Select-fire Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Low Maintenance Rifle photos

December 6, 2012 Ian McCollum 15

I’ve found the TRW Low Maintenance Rifle to be pretty interesting ever since I found out about it – basically an American take on the Volksturm rifle concept. We’ve talked about the LMR before, and […]

Tomorrow’s Forgotten Weapon: the OICW

November 21, 2012 Ian McCollum 6

We often get email asking if we are going to write about some forgotten weapons that are relatively recent developments, like the OICW for example. We would like to have more coverage of some of […]

Guns that should have been

November 20, 2012 Ian McCollum 15

There are some guns that weren’t ever built, but really should have been. Like a paratrooper’s MP44. The shorty version of the AK is extremely cool, and it only stands to reason that a shorty […]

Last Ditch Innovation (Video)

November 19, 2012 Ian McCollum 38

I’m very happy today to present a video we did in cooperation with Oleg Volk, which I’ve titled “Last Ditch Innovation”. It is a look at two late-WW2 German prototype rifles which are the evolutionary […]

German Magazine Mistake

October 30, 2012 Ian McCollum 11

A piece of unusual trivia today. Magazines for the German StG44 were marked with the rifle’s designation in addition to the manufacturer’s code. Well, the gun started out life as the MP43 in 1943, and […]

Italian Cei-Rigotti self-loader

October 24, 2012 Ian McCollum 9

We have blogged about the Cei-Rigotti before, but I figured I’d do a re-cap on it, considering the new information we’ve found on its caliber. I’ve also uploaded a gallery of photos of the rifle […]

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 […]

Syrian Sturmgewehr Cache

August 11, 2012 Ian McCollum 26

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 […]