Uncategorized - Forgotten Weapons

Ian on the China History Podcast

June 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 3

Laszlo Montgomery runs the China History Podcast, and today he posted a show we recorded talking about Warlord Era pistols – but he also has a whole slew of material on pretty much every aspect […]

An Economy Model WWSD: The Civil Defense Rifle

May 29, 2021 Ian McCollum 46

The initial rollout of the WWSD2020 rifles has been slow, as a shortage in a couple key components (primarily carbon fiber hand guards) has been a bottleneck in completing rifles. However KE Arms and Brownells, […]

Adventures in Surplus: Early Battle-Worn Berthier 1907-15

April 29, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

Today we are taking a look at a really interesting Mle 1907-15 Berthier rifle. This was the substitute pattern adopted by France as an infantry rifle to supplement the Lebel in 1915, and this particular […]

Colt’s MG52-A: Water-Cooled 50-Caliber Heavy Machine Gun for the World

April 19, 2021 Ian McCollum 16

Before the Browning M2, there was a series of Colt commercial .50 caliber machine guns. The .50 BMG (12.7x99mm) cartridge began development in 1918, and after the end of the war Colt and John Browning […]

1945: The French Occupy Mauser and Make Lugers

April 7, 2021 Ian McCollum 25

In July 1945, just a few months after the first French troops entered Oberndorf, the Mauser factory began assembling guns under French oversight. In addition to HSc pistols, P38 pistols, K98k rifles, and Model 45 […]

Gordon Ingram’s Westarm .308 Battle Rifle

April 2, 2021 Ian McCollum 37

In the late 1970s and early 80s, Gordon Ingram came close to producing a military rifle in one of the most convoluted international arrangements I’ve yet heard of. Prototypes were made in Italy using British […]

M39 Snow Test in Finland

March 27, 2021 Ian McCollum 18

While in Finland for Finnish Brutality 2021, the question naturally arose of how bolt action rifles would fare in the snow. Bloke and Chap from Bloke on the Range decided to find out, and peer-pressured […]

Announcement: “Chassepot to FAMAS” Being Reprinted

March 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 7

https://www.HeadstampPublishing.com/french-rifle-book Yep, after seeing copies showing up on eBay and Amazon for as much as $500, I realized that if we don’t do a second printing I will become the very thing I hate dealing […]

Fallschirmjäger Style: SMG’s Semiauto 1st Pattern FG-42

February 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 51

The early pattern (Type E, specifically) FG-42 is one of the most eye-catching military rifles ever made. Designed to be a universal paratrooper’s rifle capable of acting as sniper’s rifle, light machine gun, hand-to-hand weapon, […]

Afghan Schlegelmilch Carbine from the Kabul Arsenal

February 8, 2021 Ian McCollum 15

This is a rifle I have not been able to find any specific documentation about or even reference to – but we can tell what it it, and that’s a very interesting story. The rifle […]