I ran into Ian 4 years ago on my honeymoon in Rome. He was having dinner at night outside of my hotel. And even though I was bothering him during dinner, in Rome, he was perfectly gracious. My wife always says that Ian was very nice.
@@ForgottenWeapons that's awesome, I was definitely surprised too, that was still when we thought stuff on TH-cam was our own little secret. Well it certainly gave us a great tidbit from the honeymoon. And the bigger you get the funner the memory, so thanks for being cool about it. Congrats on the success.
Most people don't understand what being well known in the public is like. I've worked in a national radio network for over 35 years and truly understand how unthinking "fans" can be. Do people really think someone with a million subscribers can hold each of their hands? BTW, can't wait to get you book.
I personally suspect those who say he doesn't know the subject are either deeply stupid, or simply believe all the old myths.......and trot them out as "fact" at every opportunity.
As for Ian being different in person, I can say that is very untrue. I was fortunate enough to join him on a week-long WWI tour through Belgium and northern France last fall. He is genuinely a sincere and authentic person. I certainly witnessed the phenomenon of false familiarity on that trip; all of us who were already fans of his channel on the first couple of days had to work through the surreal experience of seeing him morning, noon and night, hours on a bus together, even sharing meals at times. That said, it is important to respect his space and his privacy; of course, he took some moments away from the tour group as is to be expected; however, overall he was incredibly generous with his time. During many hours on the bus between stops, he made it a point to go sit in different parts of the bus across the days to make sure everyone who wanted to interact with him 1:1 or in small groups was able to do so repeatedly. If anyone asked a question that was a little too private (e.g. about his personal life/relationships), he was both polite and gracious in his response. In fact, his authenticity, sincerity and generosity inspired even greater admiration of him, not just as a TH-cam personality, but history buff and firearm historian. I certainly hope to meet him again someday - hopefully on a similar tour trip.
I met Ian at Rock Island Auction company when he had a meet-up back in February of this year. I had a little apprehension that this was gonna be a "don't meet your heroes" situation, but as soon as we made proper introductions, he immediately led me to one of the racks to gleefully show me an obscure rifle and tell me all about it's particular history. And that's basically how the rest of the day went. Ian was swarmed with other patrons during the public meet and was very enthusiastic and patient despite the constant questions. Later at dinner, just more of the same as we all talked guns the entire time. So in short, Ian is precisely in person what he is on camera.
Having met Ian a few dozen times, he strikes me exactly as he is in video. So long as your expectations are reasonable, I think you will find him friendly and generous with his knowledge, time, and even gear.
I was fortunate to meet Ian when he came to Ottawa for his visit to Marstar and the RCMP. He was quite pleasant (in other words yes he is exactly how you see him on TH-cam).
@@pantheonauxilia Most US Southerners actually are, so I'm not surprised at all. And meeting them at a shooting match where they are open to socializing is very different from being "that guy" that just had to say hello without giving a crap if he's interrupting something.
@@KI.765 haha for real. Even Texans don't like being called Southerners. We might have a history of bigotry but at least we were all born with 10 fingers and 10 toes.
I spent the day on the range at Camp Borden with Ian when he came up to Canada. He is one of the nicest, laid back guy you could ever meet. What you see on the screen is what he is like in real life.
When I was younger I got roped into watching my 3 month old niece while my sister got her hair done. So there I am sitting in the waiting room of a hair salon with my niece, and who walks in but Ian McCollum. I was nervous as shit, and just kept looking at him as he read a magazine and waited, but I was too scared to say anything to him. Pretty soon though my niece started crying, and I'm trying to quiet her down because I didn't want to bother Ian, but she wouldn't stop. Pretty soon he gets up and walks over. He started running his hands through her hair and asked what was wrong. I replied that she was probably hungry or something. So Ian McCollum put down his magazine, picked up my niece, and lifted his shirt. He breast fed her right there in the middle of the hair salon. Chill guy, really nice about it.
@@willgibson5219 I believe the original is about Keanu Reeves. I think it's a pretty nice illustration of why people shouldn't take random allegations online of someone being a jerk, all that seriously haha
You proved the point. You have only "met" him via social media and yet you are making a judgement about what kind of person he is - when you don't actually know.
@@videodistro He did not prove _the_ point. The point was that Ian is supposedly a different person off-camera and a jerk. Not that people make judgments based on insufficient information.
I had the pleasure of meeting Ian outside of the Armouries one evening at around the time of the centenary of the WWI Armistice - and he was very pleasant, polite, and patient in interacting with some random bloke stumbling across him saying "I'm a big fan of your channel". It was great to talk about his (then-upcoming) French Rifle book, the exhibits on display at the Royal Armouries, and his plans for commemorating the Armistice by attending a fairly large event in France. Et je suis toujours heureux de voir que vous avez continué à améliorer votre français!
There is a Foodtuber (cooking channel) who, in a Q&A vid, did a great discussion of talking to fans, being approached by fans IRL (including an account of someone approaching him in his front yard) and the nature of the "familial" interaction that you describe fans having with you. The channel is Adam Ragusea. I can't remember which Q&A video it is, but I think it's #2 or #3. Interesting topic that is increasingly relevant in our time.
A full size rifle cartridge in blowback? Oh god, don't give Hi-Point ideas! Can you imagine a Hi-Point slide except stretched over the full length of a rifle barrel?
A modern (semi-auto) version of a Gustloff VG1-5 in .223 Remington? I would imagine that trying to make something like that in 7.62mm NATO might be a bad idea...
I think it would look something like this: www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/08/06/homebuilt-automatic-rifle-surrendered-bogota/ I would genuinely like to see Hi-Point make a commercial version of that. Not because I think it would be that good of an idea, I'd just like to see it done.
It sure is! This is why I personally love Etymology, since I can almost always see how and why a word is or should be a real word. It's not about the Definitions, as much as the underlying roots and meaning. The middle part of the word , Vivial, is derived from Latin, and means "to live". The prefix Con- operates in exactly the same way as in Confusion. In other words, "Together living".
Your answers to the two-fold question (snark?) about knowledge and attitude are simply the most honest and insightful responses I have ever heard for this and similar questions. At nearly 72 years of age, and a life-long firearms enthusiast, I will remember your mature and gentle response for a long time. Thank you.
