Professional Biography
Ian McCollum is a firearms historian, technical researcher, author, practical shooter, and the founder, editor, and presenter of Forgotten Weapons. He is also a co-founder and subject-matter expert at Headstamp Publishing. His work makes rare firearms, primary-source records, mechanical explanations, and developmental history accessible to a broad public audience.
Forgotten Weapons documents prototypes, unsuccessful designs, military trials, transitional arms, manufacturing methods, operating systems, and the design paths that produced modern small arms. McCollum’s work often begins with firearms and records held in museums, auction collections, private collections, or archives that would otherwise be difficult for most researchers to examine.
McCollum holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Purdue University and a NIMS Level 1 CNC operator certificate. His background also includes work in firearms manufacturing and lectures for the Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners. This combination allows him to examine a firearm as a historical artifact, mechanical system, manufactured object, and practical tool shaped by a specific institutional requirement.
His participation in practical shooting adds a useful human-performance dimension to that research. Firearms that appear sensible on a workbench may reveal different strengths and limitations when carried, loaded, manipulated, and fired under time pressure. McCollum’s longtime work with Karl Kasarda helped popularize the practical evaluation of historical firearms and contributed to the What Would Stoner Do? project, which applied modern materials and components to the lightweight priorities associated with the original AR-15 design.
Through Headstamp Publishing, McCollum contributes to detailed reference works on arms, munitions, firearms technology, and military history. His books include Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles, 1866–2016, Pistols of the Warlords: Chinese Domestic Handguns, 1911–1949, volumes in the Small Arms of WWII and Small Arms of the Cold War series, and Forged in Snow: Finnish Small Arms, 1917–2025.
McCollum has also conducted research with Armament Research Services and is a member of the American Society of Arms Collectors. Across video, written research, publishing, and practical testing, his principal contribution is preserving technical knowledge and placing modern firearms discussions within the longer record of attempted solutions, design compromises, and institutional decisions.
P&S Connection
McCollum has contributed historical and technical context to Primary & Secondary discussions. He appeared on P&S ModCast 103 — Gun Nerds 6: 5.56 vs. .308 (and Other Silly Interim Ideas), where the panel examined military weapons, cartridges, combat load, and the recurring tendency to propose hardware solutions for training or doctrinal problems.
Selected Sources
- Forgotten Weapons
- Forgotten Weapons — About
- Headstamp Publishing — Authors
- Headstamp Publishing — Forged in Snow
- P&S ModCast 103
Profile last reviewed: September 10, 2026.
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Ian McCollum; Forgotten Weapons; ForgottenWeapons.com; firearms historian; small-arms historian; technical firearms research; rare firearms; prototype firearms; military trials; firearms development; mechanical firearms analysis; archival research; Purdue University; Mechanical Engineering Technology; practical shooting; Karl Kasarda; InRangeTV; What Would Stoner Do; WWSD; WWSD2020; Headstamp Publishing; Chassepot to FAMAS; Pistols of the Warlords; Small Arms of WWII; Small Arms of the Cold War; Forged in Snow; French military rifles; Finnish firearms; Armament Research Services; American Society of Arms Collectors; Primary & Secondary; P&S ModCast 103.