Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

The Most Ornate Knife-Gun You Will Ever See: CM-1 “Dragon”

November 24, 2017 Ian McCollum 6

Combination knife-gun devices have been popular for hundreds of years, spurred initially by the single-shot nature of early firearms. The designs evolved to incorporate revolver cylinders when the revolver was invented, and remain interesting to […]

A Beautiful Alsop Pocket Revolver

November 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 5

Charles Alsop patented the Alsop revolver design in 1861 and 1862, and produced it in two varieties – a .36 caliber Navy and a .31 caliber Pocket. The two were made in a single serial […]

John Martz Custom P38s: Babies, .45s, and .38 Supers

November 15, 2017 Ian McCollum 7

Guns in this video: Baby P38 .38 Super P38 .45ACP P38 John Martz was a WWII US Navy veteran who spent a career in metalworking before turning his gunsmithing hobby into a full time occupation […]

Lindsay’s “Young American” Martial Two-Shot Pistol

November 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

J.P. Lindsay was a former Springfield Armory employee when he designed and patented an idea for a two-shot, single-barrel pistol. The apocryphal story is that Lindsay’s brother was killed in a firefight against two Indians, […]

John Martz Custom Luger Pistols – Babies, Carbines, and .45 ACP Conversions

November 9, 2017 Ian McCollum 31

Guns in this video: DWM 1917 Baby Luger American Eagle Baby Luger P08 .45ACP Luger Navy .45ACP Luger Luger Carbine John Martz was a WWII US Navy veteran who spent a career in metalworking before […]

Shooting the Czech vz61 Skorpion: Machine Pistol or PDW?

November 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 31

In the US, the commonly accessible version of the vz.61 Skorpion is the stock-less semiauto pistol – and in that configuration the gun is really nothing like the intentions of its designers. The Skorpion was […]

Czech vz61 Skorpion: History and Mechanics

November 4, 2017 Ian McCollum 53

The Czech vz.61 Skorpion is a rather unusual sort of firearm; a machine pistol designed from scratch instead of being converted from an existing handgun design, and chambered for the seemingly out of place .32ACP […]

The Butterfield Army Revolver and its Automatic Priming

October 30, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

Patented in 1855 by James Butterfield, this revolver is a 5-shot, .41 caliber percussion revolver with a brass frame and 7.5 inch barrel. Aside from its somewhat unorthodox grip configuration, what makes it interesting and […]

Shawk & McLanahan – A Would-Be St Louis Revolver Company

October 24, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

Revolver: https://jamesdjulia.com/item/52428-2-397/ Holster: https://jamesdjulia.com/item/52458-1-397/ The Shawk & McLanahan revolvers are a lesser-known example of a very low production Civil War era revolver not made in the Confederacy. Abel Shawk was manufacturing entrepreneur in St Louis […]

Leaders in Machine Pistols: the Bestigui Hermanos MM31

October 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Beistigui Hermanos is probably the least known of the Spanish machine pistol manufacturers, despite being the first to actually make such pistols. Beistigui was founded in 1910 in Eibar, and was one of the initial […]