France - Forgotten Weapons

Le Français .32ACP Pistol (Video)

January 31, 2016 Ian McCollum 88

The Le Français was a staple of Manufrance production, being first designed in 1912 and produced until the late 1960s. This example is in .32ACP caliber, which was only made for the commercial market in […]

French Remington Rolling Block in 8mm Lebel (Video)

January 18, 2016 Ian McCollum 27

The Remington Rolling Block, introduced in 1866, was one of the most prolific single shot military rifles in the world. The combination of aggressive marketing, low cost, and an excellent design led to Remington selling […]

How to Get More Rifles Fast: France, WWI

January 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 24

One of the universal misconceptions about World War One on the parts of its combatants was how long it was expected to last. When war broke out, the prevailing assumption on all sides was that […]

Perspectives on French Rifle Sight Design

January 5, 2016 Ian McCollum 28

Holy moley, is that the most dense and snooty post title ever? I think it might be. However, I think it’s a much more interesting subject than most folks might anticipate, and it’s something that […]

Military Thought (USSR): Some Points on the Status and Development of Small Arms (1965, English translation)

A Soviet Look at Cold War Small Arms Development

December 29, 2015 Ian McCollum 77

I have covered various elements of small arms development during the Cold War more than a few times – usually involving the contentious process that led to the 7.62mm NATO cartridge being adopted, and the […]

RSC 1917: France’s WW1 Semiauto Rifle at RIA

November 17, 2015 Ian McCollum 31

Did you know that the French Army issued more than 80,000 semiautomatic rifles during WWI? They had been experimenting with a great many semiauto designs before the war, and in 1916 finalized a design for […]

Q&A Video, November 2015

November 6, 2015 Ian McCollum 17

Thanks to the awesome people supporting Forgotten Weapons through Patreon for sending in more questions that I could get to for another month! This month the subjects include: Browning lock vs others in handguns Best […]

Union Pistol w/35-Round Horseshoe Magazine (Video)

November 2, 2015 Ian McCollum 46

“Union” was a trade name used by French and Spanish arms manufacturers (as well as American, actually) – but this particular Union is a French example. Among their many variations of pistols available (25, 32, […]

Q&A Video #1: H&K G11, Owen, F1, Worst Gun Ever, and More!

October 8, 2015 Ian McCollum 32

As part of my new fundraising system on Patreon, I am starting a monthly Q&A video series, answering questions from Patreon contributors. The support from you folks is a tremendous help to me in running […]

Belgian 1886 Rifle Trials Report (Translated to English)

October 7, 2015 Ian McCollum 38

Our friend Thibaud has spent some time translating a report from the Belgian 1886 rifle trials into English – thank you, Thibaud! He notes that the text has a lot of specifically Belgian terminology and […]