Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Hall Breechloading Carbine at RIA

September 10, 2014 Ian McCollum 14

The M1819 Hall rifle was the first breechloader adopted on a wide scale by a military force (the British Ferguson predated it, but was only made in small numbers). The Hall stayed in production on […]

Vintage Saturday: Finn Capture

September 6, 2014 Ian McCollum 20

Note the Mosin Nagant PE sniper on the wall, and the AVS-36 machine rifle peeking out from behind the man on the right in addition to the DP-28 LMG on the table.

Krummlauf Curved Barrel StG44 at RIA

September 5, 2014 Ian McCollum 18

Today’s Rock Island Auction item is a very cool piece – a German Sturmgewehr with a “krummlauf”, or curved barrel attachment. This is the 30 degree type, intended (as goofy as this sounds) for firing […]

Type 1 Japanese Paratroop Rifles at RIA

September 2, 2014 Ian McCollum 12

Before standardizing on the Type 2 paratroop rifle (a 7.7mm Arisaka that broke in half at the chamber), the Japanese military tested a variant of the Type 38 carbine with a folding stock retrofitted into […]

Transferable MKb-42(H) Assault Rifle at RIA

September 1, 2014 Ian McCollum 24

The MKb-42(H), or Maschinenkarabiner-42 (Haenel), was the first production iteration of the German Sturmgewehr. It was chambered for the then-new 8x33mm kurz cartridge, and fired both semiauto and full-auto from an open bolt. Approximately 11,000 […]

1889 Schulhof Rotary-Magazine Bolt Action at RIA

August 31, 2014 Ian McCollum 15

Another of the interesting pieces in the upcoming September RIA sale is a Belgian-made Schulhof bolt action rifle. It is notable for its 9-round rotary magazine, and this same model of rifle was tested by […]

Transferable FG-42 at RIA

August 25, 2014 Ian McCollum 18

The undisputed star of the upcoming Rock Island Premier auction is this transferable full-auto German FG-42 paratrooper’s rifle. Only a few dozen of these are in private hands in the US, and they are an […]

1875 Lee Vertical Action Carbine at RIA

August 22, 2014 Ian McCollum 21

My recent trip to the Rock Island Auction house was spent taking a whole slew of videos on guns that are coming up for sale in their Premier auction on the 12th, 13th, and 14th […]

2-Gun Match: WWII Snipers (Video)

August 18, 2014 Ian McCollum 33

This month for the 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, Karl and I square off with WWII snipers’ rifles. I have a No4 MkI (T) Enfield sniper with a 3.5x No.32 scope, and Karl has a Mauser […]

C96 High-Speed Video and Smith-Condit article

August 1, 2014 Ian McCollum 11

Now that I have this high speed camera to use, I am going to be making high-speed video a regular weekly feature, at least until I run out of guns to film this way. Today’s […]