Video - Forgotten Weapons

Q&A Video #1: H&K G11, Owen, F1, Worst Gun Ever, and More!

October 8, 2015 Ian McCollum 32

As part of my new fundraising system on Patreon, I am starting a monthly Q&A video series, answering questions from Patreon contributors. The support from you folks is a tremendous help to me in running […]

Book Review: The P08 Luger Pistol by S.I. Publicaties BV

October 6, 2015 Ian McCollum 10

I have seen a lot of folks asking for information on Lugers, so I figured I should recommend a good book or two. There are a lot of books out there on Lugers, cutting across […]

Thompson Riot Ammo at James D Julia

October 4, 2015 Ian McCollum 42

Did you know that the Peters company made ammunition specifically for riot control for the Thompson submachine gun in the 1920s? And it wasn’t rubber bullets, either – it was paper-wrapped snakeshot. The cartridges were […]

Massachusetts Arms Maynard-Primed Belt Revolver at James D Julia

October 3, 2015 Ian McCollum 9

When the Massachusetts Arms Company initially produced the Wesson & Leavitt Dragoon revolver, they quickly incurred the wrath of the colt company. Those initial revolvers violated several Colt patents. The resulting lawsuit forced the end […]

Mauser 06/08 Semiauto Pistol at James D Julia

October 2, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

Throughout the pre-WWI period, Paul Mauser was working continuously to develop a reliable self-loaiding rifle. Among his many experimental designs was a flapper-locked rifle. The flapper-locking system was first patented by a Swede named Kjellman, […]

Berger Repeating Pistol at James D Julia

October 1, 2015 Ian McCollum 13

The 1880s saw a brief explosion of experimental manually-operated repeating handguns, mostly throughout Europe. The most common weapon of this type known in the US is the Volcanic pistol, forerunner to the Winchester lever-action rifles. […]

Bren Ten: The Most Tactical Pistol!

September 30, 2015 Ian McCollum 64

The Bren Ten is an interesting story of handgun development and business failure. The gun was first developed by Dornaus & Dixon, with the consulting help of the iconic Col. Jeff Cooper. It was intended […]

Mannlicher 1901/04 Carbine at James D Julia

September 29, 2015 Ian McCollum 13

Ferdinand von Mannlicher was a brilliant and prolific European gun designer with more than a few widely-adopted military arms to his name. One of his very last guns was this carbine, which was also one […]

Reising M55 Submachine Gun at James D Julia

September 28, 2015 Ian McCollum 47

When the US entered WWII, submachine guns were in short supply and high demand. Much of the production of Thompson guns was being purchased by the UK, and what guns were available to the US […]

Mauser 1902 Prototype Long Recoil Rifle at James D Julia

September 27, 2015 Ian McCollum 14

Paul Mauser was very persistent – if ultimately unsuccessful – in his long-tim goal to create a practical semiautomatic rifle using a full-power cartridge. In total he tried some 17 different designs, including one in […]