Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

FN’s Millionth Pistol: Presented to John Browning; Saved by a Belgian Cop

November 28, 2022 Ian McCollum 25

Fabrique Nationale was formed as a consortium of small gunmakers to produce Mauser rifles for the Belgian Army, and when that work was complete the company basically had nothing else to do…until they met John […]

Firepower Back to the 1500s: Pre-Collier Repeaters

November 25, 2022 Ian McCollum 11

“Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers of Elisha Collier and Artemas Wheeler” is available right now for preorder on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/clockwork-basilisk?ref=9k8yzv Samuel Colt wasn’t the first person to invent a revolver, and Artemas Wheeler wasn’t either. […]

Tales of the Hunt: Stories from Writing Clockwork Basilisk

November 22, 2022 Ian McCollum 3

“Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers of Elisha Collier and Artemas Wheeler” is available right now for preorder on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/clockwork-basilisk?ref=9fouz5 Today Professor Ben Nicholson joins me to talk about some of the work behind the […]

TT33 Tokarev at the BackUp Gun Match

November 19, 2022 Ian McCollum 20

My holster and mag carrier in this match are made by BattleGnome Solutions in Slovenia, and available worldwide exclusively from the Polenar Tactical web store: https://polenartactical.com/shop/holsters/1363-tt-holster-bgs.html I was talking to the guys who operate BattleGnome […]

Announcing Clockwork Basilisk: Headstamp’s Fifth Book

November 17, 2022 Ian McCollum 7

I am very excited to announce today the launch of Headstamp Publishing’s fifth book, Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers of Elisha Collier and Artemas Wheeler. Written by Professor Ben Nicholson and a team of researchers, […]

Scotland’s Only WW2 Military Firearm: Albion Motors No2 MkI** Revolver

November 16, 2022 Ian McCollum 55

One of the lessons the British military took from the Great War was that without extensive training and practice, most people were not very effective with a large-bore revolver. So in 1922, they undertook a […]

S&W Pinto: The Wide World of Collecting

November 15, 2022 Ian McCollum 15

“Pinto” is a name given to a specific sort of Smith & Wesson revolver by collectors. It refers to guns – typically J-, K-, and N-frame revolvers but all some semiauto pistols – produced with […]

Rogers & Spencer .44 Army: Possibly the Best Civil War Revolver

October 26, 2022 Ian McCollum 15

Amos Rogers and Julius Spencer ran a company making mostly farm equipment in the 1840s and 1850s. In 1859, they took on a firearms manufacturing contract (as mechanical fabrication companies often do) to make Pettengill […]

Evolving the Cheek Pistol Concept: Calico M950

October 15, 2022 Ian McCollum 35

I have found the “cheek pistol” concept form Rhett Neumayer at Demonstrated Concepts to be pretty interesting. When I was thinking about what pistol designs might be suitable for this sort of use, the Calico […]

My Favorite Chinese Warlord Pistol: the Luger Grip Type

October 14, 2022 Ian McCollum 9

“Pistols of the Warlords” is available and shopping now from Headstamp Publishing: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/chinese-pistols My favorite pattern of domestic Chinese pistol form he Warlord Era is the one I have termed the “Luger Grip Type”. The […]