Bolt Action Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

US Armament Reproduction DeLisle Commando Carbine (Silenced .45ACP)

June 24, 2026 Ian McCollum 2

The DeLisle Commando Carbine is one of the coolest special operation weapons of the Second World War – an SMLE rebuilt in .45ACP with a ginormous suppressor. It fed form slightly modified 1911 magazines, and […]

Romanian vz24 Sniper Rifles from World War Two

June 8, 2026 Ian McCollum 7

Romanian Marshal Antonescu officially requested development of a sniper’s rifle on January 22, 1942. The Romanian military at that point was using the vz24 Mauser rifle, and the Romanian optics company IOR developed a pair […]

Hungarian 48M Sniper Mosin (aka M52)

April 29, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

Available from Morphys here: https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_C__HUNGARIAN_91_30_M52_7_62X54MMR_BOLT_ACTION_SNI-LOT666019.aspx Under the Stalinist government that took control of Hungary in 1948, the Hungarian military adopted a whole suite of Soviet small arms. This included the M91/30 Mosin Nagant as the […]

Late-War Commercial K98k – Production in 1944 But Not for the Wehrmacht

April 20, 2026 Ian McCollum 25

Available from Morphys here: https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_C__RARE_LATE_WAR_COMMERCIAL_GUSTLOFF_WERKE_BCD_4_-LOT662278.aspx Late in 1944, a number of small companies assembled a batch of K98k rifles and commercially proofed them. These are a known group of guns to the collecting community, although […]

Austrian Mosin Nagant Rifles Rechambered for 8x50mm in WWI

March 27, 2026 Ian McCollum 18

The Austro-Hungarian Empire captured a very large number of Mosin Nagant rifles from Russian forces during World War One. They decided as early as November 1914 to convert many of these rifles to the 8x50mm […]

Austrian Sniper Prototype: SSG-1917A4 (M1917 and 03A4 Springfield Hybrid)

March 25, 2026 Ian McCollum 12

In the years after World War Two when the Austrian Army began looking for new sniper rifles, one of their experiments was to use available M1917 rifles and M73B1 scopes (from M1903A4 sniper rifles). The […]

Lithuanian Model 24L Mauser

March 18, 2026 Ian McCollum 0

The history of early Lithuanian small arms usage is hard to trace, as most records were destroyed over the course of a German invasion, two Russian invasions, and a 50-year communist occupation. When Lithuania gained […]

Adventures in Surplus! Type 38 Arisaka Carbine in World War One

March 4, 2026 Ian McCollum 8

“Forged in Snow”, my book on Finnish small arms, is available for pre-order right now along with all the other cool options at: https://www.headstamppublishing.com In the fall of 1914 it became apparent that the minor […]

Coenders’ Bolt-Less Last Ditch Bolt Action Rifle

February 4, 2026 Ian McCollum 112

When the German Army tested last-ditch Volkssturm rifles late in World War Two, one of the particularly obscure submissions was August Coenders’ Coenders-Rochling Volkssturmkarabiner. This was a bowl action rifle chambered for 8mm Mauser with […]

Ross 1912 Cadet: Straight Pull .22 Rimfire Training Rifle

January 28, 2026 Ian McCollum 8

The Ross model 1912 Cadet rifle was introduced in 1912 as a diminutive rimfire companion to the 1905 and 1910 military Ross rifles. It was a single-shot straight pull rifle, with a somewhat unusual locking […]