Russia - Forgotten Weapons

Nikita Kruschev’s MTs-11 Communist Party Shotgun

April 7, 2019 Ian McCollum 21

This shotgun is lot #1256 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. Presented to Nikita Kruschev at the opening of the 21st session of the Communist Party session in 1959, this is an example of the best […]

The Soviet Jackhammer: Shooting an AVS-36

April 6, 2019 Ian McCollum 33

This rifle is lot #1019 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. Yesterday we looked at the history and mechanics of the Soviet AVS-36 battle rifle, and today we are taking it out to the range. As […]

AVS-36: The First Soviet Infantry Battle Rifle

April 5, 2019 Ian McCollum 23

This rifle is lot #1019 at Morphy’s April 2019 auction. The AVS-36 was the first self-loading rifle adopted by the Soviet Union to be a standard infantry rifle, and it was not just semiautomatic, but […]

Shooting the Stechkin: How Does It Measure Up?

January 12, 2019 Ian McCollum 24

I have been curious to try shooting a Stechkin machine pistol for a while, and now thanks to Movie Armaments Group in Toronto, I have a chance to! I hate to be a downer, but […]

Stechkin APS: The Soviet Machine Pistol

January 11, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

The APS is a machine pistol developed by Igor Stechkin in the late 1940s and adopted by the Soviet Union in 1951, basically at the same time as the Makarov pistol. The Stechkin and Makarov […]

Book Review: AK47 – The Grim Reaper (Second Edition)

January 6, 2019 Ian McCollum 16

The expanded second edition of Frank Iannamico’s “AK47: The Grim Reaper” is a hefty 1100-page tome which tackles the ambition goal of being a single reference for all things Kalashnikov. Ot begins with a section […]

M1916 Fedorov: Russia’s First Assault Rifle?

December 21, 2018 Ian McCollum 77

I have been trying to get my hands on Fedorov M1916 rifle for a while, and I finally had the opportunity at the NFC, part of the British Royal Armouries. The Fedorov was designed in […]

Mosin-Nagant Factory Pressure Test Rifle

November 20, 2018 Ian McCollum 17

This rifle sold for $3,450 at Rock Island on December 1, 2018. How did people determine chamber pressure in the years before computers and fancy electronics? Well, by squishing a calibrated slug of copper. Factories […]

Ukrainian or Russian Partisan Modified MP40

September 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

Some collectors hunt for firearms which look perfectly new form the factory, and others prefer arms that show lots of evidence of use and history. Well, this is definitely one of the latter type – […]

St Petersburg Cavalry School Mosin Carbine

July 9, 2018 Ian McCollum 15

This is a rather mysterious – or at least poorly documented – Mosin Nagant carbine variation. Made from an assortment of rifles dated from 1896 through 1920, these carbines were designed to fit Gulkevich folding […]