Video - Forgotten Weapons

DTM: The Soviet Tank Version of the DP-27 LMG

February 8, 2020 Ian McCollum 24

Almost as soon as the Degtyarev DP-27 was put into Soviet military service, variations were developed for aircraft (DA) and tank (DT) use. The tank pattern we have here is actually a later improved DTM […]

SIG 44/16: The Best Service Pistol, But The Road Not Traveled

February 7, 2020 Ian McCollum 13

When SIG was developing the pistol that would ultimately be adopted as the m/49 by the Danish Army and the P49 by the Swiss Army (P210 commercially), they initially experimented with both single stack and […]

Bavarian Lightning: The 1869 Werder Pistol

February 6, 2020 Ian McCollum 27

This is a lot in the upcoming February 2020 Morphy Field & Range auction. Adopted by Bavaria in 1869, Johann-Ludwig Werder’s breechloading rifle was a brilliant piece of engineering, offering an automatically ejecting falling-block system […]

Rifles of Emperor Menelik II: Ethiopian Gewehr 88 and Karabiner 88

February 5, 2020 Ian McCollum 13

In 1889, Emperor Menelik II ascended to power in Ethiopia, and would rule for 20 years, moving Ethiopia (aka Abyssinia) forward into the modern age. He brought railways, sewer systems, telegraph lines, and other modern […]

Evolution of the Military Mauser HSc Pistol

February 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 28

Mauser had been at the forefront of military self-loading pistol design with its C96 pistol, but by the 1930s it had lost major market share to Sauer and Walther in police and commercial guns. The […]

MAS 49-56 in a 2-Gun Match

February 1, 2020 Ian McCollum 13

A while back, I ran a 2-Gun match on my own with my MAS 49-56 (and a plain Glock 19), including the original APX L806 optic. It was not a particularly complex match, but it […]

Royal NW Mounted Police Ross MkI Carbine & MkII Rifle

January 31, 2020 Ian McCollum 10

One of the very early clients of the Ross Rifle Company was the Royal North West Mounted Police (later merged with the Dominion Police to form the RCMP). The Mounties purchased 500 Ross MkI carbines, […]

Beretta 57: Italy Makes a .30 Carbine SMG for Morocco

January 29, 2020 Ian McCollum 29

The Model 57 is a select-fire carbine made by Beretta around the .30 Carbine cartridge. It uses a newly designed magazine much more durable that the American M1/M2 Carbine magazines, and has a tilting bolt […]

Water-Themed Art Deco FN/Browning B25 Shotgun

January 27, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

The B25 was introduced by FN in 1925; the last of John Browning’s designs and the first successful over/under sporting shotgun. The one we are looking at today was created as a presentation piece for […]

French Resistance 2-Gun: FG-42 & Mle 1935A (Prep for Desert Brutality)

January 25, 2020 Ian McCollum 29

Next week is Desert Brutality 2020, the big annual 2-Gun “nationals”. I’ll be shooting it in the Classic division (guns from 1946 and earlier) this year, with an SMG semiauto FG-42 rifle and a French […]