Semiauto pistol - Forgotten Weapons

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Originally made by Hafdasa (Hispano-Argentina Fábrica de Automóviles S.A.), the HA pistol is a .22 Long Rifle caliber, semiauto only, open bolt pocket pistol.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 […]

A Well-Travelled Luger

July 2, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

This Luger has seen basically all of 20th century German history. It began as a 1917 production DWM pistol, used in World War One. After the war, it was one of the guns remarks for […]

Rhodesia’s First Production: Northwood Developments R76 & M77

June 27, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

In the mid to late 1970s, several different Rhodesian arms designers were basically racing to be the first to come to market with a domestically produced civilian carbine type weapon. Northwood Developments would be the […]

Book Review: Communist Bloc Handguns by George Layman

June 24, 2018 Ian McCollum 7

There is not really a good reference book available on Communist Bloc pistols – or at least there wasn’t until now. George Layman has just released this overview of Cold War handguns from the USSR, […]

CZ Makes a 45 for the Americans: the CZ-97B

June 19, 2018 Ian McCollum 34

This pistol is up for auction at RIA on June 23. Introduced in 1997, the CZ-97B is a .45ACP caliber addition to CZ’s line of globally popular handguns. However, the 97 has some substantial mechanical […]

Olympic OA96 Pistol: A Loophole in the Assault Weapons Ban

June 15, 2018 Ian McCollum 39

The pistol in this video is up for auction here. In 1993, Olympic Arms introduced an AR-15 with a side folding stock, as well as a stockless – and buffer-tube-less – pistol version. They did […]