United States - Forgotten Weapons

Colt’s Special Revolver for Airline Pilots

April 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 15

This is lot #462 in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming Online Only auctions every month, though! The 1970s were […]

Experimental Remington-Keene: Preventing Magazine Detonations

March 31, 2020 Ian McCollum 14

This is lot #183 in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming Online Only auctions every month, though! This is a […]

Ross Rudd’s Prototype Delayed Blowback AR180

March 30, 2020 Ian McCollum 68

Sold for $1,610 in the February 2020 Sport & Collectors auction. Ross Rudd was born in Toronto in 1915, but his family moved to Springfield Massachusetts in 1917, and he would grow up there. Interested […]

USMC Force Recon & MEUSOC: the M45A1

March 26, 2020 Ian McCollum 52

This is lot #446 in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming Online Only auctions every month, though! When the US […]

How the 1911 Got Its Safeties – and Why Its Ancestors Had None

March 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 36

Some people put a lot of weight on the fact that the 1911 has a grip safety and a thumb safety…but I don’t think many folk understand how it ended up that way. John Browning’s […]

High Standard’s Prototype World War One .45 ACP Pistol

March 2, 2020 Ian McCollum 17

The High Standard company only made on .45 caliber pistol, and it was an improvement on the Grant Hammond pistol tested by the US military during World War One. After his gun’s rejection by the […]

106mm M40 Recoilless Rifle, History and Firing

February 29, 2020 Ian McCollum 48

The M40 was the final and largest iteration of the recoilless rifle in American military service. Designed to fix the shortcomings of the 105mm M27 that preceded it, the M40 was light and powerful, and […]

How to Import Guns into the US (Legally!)

February 27, 2020 Ian McCollum 11

I have had a bunch of people ask me what the process is for legally importing firearms into the US. I have gone through this process now a couple times over the past few years, […]

RIA Feb 2020 Special: Sporterized M1 Carbine

February 16, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

Our final quick video from RIA this weekend is a look at a sporterized M1 Carbine – but one that was actually done quite nicely! I would never suggest that someone cut up an intact […]

Book Review: Browning Auto-5 Shotguns

January 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 11

I am normally more interested in military small arms than sporting ones, but the Browning Auto-5 is such an important firearm that it deserves the recognition of and proper small arms enthusiast. It was not […]