Around the same time that Small Caliber High Velocity was starting to percolate through the US Military, so was another set of programs designed to increase the hit probability of the individual soldier. Considering that 5.56 was ultimately adopted as the standard [Read More…]
One of the more interesting plans to provide weapons to the irregulars and resistance fighters during World War II involved airdropping around a million crudely made single shot pistols over occupied territory. Most shooters and history buffs are rather familiar with [Read More…]
If one has been following the fantastic Forgotten Weapons channel for the last few days, one would notice a plethora of fantastic World War 2 sniper rifle projects making their way across the upcoming James D. Julia auctions. Various weapons include the M1C Sniper [Read More…]
The French next generation rifle competition is coming to an end, the two finalists, one from Belgium and the other from Germany, and the incumbent is set for replacement over the next few years. Before either the SCAR or the HK416 are inducted as the new arm of France, [Read More…]
By this point, most of my readers will be familiar with the fabulous work being done (almost single-handedly) by Ian McCollum for his site ForgottenWeapons.com, and those who aren’t should click through and subscribe to his channel for some of the best gun-related [Read More…]
One of the early automatic rifles that has caught my interest for several years going now is the Winchester Machine Rifle, also known as the Burton Machine Rifle or the Light Machine Rifle. The Burton – as I’ll call it for the purposes of today’s post [Read More…]
What’s the coolest firearm you’ve ever shot? A fine, antique shotgun? An old war horse oozing with history? A rapid-firing machine gun? Whatever you’re thinking of, it’s not as cool as an M2 Flamethrower: In what is probably definitely the [Read More…]
General Thompson will certainly be remembered for his famous “Tommy Gun” or formally adopted as the M1928 or in its later blow-back only form the M1 Thompson. But what about Thompson’s other designs? Due to the prohibitive costs of the Thompson M1928 [Read More…]
While I’ve been showing some love to the up and coming C&Rsenal channel, Ian at Forgotten Weapons is not one to be forgotten. Latest in his video series comes from another Auction house, this time Rock Island Auction company where Ian was able to get his hands [Read More…]
I swear, Ian gets to play with all the fun (and obscure) firearms the world has created. While I enjoy my modern doo-dads, sometimes the old designs just look fun to work with. Latest up in Ian from Forgotten Weapon’s ever expanding catalog of old guns is the [Read More…]
When faced with large, dangerous game set on ending your life before you end theirs, there really is no substitute for raw power. That’s a fact that African big game hunters throughout history have recognized, and reflective of this are the huge, cannonesque [Read More…]
Although the concept of a sized-down 1911 has become quite common today there was a time when it was unheard of. The Detonics MkI was the first sub-compact 1911 to be made, and it was a boon for the company not only because it was the first of its kind but because [Read More…]
Revolvers got their start in 1835 thanks to Samuel Colt, and in the years to follow there were quite a few designs and innovations – and, yes, failures – in the gun world. It was 1856 when Smith and Wesson began manufacturing cartridge revolvers, and others [Read More…]
A little more historical firearm information courtesy of Forgotten Weapons. Next up is the Plus Ultra, a larger version of the earlier Ruby manufactured by Llama. Llama was a Spanish company the full name of which was Llama-Gabilondo y Cia SA (originally Gabilondo y [Read More…]
When Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the adage “the pen is mightier than the sword” back in 1839 for the purpose of a play, it seems a bit unlikely he was thinking there might one day be a pen gun. Over the years guns have been made in all manner of design with [Read More…]
Ask and ye shall receive – another Forgotten Weapon’s post, that is. It seems I am not the only one fascinated by unique and/or historically relevant firearms, and the recent run of daily posts on YouTube by Ian of Forgotten Weapons has been fantastic. I can [Read More…]
Yet another impossible-to-resist gun from Forgotten Weapons’ time with the Rock Island Auction Company. Try though I might I cannot seem to pass up the daily posts Ian is currently putting up on his YouTube channel, and although I tried to resist, I clearly [Read More…]
Apparently YouTuber Forgotten Weapons managed to get his hands on quite a few historically interesting firearms through the Rock Island Auction, resulting in his doing daily posts. He says the daily phenomenon is only temporary and that things will go back to normal in [Read More…]
As a history buff it’s easy to find numerous interesting tidbits by studying World War I, but what’s really fascinating is the firearms. World War I may have run its course between 1914 and 1918 but that doesn’t mean there weren’t advances in [Read More…]
In the world of firearms it’s always exciting to see the latest and greatest advances, whether it’s in ammunition – like Hornady’s recent announcement – or guns. While it’s fantastic to live in such technologically advanced times and [Read More…]
Ian of Forgotten Weapons has certainly come up with some unique firearms, but this is the first time I’ve seen a magazine I simply could not pass by. In this review he goes over a French-made Union pistol, which was apparently a full-auto gun – with a [Read More…]
It’s a rifle for when you had something very, very big that you needed very, very dead right now. Although the British exploration and colonization of Africa is most closely associated with the tail end of the 19th Century, there were hunters and [Read More…]
“…The most tacti-cool shotgun I could find prior to 1980!” proudly cliams Ian from our beloved Forgotten Weapons. The 10B is a bullpup semi-automatic shotgun built by the High Standard company designed by a private individual police Sergeant Alfred [Read More…]
RPGs. Who hasn’t considered getting their hands on one just once – once! – and unloading on something, be it a building, vehicle, or some other inanimate object. The appeal is certainly there, and although it cannot be considered forgotten, the RPG-7 [Read More…]
The Bren Ten can trace the roots of its design back to 1979. It was created by Michael Dixon and Thomas Dornaus of Dornaus and Dixon Enterprises, but there’s more to its story than that. In 1980 they decided to get advice from none other than Col. Jeff Cooper, [Read More…]
Ian over at Forgotten Weapons put up a new video covering a unique O/U shotgun. He isn’t sure what it is specifically beyond knowing that it was made in Paris by Lefaucheux. Lefaucheux was Casimir Lefaucheux, a French gunsmith who spent his relatively short life [Read More…]
As evidenced by its substantial IMFDB page, the Pancor Jackhammer has been a popular inclusion in many popular video games. What’s interesting about this is that the Jackhammer, otherwise, would be an extremely obscure firearm. Only three were made, and of those [Read More…]
Sometimes, it seems like few gun designers are willing to throw caution to the wind and try something truly new, and that even fewer financiers are willing to help those few designers achieve their vision. The Gyrojet family of weapons is perhaps an excellent example of [Read More…]
I, for one, lament the change of the charging handle from the inside the carry-handle position to the rear of the weapon. While it has made it convenient for railed uppers, it is nowhere near as ergonomic. Okay, now that I am off my high-horse, I would like to turn your [Read More…]
Now that all the guns of Ian’s educational videos have been auctioned off, it is time for a more traditional Forgotten Weapons post, of the kind he’s been doing for several years now. The subject of his latest is the Mannlicher 1885 self-loading rifle, [Read More…]