Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: Predecessor to the Mosin – the Russian Berdan II

February 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 43

Before adopting the M1891 Mosin-Nagant, the Russian Empire (like most major militaries) used a large-bore single-shot rifle as its standard infantry rifle. In this case, a .42-caliber rifle designed by American General Hiram Berdan (yes, […]

RIA: Gewehr 29/40 Mauser

February 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 20

Over the next couple weeks we will be looking at several Polish firearms, and the first one is today: the G29/40. When German forces overran the arms factory in Radom, Poland, they captured in nearly […]

RIA: Porter Turret Rifle

February 7, 2016 Ian McCollum 23

The Porter was one of the few turret rifles ever put into serial production. Turret rifles are similar in principle to revolvers, but they is a cylinder with radial chambers (like the spokes of a […]

RIA: An Introduction to Early Lever-Action Rifles

February 6, 2016 Ian McCollum 18

We’ve all seen lever action rifles galore in movies about the old west, and most of us have handled and shot a bunch of them as well. But do you know where they came from? […]

Smoothbore Spencer: Tracing a Mystery Gun

February 3, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

Today’s firearm is not a normal gun; it is a conversion of a Spencer into a shotgun. My question is, what path did this weapon travel? What did it begin as, and how did it […]

RIA: Russian Winchester 1895 in 7.62x54R

February 2, 2016 Ian McCollum 64

The Winchester 1895 was the last of Winchester’s lever-action rifles, and has an interesting place in a couple different parts of world history. On the one hand, the 1895 in .405 Winchester caliber is known […]

RIA: Imperial Gewehr 71 (Video)

January 30, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

The Gewehr 1871 was the first rifle adopted by the newly-formed German state after its unification at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. It replaced the decades-old Dreyse needle rifles, and fired an 11x60mm black […]

Prototype Italian MBT 1925 Straight-Pull Rifle (Video)

January 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 34

Note: This video was filmed over a year ago, but I have been holding it in anticipation of the rifle going to auction. That doesn’t seem to be happening, so I’m posting the video now. […]

SIG KE-9 & M29A Prototype Rifles (Video)

January 25, 2016 Ian McCollum 18

The SIG KE-9 and M29A were several in a series of developmental rifles made by SIG in Switzerland and designed by Pal Kiraly. These ultimately found no commercial or military sales, although the related KE-7 […]

US troops in the Pacific Theater with 1903 Springfields and a 1919A4 machine gun

Vintage Saturday: Combined Arms

January 23, 2016 Ian McCollum 37

I have seen this image described as being from both Burma and Okinawa – not sure myself which (if either) is correct. The array of armament present is interesting, though – a 1903A3, a 1903A4 […]