Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Clair Automatic Pistol

December 21, 2012 Ian McCollum 9

The French Clair pistol of 1893 is one of the lesser known and least documented early automatic pistols, and unusual in its method of operation as well. The majority of the successful early automatics (the […]

Book Review: The Whitney Wolverine

December 20, 2012 Ian McCollum 20

The Whitney Wolverine (aka Whitney, Lightning, or Hillson Imperial) was a very space-age looking .22 automatic pistol designed by Robert Hillberg in the 1950s. It made novel use of materials (aluminum castings) and many clever […]

My New (Old) Carry Pistol

December 11, 2012 Ian McCollum 39

I recently picked up a new carry pistol…it’s about 65 years old, rattles a bit when you shake it, has a bit of pitting on the slide, and the finish is worn off all the […]

Book Review: The Parabellum is Back!

November 29, 2012 Ian McCollum 0

The final chapter in our continuing Luger series is today’s book, The Parabellum is Back! While Sturgess’ three-volume encyclopedia covers the pistol through 1918 and Simson Lugers takes us through Weimar, that leaves a lot […]

Book Review: Simson Lugers

November 22, 2012 Ian McCollum 0

We’ve been on a bit of a Luger kick recently, and it continues today. A few weeks ago we looked at Geoffrey Sturgess’ three-volume tome on Luger and Borchardt development, which takes the story of […]

Gabbet-Fairfax Mars Automatic Pistol

November 14, 2012 Ian McCollum 26

The Mars pistol was a development of the turn of the century that would really be more at home in a Jules Verne novel (I would suggest the title “One Thousand Footpounds in a Handgun”) […]

Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver

November 12, 2012 Ian McCollum 9

The Webley-Fosbery was an early automatic handgun based on a revolver design. The top half of the frame was able to slide back under recoil, recocking the hammer and indexing the next round in the […]

Lercker machine pistol

November 9, 2012 Ian McCollum 30

We don’t have very much information on today’s forgotten weapon, which is an Italian machine pistol designed by a gunsmith named Lercker. He worked for Beretta, but also had his own shop, where he designed […]

Cool Extras

November 8, 2012 Ian McCollum 23

I have some extra neat stuff this week, so I figured I’d combine a couple things in another post this morning. First up is the first really cool Tumblr page I’ve run across: Rare Antique […]

Book Review: Pistols of World War I

November 8, 2012 Ian McCollum 0

Today’s book is Pistols of World War I, by Robert J. Adamek. It’s a good overview of all the significant handguns used by combatants on both sides of the war (90 pistols among 16 countries). […]