United States - Forgotten Weapons

Slow Motion: M134 Minigun (Video)

December 23, 2016 Ian McCollum 10

Following up to yesterday’s look at the history and (partial) disassembly of a GE M134 Minigun, today we will check it out in slow motion. I filmed these high-speed shots, but there was so much […]

M134 Minigun: The Modern Gatling Gun (Video)

December 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 34

The General Electric M134 “Minigun” is essentially an electrically-powered Gatling gun – the conceptual operation of the gun is identical to Dr. Gatling’s original creation. What has changed, however, is the chambering (it’s in 7.62 […]

Crossfire MkI: A Creature from the AWB Lagoon (Video)

December 21, 2016 Ian McCollum 44

The Crossfire MkI is a combination rifle and shotgun, with the two barrels sharing a single pump action mechanism. The shotgun is a 12ga bore, with a 4-round tubular magazine located on top of the […]

Vintage Saturday: Goumier

December 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 52

Moroccan troops, known as les Goumiers Marocains were part of the French auxiliaries in the Army of Africa. As with all post-surrender French forces in WWII, they were armed and equipped with other Allied equipment; […]

Two Strange Project SPIW Magazines (Video)

December 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 38

Today we are taking a look at two unusual magazines from unusual firearms. These are a 60-round double-column mag from a Springfield 1964 SPIW bullpup and a 50-round box magazine from an AAI XM-19 serial […]

Winchester Experimental Mag-Fed Garands (Video)

December 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 38

Even during World War Two, it was clear that the United States was interested in improving on the M1 Garand rifle. A company that could develop and update to the Garand to make it selective-fire […]

German soldiers with captured American arms

Vintage Saturday: More Spoils

December 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 62

German soldiers with captured American small arms, circa 1944. The other guy’s stuff is always better than yours, right? Well, I would rather have an M1 than a K98k, but the Thompsons? No thanks. Interesting […]

Lewis Gas Operated Pistol (Video)

December 9, 2016 Ian McCollum 26

Isaac Newton Lewis is best known as the designer of the Lewis light machine gun, of course – but that was not his only work in the firearms field. In 1919, he patented a semiauto […]

Nomar M1911 Magazine-Stock (Video)

December 7, 2016 Ian McCollum 23

In 1936, Lewis Nolan Nomar patented this device, which is basically a large 40-round magazine for the 1911 pistol. He envisioned a military use for the device in trench raiding, giving men a compact weapon […]

Winchester’s Liberator Shotguns (Video)

December 3, 2016 Ian McCollum 48

In the early 1960s, an influential but little-known (today) firearms designer by the name of Robert Hillberg came up with an idea for a cheap-but-effective armament for the masses. With encouragement from DARPA, the Winchester […]