Mexico - Forgotten Weapons

Mendoza 1934: Mexico’s Domestic LMG

August 15, 2022 Ian McCollum 25

Rafael Mendoza was Mexico’s premier domestic arms designer, and the Model 1934 LMG is probably his most successful design. He began work on it in 1929, and it entered testing with the Mexican Army in […]

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Sporterized! Mexican Colt 1902 Military

April 23, 2020 Ian McCollum 20

This is lot #1474 in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming Online Only auctions every month, though! The Colt 1902 […]

Systema OBREGON: The Mexican Rotating-Barrel 1911

October 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 48

This is Lot 1500 in the upcoming October Morphy Extraordinary auction. Patented by Alejandro Obregon in Mexico in 1934 and in the US in 1938, this pistol is an adaptation of the classic Browning 1911 […]

The Mexican Luger

May 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 29

Mexico’s President for nearly 30 years, Porfirio Diaz was very interested in modernizing the Mexican Army. He invested in new artillery, magazine guns, and small arms – such as the Mondragon semiautomatic rifle. In addition, […]

Trejo Model 1 Machine Pistol at James D Julia

March 31, 2017 Ian McCollum 32

The Trejo pistols were made by a small family company in Puebla, Mexico from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. They made primarily .22 LR rimfire pistols, in both small (Model 1) and large […]

Mondragon 1908 Semiauto Rifles – 4 Different Examples (Video)

January 7, 2016 Ian McCollum 17

Best known as the first semiautomatic service rifle adopted by a mainstream military force, the 1908 Mondragon was designed by Mexican native Manuel Mondragon, manufactured by SIG in Switzerland, and adopted by the Mexican Army […]

Mondragon 1894 Bolt Action Rifle (Video)

December 31, 2015 Ian McCollum 22

Manuel Mondragon was a talented lifelong gun designer born in Mexico. He worked extensively at the Swiss SIG factory, and was the man behind the first military-issue semiautomatic rifle. Before that, though, he designed this […]

Differentiating Models of the 1894 Mondragon

October 28, 2015 Ian McCollum 24

I recently had a chance to examine 4 different examples of the 1894 Mondragon straight-pull bolt action rifle. These rifles were the predecessor to the self-loading Mondragon design which would be adopted by Mexico in […]

Mendoza RM-2 LMG Photos

October 16, 2015 Ian McCollum 14

The RM-2 was the last in a series of light machine guns designed by long-time Mexican arm inventor Rafael Mendoza (also responsible for, among other things, the very unusual Fusil Mexico). The first of his […]

Mondragon 1894 Straight-Pull at RIA

April 5, 2015 Ian McCollum 29

Most people who recognize the name Mondragon know it from Manuel Mondragon’s model 1908 semiauto rifle, the first such rifle to be adopted on a large scale by a military (the Mexican Army, in this […]