Tag: history

German WWII Grenade Pistols

I have blogged about the German grenade pistols before. They were an intriguing segue in the history of firearm development which was not really revisited until recently with the development of small caliber 20mm and 25mm grenades. The WWII In Color forum has some very [Read More…]

French Weapons Exhibition

A reader emailed in these photos which he took at a weapons exhibition run by a Paratrooper Association. The expo was held in Chambery, France, during the weekend. Sadly these guns are all demilled to comply with French law. Nazi symbols, which are present on some [Read More…]

An upside down Enfield

The action in this rifle is an inverted Enfield M1917 (or maybe Enfield P14). It was done so that a lefty could use it! [ Hat Tip goes to Max Popenker for finding this bizarre creation. ]

Garand T31 aka. Bullpup .30

The last gun Garand worked on before retirement was the T-31 Bullpup. From the Springfield Armory website … U.S. RIFLE GARAND T31 “BULLPUP” .30 (T65E1) SN# 2 Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. – Limited prototype experimental [Read More…]

Ultimate FN FAL photo collection

The T48 was the designation of the FN FAL entered into the competition to replace the M1 Garand. The T44 (later called the M14) won the competition but the Marines appear to have kept their quote of T48 rifles. These have been meticulously photographed by an Australian [Read More…]

Ruger’s YouTube channel

Unbeknown to me, Ruger has had a Youtube channel since May of this year. Last week they started a series on the history of firearms. The first episode, about early hand cannons, “aired” last week and is worth watching. Also online are Part 2 and Part 3.

The Liberator pistol

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…]

A British M16

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…]

Feminine CCW in the 1800s

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…]