Video - Forgotten Weapons

Thorneycroft: A Victorian Bullpup Rifle with Volley Sights

December 6, 2017 Ian McCollum 19

The Thorneycroft was the first military bullpup rifle, developed in the United Kingdom in response to combat experiences in the second Boer War showing the British infantry rifles to be overly long and cumbersome. Scotsman […]

The First Modern Military Rifle: The Modele 1886 Lebel

December 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 40

Get your “Only Dropped Once” shirt here, and do your part to push back against the stereotype of the French soldier! The Lebel was a truly groundbreaking development in military small arms, being the first […]

Book Review: Captured Arms (Beutewaffen)

December 3, 2017 Ian McCollum 25

“Captured Arms (Beutewaffen)” by Guus de Vries is Volume 9 of the Propaganda Photo Series by SI Publicaties out of the Netherlands. I really like the whole series, as they do a very good job […]

The .32ACP Dreyse Light Carbine

December 2, 2017 Ian McCollum 41

Manufactured by Rheinmetall and designed by Louis Stange, this light .32ACP (7.65mm Browning) carbine is a bit of a mysterious item. Very little written information exists about it, but we know it was sold on […]

The Swiss Cheap Out: SIG 310, aka MP48

December 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 38

The SIG 310, aka MP48, is the final evolution of SIG’s submachine gun design from the 1920s. It began as the MKM/P/S/O with a folding magazine well, wooden stock, and fancy lever-delayed operating system. Over […]

Parisian Needlefire Knife-Pistol Combination

November 30, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

Combination knife/gun weapons have been popular gadgets for literally hundreds of years, and this is one of the nicest examples I have yet seen. This sort of thing is usually very flimsy, and not particularly […]

Steyr M30S Prototype: A Repurposed WW1 Improved Mauser

November 29, 2017 Ian McCollum 23

This rifle, as best I can tell, is a prototype model made by Steyr in Switzerland in the early 1930s for use in Hungarian military trials. The Hungarians were looking to replace their old 1895 […]

M1903 Springfield – Stripped for Air Service

November 28, 2017 Ian McCollum 32

Edit: For additional information on these, including some unpublished documentation, see the C&Rsenal video on the 1903 Springfield One of the more interesting and unusual – and rare – variations of the M1903 Springfield is […]

US M1915 Bolo Bayonet – Dual Purpose Gear That Worked!

November 27, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

The M1915 bolo bayonet was originally the brainchild of US Army Captain Hugh D. Wise, Quartermaster with the 9th Infantry in the Philippines. In 1902, he recommended the implement in a letter to his superior […]

American Viven-Bessières WW1 Grenade Launcher

November 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

The standard American grenade launching system in World War One was the Viven-Bessières, borrowed directly form the French. It had been adopted by France in 1916, replacing copies of the British Martin-Hale rod grenades. The […]