@@jeffthebaptist3602 Missed opportunity there I fear! There's still time though... I did replace myself with a medical skeleton for another meeting though.
Clearing a bazillion malfunctions in a Browning High Power? Sounds like my experience competing at Bisley. Plot twist: I was shooting for the Canadian army and it was 2019. Man we need new pistols.
@@randymagnum143 Canadian Hi-Powers have been in continuous service since the 1940's, and our military is always notoriously underfunded. The armourers can only do so much; our guns are just worn out at this point.
@@randymagnum143 i'll give you a pistol that has been in service and used for 75 year and you try to make it work and the only part you have available are from other pistols that are just as old and used up, at this point its just better to give them to museums.
@@globi0399 i run machines that are 120 years old every day. If you have access to springs and can tune an extractor, there is no excuse as to why you cant keep a hi power running. And there are still crates of inglis magazines still unopened in the stores of the Canuk gov't.
6:18 To the person asking the question, the Thompson was not ready to be shipped to France on the day of the armistice. That is an ever-persistant myth that won't die. There was no production line set up, and there was still two years of development work to be done on the gun before the design was perfected. The only facility Auto-Ordnance had to produce the Thompson in 1918 was the machine shop at Warner & Swasey in Cleveland, Ohio where they were doing their prototyping and R&D.
I'm so happy the Ljungmann was even mentioned (in the Campaign for Beautiful Rifles question)! Your video on the Ljungmann was my early favorite of your episodes.
There is another benefit to having to manually cycle an action with new shooters. This is that it forces them to slow down and concentrate on the fundamentals of shooting technique. But, not having a live one in the chamber is good too as someone who has had multiple guns pointed at myself by novice shooters, Kindergarten to 5th grade.
Hi, Ian. These Q&A sessions are great. I can, with my very limited knowledge of the topic, understand what you are talking about. Of course, I can't remember anything five minutes later, but I do appreciate the event. The fact that you often have samples referenced by the questions is exemplary. I feel like a time traveler watching your vids! Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!
When I was a kid my grandfather had a massive stash of 1950-1960's Australian shooting/hunting magazine (mostly 'Outdoors' ) that I used to pour over absorbing everything within. I distinctly remember seeing an ad for Vickers-Pederson rifles for sale at one of the big gun shops (might have being Mick Smiths in Sydney) I didn't appreciate the rarity of these until watching this Video.
On the straight pull: "They're using some sort of cam to rotate the bolt when you pull the bolt handle back." Gotta say that the newer systems like the ball-bearing locking system or the Browning T-Bolt system make straight pulls an order of magnitude more interesting for me than traditional ones.
@toeff7852 Aye, but you know, context and all. =) Nothing against Blaser btw, my father's hunting group has a few of them and from what I hear they're pretty excellent guns.
Great way to handle people being critical of in person interactions. I can imagine sometimes it's just not the right time and place to deal with a random fan.
On the question about changing the calibers of surplus guns, I think it's ok provided you don't do anything irreversible. For example, the CMP was selling some beat up Winchester M1 Garands about 10 years ago that came without a stock and rear sight. I bought one, and one of the Italian 7.62x51 conversion kits that Sarco was selling at the time. I had the rifle rebuilt using the kit and it turned out very nice. If I wanted to, I could easily return the rifle to 30.06 by putting the old (fairly worn) barrel and operating rod back on there. I do agree that making permanent alterations, like the example with the .45 ACP Webley conversions, should be avoided.
@@JayR-zu6yv Well it's such a common mistake that it's become typically "american", but if you turn it around how many europeans hasn't confused US states, so in my case he is excused.
I've recently listened to some of your older Q&A sessions and just realized something...If you had a nickel for every time you were asked about the Pedersen Device, you'd have a pocket full of change.
I think to people (like me) who are interested in the mechanics and engineering of firearms, the Pedersen device holds a particular fascination. There were a lot of attempts to convert bolt-action rifles into semiautos but to the best of my knowledge the PD was the only one that allowed the user to switch back and forth. Compared to most of the other attempts it was relatively simple and the fact that the soldier could carry it in a pouch to install for special purposes is very cool. It's tempting to imagine that had it not been rushed into development and production it might have had the bugs ironed out and become a viable weapon.
I knew that when submitting the question and I acknowledged it. Obviously he skipped that bit to keep it simple and comprehensive but the question gnawed on me and I thought it would be both informative and funny to ask yet another pedersen question when you consider how we think the question's all been answered about it. Plus it's mechanically one heckuva dohickey
The answers to the questions about mistakes you’ve made and , being different in person. Spot on perfect 👌🏼 response to both questions. We all can always learn
Some years/decades back we won some Olympic medals in biathlon because we used semi-auto guns based on the Ruger 10-22 and some current shooters of extreme accuracy still use it for 200 yard egg/grape shooting. For money!
I have a Savage model 6B which can be fired as a "single shot" by locking the bolt closed, or as a semi-automatic by leaving it unlocked. Just a FYI, since I'm sure there are lots of variations on this subject... PS, thanks for doing these Q&A sessions, I always learn something.
I'm pretty impressed by the humility of the response to that difficult assertion about... being a jerk etc. Not the response you'd get from many other TH-cam celebs. Indeed, nobody's perfect.
With regards to the British Self Loading Rifle question, some experimenting was done at the Long Branch arsenal in Canada late in the war. Technically not British, but we were part of the Commonwealth, so I felt that it deserved mention. I believe Ian has spoken/written about this at some point.
Don't feel bad I've met experts in both firearms and aircraft that got major things" WRONG" the fact is that their supposed knowledge came not from first hand but from flawed reference books that were written by people who never handled or even saw the equipment that they were writing about ! The fact that you can and do correct any mistakes you make , actually makes you a exception to the rule in the world of self taught experts!! Glad to say I enjoy your work and appreciate your honesty 👍
I have met both Ian and Karl at shot show at the HMG STG booth they were extremely nice and spoke to my father and I for almost an hour... definitely nice people
You certainly know what you are talking about. You have an incredible amount of knowledge about firearms in general and clearly put alot of effort into research prior to making a video. All your hard work doesn't go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Your one of the most dedicated and professional content creators and give us access and information to weapons that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to see. Im fascinated by the mechanical and engineering aspect of firearms so your channel is my favorite. Keep up the good work brother and dont listen to the Trolls.
