Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

RSC 1917: France’s WW1 Semiauto Rifle at RIA

November 17, 2015 Ian McCollum 31

Did you know that the French Army issued more than 80,000 semiautomatic rifles during WWI? They had been experimenting with a great many semiauto designs before the war, and in 1916 finalized a design for […]

White Prototype Open-Bolt LMG at RIA

November 14, 2015 Ian McCollum 28

Along with his two semiauto rifle prototypes, when White went to England for rifle testing he took along a work-in-progress light machine gun. The weapon was trsted by British officials, but found wanting – largely […]

White Toggle-Locked .30-06 Prototype Rifle

November 13, 2015 Ian McCollum 18

This toggle-locking rifle chambered for the .30-06 cartridge is the second of two rifles submitted by White for the 1930 US military trials. It was not actually tested by the US, but White did take […]

White Gas-Operated .276 Prototype at RIA

November 12, 2015 Ian McCollum 26

One of the competitors against the Garand and Pedersen rifles in the 1929 and 1930 US Army trials was the White rifle. White actually submitted two rifles, but only this gas-operated design was actually tested […]

M1 Thumb in Slow Motion (Ouch!)

November 5, 2015 Ian McCollum 23

(Note: not for the mildly squeamish) A blog reader on Reddit named Oelund sent me this footage, of him deliberately inflicting M1 Thumb on himself at 1200 fps (twice!). I figured that ought to be […]

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 […]

Firing a 10-Bore Flintlock Rifle (Video)

October 26, 2015 Ian McCollum 17

A while back I had the opportunity to hit the range with Mike Carrick, Q&A Editor for Arms Heritage Magazine (a very cool magazine, by the way). The main purpose of the trip was to work […]

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.