Video - Forgotten Weapons

Smith & Wesson Light Rifle (Video)

March 3, 2014 Ian McCollum 43

The Smith & Wesson 1940 Light Rifle is one of the spectacular failures of arms design, on several levels. It was too expensive, too heavy, too fragile (ironically, given the weight), too difficult to manipulate, […]

Remington Model 8 (Video)

February 24, 2014 Ian McCollum 70

The Remington Model 8 (and the 81, which is mechanically identical) was an early self-loading rifle design by John Browning, and was produced from 1906 into the 1950s. It was available in 4 calibers initially, […]

The 1986 FBI Gunfight and Adoption of the 10mm Auto

February 21, 2014 Ian McCollum 46

Back in 1986 in Miami, a team of 8 FBI agents decided to execute a felony car stop on a pair of armed and volatile bank robbers named Platt and Matix. The ensuing gunfight has […]

On the Way to Being Forgotten: AKU-94 Bullpup AK Conversion

February 18, 2014 Ian McCollum 84

The AKU-94 was a bullpup conversion kit made for standard AK rifles by K-Var a while back. They were never particularly popular, probably because in stock form they weren’t particularly good. The sights are wobbly […]

Presentation Walther VG-1 (Video)

February 16, 2014 Ian McCollum 35

We took a look at this rifle with a few photos a while back, but I do now have some video of it as well – a VG-1 last ditch rifle with an inlaid plaque […]

Winchester-Hotchkiss Rifles (Video)

February 10, 2014 Ian McCollum 34

The US military experimented almost continuously with new repeating rifles between the end of the US Civil War and the beginning of the 20th century, and the rifles submitted for testing are a fascinating spectrum […]

Test Firing Hijinks – Frommer 1910

February 4, 2014 Ian McCollum 13

Days at the range don’t always go as planned. After over a year of looking, I finally managed to recently find a box of 7.65mm Frommer (Short) ammo that I could use to test-fire my […]

Book Review: Mauser Bolt Rifles by Olsen

January 30, 2014 Ian McCollum 8

Ludwig Olsen’s Mauser Bolt Rifles is one of the foundational reference books on the Mauser rifle, and deserves a place in the library of any bolt action rifle enthusiast. Olsen studies the rifle from its […]

FG-42 vs M1 Garand – 2 Gun Match (Video)

January 20, 2014 Ian McCollum 53

For this month’s 2-Gun Action Challenge Match, we had a loaner .308 FG-42 from SMG Guns, which I handed off to my friend Karl to shoot. I went up against him with an M1 Garand, […]

Movie Review: Assembly (2007)

January 16, 2014 Ian McCollum 49

The past year’s lineup of blockbusters from Hollywood has been pretty light on war movies, so here’s one you may not have seen to fill the gap. Produced in China by director Feng Xiaogang, it […]