Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Remington-Lee Model 1899: A Final Smokeless Version

November 21, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

This is Lot #1230 in the upcoming December 2020 RIA Premier auction. The Model 1899 was the last pattern of the Remington Lee Military Rifle, following the models of 1879, 1882, and 1885. In this final […]

Ruger AC-556 at the Range: How Does it Compare to the M16?

November 7, 2020 Ian McCollum 25

Yesterday we took a look at the internals of Ruger’s select-fire AC-556, and today we have it out at the range. The main question for me was, how does it compare to the M16/AR-15? And […]

Ruger’s M16 Alternative: the Select-Fire AC-556

November 6, 2020 Ian McCollum 41

Ruger introduced their semiauto Mini-14 rifle in 1973, and followed it in 1979 with the AC-556, a select-fire version intended for military and police sales. Offered with either an 18.5 inch barrel and solid wood […]

Russian Model 1828 Musket from the Battle of Inkerman

November 5, 2020 Ian McCollum 42

For a long time, Russian small arms were patterned closely after French designs – the Russian 1809 family was based on the French 1777 muskets, and the Russian 1828 model – like this one – […]

Germany’s WW1 “Kurz” Model Tankgewehr

October 29, 2020 Ian McCollum 7

When the German Tankgewehr was introduced in May 1918, the first 300 or so guns were of a different pattern than the standard production that would follow (and of which about 16,000 would be made). […]

Gardiner/Scott Prototype Grip Safety on an Early 1903 Springfield

October 22, 2020 Ian McCollum 8

In 1904, a man named Orlando Scott from Ontario filed a patent application for a safety device for breechloading rifles and shotguns. His idea was basically a spring loaded grip safety in the fore-end of […]

CETME Paratrooper Top-Folding Stock

October 16, 2020 Ian McCollum 5

Spain adopted the CETME Modelo B rifle for service in 1958. These early rifles were chambered for the reduced-pressure 7.62mm CETME cartridge, and had a few other unique features. Some of these were made with […]

The 1843 Side-Lever Hall Carbine by Simeon North

October 15, 2020 Ian McCollum 8

The final production version of the Hall was Simeon North’s Model 1843 Carbine, of which 10,500 were made between 1844 and 1853. It used North’s percussion update to the design, and a cleverly simple calming […]

Polytech AKS – The First Wave of Semiauto Chinese AK Rifles

October 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 14

The first semiauto commercial AK rifles to enter the US were Finnish Valmets. These established a US collector interested but while excellent in quality, they did not quite fit the visual pattern of the classic […]

Bilharz Hall & Co : A Crude Confederate Cavalry Carbine Copy

October 13, 2020 Ian McCollum 7

In 1863, the Bilharz, Hall, & Co firm of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia (now Chatham VA) received a contract to make 1,000 examples of a simple percussion cavalry carbine modeled after the US Model 1855 […]