Barnekov Greene Prototype 1870 Open-Bolt Army Rifle
Lot 3293 in the September RIA auction. Patented by Kiel V. Barnekov of New York in 1870, this is a toggle-locked, single shot, open bolt rifle. It was entered into the US 1872 rifle trials which would...
View ArticleP. Percy’s Prototype Patent Model Rifle
Lot 3074 in the September 2019 RIA auction. This appears to be a handmade prototype form one P. (or J. P.) Percy of Albany, NY, although I don’t have any information about who he was or when he built...
View ArticleToo Late and Not Much Better: the Austen Mk II SMG
The story of the Austen submachine gun did not end when the Mk I guns were pulled from combat service in 1944. The manufacturer continued to work on an improved version, which would be ready in 1946,...
View ArticleSteyr Model 1911 Semiautomatic Trials Rifles
In 1909, the Austro-Hungarian Empire announced a desire to find a new semiautomatic military rifle, and requested proposals from arms manufacturers. Six rifles were submitted to the resulting trials...
View ArticleJohn Browning vs Hiram Maxim: Patent Fight!
When John Browning designed his Model 1895 machine gun with it’s rotary-lever gas operation system, Hiram Maxim filed suit claiming patent infringement. Maxim had filed quite broad patents covering...
View ArticleExperimental Triple-Magazine Henry Rifle
This rifle is an experimental twist on the Henry, built with three magazine tubes in a fixture pivoting around the axis of the barrel. While only half the length of the barrel itself, the three tubes...
View ArticleOsorio Selectiva: A Nicaraguan .22 Rimfire Machine Pistol
This is Lot 1067 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphys Extraordinary auction. Made by Señor Osorio in Nicaragua, this is a .22 rimfire caliber machine pistol with several clever design elements. It...
View ArticleBefore the Lewis Gun was the McClean Automatic Rifle
This is Lot 1158 in the upcoming October Morphy Extraordinary auction. Samuel McClean was a medical doctor from Iowa who began tinkering with firearms designs in 1889, and formed the McClean Arms...
View ArticleBill Ruger’s Prototype WW2 Light Machine Gun
In April 1940, the US Ordnance Department circulated a request for a new light machine gun to replace the Browning M1919A4. It was to be shorter and lighter than the Browning, and was not to be based...
View ArticleExperimental Bullpup Over/Under Shotgun with a Secret
This is a prototype or one-off over/under sporting shotgun, made in a bullpup configuration. It is basically two long slabs of wood clamshell around a pair of barrels, with the action at the very end...
View ArticleMauser-Norris Prototype: Origins of the Mauser Legacy
Today we are looking at one of the rarest and earliest rifles built by Paul and Wilhelm Mauser, a design which would set in motion all the events that led to the Mauser company becoming one of the...
View ArticleSIG 44/16: The Best Service Pistol, But The Road Not Traveled
When SIG was developing the pistol that would ultimately be adopted as the m/49 by the Danish Army and the P49 by the Swiss Army (P210 commercially), they initially experimented with both single stack...
View ArticleFN Grand Browning: The European 1911 that Never Happened
When John Browning licensed his handgun patents, the North American rights were granted to Colt, and the Western European rights to FN in Belgium. Browning provided the patents and patent model guns...
View ArticleThe Prototype .280 FAL from 1950s NATO Trials
After World War Two, the new NATO defense alliance held a series of trials to adopt a standard cartridge and infantry rifle. This would eventually devolve and the goal of a standardized rifle would be...
View ArticleForced-Air Cooling in an Experimental Ross Machine Gun
In addition to building three main patterns of straight-pull bolt action rifle for the Canadian military and the commercial market, Sir Charles Ross also experimented with self-loading rifles....
View ArticleHigh Standard’s Prototype World War One .45 ACP Pistol
The High Standard company only made on .45 caliber pistol, and it was an improvement on the Grant Hammond pistol tested by the US military during World War One. After his gun’s rejection by the...
View ArticlePrototype Locked-Breech 9x19mm Mauser HSc
When Mauser began development of the HSc pistol, it was intended to be a pair of guns – a simple blowback gun in .32 or .380 caliber for civilian and police use and a larger locked-breech type in...
View ArticleRoss Rudd’s Prototype Delayed Blowback AR180
Sold for $1,610 in the February 2020 Sport & Collectors auction. Ross Rudd was born in Toronto in 1915, but his family moved to Springfield Massachusetts in 1917, and he would grow up there....
View ArticleExperimental Remington-Keene: Preventing Magazine Detonations
This is lot #183 in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming Online Only auctions every month, though! This is a...
View ArticleThe G40k: A German Experimental Mauser Carbine
This is lot #1635 in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming Online Only auctions every month, though! In April 1940,...
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