Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Type I Carcano (Video)

August 26, 2013 Ian McCollum 13

One of the less common Japanese rifles of the WWII era is the Type I (pronounced “Type Eye”). The Japanese Imperial Army and Navy procured small arms independently of each other, and the Army received […]

Vintage Saturday: Inventor Afield

August 24, 2013 Ian McCollum 4

John Moses Browning (center) elk hunting near Jackson Hole, Wyoming around 1910. His rifle is a Remington Model 8 in .35 Remington, and he is flanked by his brother Matthew on the right. His skinning […]

US Army Tokarev Rifle Manual

August 21, 2013 Ian McCollum 19

One problem I have consistently found with Russian weapons manuals is that they are all written in Russian, which I can’t read. The illustrations are still interesting and useful, but it does make some of […]

Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

August 20, 2013 Ian McCollum 27

So, I was browsing through the catalog for Rock Island Auction’s upcoming Premier Auction (I’ll have more next week on the various neat things available), and found one item in particular that jumped out at […]

2-Gun Action Match: England Versus Germany

August 19, 2013 Ian McCollum 50

Once again, we have video today from the monthly 2-gun Action Challenge Match. This time, I thought it would be interesting to do a bit of a historical matchup, and look at the oft-discussed question […]

Type 46 Siamese Mauser

August 12, 2013 Ian McCollum 28

Siam, now known as Thailand, was one of the few independent south Asian nations around the turn of the 20th century. Looking to modernize its military to protect against colonial imposition, is decided in 1903 […]

Book Review: Rifles of the Snow

August 8, 2013 Ian McCollum 5

Today’s book is really more of a pamphlet than a proper book, but it still serves well given its purpose. It is Rifles of the Snow by Doug Bowser and Powers Dunaway, and it is […]

Recent Developments in Auto-Loaders (1922)

August 7, 2013 Ian McCollum 20

Today’s guest author is none other than Julian Hatcher – although he didn’t give me permission to use his article on account of having passed away 20 years before I was born. I was looking […]

SKS Manuals at Allegheny Arsenal

August 4, 2013 Ian McCollum 16

One rifle that isn’t really forgotten at all but still interesting and historically significant is the Samozaryadnyj Karabin Simonova – the SKS. Predating the AK by several years, the SKS was a staple weapon in […]

1964 SPIW 60-round Magazine

July 31, 2013 Ian McCollum 59

Let’s step back to 1964 for a few minutes, into the midst of the SPIW development program. This was the US military’s attempt to increase hit probability from infantry rifles by, basically, changing focus from […]