Machine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Beretta M1918 SMG Photos

October 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

The Beretta M1918 was one of two simultaneous efforts to turn the M1915 Villar-Perosa machine gun into a more practical weapon. The Officine Villar Perosa (who had manufactured the 1915 gun in the first place) […]

Mendoza RM-2 LMG Photos

October 16, 2015 Ian McCollum 14

The RM-2 was the last in a series of light machine guns designed by long-time Mexican arm inventor Rafael Mendoza (also responsible for, among other things, the very unusual Fusil Mexico). The first of his […]

Salvator-Dormus 1893 Machine Gun

October 13, 2015 Ian McCollum 38

One of the early potential competitors to the Maxim gun was the Austro-Hungarian Salvator-Dormus machine gun. Designed by Austrians Grand Duke Karl Salvator and Colonel von Dormus, is was first patented in 1888, although it […]

Vintage Saturday: Maxim’s First Maxim

October 10, 2015 Ian McCollum 19

Not actually a photo, but a good likeness of both Maxim and his first working machine gun. That lever on the side is to set the rate of fire, and one of these is still […]

Q&A Video #1: H&K G11, Owen, F1, Worst Gun Ever, and More!

October 8, 2015 Ian McCollum 32

As part of my new fundraising system on Patreon, I am starting a monthly Q&A video series, answering questions from Patreon contributors. The support from you folks is a tremendous help to me in running […]

Thompson Riot Ammo at James D Julia

October 4, 2015 Ian McCollum 42

Did you know that the Peters company made ammunition specifically for riot control for the Thompson submachine gun in the 1920s? And it wasn’t rubber bullets, either – it was paper-wrapped snakeshot. The cartridges were […]

Reising M55 Submachine Gun at James D Julia

September 28, 2015 Ian McCollum 47

When the US entered WWII, submachine guns were in short supply and high demand. Much of the production of Thompson guns was being purchased by the UK, and what guns were available to the US […]

MGK-1000 Gunnery Camera at James D Julia

September 25, 2015 Ian McCollum 5

With the advent of aircraft, marksmanship instruction gained a huge new element of complexity. Now there were gunners firing at rapidly moving aerial targets from the ground and worse, gunners in moving aircraft shooting at […]

Shooting a Colt CMG-3 at James D Julia

September 21, 2015 Ian McCollum 60

In the mid/late 1960s, Colt was manufacturing AR-15 rifles and wanted to supply light machine guns to go with them – so they developed the CMG-2 (“Colt’s Machine Gun”). The CMG-2 competed against the Stoner […]

The Chauchat: Shooting, History, and Tactics (Video)

September 14, 2015 Ian McCollum 77

I hope everyone had a successful weekend with the Rock Island auction that just ended! For those of you who still have some money left, there is a James D. Julia auction coming up in […]