Commentary - Forgotten Weapons

Johnson Semiauto Rifle Senate Hearing

April 22, 2014 Ian McCollum 30

On May 29th, 1940 the US Senate held a hearing about Senate bill 3983, a measure to adopt the Johnson semiauto rifle as a standard US military arm. Opening the testimony was Melvin Johnson himself, […]

GoRuck Light – with a Pack, Field Combat, M-1945

April 20, 2014 Ian McCollum 20

I spent yesterday afternoon doing a GoRuck Light event – because it seemed like an interesting challenge. I do 5k runs regularly, and mud runs have been a lot of fun. This seemed like the […]

Predicting the Future

April 10, 2014 Ian McCollum 42

While doing some research on the experimental Spencer-Lee rifle design, I came across an article on shoulder rifle technology written by Col. George Fosbery in 1884 for the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. […]

Excellent History Podcast

March 27, 2014 Ian McCollum 9

I don’t have a Forgotten Weapons post for today (I apologize – a couple more weeks and we should be back to our regular schedule), but instead I’m going to give a hearty recommendation to […]

¡No Pasarán!

March 6, 2014 Ian McCollum 45

I’ve been doing some reading a researching on the Spanish Civil War in preparation for an upcoming month that will be dedicated to that conflict and the arms involved in it (which include virtually everything […]

MG34.com Updated Web Site & Special Offer

March 2, 2014 Ian McCollum 14

Our friends at MG34.com (Allegheny Arsenal) have rebuilt their web site with a much nicer new layout, and are offering a month-long special to go along with it. You can get anything and everything they […]

What I Didn’t Buy Last Weekend

February 25, 2014 Ian McCollum 18

So this past weekend was a Regional auction at the Rock Island Auction house, which I neglected to post about beforehand. The Regional auctions are the ones with typically lots of less valuable guns packaged […]

The 1986 FBI Gunfight and Adoption of the 10mm Auto

February 21, 2014 Ian McCollum 46

Back in 1986 in Miami, a team of 8 FBI agents decided to execute a felony car stop on a pair of armed and volatile bank robbers named Platt and Matix. The ensuing gunfight has […]

Fake Nazi Marked Steyr M95

December 24, 2013 Ian McCollum 25

What is the fastest way to add a couple hundred bucks to the price of a WWII-era firearm? Add a Waffenamt to it, of course! German markings on a gun always drive up interest and […]

The Sad Gun Show Dilemma

December 17, 2013 Ian McCollum 27

There is an outstanding gun show sponsored by SAR in Phoenix each year that I always make a point to attend, and this year’s was about two weeks ago. One of the things that came […]