2011 - Forgotten Weapons

Early Automatic Pistols

July 22, 2011 Ian McCollum 6

Let’s take a look at some of the early (but reasonably successful) automatic pistol designs, shall we? We have a Mauser and a Bergmann to compare – unfortunately a Mannlicher pistol was not available for […]

Czech ZB-30 Manuals

July 20, 2011 Ian McCollum 4

After a few year of production, the ZB26 was given an overhaul and redesignated the ZB30. The two designs look externally very similar – the only distinctive way to tell them apart is the addition […]

Czech ZB-26 manuals

July 18, 2011 Ian McCollum 2

The Holek brothers began what would ultimately become a very successful light machine gun design in 1923 with the production of a prototype gun. It was refined over the next several years and adopted by […]

Ultimax 100 manual

July 15, 2011 Ian McCollum 9

The Ultimax 100 was designed in the late 1970s in Singapore as a lightweight squad automatic weapon. It’s a gas-operated design, with special attention paid to reducing felt recoil. The receiver is longer than most […]

Stoner 63 System

July 13, 2011 Ian McCollum 43

After his success with the AR 10/15/16/18 series of rifles, designer Eugene Stoner went on to develop the Stoner 63 weapons system with the Cadillac Gage company. The Stoner 63 was in many ways a […]

Mannlicher 1901 Carbine Video

July 11, 2011 Ian McCollum 3

The Mannlicher was one of the early automatic pistol designs, and like most such guns, a small number were made as carbine variants. This particular one is the first prototype 1901 carbine (you can see […]

Financing a couple projects…

July 10, 2011 Ian McCollum 0

Do you need a project? We’re raising some money for a couple of our own shop projects here, and are selling a couple nice parts kits to do it. Specifically: #1 – A gorgeous Russian […]

H&R T223 manual

July 8, 2011 Ian McCollum 7

There were a number of weapons used experimentally by small units of US military forces in Vietnam. One of the better known is the Stoner 63 system (which we will be uploading some material on […]

Mannlicher m/1901 manual

July 6, 2011 Ian McCollum 3

Probably the least known of the early automatic pistol designs is the Mannlicher. The design went through several stages, starting as blow-forward action, followed by a fixed barrel and finally a delayed blowback in several […]

Polish Hotchkiss M1914

July 4, 2011 Ian McCollum 3

After regaining its independence in 1918, Poland had a variety of weapons available to its armed forces, including the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun. The Hotchkiss fed from 30-round feed strips, and was gas operated and […]