Trainer - Forgotten Weapons

MC58: A USMC Semiauto Trainer 22 for the M14

November 13, 2018 Ian McCollum 10

This rifle sold (for some reason) for $10,925 at Rock Island on December 2, 2018. When the USMC adopted the M1 Garand in 1942, they decided they would like to have a new semiautomatic training […]

Britain Goes From Trainer to Competition: the No 8 Mk I

June 18, 2018 Ian McCollum 25

This rifle is coming up for sale at RIA on June 21. Initially intended to be used only by the British Army (the Land Service), in 1950 the No8 rifle’s role was expanded to cover […]

Britain’s Only Repeating Trainer: the No7 Mk I

June 12, 2018 Ian McCollum 9

This rifle is coming up for sale at Rock Island on June 23. Developed by BSA immediately after World War Two, the No7 MkI training rifle was the only one of the British Enfield trainers […]

Britains First Standard Trainer: the No 2 Mk IV*

June 6, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

This rifle is coming up for sale at RIA on June 23. The British military started using training rifles in 1883, with the .297/.230 Morris cartridge in adapted Martini rifles. This would give way to […]

Swiss 1897 Schmidt-Rubin Kadettengewehr Training Rifle

March 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 33

The Swiss replaced their Vetterli rifles in the late 1880s with the new Schmidt-Rubin pattern, and this eventually trickled down to the cadet corps. These youth programs had been using short single-shot 1870 Vetterli carbines, […]

Lepage Wax-Bullet Dueling Pistols

January 3, 2018 Ian McCollum 27

In the early years of the 20th century, before the Great War tempered society’s interest in the martial arts, dueling came into the popular vogue. Not the lethal kind, but rather a more sporting style […]

Book Review: Training Rifles of Third Reich Germany

September 10, 2017 Ian McCollum 13

Robert Simpson’s massive project of studying and documenting German training rifles has resulted in this much-anticipated reference tome. At 700 pages and full color, it a tremendous resource for understanding the chronology and features of […]

Mossberg 44US: A Cheaper Training Rifle for World War Two

June 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 38

As World War Two expanded to encompass the whole US economy, it became clear to the Army that some cost cutting measures would be required. One place that was a clear choice was in rimfire […]

Swift Model B: For Training and Pranks (Video)

February 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

As World War 2 exploded in Europe, rifle training suddenly because a very important topic in Great Britain. Typical solutions are small bore rimfire training variants of service rifles, but the British also wanted an […]

RIA – Spanish FR-8: the “Cetmeton”

June 14, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

The FR-8 is a Spanish rifle manufactured in the 1950s as part of Spain’s adoption of the CETME semiautomatic rifles. Spain was not only moving to their first semiauto rifle, but also changing from 8mm […]