Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Deckard’s Pfläger-Katsumata Series D 5223

February 8, 2025 Ian McCollum 35

In the film Blade Runner, Deckard carries a pistol called a Pfläger-Katsumata Series D 5223 – a name created by the fan community to have the initials “PKD” after Phillip K. Dick, who wrote Blade […]

TOZ-36 and TOZ-49: Soviet Gas-Seal Target Revolvers

January 22, 2025 Ian McCollum 30

These two revolvers were developed for competitive sport shooting in the Soviet Union. They are usually described as variants of the Model 1895 Nagant, but they actually work on a different mechanism, despite both being […]

The End of the Mamba: A Tale of Manufacturing Incompetence

December 20, 2024 Ian McCollum 32

This is your last chance to win this very rare Mamba pistol! https://www.fanathem.com/forgottenweapons DEADLINE to ENTER is TONIGHT 12/20/24 @11:59 PM PST The Mamba was a pistol that had a pretty decent design, but failed […]

P320 Flux Legion Raider at the Range

December 19, 2024 Ian McCollum 18

Today I am taking the SIG P320 Flux Legion (aka the SIG Legion edition of the Flux Raider) out to the range. I’m a big fan of PDW systems, and the Raider is one of […]

SIG P320 Flux Legion / Flux Raider: The Best Pistol-PDW System Yet

December 18, 2024 Ian McCollum 50

The Flux Raider is a chassis system designed to turn the SIG P320 into a very compact PDW. The design concept began as a desire to improve the practical accuracy of a handgun by adding […]

Daniel Defense H9: The Hudson Reborn and Completely Reengineered

December 16, 2024 Ian McCollum 16

In 2017, Hudson released a new pistol that was the darling of the firearms industry. It purported to offer a radically low bore axis and 1911-style trigger in a striker-fired system that would be fast […]

Beretta 93R: The Best Machine Pistol?

December 13, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

The Beretta 93R (“Raffica”) was developed in the 1970s by Beretta engineer Paolo Parola at the request of Italian military special forces. It took the basic Beretta 92 pistol design and added a well-thought-out burst […]

Best of American and Europe: the Webley No5 Express New Army

December 6, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

Webley introduced their No5 Express New Army model revolver in 1878. This was essentially a ruggedized and scaled up variation on the No5 RIC revolvers that was very popular with police forces. The RIC was […]

“Grey Ghost” – The French Occupation Production P38 Pistol

November 23, 2024 Ian McCollum 34

When the French took over control of the Mauser factory complex in May 1945, the plant had some 85 tons of pistol parts on hand – 7.3 million individual components in various stages of production. […]

P99: The Pistol that Rejuvenated Walther

November 20, 2024 Ian McCollum 21

For a couple decades after World War Two, Walther survived on legacy designs – the PP/PPK and P38 (eventually made with an aluminum frame as the P4) primarily. In the 1970s they developed the P5 […]