Semiauto pistol - Forgotten Weapons

P.A.F. Junior – South Africa’s First Production Gun

January 29, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

The Pretoria Arms Factory was founded in 1954 by Piet Nagel and Jan Willem Dekker. both Dutch immigrants to South Africa after WW2. They began manufacturing a simplified copy of the Baby Browning pocket pistol, […]

Bernardelli UB: Hammer and Striker Fired 9mm Blowback

January 28, 2019 Ian McCollum 32

In the years following World War Two, the Bernardelli company in Italy made an attempt to enter the full-power pistol market with a simple blowback 9mm Parabellum design. They basically scaled up their existing .32/.380 […]

Walther’s .45ACP MP (P38 Precursor)

January 21, 2019 Ian McCollum 17

During the process of developing the pistol which would become the German army’s P38, the Walther company was also interested in potential export contracts (like the one they actually did get from Sweden). One potential […]

H&K P7 Family: Pistols for Gun Cognoscenti

January 16, 2019 Ian McCollum 69

Developed in the 1980s in response to a need for new West German police sidearms, the H&K P7 is one of the most mechanically unusual pistols to have been commercially successful in recent decades. It […]

La Lira: A Spanish Copy of the Mannlicher 1901

January 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 16

The Spanish firm of Garate Anitua y Cia manufactured this copy of the Mannlicher 1901/1905 pistol for just a brief period around 1910. It is not a straight copy, as the Mannlicher was chambered for […]

H&K P8A1: The Bundeswehr’s USP

January 7, 2019 Ian McCollum 57

Thanks to my friends at Bear Arms in Scottsdale, we have an H&K P8A1 to take a look at today – the current Bundeswehr issue version of the USP. Chambered for 9x19mm and adopted in […]

H&K VP-70M: Polymer Framed Cutting Edge Machine Pistol from 1973

November 30, 2018 Ian McCollum 47

The VP-70 was designed by Heckler & Koch cofounder Alex Seidel, and introduced in 1973. It was made with the idea of being a gun easily mass produced for arming a civilian resistance in case […]

A .50 Caliber 1911: Guncrafter Industries Model 1

November 29, 2018 Ian McCollum 35

This pistol sold for $2,300 at Rock Island on November 30, 2018. Guncrafter Industries is a custom handgun company formed by one Alex Zimmerman in 2002 after many years working for Wilson Combat. Among other […]

4mm Zimmerstutzen Parlor Conversion for a Mauser 1914

November 27, 2018 Ian McCollum 17

This Mauser pistol and 4mm conversion kit failed to sell at Rock Island on November 30, 2018. This 4mm “Zimmerstutzen” conversion kit was patented by one Karl Weiss in 1921, and produced by the RWS […]

Colt Checks out the Spanish Wondernine: the Star 30PK

November 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 29

This pistol sold for $3,163 at Rock Island in December 2, 2018. Star entered the Wondernine era in 1978 with their Model 28 pistol, a double action 9mm offering with 15-round magazines. It was one […]