Sometimes there's only so much documentation that's been left on some of these old firearms. Ian seems to do his best to research what sources are out there. And I like that he admits making mistakes. No matter how fastidious the research, even original sources aren't always 100% accurate.
Ian please NEVER apologize for being yourself. If somebody has a problem with you being yourself the that's their problem. People are not perfect and it's an exercise in futility to even try to please everyone. Everyone has good days and bad days but never apologize for being real.
I have a Walther model 2 rifle, and it is an awesome little gun. It is extremely accurate in both semi-auto and manual. A problem with these rifles though is that if you use "hot" loads in semi-auto with old and weak springs, the bolt impact and velocity is higher than it should be, which increases the stresses, which then tends to break off the bolt knob. That in turn messes with the weight balance and leads to the rifle sometimes burst firing at an incredible rate of fire. But I love my little Walther!
I would have taken my French dbl barrel breakdown, Remington .375 H&H Mag model 700, and Ruger .45 ACP/.45 long colt Blackhawk 6 shooter. I love shooting them all, but can't hit a barn with the boom-stick. The revolver is good, but is a heavy single action that gate loads six shots, 1 rd at a time. The rifle is top tier in almost all ways, but would rearrange my shoulder before the 5-ish rd box mag finishes...I'm as giddy as a school girl shooting them and all, especially the rifle, get people's attention quickly.
Fanboi "hay Ian I love you man how are things going what's new on the channel" Ian " I'm at the fricking DMV how do you think it's going?" Fan "what jerk"
I never met you IRL but in every online interaction we had you were nothing but awesome. Also "A jerk" "Full of crap" is not criticism. Not useful anyhow. Keep up the great work.
I may have commented before...but... the conversion of the Martini Cadets to 357 (or IME various 22 CF calibres) was carried out IN the 1950's and 60's. While there certainly are other options TODAY, that simply wasn't the case in Australia back then. That also explains the various 303 British based "wildcats" that were relatively common here...the 303-270, 303-25, and the (ridiculous) 303-22. (as does the temporary prohibition on owning "military" calibres which I am assured was a thing - I'm not old enough to have experienced that!) Modern, new centrefire rifles were scarce and expensive back then too.
That "someone not familiar with firearms, gets all excited and starts waving the weapon on all directions" just brought me a memory from the time I served in the FDF(Finnish Defence Forces).. A friend of mine served as a recruit reserve officer in the same brigade as I did.. they had one of those sort of "happy" individuals amongst their ranks.. Once during a shooting drill with live rounds, this character, after a full day of theory on self loading, gas operated RK-62 a7,62 assault rifle, kept yanking the charging handle after each fired round.. Of course the rifle went empty early.. This character jumped up waving his presumable loaded rifle all over the place yelling.."Lt...! Lt..! my gun don't work..!" Sergeant Major shouted every soul to duck and lay low..! Lt. told surprisingly calmly this dude to lay his rifle in his feet and step two steppes back, marsch! Then the Lt. asked with a sort of peculiar voice.. "Excuse me but are you perhaps retarded or do You just have your skull full of piss.?" :D
As for serial numbers, you're usually looking at a serial number range so you can show the first couple of numbers and cover the rest so as to show the historical significance AND protecting the owner's interests.
There is a guy who looks VERY much like Ian (intentional impersonator) who goes around to the big collectors and militaria shows... was talking to May and Othias at one of the collectors meets, and they pointed him out to me.
I have an original 1892 (with octagon barrel) that is a family heirloom given to me by my dad who got it from his maternal grandfather. Chambered in 32-20. The thing holds 13 rounds with one in the chamber and is actually really accurate, light weight and easy to shoot with very little recoil. I have to think at some point there was work on the trigger because I think it's
I've also met Ian in real life and he was very pleasant to all his fans that were there that day and posed with me and others for photo's. I've also been lucky to meet Bloke on the Range, The Chieftain (World of Tanks) and Lindybeige and they were all nice guys in person.
13:37 Pistol caliber lever action - I'm really missing the option of a .357 Magnum Winchester 1873 in that answer. You'd obviously need a reproduction in this caliber, there are several options to choose from.
Ian is the "Hugh Hefner" of the gun industry. 😄..... Btw i challenge anyone to select three generations of wepons from the most remote places on earth and debate Ian on a live feed and i bet you he does knows more than alot of haters out there.
@Bertie Bollocks If Hugh Hefner invites me to a party I'm loading my rifles because it's time for the zombie apocalypse. Also I would go to Ian's but I hate parties and figure his would be smaller. Party that is.
On the European guns in the old west, I have my great great Grandfather's Lefaucheux 1858 pin fire that was a cartridge conversation to 38. Not sure if s&w short or colt 38 calibers. I believe it was his service revolver when he was an officer in the early German Navy and he kept it when he immigrated to Texas in 1885
You know, the question about the 'bad rifle, bad shotgun, bad pistol' for a fun match reminds me of the 'Gun Jesus with a Trinity shotgun' match from a few years back. That shotgun didn't seem terribly practical for a match, but it certainly looked fun!
I'm tickled by the framed "Principality of Sealand" document in the background. I don't recall specifically if you did a video on that, but it's a cool little touch to your decor.
Britain still had revolvers and no sub machine guns so the idea of not being interested in a self loading rifle is pretty standard. Look at the obstacles over the Webley Self Loading Pistol and there was certainly inertia in the British military for anything self loading. This was shown by the later adoption of the SA80 L85 A1 which didn't self load either.
I have a Springfield 87a semi auto 22 rifle made by J STevens Arms Company that can be used either as a bolt action or semi auto. It has a bolt handle that can be pushed into the receiver to lock the bolt closed. It has a separate safety. It can be shot with the bolt locked closed. Then pull bolt handle out from locked position, cycle bolt to extract and reload. Also the bolt can be locked open to clear a jamb. If bolt handle is left pulled out from receiver it functions as semi auto
I find it very interesting that Ian mentions the Walther rifles, but doesn't mention the dozen odd models of American semi auto .22s that we're convertible to locked bolt firing. Some of which were even used as a training rifles for the military in the Ww2 era
Closest I can brag of having met Ian would be dreaming while sleeping, but that isn't the scary part of it. The fact that Ian could in my sleep make my mind deliver plausible stories as to why he is in a small country looking for a specific gun, and when I wake up and check out the details they all sound very plausible but fictious. Not the first time I have had that happen, there have been one where I heard a certain talk of an old 70s tire, ply rating and production year. When I wake up, remember that detail and google it... It turns out it has roots in reality actually :S and until that Google search I had never heard of the ply rating that I could remember :D
50:15 As much as I love my semiauto Suomi, I have somewhat agree with you here. I had to completely strip, tweak, and refinish the whole thing in order to get it running and feeling right. Out of the box they're really crusty and the triggers are apocalyptically bad.
