Video - Forgotten Weapons

Q&A 50: Disagreeing With the Premise of the Question

May 20, 2021 Ian McCollum 55

The Kickstarter for my new book, “Pistol of the Warlords” is live – check it out! 00:56 – What is the status of the Chinese Warlord Pistols book? 03:01 – Are open-bolt guns mechanically less […]

Announcing My New Book: PISTOLS OF THE WARLORDS

May 19, 2021 Ian McCollum 24

Check out the Kickstarter campaign here! I am very excited to announce the launch of my new book, “PISTOLS OF THE WARLORDS: CHINESE DOMESTIC HANDGUNS 1911 – 1949”. During the Warlord Era and the Chinese […]

1893 Lee-Metford Trials Carbine (One of Only 100 Made)

May 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 8

Once Lee-Metford rifle production was in place, the British began working on a carbine version of the same action for their cavalry. In 1893 a trial run of 100 carbines were made, and today we […]

Roth-Steyr 1907 at the Backup Gun Match

May 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

Posting a couple videos on interesting versions of the Roth-Steyr pistols recently made me think about just how nice of a pistol the 1907 is to shoot, So, I figured I’d bring it out to […]

Headstamp’s Second Book! Thorneycroft to SA80: British Bullpup Firearms

May 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

I am very excited to be able to announce that Headstamp Publishing’s second book, “Thorneycroft to SA80” is now in stock and shipping! As the name suggests, this is a study of British bullpup firearms, […]

Savage & North “Figure 8” Revolver

May 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

Designed and patented in 1856 by Henry North (the grandson of company founder Simeon North), approximately 450 of these revolvers were made between 1856 and 1859. A first prototype was sent to the Washington Arsenal […]

Salvatore Mazza Gold-Inlaid Percussion Collier Revolver

May 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 6

Before Samuel Colt popularized the mechanical connection between the revolver hammer and cylinder, the revolvers being made were manually operated. This example is a copy of a third type Collier (that is to say, a […]

The Very Rare Union Semiauto Revolver from Ohio

May 10, 2021 Ian McCollum 11

The most well-known historic automatic revolver is the British Webley-Fosbery, but there were other handguns of the type that were put into production. One example is the Union auto-revolver, made in Toledo, Ohio shortly before […]

H&K 512 Old-School Tactical Shotgun

May 8, 2021 Ian McCollum 24

In the late 1970s, H&K decided that it wanted to offer a tactical shotgun for the police and security market. Having no experience with shotgun manufacture, they turned to Franchi in Italy – for whom […]

German World War One Gewehr 98 Sniper

May 7, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

Germany was the earliest adopter of scoped rifles in World War One, and produced more of them over the course of the war than any other power. After an initial stop-gap effort to scrounge up […]