United States - Forgotten Weapons

Hogue Avenger: Precision Accuracy Via Delayed Blowback

January 5, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

The Avenger is a flapper-delayed blowback, fixed barrel conversion upper assembly for the Model 1911 pistol. It was designed by Austrian Peter Spielberger, and manufactured by Hogue in the US and PowerSpeed in Austria. It […]

Replacing Beretta: the S&W XM10 Trials Pistol

December 29, 2023 Ian McCollum 38

When the US adopted the Beretta Model 92 as the new M9 standard issue handgun in 1985, it was not without controversy. In particular, there was a scandal of cracked and broken M9 slides shortly […]

Angstadt Vanquish: An Inexpensive Integrally-Silenced 9mm AR Barrel

December 24, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

Angstadt Arms has released an interesting integrally silenced (suppressed, if you prefer) barrel for 9mm AR carbines. It uses a full-length barrel with venting ports (similar to the MP5SD system), combined with a tubular shroud […]

Gorilla GF-10: Lightweight Hunting Semiauto in 8.6mm Blackout (w/ Ballistics Gel)

December 13, 2023 Ian McCollum 4

Today I’ve got on of Gorilla Ammo’s GF-10 rifles to do some shooting with. It’s an AR-10 platform chambered for 8.6mm Blackout (they also offer it in .243 Win, .260 Rem, 6.5CM, and .308 Win). […]

My New Book: Small Arms of World War Two – United States

November 30, 2023 Ian McCollum 5

In stock and shipping now: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/ww2-usa European sales: https://www.headstampbook.com/ Small Arms of WWII: United States of America is the first in Headstamp Publishing’s newest book series covering the myriad of weapons developed and fielded around […]

Ballard .41 Rimfire Derringer: An Old West Boot Gun

November 25, 2023 Ian McCollum 11

Charles H. Ballard is much better known for his single shot rifle design, but he also designed, patented, and produced a .41 rimfire caliber derringer. These were popular concealed weapons during the 19th century, and […]

Colt’s .41 Derringers: Buyout and Innovation

November 20, 2023 Ian McCollum 10

When Colt decided that it wanted a piece of the Derringer market, it used a tactic we are used to seeing today: it found an existing manufacturer and just bought them outright. This was the […]

Colt 1903 in US Military Service (and for the OSS)

November 13, 2023 Ian McCollum 11

The Colt Model 1903, aka Pocket Hammerless, aka Model M, was a massively successful design for Colt on the commercial market. It was chambered for the .32ACP cartridge, with a .380 model introduced in 1908. […]

The Sexy Retro Shorty: Original AR-180 Police Carbine

October 28, 2023 Ian McCollum 6

When Armalite designed the AR-180, they needed a factory to produce it, as their own production capacity was limited. Initially a license was granted to How in Japan, but this only lasted a few years […]

Testing an Original WW1 Trench Gun w/ GI Buckshot: How Does it Pattern?

September 29, 2023 Ian McCollum 10

Today I am out at the range with Matt Haught from Sym-Tac to test out our original WW1 Winchester 1897 Trench Gun with some original WW2 GI buckshot. While the US did buy some shotgun […]