France - Forgotten Weapons

Wolfgang Riess, one of the Commandos who used these CETMEs, later to work as an H&K weapons technician

French Marine Commandos with CETME Rifles

June 1, 2016 Ian McCollum 40

I was doing some reading up on the early roller-delayed rifles (in Blake Stevens’ exquisitely technical and detailed book Full Circle: A Treatise on Roller Locking) and came across this very cool story, which I […]

French M14 Conversion – the Gras in 8mm Lebel (Video)

May 16, 2016 Ian McCollum 35

The French adopted the Gras as their first mass-issued metallic cartridge rifle in 1874, replacing the needlefire 1866 Chassepot. Quite a lot of Gras rifles were manufactured, and they became a second-line rifle when the […]

Vintage Saturday: Liberators

May 14, 2016 Ian McCollum 46

This is a pretty widely-published photo, but it sure is a good one. It also shows very clearly the US’ horrible excuse for a backpack of the time. For the record, the soldier on the […]

RIA: Brun Latrige Model 1900

April 14, 2016 Ian McCollum 32

Patented in 1896, this is one of several models of unique pocket pistols designed by Paul Brun-Latrige. He was a manager of the Manufrance company located in St. Etienne France, a large mail-order catalog company […]

RIA: 11mm Devisme Cartridge Revolver

April 9, 2016 Ian McCollum 34

Devisme of Paris was one of the early manufacturers of a true centerfire cartridge revolver, with production of this model beginning in 1858 or 1859. This is a bottom-break 11mm, 6-shot revolver, made to a […]

Yugoslav 8mm Chauchat M1915/26 Photos

March 25, 2016 Ian McCollum 42

Reader Mihajlo sent me a couple cool photos of Yugoslav troops with Chauchats converted to 8x57mm. Here’s his commentary: Here’s a picture from WW2 Yugoslavia I’d like to share with you. The guy on the […]

Hand-Fitted Parts Firsthand: French Modele 1874

March 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 31

We often hear the phrase “hand-fitted” in regards to either really finely made guns, or ones made before the the advent of truly interchangeable parts. Well, I recently had a firsthand experience with hand-fitted parts, […]

WWI Trench Hand Weapons

February 24, 2016 Ian McCollum 98

Karl and I recently did some work with a wide selection of hand weapons from WWI (some original, some reproductions) for a video in collaboration with the excellent YouTube channel The Great War. Have a […]

RIA: An Overview of the Pinfire Revolver System

February 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

The pinfire system was an early cartridge type which saw widespread use in Europe, but was not widely adopted in the United States. First invented by a French designer named Pauly, it was made commercially […]

Spoils of War: A 1907 St Etienne Full of Bullet Holes

February 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 19

The 1907 St Etienne heavy machine gun is a really neat gun mechanically, but I can’t shot you that today because this one is jammed together from the 7 bullet impacts that rendered it unusable […]