Bolt Action Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Britain’s Last Ditch: Wartime Changes to No4 Lee Enfield

July 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 37

When we think of “last-ditch” rifles, we normally think of 1945 and the very end of World War Two. For the British, however, the lowest ebb of the war was in 1941 and 42, and […]

A New Enfield for a New War: The No4 MkI

July 7, 2021 Ian McCollum 66

The stalwart No1 MkIII “Smelly” served the United Kingdom well during the First World War, but by the 1920s it was growing obsolescent. The war had revealed a number of shortcomings of the design, and […]

L96A1 Behind the Scenes: Manufacturing Catastrophes and Exploding Rifles

July 1, 2021 Ian McCollum 58

Accuracy International’s L96A1 was a stunning success in British military trials, and became the basis for one of the most respected line of precision rifles in the world. However, it very nearly was abandoned almost […]

Chinese Warlord Rifles: Hanyang Type 88, aka Type Han

June 7, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

It’s not too late to get in on the Kickstarter for Pistols of the Warlords! One of the biggest arsenals in China in the 20th century was the Hanyang Arsenal, built in 1890 by the […]

1893 Lee-Metford Trials Carbine (One of Only 100 Made)

May 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 8

Once Lee-Metford rifle production was in place, the British began working on a carbine version of the same action for their cavalry. In 1893 a trial run of 100 carbines were made, and today we […]

German World War One Gewehr 98 Sniper

May 7, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

Germany was the earliest adopter of scoped rifles in World War One, and produced more of them over the course of the war than any other power. After an initial stop-gap effort to scrounge up […]

MAS-45: The French .22 Trainer Designed by Mauser

April 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

When the French occupied the Mauser factory in April 1945, they found all the tooling to produce .22 caliber rifles still in place and in good order (among other things). The French military did not […]

Miniature Guns for the Fascist Youth: Italian Balilla Carbines

April 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

As part of his effort to imbue Italy with a fascist culture, Mussolini formed the ONB, or National Balilla Organization as a replacement for all other youth organizations in Italy in 1926. It was intended […]

Finnish Brutality 2021: Winter War 2-Gun with a Finnish M39 Mosin

March 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

Brought to you by Varusteleka and Sako, Finnish Brutality 2021 was run as a much-reduced private event to meet Finnish Covid-19 event size regulations. We only had three stages and 7 shooters, but the full […]

Prototype Ross “H5” from 1909

February 22, 2021 Ian McCollum 3

The Ross MkII (aka Ross 1905) was a reasonably successful rifle design, but it lacked a few elements that the Canadian military would have preferred. Most significantly, it was not compatible with the charger clip […]