Single Shot Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Hall Breechloading Carbine at RIA

September 10, 2014 Ian McCollum 14

The M1819 Hall rifle was the first breechloader adopted on a wide scale by a military force (the British Ferguson predated it, but was only made in small numbers). The Hall stayed in production on […]

1875 Lee Vertical Action Carbine at RIA

August 22, 2014 Ian McCollum 21

My recent trip to the Rock Island Auction house was spent taking a whole slew of videos on guns that are coming up for sale in their Premier auction on the 12th, 13th, and 14th […]

Rock Island Regional Auction – July 2014

July 8, 2014 Ian McCollum 21

Yep, it’s time for another Rock Island Regional Auction this coming weekend! These are typically less valuable guns than the Premier auctions, and most of the lots include multiple guns instead of just one. Sometimes […]

Experimental .30-40 Trapdoor Springfield Repro (Video)

April 21, 2014 Ian McCollum 26

We have often touched on the series of US magazine rifle trials that took place through the late 1800s – those trials brought out a slew of interesting new ideas and clever (or not so […]

Followup w/ Pictures – Smoothbore Trapdoor

February 12, 2014 Ian McCollum 39

The owner of this interesting firearm (who is a regular reader of the site) sent me this information about it: Here are the things I do know about this weapon, which is one if six […]

Smoothbore Trapdoor Springfield?

February 2, 2014 Ian McCollum 36

Got a question from a friend, which is outside my area of knowledge. Does anyone know about the history of smoothbore, .45-caliber Trapdoor Springfield rifles? This fellow bought what was advertised as a forager conversion, […]

Model 1871 Ward-Burton Rifle

December 2, 2013 Ian McCollum 10

The Model 1871 Ward-Burton was one of the early experimental rifles trialled by the US military in its search for a new breechloading rifle to replace the theoretically-interim Allin conversion that made muzzle-loading rifles into […]

Book Review:Schuetzen Rifles – History and Loadings

June 27, 2013 Ian McCollum 8

In my ongoing effort to broaden my firearms horizons, I have been reading up on subjects I have little knowledge of. This week, that involved a copy of Gerald Kelver’s Schuetzen Rifles: History and Loadings. […]

Fosbery’s Breechloading Rifle

June 21, 2013 Ian McCollum 16

Col George Vincent Fosbery, V.C., was a definite devotee of small arms design as well as being a bona fide war hero – a combination that isn’t as common as one might expect. He is […]

Book Review: The Military Remington Rolling Block Rifle

June 6, 2013 Ian McCollum 7

During the latter half of the 1800s, a significant fraction of the world’s military forces were being armed by the Remington brothers, and their factory in Ilion, New York. The Remington Rolling Block was one […]