United States - Forgotten Weapons

US M2/M2A1 Flamethrower

May 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

After a dismal first attempt at designing a flamethrower (the M1) in 1941, the US Chemical Corps along with several universities and industrial partners put in a lot of research to develop a more usable […]

BSA 1926 & 1929 Thompson SMGs

May 11, 2016 Ian McCollum 36

In the early days of the Thompson Submachine Gun, the Auto-Ordnance Company was looking for customers globally. General John Thompson had personally run a demonstration of the gun in England in June of 1921, which […]

Flamethrower Q&A with Charlie Hobson

May 9, 2016 Ian McCollum 44

http://www.flamethrowerexpert.com Today’s questions by timestamp are: 0:40 – After international conventions banned most flamethrower use, where and when have they still been used and why? 1:15 – What Hollywood examples are particularly realistic and which […]

Introduction to Military Flamethrowers with Charlie Hobson

May 5, 2016 Ian McCollum 40

Flamethrowers are a significant piece of military weapons history which are very widely misunderstood, as flamethrowers have never been the subject of nearly as much collector interest as other types of small arms. The US […]

Book Review: The Armalite AR-10 The World’s Finest Battle Rifle

May 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 39

One of the topics that has been (somewhat oddly) lacking a detailed and well-researched history is the Armalite AR-10. There was a book written by a Major Pikula many years ago, but it is really […]

Disassembly Photos: Bendix-Hyde 2nd Model Carbine

May 3, 2016 Ian McCollum 9

This is a second pattern Bendix-Hyde carbine, made for the M1 Carbine trials. The first Bendix-Hyde had a number of features that Ordnance requested be changed (including a pistol grip), and this was the modified […]

2-Gun Action Challenge Match: US WWI Infantry (M1917 & M1911)

May 2, 2016 Ian McCollum 57

In this month’s 2-Gun match, I am competing as a WWI US infantryman, with an M1917 Eddystone rifle and an M1911 pistol (both are genuine WWI-era originals). I am also using a reproduction US 1917 […]

RIA: Thompson T2 Submachine Gun Prototype

April 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 46

The T2 submachine gun was Auto-Ordnance’s entry into the ongoing competition to replace the classic Thompson submachine gun with something more economical to produce. It was a closed-bolt, select-fire design using a progressive trigger and […]

RIA: Walch Navy 12-Shot Revolver

April 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 28

Patented by John Walch in 1859, this is a .36 caliber revolver using superimposed chambers – meaning that each of the six chambers could hold two shots, for a total of 12 rounds before reloading. […]

RIA: Thompson Model 1923 Autorifle

April 19, 2016 Ian McCollum 42

One of the very early entrants into the United States Ordnance Department’s semiauto rifle trials was the Auto-Ordnance Company, makers of the Thompson submachine gun. For the rifle trials, they designed a .30-06 rifle using […]