Germany - Forgotten Weapons

Book Review: Ott-Helmuth von Lossnitzer, Technical Director of the Mauser Company 1933-1945

July 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Ott-Helmuth (Otto, after he emigrated to the US) von Lossnitzer was a remarkable firearms engineer. He served through World War One as a machine gunner, gaining extensive experience with a variety of different machine guns […]

WW1 Rifle Mud Covers: Lebel & Gewehr 98

July 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 20

Given the prevalence of muddy horrible trenches in World War 1, why didn’t anybody design dust covers to protect the actions of their combat rifles? Well, they actually did… and today we are looking at […]

Thorpe EM-1: A Bullpup Take on the Roller Locked Gerat 06

July 6, 2017 Ian McCollum 51

Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]

Book Review: Paul Mauser – His Life, Company, and Handgun Development 1838 – 1914

July 2, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

The new book on Paul Mauser from Mauro Baudino and Gerben van Vlimmeren is an excellent exploration through the labyrinthine corners of the Mauser Archives. Written with an assumption that the audience will already have […]

The Korsac EM1 – a British/Polish Bullpup FG-42

June 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]

Book Review: Deadly Beauties – Rare German Handguns

June 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 5

Deadly Beauties is a photographic collection of rare and collectible German pistols from 1871 through 1945, split into two volumes. The written sections are quite brief, and the photography is beautiful. More importantly, the […]

The Model SS41 – A Czech Bullpup Anti-Tank Rifle for the SS

June 23, 2017 Ian McCollum 59

The SS41 was a bullpup, bolt action antitank rifle manufactured in small numbers by CZ for the SS. contrary to common assumption, the SS were not a part of the standard German military arms procurement […]

What is the German 1920 Double Date Stamp?

June 3, 2017 Ian McCollum 18

One will sometimes encounter German WW1 arms – mostly Lugers and Kar98 carbines – that have two date stamps, one of them being 1920. What is the significance of this? The crux of the matter […]

Dreyse 1910: An Attempted Military 9mm Pistol

May 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 25

Designed by Louis Schmeisser, the Dreyse Model 1910 was an attempt to build a blowback pistol in 9x19mm for German military or police service, expanding on the existing market for the popular smaller .32ACP (7.65mm) […]

Could a Tankgewehr Really Take Out a British MkIV Tank?

May 6, 2017 Ian McCollum 40

The Tankgewehr antitank rifle was developed by the Mauser company and adopted by the Imperial German military as an emergency measure to counter the introduction of tanks to the WW1 battlefield. The question is, did […]