Video - Forgotten Weapons

Kalashnikov vs Sturmgewehr

September 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 86

The German Sturmgewehr and the Soviet Kalashnikov are widely and rightly considered the two most influential and iconic of the modern military rifles. While the German rifle certainly influenced the Soviet design, the two were […]

US World War Two Sniper Springfields

September 16, 2016 Ian McCollum 14

The primary sniper rifle used by the United States in World War II was the M1903A4 Springfield, a version of the exisiting 1903A3 with the iron sights removed and replaced with a Weaver 330C scope […]

Frankenau Purse Gun

September 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 15

Patented in 1876 in both the US and UK as well as Germany, the Frankenau purse gun was a very small 5-shot, 5mm pinfire revolver hidden inside what appeared to be a normal small coin […]

US World War One Sniper Rifles

September 14, 2016 Ian McCollum 20

The United States had two primary types of sniper rifles during World War One, although both were based on the M1903 Springfield rifle. The most common optic used was the Warner & Swasey “Telescopic Musket […]

Maxim PomPom 37mm Machine Gun

September 13, 2016 Ian McCollum 49

“Pom-Pom” was the name given to the 37mm Maxim gun by the Boers of South Africa, based on the gun’s sound. It was a Maxim machine gun scaled up to the quite impressive 37mm caliber, […]

Julia: Shooting a 20mm Lahti L39

September 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 76

The Lahti L39 was the Finnish answer to the need for an anti-tank rifle, developed just before the Winter War. The rifle was created by noted Finnish designed Aimo Lahti, who had pressed for it […]

Book Review: “Star Firearms” and “Astra Firearms” by Leonardo Antaris

September 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 24

Leonardo Antaris has written massive and excellent volumes on two of the major companies in the Spanish firearms industry, Star and Astra. Both of these companies made a wide range of military and commercial handguns, […]

RIA: Odd Iver Johnson Prototype .32s (Video)

September 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 22

These unique and unmarked prototype .32 ACP pistols are apparently Iver Johnson prototypes – and I can’t find any information on them beyond that description from their consignor. One is a simpler example in the […]

RIA: H&K SL8, The Civilian G36 (Video)

September 7, 2016 Ian McCollum 37

The SL-8 was Heckler & Koch’s civilianized version of the G36 military rifle. There was, unsurprisingly, a major interest in semiautomatic civilian copies of the G36, but H&K was in a difficult position to meet […]

RIA: Danish 1865/97 Pinfire Conversion Revolver (Video)

September 6, 2016 Ian McCollum 34

The Danish artillery was an early adopter of metallic-case handguns, taking on this pinfire 6-shot solid-frame revolver in 1865 – when most of the world was still using percussion firearms. The thousand guns made served […]