Belgium - Forgotten Weapons

The FAL for British Troop Trials in 1954: X8E1 & X8E2

February 21, 2020 Ian McCollum 33

The NATO rifle trials of the early 1950s eventually chose the 7.62mm x 51mm cartridge, and the British and Belgians agreed on the FAL rifle to shoot it (and they thought the US would as […]

FN Grand Browning: The European 1911 that Never Happened

February 17, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

When John Browning licensed his handgun patents, the North American rights were granted to Colt, and the Western European rights to FN in Belgium. Browning provided the patents and patent model guns to the companies, […]

Arming the Lion of Judah: Ethiopian FN Mauser Rifles & Carbines

February 11, 2020 Ian McCollum 11

In 1930, Haile Selassie I became Emperor of Ethiopia (aka Abysinia), and would rule for almost 45 years, with a brief exception when the country was occupied by fascist Italy. During that time, he paid […]

Water-Themed Art Deco FN/Browning B25 Shotgun

January 27, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

The B25 was introduced by FN in 1925; the last of John Browning’s designs and the first successful over/under sporting shotgun. The one we are looking at today was created as a presentation piece for […]

Book Review: Browning Auto-5 Shotguns

January 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 11

I am normally more interested in military small arms than sporting ones, but the Browning Auto-5 is such an important firearm that it deserves the recognition of and proper small arms enthusiast. It was not […]

Belgian Model 1915/27 Improved Chauchat

December 9, 2019 Ian McCollum 46

The Belgian Army was the second to adopt the Chauchat automatic rifle, after the French. Almost all of Belgium was under German occupation during World War One, leaving Belgium significantly dependent on French aid for […]

FN FAL With an Original FN Scope

November 28, 2019 Ian McCollum 7

When the FN FAL was first being sold, many militaries that bought it opted to mount optics on a small percentage of their rifles. These military setups used a variety of different optics and mounts, […]

Pieper’s 7-Barrel Mitrailleuse: Like a Shotgun But Accurate

November 23, 2019 Ian McCollum 26

Manufactured in the 1880s and 1890s to serve the professional hunter market, Pieper’s 7-barrel Mitrailleuse was essentially a rimfire volley gun. It was offer in both .22 rimfire and .32 rimfire calibers, both models having […]

Belgian GP35: The First Military Browning High Power

July 29, 2019 Ian McCollum 30

The Grande Puissance – High Power – was John Browning’s last firearms design. In fact, he only began the design; it was taken to completion by his protege Dieudonné Saive at FN in Belgium. It […]

Tirmax: A Pre-WW1 .32ACP Light Carbine

July 20, 2019 Ian McCollum 23

The Tirmax is a handy little carbine made between 1909 and 1914 in Liege by a German company. It is a semiauto action using a 5-round detachable magazine. The guns are quite scarce today because […]