Canada - Forgotten Weapons

Mechanics and Disassembly of the Norinco QBZ-97 / Type 97 NSR

September 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

The Chinese military introduced a new 5.8x42mm cartridge in 1987, and then developed a new bullpup rifle to use it. The rifle was the QBZ Type 95, and it was a bullpup rifle with a […]

Canadian Experimental Lightweight No4 Enfield at James D Julia

March 20, 2017 Ian McCollum 7

In 1943 the need for a lighter and handier version of the Lee Enfield rifle became clear throughout the British Commonwealth, and experimentation began in Canada, Britain, and Australia. The work in Britain would culminate […]

Ralf Dieckmann Interview

March 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 46

Ralf Dieckmann is a German-born firearms designer who grew up as a small child in Berlin during World War II. His interest in firearms developed in the post-war years with war detritus literally lying about […]

Ross Experimental A2 Prototype (Video)

March 13, 2017 Ian McCollum 12

This is a very rare Ross automatic pistol, patented in 1903 by Charles Ross, of the Ross Rifle Company in Quebec. It is a short recoil, toggle locked design, made for the .45 Ross proprietary […]

Garand Pronunciation

January 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 24

The typical American pronunciation of Garand is something like “GUH-rand”. In an ongoing futile but worthwhile effort to pronounce names correctly, I have long used a different pronunciation. Well, my friend Michael Carrick from Arms […]

Turner Semiauto SMLE Conversion (Video)

November 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

Russell Turner was a Pennsylvania gunsmith and inventor who developed this semiautomatic conversion of an SMLE bolt action rifle circa 1940. It was intended for trial and potential sale to the Canadian military, as it […]

Greener MkIII Police in a 2-Gun Shotgun Match (Video)

May 23, 2016 Ian McCollum 39

Every few years, there is a special 2-Gun match at my local club, using shotgun and pistol instead of rifle and pistol. The rules of this match are a bit different than most multigun competition […]

Canada’s WWII Self-Loading Rifle Experiments

July 3, 2015 Ian McCollum 20

(The material for this post came primarily from a post made by Roger V. Lucy at the MilArt blog, which also has information on a couple other WWII Canadian experimental projects) When we see rifles, […]

The Lee Enfield Finally Leaves Canadian Ranger Service

July 1, 2015 Ian McCollum 52

As far as I have been able to tell, the Canadian Rangers are the last formal, first-world military organization still using a WWII-era bolt action rifle as a standard-issue weapon (correction – the Danish Slædepatruljen […]

Three Videos: Finland, Spain, and Hungary

May 25, 2015 Ian McCollum 30

From Vesamatti, a Finnish gunsmith student who reads the site, we have this neat video of a few older Finnish Army machine guns. The KP-31, KP-44, Sten, KVKK, and DP-27. Not guns we get all […]