Single Shot Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Walther KKW: Competition Shooting in Nazi Germany

August 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

Lot 3620 in the September 2019 RIA auction. The KKW (“Klein Kaliber Wehrsportgewehr”, or small caliber military sporting rifle) was developed by BDW in 1937 as an amalgamation of various .22 rifle elements form other […]

Book Review: The Dreyse Military Needle-Ignition System

May 19, 2019 Ian McCollum 7

Leonard and Guy A-R-West have released the second book in their series on antique military rifles, this time on the Dreyse system. As anyone interested in the Dreyse has probably already learned, there is very […]

Book Review: Basque-Made Rolling Blocks of the 3rd Carlist War

May 12, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

This new book from Mowbray is an English translation of a work originally written in Spanish by Fernando de Aguinaga and Jose Luis de Aguinaga, which clearly involved a tremendous amount of original research. The […]

The 1874 Gras: France Enters the Brass Cartridge Era

May 6, 2019 Ian McCollum 30

Preorders now open for my book, Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles 1866-2016! Get your copy here! After the disaster of the Franco-Prussian War, it was clear to the French military that the rationale for […]

Chassepot: Best of the Needle Rifles

May 3, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

Preorders now open for my book, Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles 1866-2016! Get your copy here! The Model 1866 Chassepot was France’s first military cartridge-firing rifle. It used a self-contained paper cartridge on the […]

Morse Carbine: If the Army Says No, Sell it Commercially!

April 28, 2019 Ian McCollum 10

This carbine is lot #3208 in the upcoming Rock Island May 2019 auction. George Morse was one of the most significant American inventors in the development of modern ammunition. In 1856 he received a patent […]

Lee Carbine: Gunmaking is not for Sissies

April 16, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

This rifle is lot #1386 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. James Paris Lee is known today as the inventor of the detachable box magazine, and the “Lee” in the “Lee Enfield” rifle system – a […]

Italy Modernizes: the Carcano Needlefire Rifle Conversion

April 15, 2019 Ian McCollum 27

This rifle is lot #1415 in the upcoming April 2019 Morphy auction. When Prussia and its Dreyse needle fire rifles defeated Austria and its muzzleloaders at Shadow in 1866, much of the world took note. […]

Armstrong & Taylor Carbine – Too Little Too Late

April 2, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

This carbine is lot #1416 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. The Armstrong & Taylor carbine is a neat single shot breechloading carbine patented in 1862. It operates by way of a button on the top […]

The Last Dreyse Needlefire: 1874 Border Guard

March 31, 2019 Ian McCollum 8

This rifle is lot #1414 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. The Dreyse needle fire rifle was invented by Niclaus von Dreyse in 1836, adopted by Prussia in 1841, and would serve as their standard military […]