Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

What is the German 1920 Double Date Stamp?

June 3, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

One will sometimes encounter German WW1 arms – mostly Lugers and Kar98 carbines – that have two date stamps, one of them being 1920. What is the significance of this? The crux of the matter […]

Unintended Consequences of the AWB: The Olympic Arms OA-98

June 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 56

The AR-15 does not lend itself to stock-less use, because its basic design places the recoil spring in the length of the stock, and requires that space for the bolt carrier to travel in. Olympic […]

Webley 1913 Semiauto Pistol: Shooting

May 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 62

Following up on yesterday’s history and disassembly of the Webley 1913, today I am taking one of them out to the range. Courtesy of Mike Carrick from Arms Heritage magazine, I am shooting original WWI […]

Webley 1913 Semiauto Pistol: History and Disassembly

May 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 60

William Whiting and the Webley company had high hopes for their self-loading pistols being adopted by the British military – but they never got the success they were hoping for. After the poor performance of […]

Laumann 1891 and Schonberger-Laumann 1894 Semiauto Pistols

May 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

Josef Laumann was an Austrian designer of early ring-trigger manually repeating pistols, and was one of the first to develop that type of handgun into a semiautomatic. He took an 1891 pattern ring trigger gun […]

1891 Salvatore-Dormus: The First Automatic Pistol

May 15, 2017 Ian McCollum 16

The Salvatore-Dormus has the distinction of being the world’s first semiauto pistol, being patented in 1891. It is chambered for the 8mm Dormus cartridge, and holds 5 rounds in a Mannlicher type clip. Only about […]

Dreyse 1910: An Attempted Military 9mm Pistol

May 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 25

Designed by Louis Schmeisser, the Dreyse Model 1910 was an attempt to build a blowback pistol in 9x19mm for German military or police service, expanding on the existing market for the popular smaller .32ACP (7.65mm) […]

The Mexican Luger

May 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 29

Mexico’s President for nearly 30 years, Porfirio Diaz was very interested in modernizing the Mexican Army. He invested in new artillery, magazine guns, and small arms – such as the Mondragon semiautomatic rifle. In addition, […]

Shattuck “Unique” Hideout Squeeze Pistol

April 30, 2017 Ian McCollum 15

C.S. Shattuck’s “Unique” squeeze pistol is one of the last of this sort of sightless, underpowered hideout guns. Its core patent was actually filed by Oscar Mossberg, who worked for Shattuck before setting up his […]

Le Petit Protector Ring Pistol: A Modern Antique

April 27, 2017 Ian McCollum 29

Le Petit Protector is a ring pistol, made in both 5 shot/5mm and 6 shot/4mm pinfire variations, as well as a smaller version holding 7 rounds of 2mm pinfire, called the “Femme Fatale”. They are […]