic, also called a Type 03 Federal Firearms License; not to be confused with “Class 3”) affects the purchase of a machine gun. So, I […]

Commentary

No, It Doesn’t Take Glock Mags…and Sometimes That’s Better

July 9, 2020 Ian McCollum 17

Sometimes it makes sense to use convenient existing magazines. Sometimes it doesn’t. Like all things in firearms design, magazine features are all compromises. Single feed vs double feed, polymer vs steel, and straight vs curved…one […]

Posts navigation

1 2 … 16 »

Forgotten Weapons Merch!

Shirts, jackets, hats, and much more!
Sites we enjoy reading
  • British Royal Armouries
  • GunLab
  • Historical Firearms (Tumblr)
  • Joel's Gulch
  • MicroBalrog’s Soviet Outpost
  • View From the Porch
  • VolkStudio Blog
  • Vuurwapen Blog
  • WeaponsMan
Research Sites
  • American Society of Arms Collectors
  • Artillery Luger
  • C&Rsenal
  • Carbines for Collectors
  • Gothia Arms Historical Society
  • GunPictures.net
  • James Julia auction archive
  • Manowar's Hungarian Weapons & History
  • Milsurps.com
  • Modern Firearms
  • Municion.org
  • Old Colts
  • Pistols of the German Wehrmacht
  • The Paul Mauser Archive
  • The Spanish Civil War Mosin Nagant
  • Unblinking Eye
What I’m Currently Reading
Subscribe to Forgotten Weapons via Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Contact Us

Forgotten Weapons

6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85704

© 2020 Forgotten Weapons.
Site developed by Cardinal Acres Web Development.