France - Forgotten Weapons

A Tour of Chapuis Armes: Home of the MR-73 Revolver

October 5, 2021 Ian McCollum 19

With the MR-73 revolvers finally becoming regularly available in the US, I figured it would be really interesting to see how they are made! So, I headed over to Chapuis Armes, where the Directeur Général, […]

Vietnamese MAT-49 in 7.62mm Tokarev at the Range

September 11, 2021 Ian McCollum 30

While I have filmed a MAT-49, I have not had a chance to actually try one out at the range until today. But today I don’t just have a normal example; I have one rebarreled […]

Ethiopian Oddities – Single Shot French Mle 1878 Marine

September 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

Among all the standard rifles that are coming into the US from Ethiopia through InterOrdnance, there are a handful of really unusual oddballs, and we are going to look at several of them. We have […]

Marius Berger’s Ring-Trigger Tube-Magazine Pistol

August 18, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

The 1880s and 1890s were a fertile period of experimentation with repeating handguns. One such example is this design by Marius Berger, manufactured in France by St Etienne in 1880 and 1881. It uses a […]

Hotchkiss Universal SMG at the Range

August 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 21

I have previously filmed a semiauto Hotchkiss Universal, but until today I’d not had a chance to try shooting an intact, original automatic one. Thanks to Battlefield Vegas, I have the chance today! Turns out, […]

The Three Types of Chassepot Cavalry Carbines

August 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 8

There are few records I have been able to find on production of the original Mle 1866 Chassepot cavalry carbines. However, Royal Tiger / InterOrdnance just recently brought in a crate of 200 Gras and […]

How to Swap FAMAS Ejection Left to Right

July 29, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

One of the very nice features of the FAMAS is that it can be swapped between left-hand and right-hand ejection in just a few moments without needing any tools or spare parts. I had this […]

Vickers Gun Meticulously Repaired as a Pilot Training Aid

July 28, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

This is a really interesting artifact of the First World War that I found in a collection and wanted to share (since the owner, understandably, wouldn’t part with it!). All the major powers in the […]

New Beretta-Imported MR73 at the Range

July 24, 2021 Ian McCollum 38

The Manurhin MR73 has always been one of the very best combat revolvers made, but they have been hard to find here in the US. That has now changed, as the Beretta group purchased Chapuis, […]

Features: Full Auto FAMAS F1 vs Semiauto MAS 223

July 19, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

Since I happen to have simultaneous access to both a military-pattern F1 FAMAS and also a civilian semiautomatic MAS-223, I figured it would be nice to compare them side by side and see how they […]