Semiauto pistol - Forgotten Weapons

H&K’s New SP5 – A Civilian Semiauto MP5 Pistol

December 2, 2019 Ian McCollum 25

The MP5 is widely regarded as the best submachine gun ever made, and it has been widely copied. But only now has H&K released a semiauto civilian version of it in pistol form. Prior to […]

Pillars of Gediminas: The Lithuanian High Power

November 30, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

Between 1935 and 1937, the recently independent nation of Lithuania purchased 5,000 Browning High Power pistols from FN. These were early pattern guns, with 500m tangent rear sights and stock slots, although Lithuania did not […]

Ballester Molina: The Underrated Argentine .45

November 27, 2019 Ian McCollum 27

The Ballester-Molina was designed to be a more economical pistol to produce than the 1911A1, which had been adopted by Argentina as the Pistola Sistema Colt Modelo 1927. It was produced by a company called […]

Czechoslovakia’s First Pistol: Praga Model 1919

November 24, 2019 Ian McCollum 34

Having gained independence after World War One, Czechoslovakia looked to standardize and improve its armaments. Václav Holek went to work for the Zbrojovka Praga factory in Prague in 1918, and they introduced the Model 1919 […]

Kommer Models 3 and 4: German Browning Copies

November 17, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

Theodore Emil Kommer was born in 1866, son of a German gunsmith. He took the same profession, and at the age of 23 in 1889 opened his own business making guns. He initially focused on […]

Estonian Home Guard Browning High Power

November 16, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

Estonia purchased several batches of early FN High Power pistols in the 1930s. First in 1936 120 were ordered for the police, and then much larger orders followed in 1937. The military bought 5,338 and […]

Persian Model 1314 Luger and Artillery Luger

November 11, 2019 Ian McCollum 17

In 1934 (just year before officially requesting that the Western world call his country “Iran” rather than “Persia”), the Shah of Iran ordered 4,000 Luger pistols form the Mauser company. These were to be divided […]

Powell’s Cartridge Counter Luger: The First Military 9mm

November 10, 2019 Ian McCollum 3

The US first tested the Luger in 1901, and it seemed potentially good enough that the government spent $15,000 to buy 1,000 of the pistols (in 7.65mm Luger; the only cartridge available at the time) […]

Pistols Taken From the Walther Factory in April 1945

November 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

Courtesy of Legacy Collectibles, we have a variety of pistols to look at today which were taken as souvenirs by American GIs when the Walther factory was captured in April of 1945. Walther was making […]

Shanghai Municipal Police Colt 1908 in Competition

November 3, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

Today I am shooting a Colt 1908 originally issued to the Shanghai Municipal Police in 1925. The gun was chosen for issue by William Fairbairn, who is best known for training OSS and SOE operatives […]