The carcano is a very clever rifle for bolt-actions imo, and it desires more love, i know it can malfunction a little more than others but the idea behind is a very ground-based and simple one.
I have learned more about firearms because of this channel than any other. Ian does not profess to being a professor, or an expert for that matter, but whenever I need an expert opinion Forgotten Weapons is my first go to. I don't have the books & I don't have the experience, and being British, having access to most firearms is severely restricted (you can own a gun in the UK but you need a letter from your local vicar / church minister & your doctor & a ton of patience and a lot of money). It's a shame that some seek to denigrate the channel.
20:29 I think Ian misinterpreted the question here. I think the question asker was saying at what point is it more important to preserve the gun with unavailable ammo on a shelf than it is to modify the barrel so that they can shoot that historical gun because they want to use a historical gun. The asker doesn’t want to shoot any gun at the range, he wants to shoot the cool old gun but ammo for the cool old gun basically doesn’t exist. I don’t know if that changes Ian’s answer but I think he did misinterpret the motive of the question asker.
My preferred rifle for first-time Shooters is a single-shot bolt-action that must be hand cocked with the cocking piece all the steps of operation are performed by the shooter.
My son recently started shooting with me and my brother. We inherited a Harrington & Richardson rifle from my dad. It's a single-shot bolt action that will take .22 LR, long and short. I've started him on shorts and will go to LR soon. I agree that the bolt action really makes him pay attention to the process and its light weight and low recoil work well for building confidence. We also inherited a K98k. Bolt action, too, but I think its weight and the recoil of 7.92 x 57 would knock him over. : )
I ran into Ian 4 years ago on my honeymoon in Rome. He was having dinner at night outside of my hotel. And even though I was bothering him during dinner, in Rome, he was perfectly gracious. My wife always says that Ian was very nice.
I remember that. :D My wife was like, "Really? People in Rome recognize you now?"
@@ForgottenWeapons that's awesome, I was definitely surprised too, that was still when we thought stuff on TH-cam was our own little secret. Well it certainly gave us a great tidbit from the honeymoon. And the bigger you get the funner the memory, so thanks for being cool about it. Congrats on the success.
The world can be a very small place, yeah?
"I'm big in Japan."
@@ForgottenWeapons I have learned so much from watching your videos. Today I learned in the comments that Jesus is married. ;-)
Absolutely stunned by the criticism of Ian. I've known him since 2011 and he absolutely is as he appears on camera - a true gentleman!
Most people don't understand what being well known in the public is like. I've worked in a national radio network for over 35 years and truly understand how unthinking "fans" can be. Do people really think someone with a million subscribers can hold each of their hands? BTW, can't wait to get you book.
@@videodistro Well, holding a million hands would certainly not be a good idea at the moment!
@@videodistro Thank you! And yes, absolutely. This sort of fan reaction is a mild version of the film 'Misery' really...
I personally suspect those who say he doesn't know the subject are either deeply stupid, or simply believe all the old myths.......and trot them out as "fact" at every opportunity.
I'm looking forward to reading your book.
As for Ian being different in person, I can say that is very untrue. I was fortunate enough to join him on a week-long WWI tour through Belgium and northern France last fall. He is genuinely a sincere and authentic person. I certainly witnessed the phenomenon of false familiarity on that trip; all of us who were already fans of his channel on the first couple of days had to work through the surreal experience of seeing him morning, noon and night, hours on a bus together, even sharing meals at times. That said, it is important to respect his space and his privacy; of course, he took some moments away from the tour group as is to be expected; however, overall he was incredibly generous with his time. During many hours on the bus between stops, he made it a point to go sit in different parts of the bus across the days to make sure everyone who wanted to interact with him 1:1 or in small groups was able to do so repeatedly. If anyone asked a question that was a little too private (e.g. about his personal life/relationships), he was both polite and gracious in his response. In fact, his authenticity, sincerity and generosity inspired even greater admiration of him, not just as a TH-cam personality, but history buff and firearm historian. I certainly hope to meet him again someday - hopefully on a similar tour trip.
Honestly the people who say hes mean, are probably the people who slap his ass in public
I met Ian at Rock Island Auction company when he had a meet-up back in February of this year. I had a little apprehension that this was gonna be a "don't meet your heroes" situation, but as soon as we made proper introductions, he immediately led me to one of the racks to gleefully show me an obscure rifle and tell me all about it's particular history.
And that's basically how the rest of the day went. Ian was swarmed with other patrons during the public meet and was very enthusiastic and patient despite the constant questions. Later at dinner, just more of the same as we all talked guns the entire time. So in short, Ian is precisely in person what he is on camera.
Having met Ian a few dozen times, he strikes me exactly as he is in video. So long as your expectations are reasonable, I think you will find him friendly and generous with his knowledge, time, and even gear.
I was fortunate to meet Ian when he came to Ottawa for his visit to Marstar and the RCMP. He was quite pleasant (in other words yes he is exactly how you see him on TH-cam).
"Hi guys"
I've met Ian IRL at a shooting match in Michigan. Not a jerk at all, actually a cool dude.
Met him and Carl at Varusteleka here in Finland. Both of them were very nice gentlemens.
@@pantheonauxilia Most US Southerners actually are, so I'm not surprised at all. And meeting them at a shooting match where they are open to socializing is very different from being "that guy" that just had to say hello without giving a crap if he's interrupting something.
I go up to Rock Island every time he has a meet up. Awesome dude in person, and quite funny to hear him cuss and act like a bud.
You met gun Jesus?!?
@@KI.765 haha for real. Even Texans don't like being called Southerners. We might have a history of bigotry but at least we were all born with 10 fingers and 10 toes.
