Video - Forgotten Weapons

DShK-38: The Soviet Monster .50 Cal HMG

March 10, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

In 1925 the USSR began a program to develop a heavy machine gun for antiaircraft use. After some initial experimentation with a converted Dreyse machine gun, they brought in Degtyarev to scale up his recently-adopted […]

Prototype Birdshead Grip S&W No.3 Russian

March 6, 2023 Ian McCollum 12

This revolver appears to be one of the pre-production prototypes S&W made for the Russian No.3 revolver contract. Its frame has been expertly converted to a birdshead style. It handles very nicely, but was apparently […]

Beretta’s New 80X Cheetah at the BUG Match (feat. Symtac)

March 4, 2023 Ian McCollum 9

Back in 1975, Beretta introduced a line of mid-size semiauto pistols. The Model 81 was in .32 ACP (intended for the European market) and the Model 84 was chambered for .380 ACP for Americans. These […]

SSG-69: Steyr’s Cold War Sniper Rifle

March 2, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

In the 1960s, Steyr Daimler Pusch developed a modern sniper rifle for the Austrian military (and also for commercial civilian sale). It was adopted as the SSG-69 (Scharfschützen-Gewehr; sharpshooter’s rifle), replacing the SSG-98k in military […]

SSG-98k: Austria Repurposes German Sniper Rifles

February 27, 2023 Ian McCollum 14

In the aftermath of World War Two, the Austrian Army was basically disarmed and disbanded. When it was allowed to reform in the 1950s, it needed new armaments, and in 1958 it adopted the SSG-98k […]

Ian’s Custom SIG P365 at the BackUp Gun Match

February 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 10

Yesterday we took a look at the design choices I made for my P365, and how I put it together with ModGuns.com . Today, I’ve got it out at the BUG Match for a trial […]

Building a Custom SIG P365 With ModGuns.com

February 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 3

Today’s video is about my project to build a custom SIG P365 at ModGuns. Like the P320, the P365 is built around a steel Fire Control Unit as the legal, serialized firearm. Everything else – […]

Ask Ian: Why So Few Reproduction Historic Guns?

February 22, 2023 Ian McCollum 54

From Paul on Patreon: “I’ve always thought there were a lot of older guns that deserve to be reproduced, many of which could be really simple to manufacture. PSA is planning the release of their […]

TCCC: Trauma Medicine for Military and Civilians w/ Archangel Dynamics

February 18, 2023 Ian McCollum 15

I recently spent a weekend taking a TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) course from Myles Francis at Archangel Dynamics. TCCC is a program originally developed by the Naval Special Warfare School to improve battlefield survivability […]

Roth Theodorovic Prototypes: From Very Awkward to Mostly Ungainly

February 17, 2023 Ian McCollum 32

Today we are going to take a looks at a series of six prototype Roth Theodorovic pistols. These were a design that competed in Austrian pistol trials around the turn of the century, and eventually […]