Commentary - Forgotten Weapons

The Mauser Train: High Adventure in the Last Days of WWII

May 18, 2021 Ian McCollum 19

Only days ahead of the French Army in April 1945, Ott-Helmuth von Lossnitzer and about 250 Mauser engineers and technicians fled Oberndorf with the core of Mauser’s new projects. They had the drawings, components, and […]

Earth-Shattering ka-Boom! How (and Why) Guns Explode

April 30, 2021 Ian McCollum 107

Just yesterday Scott at Kentucky Ballistics posted a very sobering video detailing his Serbu RN-50 quite literally exploding in his face. A lot of people have asked if I have seen it, and I figured […]

Ian Rants About Dumb Ammo Purchasing Decisions

March 30, 2021 Ian McCollum 35

Seriously guys, buying trash surplus ammo is false economy. Do the research, don’t get tempted by a 2c/round savings, and get ammunition that will actually run. You will have a way better time shooting, and […]

An Interesting Possibility: The FG-42 in 8x33mm Kurz?

March 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 115

Here’s an interesting thought – what if they made the FG-42 in 8x33mm Kurz? Well, they actually did, in very small numbers. The rifle’s designer, Louis Stange, actually thought it was a really good idea, […]

How Did I Get My Guns to Finnish Brutality? Polaris Logistics.

March 2, 2021 Ian McCollum 6

I took my own Finnish M39 Mosin and TT-33 Tokarev to Finland for Finnish Brutality, along with a WWSD-2020 carbine. I’ve gotten a lot of questions from people wondering how I did that, and the […]

The FG-42 as a Sniper Rifle?

February 23, 2021 Ian McCollum 24

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 […]

Interested in Gun Law Issues? Check out FuddBusters

February 11, 2021 Ian McCollum 0

I don’t cover politics here, but I know many of you folks are interested or invested in gun law current events. I recently found the FuddBusters channel, and it was a real breath of fresh […]

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 […]

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 […]

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

January 5, 2021 Ian McCollum 49

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 […]