Commentary - Forgotten Weapons

What’s Wrong with Private Jackson’s Sniper Rifle? (Saving Private Ryan)

June 30, 2023 Ian McCollum 26

Today we are going to take a look at how Private Jackson’s sniper rifle is portrayed in Saving Private Ryan. It’s a great movie, and I enjoyed it a lot – but this sniper rifle […]

The Interesting and Unusual Small Arms of Kurdistan and Ukraine w/ Neil Vermillion

June 26, 2023 Ian McCollum 9

I’m excited today to speak with Neal Vermillion, a US Army veteran (2002-2006) who served contracts in Kurdistan (2016) and Ukraine (2022) for the nonprofit PMC Sons of Liberty International. In Kurdistan he was a […]

Fascinating Finds in a Guadalcanal Relic Museum

June 16, 2023 Ian McCollum 8

Today I’m visiting the Solomon Islands War Memorial Museum in Honiara (the capital city on Guadalcanal). This is a private museum run by two brothers on the island, and it is filled to the brim […]

Optics on Sturmgewehrs: Was This Really A Thing?

May 26, 2023 Ian McCollum 16

We regularly see the MP43/44/StG44 portrayed with an optical sight (a ZF-4). But was this really something that the German Army actually issued? Well, in a word…no. The first iteration of the Sturmgewehr, the MKb-42(H), […]

Ask Ian: Donating Gun Collections to Museums

May 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 26

Lots of people put together significant gun collections over a lifetime, and want to see those collections preserved after they pass. This often manifests as looking for a museum that will keep a collection intact […]

All the Fun and None of the Dumb: 1 Shepherd Leadership Institute

April 21, 2023 Ian McCollum 7

The Midnight Brutality match was only feasible because of the assistance of the 1 Shepherd Leadership Institute cadre, and so I want to take a few minutes today to talk about just who they are. […]

What’s the Deal with the SIG P320 Exploding and Firing “Un-Commanded”?

April 20, 2023 Ian McCollum 13

Social media is very excited these days about “exploding” SIG 320s…so let’s consider what might actually be happening. Of course, this discussion is invariably clouded by the fact that the P320 did have a legitimate […]

The Story Behind Ian’s Shrapnel Kaboom

April 19, 2023 Ian McCollum 20

Don’t have medical gear or training? Code “IAN” gets you 10% off med kits and training classes: https://www.refugemedical.com About 6 years ago, I had an accident at the range. We talked about it at the […]

Ian and Jackson Crawford Discuss Making the Viking Atgeirr Videos

April 4, 2023 Ian McCollum 7

Dr. Jackson Crawford and I got the idea for our collaborative April fools videos on Viking firearms and gunpowder almost 8 months ago, when we visited Iceland together on the way to Finnish Brutality 2022. […]

TCCC: Trauma Medicine for Military and Civilians w/ Archangel Dynamics

February 18, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

I recently spent a weekend taking a TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) course from Myles Francis at Archangel Dynamics. TCCC is a program originally developed by the Naval Special Warfare School to improve battlefield survivability […]