United States - Forgotten Weapons

Winchester Lever Action Development: 1860 Henry

June 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 36

The Henry Repeating Rifle was a truly revolutionary development in firearms technology. It was not the first repeating rifle, but it was the best of a emerging class of new arms, reliable in function and […]

Browning M1919A6 Double Size Training Model Machine Gun

June 2, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

During World War II, the US military had a simultaneous need to put machine guns into combat service, and also a need to train new soldiers on the operation of those machine guns. Cutting up […]

Unintended Consequences of the AWB: The Olympic Arms OA-98

June 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 56

The AR-15 does not lend itself to stock-less use, because its basic design places the recoil spring in the length of the stock, and requires that space for the bolt carrier to travel in. Olympic […]

Suppressed OSS M3 Grease Gun and Bushmaster Booby Trap Trigger

May 9, 2017 Ian McCollum 15

Today, we have a chance to take a look at a suppressed M3 “Grease Gun”, as purchased and issued by the Office of Strategic Services (the OSS; predecessor to the CIA). Thanks to its readily […]

Shattuck “Unique” Hideout Squeeze Pistol

April 30, 2017 Ian McCollum 15

C.S. Shattuck’s “Unique” squeeze pistol is one of the last of this sort of sightless, underpowered hideout guns. Its core patent was actually filed by Oscar Mossberg, who worked for Shattuck before setting up his […]

Miller Pill-Lock Revolving Rifle

April 24, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

John and James Miller of Rochester New York designed and built this rifle, which is an example of an intermediate revolving firearm. It comes after the flintlock Collier guns, but before Sam Colt’s Paterson demonstrated […]

Ljutic Space Gun

April 18, 2017 Ian McCollum 12

Al Ljutic (LEW-tic) was quite the interesting character, from his early days as a professional boxer to his selection for the US 1940 Olympic rifle team, to his eventual primary business making excellent high-end trap […]

Remington-Rider Magazine Pistol

April 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 41

One of many firearms developed for Remington by Joseph Rider was the Rider Magazine Pistol – a manually operated 5-shot repeater chambered for the .32 extra-short rimfire cartridge (the same round used by the Chicago […]

Lamson & Ball Carbine: Henry Meets Spencer (Sort of)

April 15, 2017 Ian McCollum 11

The Lamson & Ball repeating carbine was one of the last Civil War arms manufactured, as an initial order of 1,000 units was placed in June of 1864 but not actually delivered until April and […]

M3 and M3A1 Grease Guns

April 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 68

The US began looking for a cost-effective replacement for the Thompson submachine gun in 1942, and the “Grease Gun” was the result. Designed by George Hyde (a noted firearms designer at the time) and Frederick […]