Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

The KP-15: Now in OD Green for you Forest-Dwellers

June 22, 2021 Ian McCollum 6

KE Arms has finally pretty much caught up with the demand for black KP-15 monolithic polymer lowers, and now has the time to put out a limited run of them in OD Green (virtually identical […]

Captain Carl Pelo’s Model 1954 Prototype Semiauto Rifle

June 21, 2021 Ian McCollum 37

Carl Pelo was a an engineer with Sako in the 1930s, and developed a series of self-loading rifles. He used a short recoil mechanism with a pair of locking flaps on the bolt, much like […]

Prototype Johnson Model R Military Rifle

June 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

When Melvin Johnson’s rifle design was first going through US military testing in 1938, it was set up to use box magazines. These magazines were a problem – they were not quite fully perfected, and […]

Chinese Warlord Rifles: Hanyang Type 88, aka Type Han

June 7, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

It’s not too late to get in on the Kickstarter for Pistols of the Warlords! One of the biggest arsenals in China in the 20th century was the Hanyang Arsenal, built in 1890 by the […]

How Russia Captured its First MKb-42(H)

May 30, 2021 Ian McCollum 99

This guest article written by Andrey Ulanov. When a new weapon model gets to the front, there is always a risk of it getting captured by the enemy. Armed forces go to great lengths to […]

British L85A1 at the Range: Will It Work?

May 22, 2021 Ian McCollum 66

I am excited to have a chance today to take a trip to the range with a proper, factory L85A1 rifle (it’s in the United States as a post-1986 dealer sample). I had a chance […]

1893 Lee-Metford Trials Carbine (One of Only 100 Made)

May 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 8

Once Lee-Metford rifle production was in place, the British began working on a carbine version of the same action for their cavalry. In 1893 a trial run of 100 carbines were made, and today we […]

German World War One Gewehr 98 Sniper

May 7, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

Germany was the earliest adopter of scoped rifles in World War One, and produced more of them over the course of the war than any other power. After an initial stop-gap effort to scrounge up […]

Remington’s Last Rolling Block: the No.7 Target Rifle

May 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 4

Remington introduced the No.7 Rolling Block in 1903, and it was the last pattern of the action to be introduced. They were expensive, hand fitted guns, costing $24 in 1903 (compared to $12 for a […]

Colt-Berdan I: Russia’s First Military Cartridge Rifle

May 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 20

In 1867, a Russian delegation came to the United States to source new small arms for the Czar. In addition to purchasing Gatling guns, they met with Hiram Berdan and agreed to purchase a trapdoor […]