Ian’s haircut is old enough to vote.
Now I have to know what Young Ian looked like.
Or drink Scotch whisky (in Scotland).
His hair voted in his mustache
I spent the day on the range at Camp Borden with Ian when he came up to Canada.
He is one of the nicest, laid back guy you could ever meet.
What you see on the screen is what he is like in real life.
When I was younger I got roped into watching my 3 month old niece while my sister got her hair done. So there I am sitting in the waiting room of a hair salon with my niece, and who walks in but Ian McCollum. I was nervous as shit, and just kept looking at him as he read a magazine and waited, but I was too scared to say anything to him. Pretty soon though my niece started crying, and I'm trying to quiet her down because I didn't want to bother Ian, but she wouldn't stop. Pretty soon he gets up and walks over. He started running his hands through her hair and asked what was wrong. I replied that she was probably hungry or something. So Ian McCollum put down his magazine, picked up my niece, and lifted his shirt.
He breast fed her right there in the middle of the hair salon. Chill guy, really nice about it.
Whack.
You got me in the first half...
@@willgibson5219 I believe the original is about Keanu Reeves. I think it's a pretty nice illustration of why people shouldn't take random allegations online of someone being a jerk, all that seriously haha
Gotta love copypastas
Made my day...
Jesus why does the comment function exist youtube ?
Ian's a genuinely nice person.
You proved the point. You have only "met" him via social media and yet you are making a judgement about what kind of person he is - when you don't actually know.
Lol - I know Matt in person. :)
@@ForgottenWeapons , It hurts when coffee comes out my nose!!
@@videodistro He did not prove _the_ point. The point was that Ian is supposedly a different person off-camera and a jerk. Not that people make judgments based on insufficient information.
I had the pleasure of meeting Ian outside of the Armouries one evening at around the time of the centenary of the WWI Armistice - and he was very pleasant, polite, and patient in interacting with some random bloke stumbling across him saying "I'm a big fan of your channel". It was great to talk about his (then-upcoming) French Rifle book, the exhibits on display at the Royal Armouries, and his plans for commemorating the Armistice by attending a fairly large event in France. Et je suis toujours heureux de voir que vous avez continué à améliorer votre français!
I had the optic, so I needed the rifle ... Now THAT is a concept I can get behind! :)
I have a few scopes and optics, I will let the wife know how this works now.
Definitely done this with reloading dies that I end up with. “Hey look a .45 ACP die. Guess I’ll have to buy a .45!”
@@arivera4195 Seems legit!
I have bought more than one rifle because I picked up the bayonet for it at some point.
He bought an AK74 kit build just because he wanted the east german optic that was mounted on it
There is a Foodtuber (cooking channel) who, in a Q&A vid, did a great discussion of talking to fans, being approached by fans IRL (including an account of someone approaching him in his front yard) and the nature of the "familial" interaction that you describe fans having with you. The channel is Adam Ragusea. I can't remember which Q&A video it is, but I think it's #2 or #3. Interesting topic that is increasingly relevant in our time.
A full size rifle cartridge in blowback? Oh god, don't give Hi-Point ideas! Can you imagine a Hi-Point slide except stretched over the full length of a rifle barrel?
Hi-point zinc bricks: now in 5.56.
Check out Ian's vid on the Thompson 30-06 Autorifle of 1923; Its locking system was based on the Blish principle, It didn't go well.
A modern (semi-auto) version of a Gustloff VG1-5 in .223 Remington?
I would imagine that trying to make something like that in 7.62mm NATO might be a bad idea...
I think it would look something like this:
www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/08/06/homebuilt-automatic-rifle-surrendered-bogota/
I would genuinely like to see Hi-Point make a commercial version of that. Not because I think it would be that good of an idea, I'd just like to see it done.
I believe CnArsenal put a segment in one of their machine gun episodes that a straight blowback 3006 would require a 27lb bolt in order to work
My dumb ass said shoot as in "camera/picture shoot", not "2 gun shoot"
I'll clarify in future. Still good answer though!
Looking forward to watching this at work
Jonathan's facehugger and chestburster plushies are great
"...while I do my best to be polite and convivial with everyone..."
Me: *frantically googling to see if convivial is a real word*
It sure is! This is why I personally love Etymology, since I can almost always see how and why a word is or should be a real word. It's not about the Definitions, as much as the underlying roots and meaning.
The middle part of the word , Vivial, is derived from Latin, and means "to live". The prefix Con- operates in exactly the same way as in Confusion. In other words, "Together living".
It is. He is.
of course its a word, what screwed up education system did you get dragged up in ?
@cho chan good on you to try and improve your vocabulary.
In my country people keep quiet about their lack of education.
You should try it, it's ever so becoming.
Your answers to the two-fold question (snark?) about knowledge and attitude are simply the most honest and insightful responses I have ever heard for this and similar questions. At nearly 72 years of age, and a life-long firearms enthusiast, I will remember your mature and gentle response for a long time.
Thank you.
Please start a fantasy guns series! I can't speak for the whole audience, but I would love to see some historically inspired imaginings.
I love the Face hugger and Chest Burster on Jonathan's shelf.
Presents from the wife. I did briefly wear the facehugger during a Teams meeting the other week...
@@jonathanferguson1211 the c-96 model gun, is that perchance for a DL-44?
@@jonathanferguson1211 Please tell me you took it off and then used the chest burster at the end of the meeting...
@@jeffthebaptist3602 Missed opportunity there I fear! There's still time though... I did replace myself with a medical skeleton for another meeting though.
@@jonathanferguson1211 I saw a guy do a GIF Zoom background where had himself accidentally walking in on himself.
When the missus had a chat with Ian for her podcast he was lovely.
Which podcast was that? I'm curious and would love to hear it.
@@tbrown5657 Let's see if I can link to it!
thecword.show/2018/10/31/s04e04-military-collections/
S04E04 of The C Word Podcast (Military Collections)
@@Flamekebab Thank you!
What podcast?
@@cookie69420 ⬆️
Clearing a bazillion malfunctions in a Browning High Power? Sounds like my experience competing at Bisley. Plot twist: I was shooting for the Canadian army and it was 2019. Man we need new pistols.
Sounds like you need competent armorers.
