Video - Forgotten Weapons

Winchester Lever Action Development: Model 1866

June 7, 2017 Ian McCollum 11

While the Henry Repeating Rifle had been an serious leap forward in firearms capability, it was not without problems. The biggest single weakness of the Henry was its magazine. The tube magazine was open to […]

Winchester Lever Action Development: 1860 Henry

June 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 36

The Henry Repeating Rifle was a truly revolutionary development in firearms technology. It was not the first repeating rifle, but it was the best of a emerging class of new arms, reliable in function and […]

Norwegian K98kF1 Repurposed Mauser

June 4, 2017 Ian McCollum 28

At the end of When Germany capitulated in 1945, there were nearly 400,000 German soldiers in Norway (largely thanks to the efforts of the Norwegian Resistance to prevent them from being transferred south). This provided […]

What is the German 1920 Double Date Stamp?

June 3, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

One will sometimes encounter German WW1 arms – mostly Lugers and Kar98 carbines – that have two date stamps, one of them being 1920. What is the significance of this? The crux of the matter […]

Unintended Consequences of the AWB: The Olympic Arms OA-98

June 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 56

The AR-15 does not lend itself to stock-less use, because its basic design places the recoil spring in the length of the stock, and requires that space for the bolt carrier to travel in. Olympic […]

SA80 History: Underbarrel Grenade Launchers

May 31, 2017 Ian McCollum 5

Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]

Modello 1928 Tromboncino Grenade Launcher

May 29, 2017 Ian McCollum 54

In 1928, the Italian army adopted a rifle-mounted grenade launcher. It was a potentially interesting weapon which wound up being fatally handicapped by the use of ineffective grenades. The basic idea was to mount a […]

SA80 History: L98A1 Cadet Manually-Operated Rifle

May 27, 2017 Ian McCollum 26

Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]

Webley 1913 Semiauto Pistol: Shooting

May 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 62

Following up on yesterday’s history and disassembly of the Webley 1913, today I am taking one of them out to the range. Courtesy of Mike Carrick from Arms Heritage magazine, I am shooting original WWI […]

Webley 1913 Semiauto Pistol: History and Disassembly

May 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 60

William Whiting and the Webley company had high hopes for their self-loading pistols being adopted by the British military – but they never got the success they were hoping for. After the poor performance of […]