United States - Forgotten Weapons

The CIA’s New Liberator: the 9mm Deer Gun

October 6, 2019 Ian McCollum 58

This is Lot 1523 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphy’s Extraordinary auction. The Deer Gun is a covert CIA pistol inspired by the Liberator. In fact, the initial desire was to pull Liberators out of […]

Marlin M2 at the Range: A Remarkably Nice SMG

October 5, 2019 Ian McCollum 7

This is Lot 1037 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphy Extraordinary auction. After yesterday’s history and disassembly, I had a chance to take the Hyde/Marlin M2 submachine gun out to the range today for some […]

America’s Forgotten SMG: The Hyde/Marlin M2

October 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 21

This is Lot 1037 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphy Extraordinary auction. The United States went into World War Two with the Thompsons submachine gun – a weapon far too heavy and too expensive for […]

Striker 12: Shotgun Turned “Destructive Device”

October 3, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

This is Lot 1146 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphy Extraordinary auction. The Striker shotgun was designed by a Rhodesian named Hilton Walker in the late 1970s, although not manufactured until after he had emigrated […]

Model 1808 US Navy Pistol by Simeon North

September 29, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

This is Lot 2137 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphy Extraordinary auction. The US Congress passed a Militia Act in 1808 to provide funding for military supplies, and one of the immediate resulting contracts was […]

Experimental Triple-Magazine Henry Rifle

September 27, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

This rifle is an experimental twist on the Henry, built with three magazine tubes in a fixture pivoting around the axis of the barrel. While only half the length of the barrel itself, the three […]

John Browning vs Hiram Maxim: Patent Fight!

September 25, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

When John Browning designed his Model 1895 machine gun with it’s rotary-lever gas operation system, Hiram Maxim filed suit claiming patent infringement. Maxim had filed quite broad patents covering gas pistons operation, but specifically in […]

Book Review: Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms

September 22, 2019 Ian McCollum 5

Norm Flayderman opened an antique gun shop in 1952, and a few years later expanded his marketing to a mail-order catalog. He would ultimately print 119 such catalogs by 1998, researching and documenting a tremendous […]

Lakeside Vindicator BF1: A Belt-Fed .22 Plinker

September 4, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

Lot 3837 in the September 2019 RIA auction. In 1983, Dennis Tippmann started a company making beautiful half-scale Browning machine guns, fully functional and chambered for the .22LR cartridge. This was a pretty cool idea, […]

America’s First Contract Pistol: North & Cheney Model 1799

September 3, 2019 Ian McCollum 8

Lot 1421 in the September 2019 RIA auction. In 1798, the US Congress allocated a huge sum of money – $800,000 – to the procurement of military equipment to supplement the output of the Springfield […]