Handgun
Welrod pistol
The Welrod pistol was a creation of the British special operations community during the middle of WWII. A suppressed pistol was needed to shoot sentries on covert missions, and the Welrod was the answer. It […]
Articles by Ian McCollum
Manuals
M1895 Lee handbook
It was only fairly recently that all the branches of the US armed forces began standardizing their weapons and equipment. It used to be that each branch would adopt whatever firearms it found most useful […]
Light MGs
Vickers LMG
I almost feel bad posting these photos without a bit more information to go along with them, but they’re just too cool not to. So before I say more, take a look at this: Do […]
General Purpose MGs
Madsen-Saetter manual
Unfortunately, the Danish firm Madsen had a hard time getting many of its firearms to be widely accepted. The most successful was the early LMG, and also the M50 submachine gun. But many Madsen designs […]
German
Borchardt automatic pistol
There is not much controversy over the identity of the first commercially successful – or at least the first serially produced – automatic pistol. Hugo Borchardt takes the prize with his 1893 design. Shown here […]
Uncategorized
Gas Piston Lineup
Now here’s a wall decoration for your gun room – cartridge boards are just so passe nowadays. Bonus points is you can identify them all without resorting to Google (click the image for a larger […]
German
Spreewerke VG-2
The Volksgewehr program was a frantic and disorganized effort, poorly organized and with many bureaucratic contradictions. A good example is the VG-2 production. The DIW (Spreewerke being a subsidiary of that firm) prototype VG rifle […]
Manuals
Villar Perosa manual
The Villar Perosa was a rather odd weapon developed by noted designer Revelli in Italy in 1914 and adopted into service in 1915. It was a pair of open-bolt submachine guns (predating shoulder-fired submachine gun […]
German
Volksgewehr VG1
In late 1944, Hitler formed the Volkssturm, a last ditch Home Guard type force to throw against the encroaching American and Russian forces at the German border. Small arms production was taxed already from the […]
Uncategorized
Chatellerault FM Mle 1924-29
The Chatellerault FM Mle 1924-29 was the French military’s replacement for the 1915 Chauchat automatic rifle. It was clear after WWI that the Chauchat design was flawed, and a new weapon was required. The military […]