Gunsmithing - Forgotten Weapons

Winchester M2 Rifle (Video)

July 29, 2016 Ian McCollum 10

In the previous video, we looked at the Winchester G30M rifle as it was submitted to Marine Corps trials in 1940. When the trial result came back with the G30M in last place, Winchester immediately […]

Winchester G30M (Video)

July 27, 2016 Ian McCollum 16

With the death of Jonathan “Ed” Browning in 1939, development of the Winchester G30 rifle was passed into the hands of a new employee at Winchester by the name of David Marshall Williams. Williams would […]

Ed Browning’s Winchester G30 Prototypes (Video)

July 25, 2016 Ian McCollum 39

After Jonathan Edward “Ed” Browning had his 1929 rifle dropped form US military testing, he took the design back to his shop in Utah and kept working on it. By 1938 he had made enough […]

CETME-L Flats: HMG vs Prexis

July 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 29

You may recall a while back I picked up a CETME-L flat from Prexis, because it was the only option available for building a CETME-L rifle. Well, there is now another option available. Hill & […]

Q&A #5: Rollin White and Other (Better) Designers

June 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 51

Questions in part I of today’s Q&A: 1:04 – What was Rollin White’s revolver like? 7:09 – Why did pan magazines disappear? 10:14 – Why no pointed pistol bullets? 13:24 – Funky rounds like Trounds […]

RIA: Cripple Stock Shotgun

June 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 16

Okay, so the name may not be considered very PC today – you could also call this a cross-dominant stock. The concept was to allow a shooter to mount the gun in one shoulder but […]

Ross Model A-2 Pistol Photos

March 23, 2016 Ian McCollum 27

A reader named Paul sent me these photos of a very odd pistol that was allegedly found in Germany during WWII. In fact, this is a very rare Ross automatic pistol, patented in 1903 by Charles […]

Hand-Fitted Parts Firsthand: French Modele 1874

March 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 31

We often hear the phrase “hand-fitted” in regards to either really finely made guns, or ones made before the the advent of truly interchangeable parts. Well, I recently had a firsthand experience with hand-fitted parts, […]

The Sketchy AKs of the Libyan Civil War

March 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 41

Armament Research Services (ARES) has a database of Conflict Material (CONMAT), logging arms and munitions documented within the illicit sphere in conflict and post-conflict zones. I have been working on co-athoring a report with N.R. Jenzen-Jones covering Libyan […]

James D. Julia: Orvill Robinson’s Innovative Rifles

March 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 28

Orvill Robinson was a gunsmith and gun designer in upstate New York who developed two rather interesting rifle designs in the 1870s. They are both pistol-caliber actions, with tubular magazines. The first (the 1870 model) […]