Bolt Action Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Dakota tribal policeman with a Remington-Keene rifle

Vintage Saturday: Policeman with a Rifle

December 12, 2015 Ian McCollum 28

The Remington-Keene was one of the many repeating rifles manufactured with hopes of US military contracts, which failed to get any. In total about 5,000 were made and sold commercially. It is a tube-magazine, bolt […]

Springfield 1903 sniper w/ Warner & Swasey M1913 scope

Vintage Saturday: Sniper

December 5, 2015 Ian McCollum 56

Springfield 1903 sniper w/ Warner & Swasey M1913 scope, photo taken in 1918. Note the camouflage pain on the stock, and the distinctive cruciform grasping knob on the range adjustment of the scope.

M1903 Sniper Rifle with Warner & Swasey M1913 Musket Sight at RIA

December 2, 2015 Ian McCollum 25

When the United States entered World War One, there was no formal sniper school or training in place. However, the US Army had adopted a sniper optic for the M1903 Springfield rifle. It was the […]

Swiss ZfK-55 Sniper at RIA

November 26, 2015 Ian McCollum 40

The Swiss military began experimenting with scoped sniper rifle during WWII, with the K31/42 and K31/43. These use periscopic optics permanently mounted to the side of the receiver, and were both found less than ideal. […]

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 […]