Semiauto pistol - Forgotten Weapons

Special Presentation: Semiauto Pistols of the 1800s

September 19, 2018 Ian McCollum 11

Today’s Special Presentation is an overview of all the semiautomatic pistols that were actually put into serial production before the year 1900. We have looked at these individually before, but I think it is worthwhile […]

Zip 22: Shooting the Worst Gun Ever

September 15, 2018 Ian McCollum 39

Today, may the good lord help me, I am taking the Zip 22 out to the range for some shooting. Note that while it actually worked remarkably well right up until it jammed solid, on […]

USFA Zip 22: How a Garbage Gun Destroyed A Good Company

September 14, 2018 Ian McCollum 36

USFA used to be the producers of probably the best Single Action Army reproductions on the market – but then the company owner decided to pursue a crazy whim and embarked on the Zip 22 […]

Catalonia’s Attempt at a Pistol: the Blowback Isard

September 12, 2018 Ian McCollum 20

The Republican factions in the Spanish Civil War had much more trouble obtaining arms than the Nationalist elements, and this led to several attempts to build pistols in small-scale workshops. The best known of these […]

The Original Pasadena Auto Mag 180

September 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 19

RIA’s catalog page for this pistol The Auto Mag 180 was basically the result of two guys noticing that nobody made a semiauto .44 Magnum pistol…and that they could probably do it. The men were […]

Rock Island Arsenal M15 General Officer’s Model

September 4, 2018 Ian McCollum 19

RIA’s catalog page for this pistol The M15 General Officer’s pistol was the replacement for the Colt Model M, which had long been the military issue sidearm for General-level officers. By the late 1960s, however, […]

Project Ultra: Germany Wants a Stronger Compact Pistol

August 8, 2018 Ian McCollum 15

This pistol is one of just a couple surviving from a development project run by Walther in the mid to late 1930s. The goal was to produce a compact sidearm for pilots and officers using […]

Sunngård Automatic Pistol: 50 Rounds in 1909

July 30, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

Harald Sunngård was Norwegian inventor in the early years of the 20th century who noticed a common perceived weakness of automatic pistols: reloads under stress were often bungled by shooters, leaving them vulnerable to return […]

Hafdasa’s Ballester Campeon Competition .22LR Pistol

July 27, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

Made after World War Two until 1957, the Ballester Campeon was a .22 rimfire competition pistol built on the frame of the Argentine Ballester-Molina .45 ACP service pistol. Two versions were made, a standard 5 […]

Argentina’s Open-Bolt Pocket .22s: the Hafdasa HA and the Zonda

July 23, 2018 Ian McCollum 18

Originally made by Hafdasa (Hispano-Argentina Fábrica de Automóviles S.A.), the HA pistol is a .22 Long Rifle caliber, semiauto only, open bolt pocket pistol. It was produced in the 1950s, right at the end of […]