Mexico - Forgotten Weapons

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 […]

Mexican Pieper Revolving Carbine

January 28, 2015 Ian McCollum 28

I often find myself answering the question, why didn’t anybody adopt a revolving rifle based on the M1895 gas-seal Nagant revolver? It does seem like a natural solution to the gas-related problems inherent to a […]

M1908 Mondragon Semiauto Rifle at RIA

November 25, 2014 Ian McCollum 16

The M1908 Mondragon is widely acknowledged to have been the first self-loading rifle adopted as a standard infantry arm by a national military force. There are a couple earlier designs used by military forces, but […]

RIA Premier Auction (Part II)

September 4, 2013 Ian McCollum 13

Continuing yesterday’s post, today I want to take a look at some of the long guns that jumped out at me while I was perusing the catalog for the RIA Premier Auction coming up in […]

Original Mendoza HM-3

July 24, 2013 Ian McCollum 34

Mexico has more of a history of domestic arms design and production than many people expect – from the many designs of Manuel Mondragon to Rafael Mendoza’s light machine guns, the Trejo machine pistols, and […]

Vintage Saturday: Stinkin’ Badges

March 16, 2013 Ian McCollum 22

Published in Osprey’s “The Mexican Revolution 1910-20” book, this photo postcard shows a very rare Hotchkiss 37mm automatic cannon. It was designed to compete with the Vickers Pom-Pom, and apparently was only bought in small […]

Mondragon Model 1894

January 4, 2013 Ian McCollum 22

The rifle we are looking at is an early Mondragon bolt-action design, model of 1894. Prior to designing his self-loading 1908 rifle (which is notable as the first self-loader adopted by a national military), Manuel […]

Obregon Automatic Pistol (Video)

December 31, 2012 Ian McCollum 24

One of the more interesting (and rare!) variations on John Browning’s iconic 1911 automatic pistol is the Obregon. Developed in Mexico in the mid 1930s, this pistol uses a frame nearly identical to the stock […]

Vintage Saturday: La Decena Tragica

October 13, 2012 Ian McCollum 6

La Decena Tragica (the Tragic Ten) is the common name for the ten days in February 1913 when Mexican president Francisco Madero was deposed and executed by military coup.

Mendoza LMG Photos

August 17, 2012 Ian McCollum 2

We were able to find a Mendoza light machine gun in a private collection, and took a number of photos of it. Sadly, the gun is deactivated and we were not able to disassemble it, […]