Video - Forgotten Weapons

Colombia’s Cowboy Revolvers: Cassidy, Marshall, and Scorpio

February 20, 2026 Ian McCollum 8

Indumil in Colombia was originally founded as a state workshop to repair military small arms. Its first complete production gun was the Cassidy, a licensed copy of Llama’s copy of the Smith & Wesson Model […]

Bannerman, the Father of Gun Collecting: Tales from the Golden Age of Surplus

February 11, 2026 Ian McCollum 15

Francis Bannerman is really the father of the modern military surplus industry, and in many ways a father of gun collecting as we know it today. Before Bannerman, “gun collecting” was generally something for the […]

Which Customer Are You? (w/ Mike Branson of Gideon Optics)

February 9, 2026 Ian McCollum 9

Suit from Grayman & Co: https://grayman.co Today I’m speaking with Mike Branson from Gideon Optics at SHOT Show 2026 about what he sees in the industry. Specifically, the three categories that customers fall into…

Reproduction GX-607 and XM-177 Moderators: Do They Work?

February 6, 2026 Ian McCollum 2

When the first carbine variants of the AR-15 were developed by Colt (the Model 607 initially, and later the XM-177E1 and XM-177E2), one of the complaints was that they were painfully loud. This should not […]

Coenders’ Bolt-Less Last Ditch Bolt Action Rifle

February 4, 2026 Ian McCollum 111

When the German Army tested last-ditch Volkssturm rifles late in World War Two, one of the particularly obscure submissions was August Coenders’ Coenders-Rochling Volkssturmkarabiner. This was a bowl action rifle chambered for 8mm Mauser with […]

How Guns are Made: Tolerances, Methods, and Metallurgy (Q&A January 2026)

January 30, 2026 Ian McCollum 24

Today’s Q&A is sponsored by Kyrö – get 10% off all their spirits with code FORGOTTENGIN10 at: https://www.kyrodistillery.com 0:02:41 – Could the US scale up small arms production to wartime mass levels? 0:08:57 – How […]

Ross 1912 Cadet: Straight Pull .22 Rimfire Training Rifle

January 28, 2026 Ian McCollum 8

The Ross model 1912 Cadet rifle was introduced in 1912 as a diminutive rimfire companion to the 1905 and 1910 military Ross rifles. It was a single-shot straight pull rifle, with a somewhat unusual locking […]

Book Review: Vickers Guide to H&K Volume 4: Rifles & Machine Guns (and more)

January 27, 2026 Ian McCollum 0

Available directly from Vickers Guide: https://www.vickersguide.com/purchase/heckler-koch-vol-4-standard The fourth and final volume of the Vickers Guide to Heckler & Koch covers the post-roller-delayed long guns made by H&K. This begins with the G11, and then the […]

Roller Locked Czechnology: the CZ 482 Pistol (Which Eventually Became the vz.52)

January 26, 2026 Ian McCollum 9

The Czech vz.52 service pistol actually began as a commercial export program at CZ. It was developed by two brothers, Jan and Jaroslav Kratochvíl. They actually designed two pistols with similar shape and controls, one […]

Vaporware or Successful Release: SHOT Show 2025 Retrospective

January 25, 2026 Ian McCollum 17

Today we take a look back at last year’s SHOT Show. Of all the products I did videos on, which ones successfully came to market and which dissolved into vaporware? Hop’s HTX-1 Video: https://youtu.be/snpg6Vz5DOY AKB-23 […]