Video - Forgotten Weapons

Australia’s FAL-Based L2A1 Heavy Automatic Rifle

April 21, 2021 Ian McCollum 47

Many the nations that adopted the FAL (or L1A1, in Commonwealth terminology) opted to also use a heavy-barreled variant of the same rifle as a light support weapon. In the Commonwealth, this was designated L2A1 […]

System Kuhn: A Novel Single Shot Breechloader

April 20, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

This is an interesting single-shot breechloading system built by Kuhn of Besançon – a city near Switzerland in eastern France. It is clearly a sporting rifle, firing an 11mm black powder cartridge and probably dates […]

Semiauto ZK-383 on the Range

April 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 18

The Czech ZK-383 is a magnificent submachine gun, but sadly very scarce in the United States. So when I saw the semiauto example, I wanted to take it out to the range for some plinking. […]

Howard’s Thunderbolt: A Remarkably Compact Carbine

April 16, 2021 Ian McCollum 1

Designed by brothers Charles and Sebre Howard and first patented in 1862, this is a single shot lever action produced by the Whitneyville Armory between 1866 and 1870. It is a really neat compact design […]

The Swedish m/21 BAR in 6.5x55mm

April 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 38

Sweden was a remarkably early adopted of the light machine gun, for a nation not involved in World War One. Looking over the designs that existed right after the war, Sweden opted to purchase 700 […]

MAS-45: The French .22 Trainer Designed by Mauser

April 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

When the French occupied the Mauser factory in April 1945, they found all the tooling to produce .22 caliber rifles still in place and in good order (among other things). The French military did not […]

Fritz Mann Model 1921: Chamber-Ring-Delayed Blowback

April 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 50

In 1920, Fritz Mann of Germany patented the idea of cutting a shallow ring in the chamber of a pistol as a delaying mechanism. When fired, a cartridge case would expand into this groove, thus […]

Colt’s Model 1915 Vickers Gun in .30-06

April 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 15

After extended testing in 1913 and 1914, the US formally adopted the Vickers gun as the Model 1915. A contract was placed for licensed production of 125 guns by Colt, who had also taken contracts […]

Savage M1918 Aircraft Lewis at the Range (With Rare Tripod Mount!)

April 10, 2021 Ian McCollum 35

Yesterday we looked at the Savage M1918 aircraft version of the Lewis gun, used by American aviators during World War One. Today, we are taking it out to the range along with a very scarce […]

Savage M1918 Aircraft Lewis Gun

April 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 30

As an open-bolt machine gun, the Lewis was not well suited to synchronization on WW1 aircraft – but it was an ideal gun for flexible mounting. To suit this use, a series of aircraft-specific Lewis variations were […]