Russia - Forgotten Weapons

AVT-40 Testing Report

June 12, 2014 Ian McCollum 23

While poking around at Soviet Gun Archives (a very cool site which I wish was updated more often), I noticed this two-page memo reporting the results of an experiment modifying SVT-40 rifles to full-auto capability. […]

Mayn Experimental Carbine

May 28, 2014 Ian McCollum 28

To the left there is a Soviet memo on the subject of the experimental carbine designed by a Colonel P.I. Mayn. The memo reads: To the chief of the Red Army GAU, General-Lieutenant-Colonel comrade Yakovlev […]

Margolin Target Pistols (Video)

May 26, 2014 Ian McCollum 43

Video Manuals

Gun Deductions

May 8, 2014 Ian McCollum 22

One thing I particularly enjoy doing is taking a firearm and trying to figure out as much about it as I can, based on the appearance, markings, modifications, etc. It’s the details and the stories […]

Vintage Saturday: Not for Squeamish Collectors

April 19, 2014 Ian McCollum 14

Russian Colt 1895 machine gun destroyed on the Eastern front, WWI.

Vintage Saturday: What Would Roosevelt Shoot?

February 22, 2014 Ian McCollum 90

Not the cool Roosevelt – we know he liked his .405-caliber Big Medicine. I’m talking about the other one: Leszek found this on eBay (you can buy it if you want; I have no connection […]

Soviet AT Rifle Performance

January 21, 2014 Ian McCollum 22

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, guys. My day job has gotten a bit hectic in the last week, and it’s really cutting into the time I have available to work on the site. […]

Russian Winchester 1895 (Video)

December 30, 2013 Ian McCollum 28

By the 1890s, Winchester had established an extremely successful business in lever-action rifles. John Browning’s designs for the 1886, 1892, and 1894 models had proven very popular, and so Winchester (seeing the potential of the […]

Vintage Saturday: Strange Bedfellows

December 21, 2013 Ian McCollum 22

Soviet troops with M38 Mosin carbines and Breda Model 37 heavy machine guns (presumably captured from the ill-fated Italian ARMIR expedition in 1942/43). Thanks to Leszek for finding the photo at Waralbum.ru!

Book Review: Allied Rifle Contracts in America

November 21, 2013 Ian McCollum 6

One of the characteristics that often leads me to be particularly interested in a given gun is a long and convoluted history. I really enjoy finding firearms that have found their way across the world […]