Bolt Action Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Rod Bayonet M1903 Springfield (Video)

November 20, 2016 Ian McCollum 17

The US military adopted the Model 1903 Springfield rifle in 1903, replacing the short-lived Krag-Jorgenson rifle. However, the 1903 would undergo some pretty substantial changes in 1905 and 1906 before becoming the rifle we recognize […]

Turner Semiauto SMLE Conversion (Video)

November 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

Russell Turner was a Pennsylvania gunsmith and inventor who developed this semiautomatic conversion of an SMLE bolt action rifle circa 1940. It was intended for trial and potential sale to the Canadian military, as it […]

Vintage Saturday: Austrian Prisoners

October 29, 2016 Ian McCollum 43

This photo is an original color picture, not a modern colorization – taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky, a pioneer of color photography. Also of interest, note that the Russian guard on the far left is […]

Steyr M95 Semiauto Conversion (Video)

October 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 31

This rifle is a Steyr M95 straight-pull carbine that has been converted into a semiauto by adding a gas piston under the barrel connected to the bolt carrier, and an extension to the stock and […]

Vintage Saturday: Snipers in Shorts

October 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

The man in the front has an FR-F1, a French-issue sniper’s rifle roughly based on the MAS-36. The man others appear to have MAS 49/56 semiauto rifles. And of course, it wouldn’t be a desert […]

French and British troops on the Somme, 1918

Vintage Saturday: Lined up on the Somme

October 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 86

Actions of the Somme Crossings. Men of the 20th British Division and the 22nd French Division in hastily dug rifle pits covering a road, Nesle sector, 25th March 1918. the Frenchman in the foreground […]

Vintage Saturday: Marching Finns

October 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 42

The three guys on the left all have Mosin-Nagants, the middle guy has an LS-26, next guy to the right has an m/31 Suomi, and the far right man has a Winchester 1895 lever action […]

USMC Winchester Model 70 Sniper

September 24, 2016 Ian McCollum 43

This Winchester M70 was a rifle owned by the Captain of the Camp Pendleton rifle team, and as such it is an excellent authentic example of the US sniper rifle of the early Vietnam era. […]

US World War Two Sniper Springfields

September 16, 2016 Ian McCollum 14

The primary sniper rifle used by the United States in World War II was the M1903A4 Springfield, a version of the exisiting 1903A3 with the iron sights removed and replaced with a Weaver 330C scope […]

US World War One Sniper Rifles

September 14, 2016 Ian McCollum 20

The United States had two primary types of sniper rifles during World War One, although both were based on the M1903 Springfield rifle. The most common optic used was the Warner & Swasey “Telescopic Musket […]