Prototype
Bin Shih and the General Liu Rifle
When we spoke to Bin Shih about his recent book and Chinese firearms in general, he brought several interesting guns along to show us. By far the rarest was a General Liu rifle, and we […]
Articles by Ian McCollum
Manuals
M1/M1A1 Carbine Manual
Okay, so the M1 Carbine isn’t exactly a forgotten weapon. But since we do have a bunch of information on the prototype carbine designs that led to it, I think we should also maintain some […]
Manuals
Vickers Class F Manual
After the conclusion of World War One, the RAF was looking for a replacement for the Lewis for an observer’s gun in aircraft use. The Lewis had reliability issues, and was not a particularly fast-firing […]
Interview
An Interview With Author Bin Shih
Today, we’re joined by author Bin Shih, an expert on Chinese firearms of the second Sino-Japanese War (aka World War 2). We discuss the state of Chinese weapons manufacture in the 1930s and 40s, as […]
Light MGs
One More KE7 Manual
So just this past weekend I ran across another KE-7 manual, this one with a bunch of plates and a great full cutaway diagram. Figured I’d put that one up on the site now, since […]
Light MGs
SIG KE-7 Light Machine Gun
The KE-7 was the product of two Swiss designers, Pal de Kiraly and Gotthard End, and was introduced in 1929 by the Swiss manufacturer SIG. It was a recoil operated design and fired from an […]
Manuals
Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
As light tank development progressed through the interwar years, most nations worked on producing antitank weapons for the infantry. Early on, this was done by solid projectile, as early tanks were relatively lightly armored. Armor […]
Video
Early Automatic Pistols
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 […]
Light MGs
Czech ZB-30 Manuals
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 […]
Light MGs
Czech ZB-26 manuals
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 […]