Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Ballard .41 Rimfire Derringer: An Old West Boot Gun

November 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 11

Charles H. Ballard is much better known for his single shot rifle design, but he also designed, patented, and produced a .41 rimfire caliber derringer. These were popular concealed weapons during the 19th century, and […]

Favela 2-Gun Action Challenge: Rio BOPE Madsen & Beretta 92

November 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 4

It’s time for the monthly 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, and this time I’m bringing out the Madsen! I’ve rigged it up like the BOPE (Brazilian military police special teams) typically use them, with the flash […]

Colt’s .41 Derringers: Buyout and Innovation

November 20, 2023 Ian McCollum 10

When Colt decided that it wanted a piece of the Derringer market, it used a tactic we are used to seeing today: it found an existing manufacturer and just bought them outright. This was the […]

Colt 1903 in US Military Service (and for the OSS)

November 13, 2023 Ian McCollum 11

The Colt Model 1903, aka Pocket Hammerless, aka Model M, was a massively successful design for Colt on the commercial market. It was chambered for the .32ACP cartridge, with a .380 model introduced in 1908. […]

Adventures in Surplus: From German Imperial Navy to Ethiopia

November 7, 2023 Ian McCollum 7

I really enjoy finding guns that can be positively traced through multiple different parts of history, and Lugers can be a great source for that sort of story. Today I have a Luger from Royal […]

Mauser Schnellfeuer: The Official Full Auto C96 Broomhandle

November 3, 2023 Ian McCollum 14

Contrary to what you might expect, Mauser was actually the last company to produce a fully automatic model of the C96 “broomhandle” pistol. The C96 was very popular in China (Mauser sent hundreds of thousands […]

HK P11: NATO’s Secret Underwater Pistol

November 1, 2023 Ian McCollum 20

0:00 Introduction and History of Underwater Firearms 0:55 Engineering Challenges and Russian Underwater Firearms 2:07 Development, Adoption, and Global Usage of the H&K P11 3:36 Examination of H&K P11: Fired Barrel Cluster and Firing Mechanics […]

New Laugo Creator 500 Alien at the Range

October 21, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

Today I’m taking the new Laugo Alien out to the range to see if it matches up to the original. Spoiler, it does – and it’s even better. The new grip angle is much more […]

Improved Laugo Alien for the American Market: The Creator 500

October 11, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

When the original Laugo Alien came out, it was designed with a grip angle rather steeper than a lot of people (including most Americans, it seems) preferred. In response, Laugo redesigned the grip to be […]

A Professional Warlord Copy of the FN 1900 from the Nanjing Arsenal

October 9, 2023 Ian McCollum 4

Interested in more pistols from the Chinese warlord era? Check out my book “Pistols of the Warlords”, now in stock and shipping at: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/chinese-pistols One of the professional factory-made Chinese warlord-era copies of the FN […]