Germany - Forgotten Weapons

Walther Model 3: A Tiny Early .32

March 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 17

Walther was founded as a rifle making company in the 1880s, and expanded into the flourishing market for semiautomatic pocket pistols around 1910. The Model 3 was the company’s first .32 ACP caliber pistol, and […]

Spanish 1892: Last of the Single Stack Magazine Mausers

March 11, 2019 Ian McCollum 11

The Mauser 98 may have been the best bolt action design of all time, but it did not spring forth from Paul Mauser’s head fully formed. The Mauser took nearly 10 years of development and […]

Project Lightening Episode 07: Conclusions

March 7, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

Project Lightening is a collaborative series with Othais and Mae of C&Rsenal in which we test all seven light machine guns and automatic rifles of World War One and put them through a series of […]

Project Lightening Episode 05: Reload

February 28, 2019 Ian McCollum 25

Project Lightening is a collaborative series with Othais and Mae of C&Rsenal in which we test all seven light machine guns and automatic rifles of World War One and put them through a series of […]

Project Lightening Episode 03: Walking Fire

February 21, 2019 Ian McCollum 17

Project Lightening is a collaborative series with Othais and Mae of C&Rsenal in which we test all seven light machine guns and automatic rifles of World War One and put them through a series of […]

HK-32 Prototype in 7.62x39mm

February 20, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

Among the large family of roller-delayed rifles produced by Heckler & Koch, one of the rarest and least known is the HK32. This was the select-fire shoulder rifle chambered in 7.62x39mm. These rifles appeared in […]

CETME Modelo A: First Step Towards the G3

February 8, 2019 Ian McCollum 16

The Modelo A was the first series production version of the CETME rifle, following a series of successful trials in Spain. It was developed by a team of ex-Mauser engineers led by Ludwig Vorgrimmler, and […]

Becker Blow-Forward Revolving Shotgun

February 1, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

The Becker shotgun is a very unusual blow-forward, revolving cylinder shotgun made in Germany in the 1920s (although it was originally patented in the late 1890s). Only a very small number were made – allegedly […]

Shooting the HK G41: Like an HK33 But Worse

January 26, 2019 Ian McCollum 51

We took a look at the history and mechanics of the G41 yesterday; now it’s time to actually try it out on the range… It, ah, did not go so well. But I did get […]

H&K G41: The HK33 Meets the M16

January 25, 2019 Ian McCollum 34

The H&K G41 was developed for the NATO trials of the early 1980s, which were set up to look at both rifles and cartridges for NATO standardization (although they did not end up choosing a […]