Germany - Forgotten Weapons

4-Shot Bär Pistol at RIA

June 7, 2015 Ian McCollum 4

The Bär pistol was designed as a compact gentleman’s defensive arm with a number of interesting features. These include twin barrels and a “cylinder” or chamber block, which held 4 cartridges in a single column, […]

Dreyse M1860 Needle Rifle at RIA (Video)

June 2, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

The Dreyse needle rifle (or zundnadelgewehr, which translates to needle firing rifle) was a major step forward in military rifle technology, although it did not remain at the forefront for very long (much like the […]

German soldier with a PPSh-41 submachine gun

Vintage Saturday: Cover

May 30, 2015 Ian McCollum 45

German soldier with a PPSh-41 submachine gun somewhere in Russia. Gotta be careful with those as a German; the drum magazine was a distinctively Russian feature and could lead to friendly fire incidents.

Two More Nazi Belt Buckle Pistols

May 19, 2015 Ian McCollum 14

Every since the first time I was able to get my hands on an alleged Nazi belt buckle pistol, I have had a hankering to collect photos of as many of them as I can, […]

Vintage Saturday: Trench Armor

May 16, 2015 Ian McCollum 88

Interestingly, one of the German troops in the front row is wearing grabenpanzer steel armor. This was reportedly used primarily for machine gun crews and sharpshooters – soldiers whose jobs were particularly heavy on staying […]

Slow Motion: Mauser 1914 Pocket Pistol

May 14, 2015 Ian McCollum 17

Mauser’s classic early pocket pistol began as the model 1910, in .25 ACP caliber (6.35mm). It was then re-engineered for the larger .32 ACP (7.65mm) cartridge in 1914, and a final set of modifications too […]

History of the Designated Marksman’s Rifle (Video)

May 13, 2015 Ian McCollum 11

Today Karl and I are looking at the history and evolution of the DMR concept. This is the idea of a squad force-multiplier in the form of a rifle with greater precision capability than the […]

Vintge Saturday: Holding Things Down

May 9, 2015 Ian McCollum 19

German soldier using his body weight to stabilize an MG34 on an anti-aircraft tripod.

Slow Motion: Interesting Extractor Problem (Schwarzlose 1898)

May 7, 2015 Ian McCollum 14

Many people don’t realize that an extractor is not strictly necessary in many types of pistols – several early blowback models (notably the Bergmann 1896, as well as some later Spanish pistols) did not even […]

Mannlicher 1885 Semiauto Rifle

May 6, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

Ferdinand von Mannlicher’s Model 1885 self-loading rifle design as a failure, never seeing anything even resembling mass production. However, it was a failure which in many way set the stage for a huge number of […]