Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Thompson 1921: The Original Chicago Typewriter

October 6, 2018 Ian McCollum 31

This Thompson is being sold at Morphys on October 30. The first prototype Thompsons submachine guns (and it was Thompson who coined that term, by the way) were produced in 1919 and dubbed the “Annihilators”. […]

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 […]

Ukrainian or Russian Partisan Modified MP40

September 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

Some collectors hunt for firearms which look perfectly new form the factory, and others prefer arms that show lots of evidence of use and history. Well, this is definitely one of the latter type – […]

Swiss Reibel M31 Tank & Fortress Machine Gun

September 10, 2018 Ian McCollum 7

The Reibel Modele M31 was the variation of the French Chatellerault M24/29 light machine gun made for use in vehicles and fortifications. In accordance with that role, it lacked a buttstock or sights (these were […]

8mm M1915 Chauchat Fixing and Range Testing

September 8, 2018 Ian McCollum 26

Well, my 8mm French Chauchat finally cleared transfer, as did my application to reactivate it. This was a “dewat”, or “Deactivated War Trophy” – a machine gun put on the NFA registry but modified to […]

Suomi m/31 – Finland’s Excellent Submachine Gun

August 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 15

RIA’s catalog page for this SMG (transferrable) Designed by Aimo Lahti, the Suomi m/31 submachine gun is in my opinion one of the standout submachine guns of the World War Two era. Despite its hefty […]

Book Review: The Suomi M/31 by Michael Heidler

August 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 9

Michael Heidler’s bi-lingual (German and English) book on the Finnish Suomi m/31 submachine gun is a small but dense history of one of the best submachine guns of World War Two. It covers Aimo Lahti’s […]

Star Z-70B: Spain’s Improved SMG

August 4, 2018 Ian McCollum 24

The Star Z-70B was an incremental improvement on the earlier Z-62 and Z-63 submachine guns adopted by the Spanish military and security services. It remains an open bolt, selective fire design, with an underfolding stock. […]

Mythbusting with the .30-06 American Chauchat: Reliability Test

July 28, 2018 Ian McCollum 46

Everyone knows, of course, that the Chauchat is the worst gun ever, and can’t normally get through an entire magazine without malfunctioning. Well, let’s try that out…and with an ever worse culprit; an M1918 Chauchat […]