Semiauto pistol - Forgotten Weapons

Astra 902: Because More Rounds Are Better

October 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 8

The Spanish Astra firm introduced its C96 Mauser lookalike, the Model 900, in 1927 to take advantage of the strong Chinese demand for that type of handgun. When Bestigui Hermanos introduced a select-fire machine pistol […]

Book Review: Pistolas y Subfusiles de la República Producción de Guerra

October 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 13

“Pistolas y Subfusiles de la República Producción de Guerra” is a new 580-page reference book about the pistols and submachine guns made in the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War. It is written by […]

Arsenal AF2011: A Double Barreled 1911 Monster Pistol

September 4, 2017 Ian McCollum 15

The Arsenal AF2011 began as a manufacturing proof of concept, to showcase the technical ability of the company making it (their prior experience was largely in exquisite miniature firearms). It was introduced to the public […]

LAR Grizzly: A 1911 on .45 Winchester Magnum Steroids

August 24, 2017 Ian McCollum 43

Developed in the early 1980s by Perry Arnett, the LAR Grizzly was manufactured from 1983 until 1998. It was an expensive gun (base price was $675 in 1985), a huge gun (48oz / 1.36kg), and […]

Danish m/49 Service Pistol by SIG

August 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

When Denmark decided to replace its M1910/21 Bergmann service pistols, it did not have to look far for a very high-quality option. The Swiss military was just concluding several years of handgun trials that had […]

Shooting the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver – Including Safety PSA

August 10, 2017 Ian McCollum 28

Following up yesterday’s look at the history and mechanics of the Webley-Fosbery self-cocking revolvers, today we are out at the range to do some shooting with one. In terms of handling, it is a comfortable […]

Major Fosbery’s Automatic Revolver: History and Mechanics

August 9, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

George Fosbery, V.C., was a decorated British officer with substantial combat experience in India when he decided to design a better sidearm in 1895. True semiautomatic handguns were in their very early stages of development […]

W+F Bern P47 Experimental Gas-Delay Pistol

July 29, 2017 Ian McCollum 26

The Swiss were the first country to adopt a self-loading service pistol; the Luger in 1900. They would keep those in service clear through World War 2, at which point they began seriously looking for […]

W+F Bern P43: A Swiss Take on the Browning High Power

July 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 41

In 1940, Switzerland began a series of trials to replace their Luger service pistols with something equally high quality, but more economical. They had squeezed as much simplification out of the Luger as they could […]

PSM Shooting: 5.45x18mm vs 7.62x25mm on Soft Armor

July 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 32

Following up on yesterday’s history and disassembly of the PSM, today we are taking it out to the range for some shooting. In addition, wehave some generic Level IIIA soft body armor to test. We […]