Gunsmithing - Forgotten Weapons

Deckard’s Pfläger-Katsumata Series D 5223

February 8, 2025 Ian McCollum 35

In the film Blade Runner, Deckard carries a pistol called a Pfläger-Katsumata Series D 5223 – a name created by the fan community to have the initials “PKD” after Phillip K. Dick, who wrote Blade […]

Semiauto MGs: How Are They Made?

October 25, 2024 Ian McCollum 3

This is your last chance to win this awesome Semiauto DPM! https://www.fanathem.com/forgottenweapons DEADLINE to ENTER is TONIGHT 10/25/2024 at 11:59 PM PST Semiauto versions of machine guns are a way to have examples of historically […]

Creating my Shughart Black Hawk Down M14 Clone

September 19, 2024 Ian McCollum 11

Enter to win this awesome Black Hawk Down M14 Clone! https://www.fanathem.com/forgottenweapons Deadline to enter is 9/27/2024 @ 11:59 PM PST I figured it might be worthwhile to document the process of putting together my clone […]

Custom DeLisle: A .45ACP Mini-Mauser in Classic Sporting Lines

July 13, 2024 Ian McCollum 20

Today we are checking out a bespoke gunsmith’s project; a DeLisle-inspired .45ACP Mauser built by Lars Rannstad Slang of Oslo. Using a commercial small-ring Mauser action, he fabricated a new bolt head, trigger guard, follower, […]

Ultra-Premium S&W Performance Center Model 3566

February 9, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

When Smith & Wesson introduced their Model 3566 pistol for USPSA use, the company shooting team needed six of them for use at the 1994 USPSA Nationals. The Performance Center made these six guns, and […]

M90A Close Assault Weapons System Prototype

December 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

Thanks to Nathan Frisque for loaning us this very cool project to film – a very merry Christmas to him and to all of you watching! If you haven’t caught on, this is a real-life […]

Hamas Claims to Make Sniper Rifles in Gaza – Are They Really?

December 21, 2023 Ian McCollum 19

Hamas – or rather its specific military wing the Al Qassam Brigade – posted a video on Twitter / X yesterday purporting to show the manufacture of .50 caliber sniper rifles in Gaza. I was […]

Extra Firepower for Vietnam: the Aussie “B!tch”

December 18, 2023 Ian McCollum 22

Many of the special forces groups that operated during the Vietnam War found they standard issue weapons a but unwieldy for use in confined jungle environments. They also found a need for something that could […]

Story of the Alar: A Simple Student-Made SMG

August 14, 2023 Ian McCollum 5

The Alar is an interesting very rare Croatian domestic SMG. It is called the “Alar” after it’s designer, Stipe Alar. He first came up with the design in 1971 and built one illegally – which […]

Yugo-Albanian “Marksman’s” Mystery AK

August 2, 2023 Ian McCollum 10

This rifle was brought back to France from the Balkans (probably Kosovo) by a French military team in the late 1990s. It’s a neat example of a mix-master build (what is “bubba” in Albanian?), with […]