Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Model 74 “Carpati”: Cugir’s Romanian Walther Clone

April 5, 2024 Ian McCollum 1

The Model 74 “Carpați” is a copy of the Walther PP made by the Cugir factory in Romania. The project began at the direction of the Romanian secret police, who delivered a worn out Walther […]

Two World Wars: Finnish C96 “Ukko-Mauser”

March 27, 2024 Ian McCollum 7

A decent number of C96 Mauser pistols were present in Finland’s civil war, many of them coming into the country with the Finnish Jaegers, and others from a variety of sources, commercial and Russian. They […]

Early Development of the MAC 1950 Pistol

March 15, 2024 Ian McCollum 10

Today we have a short look at two of the predecessors of the French MAC 1950 service pistol. The first is the Type SE MAS 1948, which retains many of the characteristics of the previous […]

2-Gun: AKM & Arex Delta (Lynx Brutality 2024 Prep)

March 2, 2024 Ian McCollum 0

I’m using this month’s 2-Gun Action Challenge Match as preparation for Lynx Brutality this spring. Žiga, Bloke, Jari, and I decided to all use AK’s at Lynx, and I’ve got this Romanian kit build that […]

Prototype vz.80: Improved Czech vz.50/70

March 1, 2024 Ian McCollum 5

The vz.50 pistol was a compact .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning) double action pocket pistol used by police forces. It was given a face lift and redesigned the vz.70, and there were plans at one point […]

Tale of a Heroic Sailor: Ensign Stannus’ M1911A1

February 26, 2024 Ian McCollum 24

Robert “Dickie” Stannus was , in technical terms, a total stud. So much so that he was awarded an inscribed M1911A1 directly by Colt as a prize for being the top sailor in his Naval […]

Prototype Czech Silencer-Ready vz70

February 12, 2024 Ian McCollum 1

Courtesy of CZ and their reference library, we are looking at a prototype model of the vz.70 pistol intended to use a suppressor. It has an extended and threaded (with interrupted threads for quick attach/detach) […]

Ultra-Premium S&W Performance Center Model 3566

February 9, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

When Smith & Wesson introduced their Model 3566 pistol for USPSA use, the company shooting team needed six of them for use at the 1994 USPSA Nationals. The Performance Center made these six guns, and […]

PT83: The Sneaky Silenced Version of Poland’s P83 Pistol

February 5, 2024 Ian McCollum 26

When the P-83 pistol went into production, the Polish military decided that it wanted a dedicated suppressed version of the gun, and the result was the PT-83. Thw P-83 was a 9x18mm pistol with a […]

Romeo M17 Red Dot: Worth It?

January 28, 2024 Ian McCollum 3

In my opinion, the SIG Romeo-M17 red dot is a really good piece of gear, but substantially overpriced. This is a red dot that SIG has developed specifically for the M17 and M18 military pistols, […]