Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Vintage Saturday: On Guard

December 26, 2015 Ian McCollum 56

Armed with a Trapdoor Springfield – with fixed spike bayonet – and a long-barreled Colt Single Action Army. Dated 1890s – back when “labor dispute” meant more guns and fewer negotiators than it does today. […]

Swiss Prototype: N33 (Video)

December 24, 2015 Ian McCollum 19

The N33 is one of a series of Swiss prototype semiautomatic rifles developed between WWI and WWII (the “33” refers to 1933). This particular design is interesting because it fires from an open bolt, a […]

Israeli Dror LMG: Shooting & Disassembly (Video)

December 21, 2015 Ian McCollum 38

The Dror was an Israeli copy of the Johnson LMG, which was made domestically in Israel as part of Israel’s war of independence in the late 1940s. The design was developed through a combination of […]

2nd Lieutenant L. J. Barley of the 1st Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), watching as a rifle grenade is prepared for firing from trenches at Grande Flamengrie Farm on the Bois Grenier sector of the line during February 1915.

Vintage Saturday: Rifle Grenade

December 19, 2015 Ian McCollum 62

2nd Lieutenant L. J. Barley of the 1st Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), watching as a rifle grenade is prepared for firing from trenches at Grande Flamengrie Farm on the Bois Grenier sector of the line […]

Mystery Japanese Semiauto

December 18, 2015 Ian McCollum 30

While in the Smithsonian gun room, I noticed a semi auto Japanese rifle of a type I have not seen reference to before. It is definitely Japanese, judging from elements like the split buttstock and […]

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 […]

SIG Prototype 1924/1925 Semiauto Rifles (Video)

December 10, 2015 Ian McCollum 15

The Swiss SIG factory was one of the earliest producers of semiautomatic military rifles, having produced the M1908 Mondragon rifles for Mexico. They continued to experiment with self-loading rifle designs, and in the mid 1920s […]

StG-45 Horn Prototypes

December 9, 2015 Ian McCollum 137

Herr Horn (I have seen his name given as both N.V. Horn and V.G. Horn; not sure which is correct) was an engineer working in the R&D department of Mauser at the end of WWII, and […]

Sturmgewehrs: The Original and the HMG Reproduction

December 8, 2015 Ian McCollum 22

While I was busy posting RIA videos last month, my friend Karl and I traveled down to Atlanta to visit Hill & Mac Gunworks. They are making a reproduction StG-44 rifle with a number of […]

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.