Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Australian Electrolux Charlton

October 12, 2012 Ian McCollum 12

As we mentioned earlier this week in the Charlton Automatic Rifle article, the Australian government expressed an interest in converting rifles to Philip Charlton’s self-loading design. Charlton spent several months in Australia negotiating the deal, […]

Turkish Orman Carbine Video

October 1, 2012 Ian McCollum 8

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I’d picked up a neat new addition to my collection – a Turkish “Orman” carbine made from a French Berthier rifle. During WWII, the Turkish government wound up […]

A Minor Controversy Over Cartridges

September 25, 2012 Ian McCollum 55

We’re having a bit of a friendly disagreement over cartridges here, and I’m curious to hear some unbiased (or at least differently biased) opinions from you guys. Suppose you were putting together a new, cool […]

Photos of 1950s Light Rifle Prototypes

September 14, 2012 Ian McCollum 13

In the aftermath of World War II, there was a significant amount of effort put into deciding what rifles would be used by the post-war Allied armies. The UK and US wanted commonality, but couldn’t […]

Experimental Swiss AK44

August 31, 2012 Ian McCollum 4

The Swiss Army went into World War II with the Schmidt-Rubin K31 carbine – a straight-pull bolt action design that had been evolving since 1896. It was a good and very accurate weapon, but as […]

Lebel and Berthier Manuals

August 22, 2012 Ian McCollum 19

Since I spent yesterday talking about my new Turkish converted Berthier rifle, I figured it would be a decent idea to upload a couple manuals for the mainstay rifles of the French Army during WWI, […]

New Addition to the Collection

August 21, 2012 Ian McCollum 16

One of the great things about collecting old guns is that there is such a huge variety out there – there’s always something new around the corner that you didn’t know about before. Scores of […]

Syrian Sturmgewehr Cache

August 11, 2012 Ian McCollum 28

Allah ackbar indeed! Why can’t I ever find a storeroom full of Sturmgewehrs? If anyone reading this has contacts in Syria,you might consider recommending that they try to exchange them on some international market for […]

Fallschirmjagergewehr FG-42 Video

August 6, 2012 Ian McCollum 23

The German FG-42 paratroop rifle was a very impressive design, managing to meet a very strict set of performance criteria. The first production model in particular was exceptionally light and compact, while still offering semi […]

TRW Low Maintenance Rifle

July 18, 2012 Ian McCollum 37

As everyone is away, the M16 suffered from maintenance and reliability problems early in its deployment to Vietnam. While working to resolve these issues, the US government wanted to find a replacement weapon that would […]