Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: Barrett M82A1

August 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 46

The story of the development of the Barrett M82 .50 BMG semiauto rifle is really a neat story – much more interesting than most people probably expect, and reminiscent of many firearms development stories of […]

RIA: Semiauto FAMAS

August 9, 2016 Ian McCollum 134

The French FAMAS was one of the first bullpup rifles to be adopted and built in large numbers by a military power. It was adopted by France in 1978 at right about the same time […]

Pedersen Device: Spring Offensive of 1919 Briefing!

August 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 65

Welcome to your briefing on the new equipment we are issuing for the Spring Offensive of 1919. With this new secret weapon, we can finally push the Germans out of France and end the war!

Mauser M1915 Selbstlader Infantry Rifle (Video)

August 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 44

The Mauser Selbstlader M1915 was the result of many years of work by the Mauser brothers to develop a semiautomatic rifle suitable for military use. They tried many different types of operating systems, and this […]

Winchester-Williams WWII .50 BMG Antitank Rifle (Video)

August 3, 2016 Ian McCollum 43

David Marshall Williams was hired by the Winchester company in 1939, and would have a hand in a number of major projects during his 10-year stint with the company, although best known for the M1 […]

Book Review: Documenting the Weapons used at the Little Bighorn

August 2, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

I previously reviewed a book on archaeological study of the Little Bighorn battlefield, which did an excellent and very insightful job of tracing the battle through tangible artifacts, including forensic tracing of different individual weapons […]

Winchester M2 Rifle (Video)

July 29, 2016 Ian McCollum 10

In the previous video, we looked at the Winchester G30M rifle as it was submitted to Marine Corps trials in 1940. When the trial result came back with the G30M in last place, Winchester immediately […]

Winchester G30M (Video)

July 27, 2016 Ian McCollum 16

With the death of Jonathan “Ed” Browning in 1939, development of the Winchester G30 rifle was passed into the hands of a new employee at Winchester by the name of David Marshall Williams. Williams would […]

North China Type 30

July 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 22

When the Japanese invasion of China intensified in 1937, Imperial reliance on Chinese puppet troops for duties like garrisoning cities. Before long an estimated 500,000-900,000 such men were under the command of the Japanese, in […]

Ed Browning’s Winchester G30 Prototypes (Video)

July 25, 2016 Ian McCollum 39

After Jonathan Edward “Ed” Browning had his 1929 rifle dropped form US military testing, he took the design back to his shop in Utah and kept working on it. By 1938 he had made enough […]