@@randymagnum143 Canadian Hi-Powers have been in continuous service since the 1940's, and our military is always notoriously underfunded. The armourers can only do so much; our guns are just worn out at this point.
@@randymagnum143 i'll give you a pistol that has been in service and used for 75 year and you try to make it work and the only part you have available are from other pistols that are just as old and used up, at this point its just better to give them to museums.
@@kw9849 they were pulling new out of the grease hipowers for afganistan
@@globi0399 i run machines that are 120 years old every day.
If you have access to springs and can tune an extractor, there is no excuse as to why you cant keep a hi power running.
And there are still crates of inglis magazines still unopened in the stores of the Canuk gov't.
when during lockdown you use Ians video as the marker of each day...
6:18 To the person asking the question, the Thompson was not ready to be shipped to France on the day of the armistice. That is an ever-persistant myth that won't die. There was no production line set up, and there was still two years of development work to be done on the gun before the design was perfected. The only facility Auto-Ordnance had to produce the Thompson in 1918 was the machine shop at Warner & Swasey in Cleveland, Ohio where they were doing their prototyping and R&D.
I'm so happy the Ljungmann was even mentioned (in the Campaign for Beautiful Rifles question)! Your video on the Ljungmann was my early favorite of your episodes.
There is another benefit to having to manually cycle an action with new shooters. This is that it forces them to slow down and concentrate on the fundamentals of shooting technique. But, not having a live one in the chamber is good too as someone who has had multiple guns pointed at myself by novice shooters, Kindergarten to 5th grade.
Hi, Ian. These Q&A sessions are great. I can, with my very limited knowledge of the topic, understand what you are talking about. Of course, I can't remember anything five minutes later, but I do appreciate the event. The fact that you often have samples referenced by the questions is exemplary. I feel like a time traveler watching your vids! Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!
When I was a kid my grandfather had a massive stash of 1950-1960's Australian shooting/hunting magazine (mostly 'Outdoors' ) that I used to pour over absorbing everything within. I distinctly remember seeing an ad for Vickers-Pederson rifles for sale at one of the big gun shops (might have being Mick Smiths in Sydney) I didn't appreciate the rarity of these until watching this Video.
On the straight pull: "They're using some sort of cam to rotate the bolt when you pull the bolt handle back." Gotta say that the newer systems like the ball-bearing locking system or the Browning T-Bolt system make straight pulls an order of magnitude more interesting for me than traditional ones.
I second that motion! 🙂👍
@toeff7852 Yeah, I didn't mention Blaser because their system is looks a bit complex.
@toeff7852 Yeah, I meant more in that when it's disassembled, there look to be an awful lot of small parts in the bolt assembly vs. the other two.
@toeff7852 Aye, but you know, context and all. =)
Nothing against Blaser btw, my father's hunting group has a few of them and from what I hear they're pretty excellent guns.
i was thinking of the Mannlicher M1888 with its dropping wedge during that answer.
Great way to handle people being critical of in person interactions. I can imagine sometimes it's just not the right time and place to deal with a random fan.
On the question about changing the calibers of surplus guns, I think it's ok provided you don't do anything irreversible. For example, the CMP was selling some beat up Winchester M1 Garands about 10 years ago that came without a stock and rear sight. I bought one, and one of the Italian 7.62x51 conversion kits that Sarco was selling at the time. I had the rifle rebuilt using the kit and it turned out very nice. If I wanted to, I could easily return the rifle to 30.06 by putting the old (fairly worn) barrel and operating rod back on there.
I do agree that making permanent alterations, like the example with the .45 ACP Webley conversions, should be avoided.
Oerlikon=Swiss
Bofors=Swedish
Schwartzlose - Austrian
I have the greatest respect for Ian - still unfortunate to see him go "full American" and confuse Switzerland and Sweden
@@JayR-zu6yv Well it's such a common mistake that it's become typically "american", but if you turn it around how many europeans hasn't confused US states, so in my case he is excused.
Bengt Jakobsson I confused Minnesota with Minneapolis the other day.
Both begin with "Sw" and have an i and another s. ... And he got the exact technical details right too.
Gun Jesus was born with that hair. How dare anyone ask if he's had a bad haircut. His hair is cut by the lesser gods while he sleeps.
I've recently listened to some of your older Q&A sessions and just realized something...If you had a nickel for every time you were asked about the Pedersen Device, you'd have a pocket full of change.
And if you could make one work properly, you'd have a lot more change.
I think to people (like me) who are interested in the mechanics and engineering of firearms, the Pedersen device holds a particular fascination. There were a lot of attempts to convert bolt-action rifles into semiautos but to the best of my knowledge the PD was the only one that allowed the user to switch back and forth. Compared to most of the other attempts it was relatively simple and the fact that the soldier could carry it in a pouch to install for special purposes is very cool. It's tempting to imagine that had it not been rushed into development and production it might have had the bugs ironed out and become a viable weapon.
I knew that when submitting the question and I acknowledged it. Obviously he skipped that bit to keep it simple and comprehensive but the question gnawed on me and I thought it would be both informative and funny to ask yet another pedersen question when you consider how we think the question's all been answered about it.
Plus it's mechanically one heckuva dohickey
I've met Ian during a meetup in Denmark, he was really chill to hang out with.
The answers to the questions about mistakes you’ve made and , being different in person. Spot on perfect 👌🏼 response to both questions. We all can always learn
"I can't pretend this stranger is a long-awaited friend" -- Rush
Great line from a great song. RIP Neil, you are missed.
My friend had a fangirl moment and screamed "ian" at heathrow airport at someone he thought was you lol!!!
The Italian cadet rifle is 22. and both semi automatic and bolt action. There where a few hundred for sale at classic firearms.
Joel Erk what’s the website?
@@bizzzzzzle If you google "Beretta Olympia/Olimpia", it should show up in your search results
Some years/decades back we won some Olympic medals in biathlon because we used semi-auto guns based on the Ruger 10-22 and some current shooters of extreme accuracy still use it for 200 yard egg/grape shooting. For money!
I have a Savage model 6B which can be fired as a "single shot" by locking the bolt closed, or as a semi-automatic by leaving it unlocked. Just a FYI, since I'm sure there are lots of variations on this subject... PS, thanks for doing these Q&A sessions, I always learn something.
