Bolt Action Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: Remington-Lee Model 1879

September 4, 2015 Ian McCollum 18

When we think of James Paris Lee, we usually think of the British family of Lee-Enfield rifles. However, the US Navy actually adopted an early version of Lee’s action before the British, in 1879. In […]

RIA: Boys Anti-Tank Rifle

August 24, 2015 Ian McCollum 35

Pretty much every major military had an antitank rifle in service when WW2 kicked off, and the British example was the Boys AT rifle, named after the Captain Boys who designed it. It was a […]

RIA: 1918 German Tank Gewehr

August 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 36

Germany was the first country to produce a purpose-built antitank rifle, in response to the major Entente tank attack at Cambrai. The design was pretty simple, basically a scaled-up Mauser 98 with 4 locking lugs […]

RIA: Liegeoise 1888 Trials Rifle

August 19, 2015 Ian McCollum 69

The Belgian Army held rifle trials in the late 1880s to choose a new infantry rifle, and the winner was the Model 1889 Belgian Mauser. Quite a few different guns were involved in the competition […]

French officer with a Lebel rifle and barrel-mounted light

Vintage Saturday: Throw Me a Line!

August 1, 2015 Ian McCollum 25

2-Gun Action Challenge Match: SMLE vs Kar 98AZ (Video)

July 29, 2015 Ian McCollum 45

In this month’s 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, we decided to both run World War I rifles – Karl with a 1914/1920 Kar 98AZ and I had a 1918 no1 MkIII* SMLE. In the previous enfield/Mauser matchup the […]

Father (Grandfather?) and Son in Afghanistan with a Martini and an SMLE

Vintage Saturday: Father and Son

July 18, 2015 Ian McCollum 29

One day the boy will inherit the SMLE, and probably go on fighting whichever country has decided to occupy Afghanistan by that time. Maybe it will be China? They haven’t taken a turn yet. Having […]

The Lee Enfield Finally Leaves Canadian Ranger Service

July 1, 2015 Ian McCollum 52

As far as I have been able to tell, the Canadian Rangers are the last formal, first-world military organization still using a WWII-era bolt action rifle as a standard-issue weapon (correction – the Danish Slædepatruljen […]

Vintage Saturday: Fusil d’Assaut

June 27, 2015 Ian McCollum 72

A Chasseur à pied of the 19e Battalion on the road between Breteuil and Flers, Somme. 10th of April 1918. This Battalion had been on foot after heavy fighting in order to occupy the village […]

Japanese Type 30 “Hook Safety” Arisaka at RIA

June 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

Most people are familiar with the Type 38 Arisaka, which was one of the two very distinctive Japanese rifles of World War II (along with the Type 99). The Type 38 was an outstanding rifle […]