France - Forgotten Weapons

French RSC Modele 1917 selfloading rifle

November 7, 2012 Ian McCollum 16

The French government had run a series of semiautomatic rifle trials in 1913 and had several designs with a lot of potential, like the A6 Meunier. In fact, most of the designs had dropped the […]

Hotchkiss Aerial Gun

October 26, 2012 Ian McCollum 3

We came across an interesting manual (in English, as a bonus!) for a variety of Hotchkiss machine gun which we have very little information on. It’s an aircraft gun, intended for use by the observer […]

Spanish Eibar/Ruby Pistols

October 19, 2012 Ian McCollum 10

Back at the beginning of the 20th century, Spain had a significant number of relatively small gunmaking shops throughout its northern Basque area. The area has been known for its metalworking resources and prowess for […]

Turkish Orman Carbine Video

October 1, 2012 Ian McCollum 8

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I’d picked up a neat new addition to my collection – a Turkish “Orman” carbine made from a French Berthier rifle. During WWII, the Turkish government wound up […]

Vintage Saturday: Worst-Smelling Pillbox Evar

September 1, 2012 Ian McCollum 11

The gun is a Modele 1931 “Reibel” – basically a Chatellerault 24/29 converted for vehicle and fortification use. Photo provided by Max Popenker – thanks Max!

Hotchkiss Universal Video

August 27, 2012 Ian McCollum 12

The Hotchkiss Universal is a pretty interesting submachine gun, despite its rather clumsy appearance. The overriding design intent was to make a very compact folding carbine, and Hotchiss certainly met that objective. However, the gun […]

Lebel and Berthier Manuals

August 22, 2012 Ian McCollum 19

Since I spent yesterday talking about my new Turkish converted Berthier rifle, I figured it would be a decent idea to upload a couple manuals for the mainstay rifles of the French Army during WWI, […]

New Addition to the Collection

August 21, 2012 Ian McCollum 16

One of the great things about collecting old guns is that there is such a huge variety out there – there’s always something new around the corner that you didn’t know about before. Scores of […]

Chauchat Followup

July 6, 2012 Ian McCollum 19

We had a lot of feedback on Tuesday’s post on the CSRG Chauchat light machine gun, so I figured I should do a bit of followup today. Leszek in Poland sent us these photos of […]

The Worst Gun Ever

July 3, 2012 Ian McCollum 46

By popular internet acclaim, the Worst Gun Ever is officially the Chauchat light machine gun. Every time the question comes up, that’s what people say. I’m not saying they’re necessarily wrong – but everyone always […]