After writing the The quest for high-capactity firearms post, readers told me about other interesting attempts at high capacity guns. Porter Revolving Turret Rifle 9-shot; .48 caliber. In excellent overall condition. Bore is excellent plus; 28″ barrel. Metal is [Read More…]
A common misconception is that the desire for high capacity firearms is a relatively new phenomenon. This is far from the truth. Since the at least the mid 1800s designers had been experimenting with many novel ideas in an attempt to increase magazine capacity, mostly [Read More…]
Designed to be as inexpensive as possible, assembled from mostly stamped sheet-metal parts, the Liberator was a single shot pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge the US military was using for standard handguns and submachine guns. It was so cheap that each one set [Read More…]
Simon, aka. Simon_the_Brit, was an Armorer in the British Army. He sent me photos of the M16 he was issued with during the British Army jungle training in Malaysia, which he participated in sometime between 1984 and 1986. I was surprised to learn that at the time, just [Read More…]
[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by James A. Zachary Jr. James blogs at The Next Chapter ] Norm Flayderman’s Guide says that Williamson Derringers have serial numbers running into the 20,000 range but speculates that the Moore Patent Firearms Company [Read More…]
In 1973 a pair of pistol made for Pedro IV of Portugal, worth 100,000 euros, where stolen from the Military Museum in Lisbon. They have finally been recovered. The Publico reports (translated with google) … Designed by master gunsmith Arsenal Real in Lisbon [Read More…]
The Automag was a revolutionary pistol when it was invented. It is recoil operated and uses rotating bolt similar to the AR-15. Despite the gun being a commercial failure (it cost far more to make than the sale price), it was the inspiration for the Desert Eagle and the [Read More…]
After a nearly 6 months hiatus I was very pleased see a new post at Tam’s The Arms Room. Her latest blog post in the Sunday Smith series covers the S&W Number 1 revolver.
I recently blogged about boot pistols, a type of early CCW gun carried during the Civil War and postbellum era. The feminine equivalent of the boot pistol was the muff gun. (the name refers to the original definition1 , not the modern day slang). They were the same sort [Read More…]
This under hammer percussion pistol was manufactured, probably in the mid-late 1800′s, by Bacon & Co. These types of guns where known as “boot pistols”. I don’t know for sure where the name comes from, but would guess these were backup guns [Read More…]
I have seen guns made from bronze alloys before, but never an autoloader. Back in 1932 Colt and the Springfield Armory teamed up to test the suitability of using a die cast bronze alloy for gun parts. The Golden Gun The gun is exhibited at the Springfield Armory Museum. [Read More…]
Being the complete and certified gun nut that I am, few thing excite me more than coming across unique and exotic firearms, the more unique, exotic and arcane the better! Sucang, a resident of Xinhua, Taiwan, sent me these photos of his antique shotgun. He was hoping [Read More…]
JMB’s Utah 6,912 square foot home is currently on the market for $374,900. The NY Times reports: COMMON SPACES: Most of the house is original, including a banister stretching from the entry to the attic, beveled windows, hardwood floors and fireplaces. There are [Read More…]
Regardless of the technical merits, numerous methods employed since WWI to shoot around or over cover. More here.
Manu of Indian Defence News emailed me a link to a online reprint of a New Zealand newspaper article that was originally published on 13 May 1909. It says how New Zealand and Australia army rifles destined to Great Britain ended by being used by rebels on the Indian [Read More…]
The T26, otherwise known as the “Tanker” Garand, was an experiential 18″ barreled carbine version of the M1 Garand. It was designed late in WWII for use in the Pacific jungles. Tom emailed me photos of his new T26-style M1. Tanker (top) fitted with [Read More…]
The Rock Island Auction Company are holding a massive auction next week (April 25, 26 & 27). Thousands of guns are being auctioned from some prestigious collections. All the guns can be viewed online and it makes for interesting reading. Here are a few interesting [Read More…]
As the western world moved away from full power battle rifles such as the H&K G3, FN FAL and M14, Heckler & Koch developed the HK32 and HK33 chambered in 7.62x39mm and 5.56x45mm respectively. Both were based on the G3 design and roller-delayed blowback operating [Read More…]
The Italian army adopted the Beretta BM59, basically an M1 Garand chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO capable of select fire. It was about as successful as all the other select fire battle rifles adopted around the world (not very). From Wikipedia: After World War II, Italy [Read More…]
Can any of you remember a time in your life where laser guns were not just a few years away? Sven found a photo that was published in a German military journal from 1964. Very rifle like. Click to expand. The caption: “The laser rifle…that was developed by [Read More…]
James explains what the antiquated term means and the history behind it.
A blog named Odd Russia has photos of what they claim are a French and Russian bullet that hit each other during the Crimea War. Odd Russia has many more photos but no link to the source of the images. It could be true, or it could be a hoax. I think both the French [Read More…]
Back in the Age of Sail ships tended to carry many different types of cannons. The weapons mix was determined by the Captains preferences and what was available in the navel shipyard when the ship was being outfitted. Each cannon was crewed by the same set of men so [Read More…]
Daniel spotted a very interesting auction at gunbroker.com. The rifle on sale was a Boys Anti- Tank rifle modified by TRW-SYSTEMS GROUP and rechambered for .50 BMG. It was intended to be used for .50 BMG flechette rounds. Click to expand. The auctioneer claims that it [Read More…]
Earlier this year I wrote about the Gardener gun. Fred emailed me some photos of the Gardener gun in use by the Dutch army at Fort aan Den Ham, one of the 45 forts that make up the Defense Line of Amsterdam, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Fred volunteers at the fort and [Read More…]
The Danish Forsøgsrekylgevær (Self Loading rifle M.1888) is a fascinating early autoloading rifle. I learnt about the rifle when Ian @ TheHighRoad posted this photo and asked if anyone could identify the rifle: Click to expand. I could not figure out what was going on [Read More…]
Armed Canadian describes the bolt action French MAS36 rifle as classic “weapon of war”. It features no safety what-so-ever (including no mosin-nagant type “safeties”) and an integral bayonet that is stored under the barrel. Despite its classic [Read More…]
Tam at The Arms Room has written a very interesting post about the 40+ years evolution of the Schmidt-Rubin rifle that was adopted in 1889 by the Swiss and evolved into the K31 Carbine. When the time came for the Swiss army to replace their black-powder Vetterli rifles, [Read More…]
B.B. has written a very interesting post about a working replica of an outside lock air rife. This type of air rifle was made between 1600 and the mid 1700s. It is called an outside lock because the firing mechanism is literally on the outside of the action. Instead of [Read More…]
Quite a while ago I came across Abhijeet Singh’s webpage discussing the history of Indian gun laws since when India was a British colony. I meant to blog it but forgot about it until I was reminded of it by the recent Mumbai attacks. This changed towards the mid [Read More…]