Conversion

ARAC: Making Submachine Guns from Bolt Actions

September 8, 2026 Ian McCollum 14

In 1954 and 1955, the French company SOFAM (Société de Fabrication d’Armaments) in Paris marketed a system to convert bolt action rifles into submachine guns. The original design is reportedly Spanish, but was marketed through […]

Navy M1 Garand Conversions to 7.62mm NATO: Mk2 Mod0 & Mk2 Mod1

May 9, 2026 Ian McCollum 17

Available from Morphys here: Mk2 Mod0 – https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_C__DOCUMENTED_USN_SPRINGFIELD_M1_GARAND_MK_2_MOD_-LOT661040.aspx Mk2 Mod1 – https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_C__DOCUMENTED_USN_SPRINGFIELD_M1_GARAND_MK_2_MOD_-LOT661041.aspx When the US military adopted 7.62mm NATO, the Army considered converting M1 Garands to the new caliber, and decided it wasn’t worthwhile. For […]

Austrian Mosin Nagant Rifles Rechambered for 8x50mm in WWI

March 27, 2026 Ian McCollum 18

The Austro-Hungarian Empire captured a very large number of Mosin Nagant rifles from Russian forces during World War One. They decided as early as November 1914 to convert many of these rifles to the 8x50mm […]

Indonesian M95/51 Mannlicher Carbine & Short Rifle Converted to .303 British

December 27, 2025 Ian McCollum 11

When Indonesia won its independence in 1949, its military had a real mess of different equipment. The SMLE was adopted as the first standard rifle, ut these were in short supply and a lot of […]

Pienoiskivääri m/91 Finnish .22 Mosin Trainer

November 21, 2025 Ian McCollum 1

This and all the other Finnish Mosins are detailed in my new book “Forged in Snow”: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=b8ft1r In the 1920s the Finnish Defense Forces wanted a reduced-power training rifle to allow low-cost marksmanship practice and […]

Aly & Kaufman AKB-23: Better Than the SA80 / L85

November 19, 2025 Ian McCollum 47

Penguin Brutality t-shirt available from Varusteleka: https://varusteleka.com/en/products/forgotten-weapons-penguin-brutality-t-shirt The Aly & Kaufman AKB-23 is a set of parts that allows one to use a Brownells BRN-180 upper to create an SA80 / L85 lookalike. It’s a […]

ARAC: Making Submachine Guns from Bolt Actions

Navy M1 Garand Conversions to 7.62mm NATO: Mk2 Mod0 & Mk2 Mod1

Austrian Mosin Nagant Rifles Rechambered for 8x50mm in WWI

Indonesian M95/51 Mannlicher Carbine & Short Rifle Converted to .303 British

Pienoiskivääri m/91 Finnish .22 Mosin Trainer

Aly & Kaufman AKB-23: Better Than the SA80 / L85

Project PRAK: Converting the CZ50 Pistol to 9x18mm Makarov

Fenian Needham Conversion: Just the Thing for Invading Canada

Experimental AG-42B Conversion to 7.62mm NATO

Stamm-Zeller 1902: A Swiss Straight-Pull Converted to Semiauto