Barton Jenks’ Model 1867 Rolling Block Trials Rifle
These are lots #133 (from-scratch rifle) and #134 (muzzleloader conversion) in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming...
View ArticleColt Franklin: Detachable 9-Round Magazine of .45-70 in 1884
This is lot #3213 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! Patented in 1884...
View ArticleCavalry Trials for Browning’s Automatic Pistol: The Colt 1907
This is lot #1478 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! When the US...
View ArticleA Few Last Changes Before Perfection: The Colt Models 1909 & 1910
These are lots #1477 (Model 1909) and #1475 (Model 1910) in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed – check their web site for upcoming Online Only...
View ArticleCurtis 1866: The First Bullpup – with Jonathan Ferguson
Join the Kickstarter campaign and preorder your copy of Jonathan’s “Thorneycroft to SA80: British Bullpup Firearms 1901 – 2020”! Sorry for the poor audio quality – today I am back at the Cody Firearms...
View ArticleBrown/van Choate Trials Rifle: Internal Hammer in 1871
This is lot #3221 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! Designed by...
View ArticleExploring the Details of an E.M.2 with Jonathan Ferguson
Join the Kickstarter campaign and preorder your copy of Jonathan’s “Thorneycroft to SA80: British Bullpup Firearms 1901 – 2020”! Sorry for the poor audio quality – I am back at the Cody Firearms...
View ArticleFAMAS Commando Prototypes
Unlike most countries that adopted bullpup rifles, the French military never had a short-barreled version of their standard FAMAS. However, GIAT created several prototypes as part of their (ultimately...
View ArticlePrototype .45 Caliber Roth-Krnka for US and UK Trials
In an effort to appeal to American and British military testing commissions, Georg Roth produced a handful of prototype Roth-Krnka pistols in .45 caliber. They used a proprietary cartridge; the 11.5mm...
View ArticlePrototype Colt-Vektor: A 1911 on the Outside and a Beretta on the Inside
In the late 1990s Colt was looking for pistols it could license for sale in the United States, in the wake of the failures of both eh Double Eagle and All-American 2000. They approached CZ, and also...
View ArticlePrototype Tube-Magazine Trapdoor Springfield
Lot 1078 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. This experimental repeating conversion of a Trapdoor Springfield was most likely made by Augustine Sheridan Jones, of the Dakota Territory in the...
View ArticleToolroom Prototype Smith & Wesson No.3 Revolver
Lot 3197 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Good inventors are always trying out new solutions to problems. Those solutions may or may not work (hence Thomas Edison’s 10,000 ways not to make a...
View ArticleMauser “Zigzag” Revolver Patent Model and its Unique Cartridge
The Mauser brothers’ first handgun was the single shot C77, which they quickly followed with the C78 “zig zag” revolver, so named for the cam grooves on the circumference of its cylinder. What we are...
View ArticleGardiner/Scott Prototype Grip Safety on an Early 1903 Springfield
In 1904, a man named Orlando Scott from Ontario filed a patent application for a safety device for breechloading rifles and shotguns. His idea was basically a spring loaded grip safety in the fore-end...
View ArticleExperimental Pre-WWI Ross .30-06 Automatic Rifle
In August 1913, the British War Office wrote to Sir Charles Ross requesting a sample automatic rifle for trials in the UK. Ross was able to submit a prototype on May 1914, which was tested at Enfield...
View ArticleAirtronic’s Modernized 40mm China Lake Grenade Launcher
In 2004, a trio of small arms enthusiasts began an effort to reproduce the Vietnam-era China Lake 40mm pump action grenade launcher. They displayed their first prototype at SHOT Show, and (not...
View ArticleHeadspace-Operated Prototype Rifle – Yeah, it’s as Weird as it Sounds
Today we are taking a look at a very unusual prototype rifle, courtesy of Legacy Collectibles. I suspect – but have no direct evidence – that this was designed by one Francis K. Young, a man who...
View ArticleTarn: A Terrible British WW2 Experimental Pistol
The Tarn was a 9x19mm pistol developed by a Polish ex=pat designer named Z. de Lubicz Bakanowski. It was a simple blowback design, with a quite heavy slide and recoil spring. It was manufactured by...
View Article“NATO Burp Guns”– Winchester’s 1950s Experimental SMGs
In the mid 1950s, the Winchester company designed a compact 9mm submachine gun for military use. It was internally called the. “NATO Burp Gun”, and according to Winchester historian Herbert House, was...
View ArticleThe First SMLE Trials Rifles: Lessons From the Boer War
In the aftermath of the Boer War, the British military needed to address critical issues of practical marksmanship with its troops. The Long Lee rifles it had deployed to South Africa suffered...
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