Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Erma/Glaser Luger .22 Rimfire Conversion

May 1, 2019 Ian McCollum 11

This conversion kit is lot #1713 in the upcoming Rock Island May 2019 auction. In 1927, a Berlin resident named Richard Kulisch patented a .22 rimfire conversion kit for the Luger pistol. Kulisch’s conversion used […]

Engraved Glock 19 Pistols – Yes, That’s a Thing

April 29, 2019 Ian McCollum 21

These three Glocks are lots 1731 (simplest), 1732 (intermediate), and 1733 (best) in the upcoming May 2019 Rock Island auction. Would you believe it? Factory engraved Glocks are actually a thing! They have not made […]

Finnish m/44 Prototype Blowback 9mm Pistol

April 24, 2019 Ian McCollum 15

The m/44 pistol was intended to be a lower-cost replacement for the Lahti L35 pistol for the Finnish Defense Forces, but production delays resulted in the first batch of 25 examples not being completed until […]

S&W 3566: An IPSC Game-Changer that Didn’t

April 18, 2019 Ian McCollum 49

This pistol (and its ammunition) is lot #2401 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. In 1994, Smith & Wesson began shipping the Model 3566, a double-stack, single action pistols tuned for high-level USPSA competition. It was […]

.577 Caliber Bland-Pryse Stopping Revolver

April 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 30

This revolver is lot #2573 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. There were probably less than a hundred of these Pryde-Patent break-action .577 revolvers made in total, and this one has managed to maintain an excellent […]

Shooting the H&K MP7

March 30, 2019 Ian McCollum 37

Thanks to H&K and Trijicon, I have a chance to do some shooting with an MP7A1 PWD today. The MP7 is unusual for a gun of its size and configuration in having a fully locked […]

Musgrave 9mm: A Gun for the Black Market

March 27, 2019 Ian McCollum 40

In the brief couple of years between the election of a new black-majority government in South Africa in 1994 and the dissolution of the Musgrave company, it attempted to produce a new 9mm pistol to […]

Swing and a Miss: The Joslyn Army Revolver

March 19, 2019 Ian McCollum 8

Benjamin Joslyn patented this .44 caliber, 5 shot, side-hammer revolver in 1858. He initially contracted with one W.C. Freeman to act as manufacturer and sales agent, but Freeman was unable to actually fulfill the first […]

ManuFrance Commercial Luger

March 17, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

Between 1909 and 1915, the huge French mail-order firm of Manufacture Francais d’Armes et Cycles de St Etienne (later called Manufrance) sold Luger pistols (as well as many other types of firearms). They were enough […]

Whitney Wolverine: Atomic Age Design in a .22 Rimfire

March 16, 2019 Ian McCollum 40

The Whitney Wolverine was a .22LR semiauto pistol designed by Robert Hillberg in 1954. It is a very distinctive looking gun, with the nickeled versions in particular being the epitome of Atomic Age styling. Unfortunately, […]