Bolt Action Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Gewehr 71 with Experimental Magazine at RIA

November 19, 2015 Ian McCollum 9

The Model 1871 Mauser was adopted as the newly united Germany’s first standard rifle, and it was a good design. However, it was a single shot rifle and soon it became apparent that the additional […]

2-Gun WWI Extravaganza: BEF vs German Landser (Video)

November 4, 2015 Ian McCollum 34

This is the second of our two videos from the most recent 2-Gun match, which was designed with an explicit World War One theme. This one is a head to head match between me, kitted […]

2-Gun WW1 Extravaganza: 1918 German Sturmtruppen vs German Landser (Video)

October 29, 2015 Ian McCollum 57

This month’s 2-gun match was a special WWI themed event, with three long stages instead of the usual four shorter ones. The design included bayonetting, climbing ladders, crawling under wire, and throwing grenades. I shot […]

Differentiating Models of the 1894 Mondragon

October 28, 2015 Ian McCollum 24

I recently had a chance to examine 4 different examples of the 1894 Mondragon straight-pull bolt action rifle. These rifles were the predecessor to the self-loading Mondragon design which would be adopted by Mexico in […]

Vintage Saturday: Mr. Lee Goes to China

October 24, 2015 Ian McCollum 51

Note the bandoliers of individual cartridges – these Lee-Metfords predate the adoption of charger clips, and would have been reloading one round at a time.

System Luger 1892/6 Bolt Action

October 20, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

Georg Luger is known today for just one firearm: the Luger pistol. However, he actually spent significantly more time during his career working on rifles than he did on that iconic handgun. One project in […]

Belgian 1886 Rifle Trials Report (Translated to English)

October 7, 2015 Ian McCollum 38

Our friend Thibaud has spent some time translating a report from the Belgian 1886 rifle trials into English – thank you, Thibaud! He notes that the text has a lot of specifically Belgian terminology and […]

WWI Trench Mauser at James D Julia

September 19, 2015 Ian McCollum 29

As World War One stagnated into trench warfare, snipers and machine guns quickly proliferated, and exposure above the parapet of one’s trench could be extremely hazardous. This leaves one with the question of, how to […]

Steyr VG5/VK98 at James D Julia

September 16, 2015 Ian McCollum 19

SCARCE ORIGINAL GERMAN WW II STEYR VG-5 BOLT ACTION RIFLE. By the beginning of 1945, the Nazi government in Germany was looking to find cheaper ways to equip the Volksturm, and solicited bids and designs […]

RIA: Remington-Lee Model 1885

September 5, 2015 Ian McCollum 11

The model of 1885 (a modern collector designation; Remington called these the “Remington Magazine Rifle” and did not differentiate between the different versions) was the final iteration of James Paris Lee’s bolt action rifle made […]