Video - Forgotten Weapons

Slow Motion: lMG 08/15 Maxim

December 11, 2014 Ian McCollum 16

Today we’re looking at a luftgekühlt maschinengewehr 08/15 in slow motion – a lightened and mair-cooled version of the Maxim used on German WWI aircraft. This particular example is set up as a Zeppelin gun, […]

Danish Madsen-Ljungman Rifle

December 8, 2014 Ian McCollum 7

Thanks to reader John D, we have a chance today to look at a very scarce Danish-made copy of the AG-42B Ljungman rifle. The Madsen company in Denmark made about 50 of these rifles for […]

Reproduction Nordenfelt Gun

December 5, 2014 Ian McCollum 21

A few days ago I was at a small machine gun shoot (which wound up being a bit larger than I’d expected), and was happily surprised to discover that one of the attendees had brought […]

Clever Double Barrel Sporting Rifle at RIA

December 3, 2014 Ian McCollum 17

This double-barreled sporting rifle made by Christoph Funk in Germany is not much like the typical over-under double-barreled rifle. It began as a fairly standard Mauser bolt action, chambered in 7×57 Mauser with a 5-round […]

American Eagle Lugers at RIA

December 2, 2014 Ian McCollum 20

Many people are aware of the .45 caliber Lugers made for US military field trials – but far fewer people realize that Lugers were both tested by the US military and sold commercially several years […]

Development of the Model 1911 Pistol (Video)

December 1, 2014 Ian McCollum 25

When I was looking through the catalog for this upcoming Rock Island auction, I noticed that there were a lot of early-type Colt automatic pistols listed. I looked a bit closer, and noticed that there […]

Roth-Sauer Automatic Pistol at RIA

November 30, 2014 Ian McCollum 24

The Roth-Sauer is a rare early automatic pistol designed by Karel Krnka, financed by Georg Roth, and manufactured by J.P. Sauer & Sohn in Germany. It is mechanically quite complex – much moreso than strictly […]

LeMat Centerfire Pistol and Carbine at RIA

November 28, 2014 Ian McCollum 20

Colonel LeMat is best known for his 9-shot muzzleloading .42 caliber revolver with its 20 gauge shot barrel acting as cylinder axis pin – several thousand of these revolvers were imported and used in the […]

Colt-Burgess 1883 Carbine at RIA

November 27, 2014 Ian McCollum 8

The 1883 Colt-Burgess was the Colt company’s single, brief endeavor to enter the lever action “cowboy” rifle market. Winchester had been making some moves to break into Colt’s lucrative shotgun and pistol markets, and Colt […]

Walther HP at RIA

November 26, 2014 Ian McCollum 25

The Walther HP was the immediate predecessor to the P38 pistol that was adopted into widespread German service. The HP (Heeres Pistole, or Army Pistol) was offered for commercial sale and export by Walther. It […]