Video - Forgotten Weapons

MG-17 German Aircraft Machine Gun

August 20, 2017 Ian McCollum 26

The MG-17 is a belt-fed 8mm machine gun that was used on a large number of Luftwaffe aircraft early in World War II. The gun was developed by Rheinmetall through its subsidiary in Solothurn, Switzerland […]

Bergmann’s MP35 Submachine Gun: It Feeds From the Wrong Side

August 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 50

Guns in this video: Pre-War MP35 and wartime MP35/1 The MP35 submachine gun was designed by Theodore Emil Bergmann, the son of the Theodore Bergmann who had manufactured the turn of the century line of Bergmann […]

The Volcanic: Smith & Wesson’s First Pistol

August 18, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

Guns in this video: S&W Navy model S&W Pocket Model Volcanic Navy model New Haven Pocket model The deep beginnings of the Volcanic go back to Walter Hunt’s Volitional Repeater, which became the Jennings repeating […]

Spanish MP41/44 – A Copy of the Erma EMP

August 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

The Spanish-made MP41/44 is a licensed copy of the Erma EMP submachine gun. The development begins with Heinrich Vollmer in 1925, designing a submachine gun for German military testing. The military trials showed a number […]

Jennings Muzzleloader Conversion: The Perils of Early Adoption

August 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 24

Early adoption of new technology is a sword which cuts both ways – you might be getting the first of a fantastic new system, or you might be paying for a flop – and in […]

Experimental Reising 7.62mm Full-Auto Battle Rifle

August 15, 2017 Ian McCollum 68

In the late 1950s or early 1960s, Eugene Reising experimented with adapting the mechanism of his submachine guns to a locked-breech 7.62mm NATO military pattern rifle. The resulting rifle used an M14 gas piston and […]

Schmeisser’s MP-18,I – The First True Submachine Gun

August 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

When Germany began looking in late 1915 for a new weapon ideally suited for the “last 200 meters” of a combat advance, Hugo Schmeisser’s blowback submachine gun would prove to be the weapon that would […]

Book Review: The Uzi Submachine Gun Examined, by David Gaboury

August 13, 2017 Ian McCollum 28

“The UZI Submachine Gun: Examined” is a newly published book this year by David Gaboury – long time owner and operator of the uzitalk.com forum. Until now there has not really been any substantive written […]

Indonesian Air Force Collapsing-Stock G3

August 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

In 1959 the German military first adopted the Spanish CETME as its standard infantry rifle, because it was able to acquire a license to manufacture the guns domestically (something FN had been unwilling to grant […]

Costa Rican Breda PG: The First Burst-Fire Rifle

August 11, 2017 Ian McCollum 37

The Breda PG (“Presa Gas” – Gas Operated) was developed by Sestilio Fiorini in 1931 and put into production at Breda’s factory in Rome. It was offered as a weapon for commercial sale and export, […]