1893 Lee-Metford Trials Carbine (One of Only 100 Made)
Once Lee-Metford rifle production was in place, the British began working on a carbine version of the same action for their cavalry. In 1893 a trial run of 100 carbines were made, and today we are...
View ArticleMauser 1912/14 Development in .45ACP
Mauser did not limit their Model 1912 and 1912/14 pistols to just being chambered in 9mm – they also developed a number of prototypes in .45ACP. Today we have a series of three such prototypes showing...
View ArticleThe Crazy Guns of the Winchester-Bannerman Pump Action Lawsuit
Today I’m at the Cody Firearms Museum, taking a look at two of the guns that were used in the court case between Francis Bannerman and the Winchester company – a prototype Magot pump-action rifle and...
View ArticlePrototype Johnson Model R Military Rifle
When Melvin Johnson’s rifle design was first going through US military testing in 1938, it was set up to use box magazines. These magazines were a problem – they were not quite fully perfected, and...
View ArticleCaptain Carl Pelo’s Model 1954 Prototype Semiauto Rifle
Carl Pelo was a an engineer with Sako in the 1930s, and developed a series of self-loading rifles. He used a short recoil mechanism with a pair of locking flaps on the bolt, much like the Degtyarev...
View ArticleColt Prototype Double Action 1911
Thanks to Legacy Collectibles, today we have a unique Colt prototype pistol to look at today – a double-action variation of the 1911. Judging by the grips and markings, this was made in the late 1950s...
View ArticleWinchester’s Prototype Model 1911 Was Actually a Browning Auto-5
When John Browning developed the self-loading shotgun that would become the Auto-5, he decided to depart from his existing standard business relationship with the Winchester company. Browning had...
View ArticleL-34 Sampo: Aimo Lahti’s Rejected Masterpiece
Finland’s standard light machine gun going into the Winter War was the LS-26, a gun which did not succeed in field use. It was complex and cumbersome, and Finnish troops quickly replaced it with...
View ArticleWinchester Model D: The WW1 Origin of the Famous Model 70
Just as World War One broke out in Europe, TC Johnson was working on a new Mauser-based sporting rifle design for the Winchester company. With the war, Johnson added options for military...
View ArticleThrowback Thursday: Cei Rigotti Rifle Disassembly
The Cei Rigotti is a fascinating early Italian self-loading rifle design that was tested in several countries, but never adopted or put into production. I had a chance to disassemble one at the...
View ArticleOdd BSA Prototype Charger Bridge Long Lee
Today we have a very odd BSA prototype Long Lee rifle. The details of its production are unknown, but it has good provenance; the Charnwood Ordnance collection. What makes the rifle unusual is a...
View ArticleDodge Patent Prototype Rolling Block Rifle
William Dodge and his brother were inventors in Washington DC who in the 1870s patented a bunch of different improvements to the Remington Rolling Block, among other guns. This particular one I cannot...
View ArticleThrowback Thursday: A .22 Rifle for John Wayne
Today I’m reposting part of an interview I did with L James “Jim” Sullivan back in 2014. Aside from being one of the two men who did the conversion of the AR-10 into the AR-15, one of Sullivan’s many...
View ArticleLindner’s Improbable Tube-Fed Striker-Fired Caseless Ammo Revolver
Edward Lindner was a Bavarian-born gunsmith who spent much of his professional life in the United States. He was granted no less than 13 firearms patents, and was involved in some very...
View ArticleL8(T) Enfield: The British Army Fails to Make a Sniper
We looked at the 7.62mm conversion of the No4 Enfield into Rifle L8 yesterday. Part of that program was an attempt to develop a new sniper rifle on the L8 platform. To this end, six good-quality...
View ArticleIn Search of Hard Currency: Prototype 9x19mm vz52 Pistol
The vz.52 pistol was originally adopted by Czechoslovakia as a short-term option, with an intention to quickly replace it with something better. The problem was that without a viable domestic pistol,...
View Articlem/26 Suomi: Aimo Lahti’s First Production Design
Aimo Lahti was the premier firearms designer, and the m/26 was his first significant design. Lahti was a Civil Guard armorer, and upon seeing the Lindelof copy of the Bergmann SMG in 1921 he thought...
View ArticleWalther Prototype MP – A Missing Link From PP to P38
During the late 1920 and early 1930s, the Walther company worked on developing a military pistol in 9x19mm. They began from the basis of the PP/PPK design, and produced three separate designs, the...
View ArticleCEAM 1950B: A Roller-Delayed Missing Link in .30 Carbine
At the end of World War Two, the Mauser factory complex was in the French occupation zone, and more than a few Mauser engineers went to work for the French. Among them were Ludwig Vorgimmler and...
View ArticleLadislav Findorak’s Prototype Lever-Delayed PDW
This really neat compact PDW prototype was developed by Ladislav Findorak in the 1990s for a Czech military program, although nothing was adopted as a result. The lever-delayed system allows it to...
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