Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

LeMat Centerfire Pistol and Carbine at RIA

November 28, 2014 Ian McCollum 20

Colonel LeMat is best known for his 9-shot muzzleloading .42 caliber revolver with its 20 gauge shot barrel acting as cylinder axis pin – several thousand of these revolvers were imported and used in the […]

Colt-Burgess 1883 Carbine at RIA

November 27, 2014 Ian McCollum 8

The 1883 Colt-Burgess was the Colt company’s single, brief endeavor to enter the lever action “cowboy” rifle market. Winchester had been making some moves to break into Colt’s lucrative shotgun and pistol markets, and Colt […]

M1908 Mondragon Semiauto Rifle at RIA

November 25, 2014 Ian McCollum 16

The M1908 Mondragon is widely acknowledged to have been the first self-loading rifle adopted as a standard infantry arm by a national military force. There are a couple earlier designs used by military forces, but […]

Sedgley Model 45 .22 Rifle at RIA

November 23, 2014 Ian McCollum 12

The firm of Sedgley Inc of Philadelphia was a gun company involved in many aspects of the industry. They made rifle barrels for the US military, they made the rather goofy “Glove Guns” for the […]

2-Gun Action Match: Mosin & Nagant vs Trapdoor & SAA

November 22, 2014 Ian McCollum 38

No vintage photo today – instead I have a vintage rifle match! I’ve had had a bunch of people asking to see a Mosin-Nagant in one of these matches, and decided to oblige – but […]

M3 Infrared Sniper Carbine at RIA

November 19, 2014 Ian McCollum 32

The first US military night vision system used in active combat was the T3 Carbine system – an infrared light-amplifying scope and IR floodlight mounted on an M1 Carbine. About 150 of these were used […]

Pedersen Selfloading Rifle at RIA

November 18, 2014 Ian McCollum 56

When the US military decided to seriously look at replacing the 1903 Springfield with a semiautomatic service rifle, two designers showed themselves to have the potential to design an effective and practical rifle. One was […]

Spencer Rifle Conversion at RIA

November 13, 2014 Ian McCollum 23

The Spencer repeating rifle was a major leap forward in infantry firepower, and more than one hundred thousand of them were purchased by the US military during the Civil War. The Spencer offered a 7-round […]

S&W 320 Revolving Rifle at RIA

November 11, 2014 Ian McCollum 16

The Model 320 Revolving Rifle was one of Smith & Wesson’s least successful commercial products, and as a result has become one of the most collectible of their guns – less that a thousand were […]

Winchester Lee Navy Safety?

November 4, 2014 Ian McCollum 69

It appears that a fellow in Pennsylvania had an 1895 Lee Navy rifle explode in his hands this past Sunday while out shooting. This sort of thing happens from time to time with all sorts […]