France - Forgotten Weapons

Swiss Prototype Pistols: P44/8 and W+F Bern P43 (Video)

July 27, 2015 Ian McCollum 29

Switzerland was an early adopter of the Luger pistol as a standard military sidearm, but by WWII that design was becoming obsolete and the Swiss began looking for a newer sidearm. Several lines of development […]

MAS 62 Testing Results

July 8, 2015 Ian McCollum 28

Thanks to reader Thibaud, we have a translation of some of the testing results from the French military trial of the FN FAL and MAS Model 62. Thanks, Thibaud! The documents tell us that the […]

Vintage Saturday: Fusil d’Assaut

June 27, 2015 Ian McCollum 72

A Chasseur à pied of the 19e Battalion on the road between Breteuil and Flers, Somme. 10th of April 1918. This Battalion had been on foot after heavy fighting in order to occupy the village […]

Chassepot Needle Rifle at RIA (Video)

June 3, 2015 Ian McCollum 30

The Chassepot was the French answer to the Dreyse needle rifle, and also the only other needlefire rifle to see major military service. It was adopted in 1866 and served as a primary French infantry […]

Reffye Mitrailleuse (Video)

May 20, 2015 Ian McCollum 40

The mitrailleuse was one of the early types of mechanical machine gun, along with the Gatling, Gardner, Nordenfelt, and others. “Mitrailleuse” is actually a general name for a volley gun – one with many barrels […]

German soldier with a captured Polish Maroszek wz.35 anti-tank rifle

Vintage Saturday: Antitank Rifle

April 25, 2015 Ian McCollum 36

German soldier in France with a captured Polish Maroszek wz.35 anti-tank rifle.

Pinfire LeMat Grapeshot Revolver at RIA

April 20, 2015 Ian McCollum 10

Colonel Jean Alexandre LeMat was a native Frenchman who emigrated to the United States and in 1856 secured a patent for a “grapeshot revolver”, which had both a 9-shot .42 caliber cylinder and a 20-gauge […]

Book Review: Unique Pistols by Robert Adair

March 19, 2015 Ian McCollum 9

I recently became aware of a new book published by Robert L. Adair Jr. on the subject of the “Unique” brand pistols, made by Manufacturer d’Armes des Pyrénées Françaises. Today, the most commonly recognized Unique […]

Apache Knuckleduster Revolver at RIA (Video)

February 3, 2015 Ian McCollum 16

The “Apache” was a combination knife, brass knuckles, and revolver made by several companies in Belgium and France, which became associated with a group of street thugs in Paris around the turn of the century. […]

Mud testing: M1A, MAS 49/56, AR

January 21, 2015 Ian McCollum 27

I’m at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas today (and the rest of the week), and when you read this I will probably be desperately trying to wade through the sea of AR15s in search […]