Tiny error: the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon was developed in Switzerland, not Sweden.
Its the same thing for americans.
There's no one better than Ian in what he is doing❗Everyone, no matter how good he is, makes mistakes❗You are doing great job, Ian, keep doin' it❗
I'm pretty impressed by the humility of the response to that difficult assertion about... being a jerk etc. Not the response you'd get from many other TH-cam celebs. Indeed, nobody's perfect.
Welcome back Mr. Ferguson! We hope you're doing well!
Thank you! Yes, I am thanks, especially as they're letting me back in next week...
I think you mix up the Orlikon and the Bofors, the bofors originated in sweden
Yep, I did. Sorry!
With regards to the British Self Loading Rifle question, some experimenting was done at the Long Branch arsenal in Canada late in the war. Technically not British, but we were part of the Commonwealth, so I felt that it deserved mention. I believe Ian has spoken/written about this at some point.
Don't feel bad I've met experts in both firearms and aircraft that got major things" WRONG" the fact is that their supposed knowledge came not from first hand but from flawed reference books that were written by people who never handled or even saw the equipment that they were writing about ! The fact that you can and do correct any mistakes you make , actually makes you a exception to the rule in the world of self taught experts!! Glad to say I enjoy your work and appreciate your honesty 👍
Getting my 1892 in 357 was what got me into your channel years ago, when you picked it I might have done a little fist pump
I met Ian at Shot Show 2020 it was awesome to talk with. He was nothing but generous with his time and I really enjoyed our interaction.
I have met both Ian and Karl at shot show at the HMG STG booth they were extremely nice and spoke to my father and I for almost an hour... definitely nice people
You certainly know what you are talking about. You have an incredible amount of knowledge about firearms in general and clearly put alot of effort into research prior to making a video. All your hard work doesn't go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Your one of the most dedicated and professional content creators and give us access and information to weapons that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to see. Im fascinated by the mechanical and engineering aspect of firearms so your channel is my favorite. Keep up the good work brother and dont listen to the Trolls.
Sometimes there's only so much documentation that's been left on some of these old firearms. Ian seems to do his best to research what sources are out there. And I like that he admits making mistakes. No matter how fastidious the research, even original sources aren't always 100% accurate.
Oerlikon from Sweden? I assume you was thinking Switzerland.
It may be to have the mistake he is talking about at the beginning of the video...
Ian please NEVER apologize for being yourself. If somebody has a problem with you being yourself the that's their problem.
People are not perfect and it's an exercise in futility to even try to please everyone. Everyone has good days and bad days
but never apologize for being real.
Awesome Q&A lots of great questions and answers.
It surprised me to learn that a cartridge is strong enough to retain its taper after firing.
This suggests that the chamber is also tapered.
I have a Walther model 2 rifle, and it is an awesome little gun. It is extremely accurate in both semi-auto and manual. A problem with these rifles though is that if you use "hot" loads in semi-auto with old and weak springs, the bolt impact and velocity is higher than it should be, which increases the stresses, which then tends to break off the bolt knob. That in turn messes with the weight balance and leads to the rifle sometimes burst firing at an incredible rate of fire. But I love my little Walther!
In Italy we have a preverb: donkey bray does not rise to the sky.
Wait, Ian has a VG1-5 on hand? Is that original?
Perhaps the Allegheny Arsenal reproduction?
meal is ready and a new q&a is up
these are the great moments
thank you ian (and also the inrange crew) for everything :)
19:09 Really looked like Ian was about to reach over and grab an Oerlikon component for a second there
I would have taken my French dbl barrel breakdown, Remington .375 H&H Mag model 700, and Ruger .45 ACP/.45 long colt Blackhawk 6 shooter. I love shooting them all, but can't hit a barn with the boom-stick. The revolver is good, but is a heavy single action that gate loads six shots, 1 rd at a time. The rifle is top tier in almost all ways, but would rearrange my shoulder before the 5-ish rd box mag finishes...I'm as giddy as a school girl shooting them and all, especially the rifle, get people's attention quickly.
You are so humble and so good at what you do.
Fanboi "hay Ian I love you man how are things going what's new on the channel"
Ian " I'm at the fricking DMV how do you think it's going?"
Fan "what jerk"
I never met you IRL but in every online interaction we had you were nothing but awesome.
Also "A jerk" "Full of crap" is not criticism. Not useful anyhow.
Keep up the great work.
Interesting as always Ian, but I didn't absorb much after seeing Jonathans plushie head crab
Headcrab? Pfft. That there is a facehugger my good man!
@@jonathanferguson1211 ah shit, that's what I meant. Don't worry you can't be more disappointed than I am right now.
I may have commented before...but... the conversion of the Martini Cadets to 357 (or IME various 22 CF calibres) was carried out IN the 1950's and 60's. While there certainly are other options TODAY, that simply wasn't the case in Australia back then. That also explains the various 303 British based "wildcats" that were relatively common here...the 303-270, 303-25, and the (ridiculous) 303-22. (as does the temporary prohibition on owning "military" calibres which I am assured was a thing - I'm not old enough to have experienced that!) Modern, new centrefire rifles were scarce and expensive back then too.
That "someone not familiar with firearms, gets all excited and starts waving the weapon on all directions" just brought me a memory from the time I served in the FDF(Finnish Defence Forces).. A friend of mine served as a recruit reserve officer in the same brigade as I did.. they had one of those sort of "happy" individuals amongst their ranks.. Once during a shooting drill with live rounds, this character, after a full day of theory on self loading, gas operated RK-62 a7,62 assault rifle, kept yanking the charging handle after each fired round.. Of course the rifle went empty early.. This character jumped up waving his presumable loaded rifle all over the place yelling.."Lt...! Lt..! my gun don't work..!" Sergeant Major shouted every soul to duck and lay low..! Lt. told surprisingly calmly this dude to lay his rifle in his feet and step two steppes back, marsch! Then the Lt. asked with a sort of peculiar voice.. "Excuse me but are you perhaps retarded or do You just have your skull full of piss.?" :D
As for serial numbers, you're usually looking at a serial number range so you can show the first couple of numbers and cover the rest so as to show the historical significance AND protecting the owner's interests.
There is a guy who looks VERY much like Ian (intentional impersonator) who goes around to the big collectors and militaria shows... was talking to May and Othias at one of the collectors meets, and they pointed him out to me.
