Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Chinese Warlord Pistols: the “Horn Grip Type”

May 28, 2021 Ian McCollum 8

Interested in these guns? Check out the Kickstarter for my new book on the subject, “Pistols of the Warlords”! In the course of researching Chinese domestic pistols of the Warlord Era, I sorted through several […]

Tipo Alleggerito Beretta: Because Italian Gun Laws are Wacky

May 24, 2021 Ian McCollum 19

Today we are looking at two examples of prewar/wartime Beretta compact pistols. The first is a Tipo Alleggerito Model 34 in .380. This was developed because of a quirk in Italian law which prohibited the […]

Chinese FN 1900s: From Wauser to Browningsbrowningsbrownings

May 21, 2021 Ian McCollum 18

Check out the Kickstarter-exclusive options for my new book, “Pistols of the Warlords”! One of the most popular pistols in Warlord Era China was the FN 1900, a compact and reliable officer’s pistol in .32 […]

Roth-Steyr 1907 at the Backup Gun Match

May 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

Posting a couple videos on interesting versions of the Roth-Steyr pistols recently made me think about just how nice of a pistol the 1907 is to shoot, So, I figured I’d bring it out to […]

Savage & North “Figure 8” Revolver

May 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

Designed and patented in 1856 by Henry North (the grandson of company founder Simeon North), approximately 450 of these revolvers were made between 1856 and 1859. A first prototype was sent to the Washington Arsenal […]

Salvatore Mazza Gold-Inlaid Percussion Collier Revolver

May 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 6

Before Samuel Colt popularized the mechanical connection between the revolver hammer and cylinder, the revolvers being made were manually operated. This example is a copy of a third type Collier (that is to say, a […]

Just Too Powerful: The C96 in 9mm Mauser Export

May 11, 2021 Ian McCollum 30

In an effort to widen its potential marked for the C96 pistol, Mauser offered it in 9x25mm (aka 9mm Mauser Export) as well as the much more common 7.63x25mm cartridge. The 9mm cartridge was made […]

The Very Rare Union Semiauto Revolver from Ohio

May 10, 2021 Ian McCollum 11

The most well-known historic automatic revolver is the British Webley-Fosbery, but there were other handguns of the type that were put into production. One example is the Union auto-revolver, made in Toledo, Ohio shortly before […]

Failed Good Intentions: S&W’s Straight Line Target

May 5, 2021 Ian McCollum 24

Introduced in 1925 as a major change to the target pistol market, the Straight Line Target used an automatic-style straight grip instead of the traditional revolver frame. S&W had been a market leader in this […]

Mounties’ First Revolver: the NWMP Adams MkIII

May 3, 2021 Ian McCollum 7

The first handguns issued by the North West Mounted Police (which would later become the modern RCMP) were 330 Adams revolvers, requisitioned by the new police service in March 1874, and shipped over from England. […]