Video - Forgotten Weapons

Merrill-Jenks Navy Carbine Conversion

March 27, 2018 Ian McCollum 39

James Merrill was a Baltimore inventor and businessman who patented an improvement to the Jenks pattern carbine in 1858. His idea was for an improved locking lever for the gun, which would also allow the […]

The Svelte Jenks Navy Carbine of the Mexican-American War

March 26, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

The Jenks carbine was a remarkably svelte and elegant breechloading system patented by South Carolinian William Jenks in 1838. It was tested by the US Navy in 1841, and found to be quite successful. The […]

Swiss 1897 Schmidt-Rubin Kadettengewehr Training Rifle

March 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 33

The Swiss replaced their Vetterli rifles in the late 1880s with the new Schmidt-Rubin pattern, and this eventually trickled down to the cadet corps. These youth programs had been using short single-shot 1870 Vetterli carbines, […]

Japanese Type 10 Light Grenade Projector (aka Knee Mortar)

March 24, 2018 Ian McCollum 12

In the aftermath of World War One, the Japanese military saw the utility of infantry-portable light grenade launchers instead of rifle grenades, and adopted the Type 10 grenade projector in 1921 (Taisho 10). It went […]

Semiauto Portuguese AR-10 on a Sendra Receiver

March 23, 2018 Ian McCollum 31

So, you would like to get an original AR-10 rifle to shoot? Well, the original Armalite AR10 rifles were almost all manufactured by Artillerie-Inrichtingen in the Netherlands, and they were virtually all machine guns. They […]

UK vz.59 Czech Universal Machine Gun: Shooting

March 22, 2018 Ian McCollum 31

Yesterday we looked at the history and the mechanics of the Czech UK vz.59 universal machine gun – so today we are taking it out to the range for some shooting! The UK 59 is […]

UK vz.59 Czech Universal Machine Gun: History and Mechanics

March 21, 2018 Ian McCollum 30

In 1952, Czechoslovakia adopted a whole new family of small arms, including the vz.52 pistol, vz.52 rifle, and vz.52 light machine gun. The rifle and LMG were both chambered in the Czech 7.62x45mm cartridge, […]

Cook and Brother of New Orleans – A Confederate Rifle Factory

March 20, 2018 Ian McCollum 4

Cook and Brother was one of the largest and most successful of the private ordnance factories in the South during the Civil War. It was formed by two British brothers who had moved to New […]

Shooting a Suppressed Sten Gun

March 19, 2018 Ian McCollum 28

During World War Two, the British spent several years developing a silenced version of the Sten gun for special operations commandos and for dropping to mainland European resistance units. This is a recreation of one […]

Lancaster Four-Barrel Shotgun With Double-Action Trigger

March 18, 2018 Ian McCollum 10

Charles Lancaster started his unmaking business in London in 1826, and it would survive more than one hundred years, being run after Charles’ death by his sons and then by an apprentice who bought out […]