I have an original 1892 (with octagon barrel) that is a family heirloom given to me by my dad who got it from his maternal grandfather. Chambered in 32-20. The thing holds 13 rounds with one in the chamber and is actually really accurate, light weight and easy to shoot with very little recoil. I have to think at some point there was work on the trigger because I think it's
I've also met Ian in real life and he was very pleasant to all his fans that were there that day and posed with me and others for photo's. I've also been lucky to meet Bloke on the Range, The Chieftain (World of Tanks) and Lindybeige and they were all nice guys in person.
13:37 Pistol caliber lever action - I'm really missing the option of a .357 Magnum Winchester 1873 in that answer. You'd obviously need a reproduction in this caliber, there are several options to choose from.
I shot a Uberti 1873 in .357 few times and it is really nice and fun gun, i wouldn't mind to have.
Very excited for the Walther model 1 & 2
Thanks Ian for a great start to my day.
Ian is the "Hugh Hefner" of the gun industry. 😄..... Btw i challenge anyone to select three generations of wepons from the most remote places on earth and debate Ian on a live feed and i bet you he does knows more than alot of haters out there.
Ian has haters? News to me
But, why would anyone hate Ian?
@@ralph1125 because people are stupid
@Bertie Bollocks If Hugh Hefner invites me to a party I'm loading my rifles because it's time for the zombie apocalypse.
Also I would go to Ian's but I hate parties and figure his would be smaller. Party that is.
@Bertie Bollocks ;)
On the European guns in the old west, I have my great great Grandfather's Lefaucheux 1858 pin fire that was a cartridge conversation to 38. Not sure if s&w short or colt 38 calibers. I believe it was his service revolver when he was an officer in the early German Navy and he kept it when he immigrated to Texas in 1885
You know, the question about the 'bad rifle, bad shotgun, bad pistol' for a fun match reminds me of the 'Gun Jesus with a Trinity shotgun' match from a few years back. That shotgun didn't seem terribly practical for a match, but it certainly looked fun!
I'm tickled by the framed "Principality of Sealand" document in the background. I don't recall specifically if you did a video on that, but it's a cool little touch to your decor.
you are great i learn more from you than anyone, don't change keep me learning
Britain still had revolvers and no sub machine guns so the idea of not being interested in a self loading rifle is pretty standard. Look at the obstacles over the Webley Self Loading Pistol and there was certainly inertia in the British military for anything self loading.
This was shown by the later adoption of the SA80 L85 A1 which didn't self load either.
Very droll :)
I have a Springfield 87a semi auto 22 rifle made by J STevens Arms Company that can be used either as a bolt action or semi auto. It has a bolt handle that can be pushed into the receiver to lock the bolt closed. It has a separate safety. It can be shot with the bolt locked closed. Then pull bolt handle out from locked position, cycle bolt to extract and reload. Also the bolt can be locked open to clear a jamb. If bolt handle is left pulled out from receiver it functions as semi auto
One dislike is jealous of Ian's jacket.
That's not a jacket, that's men's day dressing gown (don't know if there's a specific name for that).
@@jjforcebreaker aka a smoking jacket :)
I find it very interesting that Ian mentions the Walther rifles, but doesn't mention the dozen odd models of American semi auto .22s that we're convertible to locked bolt firing. Some of which were even used as a training rifles for the military in the Ww2 era
Ian's older than 18 and yes, there are fotos ;)
Closest I can brag of having met Ian would be dreaming while sleeping, but that isn't the scary part of it.
The fact that Ian could in my sleep make my mind deliver plausible stories as to why he is in a small country looking for a specific gun, and when I wake up and check out the details they all sound very plausible but fictious.
Not the first time I have had that happen, there have been one where I heard a certain talk of an old 70s tire, ply rating and production year.
When I wake up, remember that detail and google it... It turns out it has roots in reality actually :S and until that Google search I had never heard of the ply rating that I could remember :D
Mk19 is also an advanced primer ignition delayed blow back as well.
50:15 As much as I love my semiauto Suomi, I have somewhat agree with you here. I had to completely strip, tweak, and refinish the whole thing in order to get it running and feeling right. Out of the box they're really crusty and the triggers are apocalyptically bad.
Ian talking about personal growth from using shitty guns in a competitive environment reminds me of Calvin's dad talking about building character
The carcano is a very clever rifle for bolt-actions imo, and it desires more love, i know it can malfunction a little more than others but the idea behind is a very ground-based and simple one.
I have learned more about firearms because of this channel than any other. Ian does not profess to being a professor, or an expert for that matter, but whenever I need an expert opinion Forgotten Weapons is my first go to. I don't have the books & I don't have the experience, and being British, having access to most firearms is severely restricted (you can own a gun in the UK but you need a letter from your local vicar / church minister & your doctor & a ton of patience and a lot of money). It's a shame that some seek to denigrate the channel.
4:05 that would be a great rifle especially for sub-sonic ammo
Love your videos Ian. Appreciate your expertise
Hell yeah that R5 is so cool, I managed to get an Armson OEG with a claw mount for like £25 just gotta figure out what to strap it to.
20:29 I think Ian misinterpreted the question here. I think the question asker was saying at what point is it more important to preserve the gun with unavailable ammo on a shelf than it is to modify the barrel so that they can shoot that historical gun because they want to use a historical gun. The asker doesn’t want to shoot any gun at the range, he wants to shoot the cool old gun but ammo for the cool old gun basically doesn’t exist. I don’t know if that changes Ian’s answer but I think he did misinterpret the motive of the question asker.
Thanks Ian, and special thanks to Jonathan Ferguson! :)
These q&a really make work go better
My preferred rifle for first-time Shooters is a single-shot bolt-action that must be hand cocked with the cocking piece all the steps of operation are performed by the shooter.
My son recently started shooting with me and my brother. We inherited a Harrington & Richardson rifle from my dad. It's a single-shot bolt action that will take .22 LR, long and short. I've started him on shorts and will go to LR soon. I agree that the bolt action really makes him pay attention to the process and its light weight and low recoil work well for building confidence. We also inherited a K98k. Bolt action, too, but I think its weight and the recoil of 7.92 x 57 would knock him over. : )
Last time i was this early, they said we would be back on christmas