Russia - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: Prototype W+F Bern AK44 Copy of the SVT

August 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 45

The Swiss factories of SIG and W+F Bern both produced a remarkable number and variety of experimental self-loading rifles in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Nothing would be adopted by the Swiss military until […]

The kit of a French Private Soldier in the Battle of Verdun, 1916

World War One Soldiers’ Loadouts

July 5, 2016 Ian McCollum 54

A reader sent me a link to a pretty cool image gallery showing the basic clothing and equipment of five different major combatant powers from mid-WWI. I have re-uploaded the individual photos in case the […]

Finnish red guard militia members posing for the camera some time during the civil war.

Vintage Saturday: Finnish Militia

March 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 48

The woman at the front right has a Winchester 1895, almost certainly of Russian contract origin in 7.62x54R. The others appear to have Type 30 Arisaka rifles, which would have been sold to Russia by […]

RIA: Soviet SVT-38 Self-Loading Rifle

February 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 14

A lot of people think that the US was the only country in World War II to mass-issue a semiautomatic infantry rifle, but that isn’t true. While the US was the only country to issue […]

RIA: Polish Ng30 Nagant Revolver

February 11, 2016 Ian McCollum 31

The Model 1895 Nagant revolver is pretty common in the US thanks to large imports of Russian revolvers, but we rarely see Polish Nagants. These were adopted as a sidearms for police organizations under the […]

RIA: Predecessor to the Mosin – the Russian Berdan II

February 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 43

Before adopting the M1891 Mosin-Nagant, the Russian Empire (like most major militaries) used a large-bore single-shot rifle as its standard infantry rifle. In this case, a .42-caliber rifle designed by American General Hiram Berdan (yes, […]

RIA: Russian Winchester 1895 in 7.62x54R

February 2, 2016 Ian McCollum 64

The Winchester 1895 was the last of Winchester’s lever-action rifles, and has an interesting place in a couple different parts of world history. On the one hand, the 1895 in .405 Winchester caliber is known […]

Military Thought (USSR): Some Points on the Status and Development of Small Arms (1965, English translation)

A Soviet Look at Cold War Small Arms Development

December 29, 2015 Ian McCollum 77

I have covered various elements of small arms development during the Cold War more than a few times – usually involving the contentious process that led to the 7.62mm NATO cartridge being adopted, and the […]

StG-45 Horn Prototypes

December 9, 2015 Ian McCollum 137

Herr Horn (I have seen his name given as both N.V. Horn and V.G. Horn; not sure which is correct) was an engineer working in the R&D department of Mauser at the end of WWII, and […]

Vintage Saturday: Seeds of an Idea

November 7, 2015 Ian McCollum 84

Point at Panzer, press button…