Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Dreyse 1907 Slow Motion Video

October 2, 2014 Ian McCollum 10

The 1907 Dreyse is an early automatic pistol whose design is attributed to Louis Schmeisser. It saw fairly extensive use by the German military during World War I, and was also used by various German […]

Mauser C96 with Chinese Hand-Made Frame

September 30, 2014 Ian McCollum 26

After posting my video of the oddball Chinese pistol in the recent RIA auction, I received a number of emails from folks with similar sorts of guns. One was from a fellow named Leonardo, who […]

Austrian Rast & Gasser M1898 (Video)

September 29, 2014 Ian McCollum 46

The M1898 Rast & Gasser revolver was the last iteration of a series of revolvers, and was a standard Austro-Hungarian sidearm during WWI (despite the adoption of the Steyr M1912 selfloader). The M1898 an often […]

(e)Book Review: Handfuls of History

September 26, 2014 Ian McCollum 11

A dilemma that has always existed for book authors and publishers is that adding information makes a book physically larger, and more expensive to produce. Editors have always had to make decisions balancing the added […]

Type 94 Nambu in Slow Motion

September 18, 2014 Ian McCollum 11

The Type 94 Nambu is a much-maligned pistol used by the Japanese military from 1935-1945. It’s actually a better gun than people give it credit for, but we will address that in a later video. […]

German Mauser Obrez Pistol

September 12, 2014 Ian McCollum 27

From the collection of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, a reader named James found an example of an Obrez pistol made on a Mauser K98 rifle action. This apparently was made by Czech partisans during World […]

Gyrojet Pistol at RIA

September 8, 2014 Ian McCollum 24

The 13mm Gyrojet pistol was the closest thing to a commercially successful rocket pistol, although not many were sold before the company went out of business. This pistol version (the most common type of Gyrojet) […]

Prototype Dieckmann P66 Pistol at RIA

September 7, 2014 Ian McCollum 36

The P66 was a prototype .22LR semiauto pistol designed by a German immigrant to the United States by the name of Rolf Dieckmann. It never went into production, but had a number of interesting features, […]

Chinese Mystery Pistol at RIA

September 4, 2014 Ian McCollum 16

Many unique and interesting pistols were made in China in the 1920s and 1930s, and this pistol is a good example of them. It is not a copy of any specific Western handgun, although mechanically […]

Two Pinfire Harmonica Pistols at RIA

September 3, 2014 Ian McCollum 14

Harmonica guns were a short-lived type of firearm that was developed in an effort to have reliable repeating weapons prior to the the modern centerfire cartridge. They were made in both muzzleloading and cartridge varieties, […]