Canada - Forgotten Weapons

Vintage Saturday: Commando, Eh?

May 2, 2015 Ian McCollum 42

Canadian Commando with a Lanchester SMG. It wasn’t only the Japanese who put huge bayonets on subguns! I do wonder how awkward it would get to use Lanchester mags, with their 50-round capacity. Notice the […]

Biography: James Paris Lee

March 26, 2014 Ian McCollum 37

James Paris Lee was a firearms designer whose inventions had a far greater historical significance than even most firearms enthusiasts realize. Where Lee is recognized at all, it is generally for the rifles that bear […]

“Ross” Semiauto Prototype Rifle

January 6, 2014 Ian McCollum 34

This rifle came to light prior to the Rock Island Premier Auction in September of 2013, and sparked some interesting discussion amongst Ross collectors… I had the chance to take a look at the gun […]

Vintage Saturday: Maritime Gunnery

November 16, 2013 Ian McCollum 35

Sailor mounting an antiaircraft Hotchkiss Portative machine gun on the Canadian corvette Trillium.

Vintage Saturday: Premature Anti-Fascists

October 19, 2013 Ian McCollum 26

Canadian volunteers of the Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, armed with with grenades and Mauser Schnellfeuer machine pistols or (more likely) Spanish-made copies thereof.

2-Gun Match: Chinese 7.62x39mm Bren

September 24, 2013 Ian McCollum 32

Thanks to the folks at SMG Guns in Texas, I just got my completed semiauto Bren gun in 7.62x39mm. What the best way to break it in? Take it to a run-n-gun match, of course! […]

M1 Garand Clip Development

September 18, 2013 Ian McCollum 22

The design for the M1 Garand underwent a whole slew of changes large and small before finally reaching the form ultimately adopted by the US military. Well, the clips that it fed from were no […]

John Inglis and Bren Production

August 2, 2013 Ian McCollum 42

If I say “John Inglis”, the first two things that probably come to mind for a gunnie are High Powers and Bren guns. Inglis was a Canadian company that made a huge proportion of the […]

The Huot Machine Rifle: A Ross Conversion

July 17, 2013 Ian McCollum 13

The first serious automatic weapon considered for military service in Canada was the brainchild of Joseph Alphonse Huot, a machinist and blacksmith from Quebec. Born in 1878, Huot was a large and strong man (not […]

AAR: After Auction Report

July 2, 2013 Ian McCollum 32

The Rock Island regional auction this past weekend was, in fact, my first experience actually participating in a gun auction – and it was a pretty interesting experience. I’ve been aware of such auctions for […]