Germany - Forgotten Weapons

Nazi Belt Buckle Pistol Background

September 24, 2014 Ian McCollum 46

Sometimes when I write a post of make a video on a particularly unusual firearm, it will result in my being contacted by someone who has a surprising amount of experience with that gun, and […]

Vintage Saturday: A Rifle for Cold Weather

September 13, 2014 Ian McCollum 26

German sentry in Russia with a captured Mosin-Nagant M91 rifle, WWI. Note the sling swivel on the front of the magazine, and the lack of sling slots in the stock – this is a pre-1908 […]

German Mauser Obrez Pistol

September 12, 2014 Ian McCollum 27

From the collection of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, a reader named James found an example of an Obrez pistol made on a Mauser K98 rifle action. This apparently was made by Czech partisans during World […]

Survival Rifles at RIA: Luftwaffe Drilling and USAF M6

September 9, 2014 Ian McCollum 20

Today we’re looking at a pair of military survival rifles at the Rock Island September auction. One is a Luftwaffe M30 drilling – the most finely finished and luxurious survival rifle ever issued by a […]

Prototype Dieckmann P66 Pistol at RIA

September 7, 2014 Ian McCollum 36

The P66 was a prototype .22LR semiauto pistol designed by a German immigrant to the United States by the name of Rolf Dieckmann. It never went into production, but had a number of interesting features, […]

Krummlauf Curved Barrel StG44 at RIA

September 5, 2014 Ian McCollum 18

Today’s Rock Island Auction item is a very cool piece – a German Sturmgewehr with a “krummlauf”, or curved barrel attachment. This is the 30 degree type, intended (as goofy as this sounds) for firing […]

Transferable MKb-42(H) Assault Rifle at RIA

September 1, 2014 Ian McCollum 24

The MKb-42(H), or Maschinenkarabiner-42 (Haenel), was the first production iteration of the German Sturmgewehr. It was chambered for the then-new 8x33mm kurz cartridge, and fired both semiauto and full-auto from an open bolt. Approximately 11,000 […]

Vintage Saturday: Mounts

August 30, 2014 Ian McCollum 12

From left to right, an MG08 on its sled mount, a captured Russian 1910 on a Vickers J tripod modified with wheels (and an MG08 blank adapter), a dummy MG08, and a blank-adapter MG08 on […]

2.7mm Kolibri Semiauto at RIA

August 29, 2014 Ian McCollum 26

Today’s item at the September Rock Island auction is an example of the smallest centerfire pistol ever made – a 2.7mm Kolibri semiauto. About a thousand of these were made between 1910 and 1914, firing […]

Nazi Belt Buckle Pistol at RIA

August 28, 2014 Ian McCollum 34

One of the items at RIA in this upcoming Premier Auction is a Nazi belt-buckle pistol. There is a fair amount of debate as to whether these are authentic WWII German artifacts, as opposed to […]