Light MGs - Forgotten Weapons

Project Lightening Episode 03: Walking Fire

February 21, 2019 Ian McCollum 17

Project Lightening is a collaborative series with Othais and Mae of C&Rsenal in which we test all seven light machine guns and automatic rifles of World War One and put them through a series of […]

Shooting a Type 99 Nambu in 7.62mm NATO

February 2, 2019 Ian McCollum 49

Some older footage from the vault – this was a gun I bid on, but did not win. Didn’t want to have the whole audience thinking about bidding against me…but now that it’s been sold […]

Shooting the Stoner: Mk23, Bren, and 63A Carbine

December 8, 2018 Ian McCollum 38

Is the Stoner 63 really as good of a gun as everyone says? Today is my first opportunity to try one out on the range, and I’m going to look at it in three different […]

Stoner 63, 63A, & Mk23: History and Mechanics

December 7, 2018 Ian McCollum 2

The Stoner 63 is a firearm surrounded by a tremendous amount of mythology. It was Eugene Stoner’s big project following on the AR-15, and it was a brilliant piece of engineering – a single modular […]

Pre-Production FG-42 (Type C)

December 3, 2018 Ian McCollum 29

Thanks to the generosity of a collector in the Association of Maltese Arms Collectors and Shooters, we have a chance today to take a look at a pre-production FG-42, serial number 015. This is one […]

August Coenders’ 9x19mm Belt-Fed MG

October 31, 2018 Ian McCollum 38

August Coenders was an independent arms designer in Germany. During the 1930s he spent several years working in England and at the French Puteaux Arsenal, which contributed to a general lack of trust and interest […]

The MG 08/15 Updated Between the Wars

October 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 14

This MG08/15 is being sold by Morphys on October 30, 2018. In the aftermath of World War One, the Treaty of Versailles strictly limited the number of machine guns that the German military could keep […]

M1909 Benet Mercie – American’s First LMG

October 23, 2018 Ian McCollum 35

This Benet-Mercie is being sold by Morphys on October 30, 2018. The first light machine gun adopted by the United States was the M1909 Benet-Mercie, made by the Hotchkiss company in France. The gun was […]

Full-Auto FG-42: An Original 2nd Pattern at the Range

October 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 35

This rifle is being sold by Morphys on October 30, 2018. The FG-42 is a tremendously hyped rifle, but very few people have ever had a chance to actually shoot an original one (including me, […]

M1918 Chauchat: Testing a New Magazine

September 23, 2018 Ian McCollum 12

Today I am testing out a new .30-06 Chauchat magazine converted from a Johnson M1941 machine gun magazine. The workmanship on this new mag is excellent, and much more extensive than I had initially realized […]