History has always been more a product of marketing than what it purports to be. And the history of the repeating firearm is no different. Sam Colt was essentially the Elon Musk of his day. He didn’t make the first stuff, and he didn’t make the best stuff. But he made good enough stuff, and convinced everyone that it was the first and the best.
We repeat that story over and over today. But for those of us who just love guns, and love history, finding the truth of the matter is really a lot of fun. My favorite source for lost firearm information is Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons. He scours all of the available information in the world on the history of our beloved metal and wood toys, and serves it up in bite sized and easily digestible chunks. I have never regretted a minute spent on Ian’s videos, and I always come away with new stuff I never knew.
I met with Ian at Shot Show many years ago after he had just completed the most successful nonfiction book campaign ever on Kickstarter. it was on French military rifles believe it or not. At the time he was working on his second Kickstarter, Pistols of the Warlords, which actually beat his record. I came away from the meeting more excited about what Ian was doing than what I was doing.
Ian’s newest project is the true history of the revolver. It pre-dated Sam Colt by decades, and the baseline development of the revolver itself, at least a couple hundred years. The book is well sourced and should bring a whole new perspective to your paradigm on the history of firearms in general.
“Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers of Elisha Collier and Artemas Wheeler” is available right now for preorder on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter is HERE. As I write this there are 21 days left, and the project already has almost 2,000 backers. It is actually the fifth book by the team, and they are all extremely high quality heirloom publications.
A little voice has repeatedly told me to let you guys know about this thing. We have no connection to Ian whatsoever, and he has no idea I am even posting this. It is just too good to not give you guys a heads up. Here are some videos:
I was expecting more information in this article, not just links to videos.
I sure wish people would stop calling guns “toys”. Guns are no more toys than gasoline-powered chainsaws are.
I’m a NRA Certified Rifle Instructor and NRA Certified Range Safety Officer. I’m doing my best to teach Rifle Shooting Merit Badge to youth Scouts and one of the first things I have to do is dispel the myths far too many folks believe about guns. Chief amongst such: DON’T PLAY WITH GUNS! They are tools, not toys.
I will enthusiastically agree with you on Ian’s videos. I’ll start watching one and before I know it, I’ve been watching his videos for several hours. Watching videos on guns I’ve no interest in, just for the information he digs up.
Every in depth book on Colt history mentions the Collier usually with photos.
I just recently got a chance to browse through the Pistols of the Warlords book from Ian, and have to say it’s pretty fascinating history. Ian does a real nice job of presenting the subject and hooking your interest.
Some of the examples in that book are just something else, the unintelligible makers marks on a lot of the local Chinese arsenal copies are amazing to see.