The history of modern small arms is in part so fascinating because of how many firearms have been developed even in obscure circumstances, and how many of those obscure small arms still exist in museums and private collections around the world. Even though I make learning about obscure modern small arms my hobby, I am continually surprised by the new and unique weapons I uncover both on the Internet and in real-life excursions to some of the aforementioned collections.

TFB reader Bronezhilet recently visited the Bundeswehr’s (German Army) Defense Technology Museum in Koblenz, Germany, and shared with TFB the photos he took of the small arms in the collection there. Over the course of a few installments, we’ll be taking a look at groups of these photos. For the moment, we won’t be taking an in-depth look, but I encourage our readers to check out these weapons for themselves!

Previously, we checked out some of the selfloading rifles are the museum, and now we’ll be continuing our look, starting with another example of the Walther A-1115 rifle that turned up in a recent Rock Island Auction:

A rifle as rare as it is complex, the Mauser G.41:

No collection of German prototype semiautomatic rifles would be complete without the Walther G.41, which later evolved into the more successful G.43:

The Swiss SIG-Schlumpf Model U (with a ball-shaped charging handle I hadn’t seen before), the Swiss SK-46, and the Christakos selfloading rifle:

Add to that the Swiss Kipfer selfloader:

And one of my personal favorite selfloaders in terms of looks, the Czech ZK-420S:

A positively mundane SKS for comparison!

That’s it for now, stay tuned for next time when we continue our look at Koblenz’s excellent gun collection, and tackle the submachine guns!