Bernardelli UB: Hammer and Striker Fired 9mm Blowback
In the years following World War Two, the Bernardelli company in Italy made an attempt to enter the full-power pistol market with a simple blowback 9mm Parabellum design. They basically scaled up...
View ArticleUnique Military Trials Steyr-Hahn M1911 Pistol
Today we are looking at a unique military trials Steyr-Hahn M1911 pistol which has been fitted with an adjustable tangent rear sight. The standard model of the Steyr-Hahn has a fixed rear notch, but...
View ArticleBolt Action Cartridge Conversion of a French M1822 Rifle
This is a conversion of a French 1822 rifle to a single shot bolt action, using a newly manufactured receiver. It is unfortunately not marked with a patent name or date, and I have been unable to find...
View ArticleSchlegemilch 1896: Closest Competition to the Mauser 98
Louis Schlegemilch had been one of the contributors to the Gewehr 1888 and when the German military decided to replace it, Schlegemilch was there with a design he hoped would win. His model 1896 rifle...
View ArticleViper MkI: A Simplified Steampunk Sten
The Viper Mk I was an experimental submachine gun developed in the UK for use by military policemen in post-WW@ occupation West Germany. It was a simplified Sten gun (full-auto only, without the...
View ArticleMarga Trials Rifle: Competition For the Belgian Army
This rifle is lot #410 in the upcoming May 2019 Rock Island auction. When the Belgian military decided to adopt a new rifle in the late 1880s, they attached a wide variety of competitors. The best of...
View ArticleFrench NATO Standardization: the MAS 49-56 in 7.62mm
Pre-sales for my book, Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles 1866 – 2016 are now live on Kickstarter – check it out! In the late 1950s, France was still part of the NATO integrated military...
View ArticleSmith & Beecham Prototype Polymer High Power
The South African company Smith and Beecham was not a large operation, and their most notable product was a .380 caliber compact pistol, of which not more than 2000 were ever made (it was not a...
View ArticleLightweight Experimental Lanchester SMGs
George Lanchester was the engineer responsible for originally reverse engineering the German MP28 submachine gun for production by the British, under the designation Lanchester. Once he finished that...
View ArticleAAI 2nd Gen SPIW Flechette Rifles
The SPIW program began in 1962 with entries from Colt, Springfield, AAI, and Winchester. The first set of trials were a complete failure, and both Colt and Winchester abandoned the project at that...
View ArticleSterling S11: Donkey in a Thoroughbred Race
In the 1960s, the Sterling company began to worry about the prospects of continued sales of the Sterling (Patchett) SMG, especially in light of new competitors like the H&K MP5. Its chief design...
View ArticleHistory of the SVD Dragunov with Max Popenker
Russian small arms researcher Max Popenker joins us again today, and this time he is discussing the history and development of the Dragunov rifle. We start from the desire to match longer-ranged NATO...
View ArticleH&K Prototype Sniper: the SL7 Match
Built in the 1990s, this rifle is part of an experimental series of precision rifles made by H&K. It is marked “SL7 Match”, and uses the same action as the standard SL7 sporting rifle (the...
View ArticleToolroom Prototype .32 ACP Walther Olympia
In the late 1930s, Walther experimented with the idea of an Olympia target pistol in .32 ACP. They used the frame from a 1936 pattern standard (.22LR) Olympia with a .32 caliber barrel, increased mass...
View ArticleP7M7: The Mythical Lost .45 ACP H&K
The P7 was one of the most interesting and original handgun designs of the last few decades. Originally created for West German police trials, it was chambered in 9x19mm. As it became popular beyond...
View ArticleWalther Experimental Hybrid Olympia/Woodsman
In the early 1930s, Walther began to experiment with changes to its Olympia target pistol in hopes of beating the Colt Woodsman out of its place as the most popular pistol of the type. The most...
View ArticleMaxim “Prototype”: The First Practical Machine Gun
Hiram Maxim was the first person to create a truly practical and functional machine gun, based on a patent he filed in 1883. He pioneered the recoil operating system – the concept of harnessing the...
View Article1885 Dimancea: A Revolver With Sprockets
Patented in 1885 by Romanian military officer Haralamb Dimancea, this revolver is actually a true hammerless design. Instead of simply shrouding a hammer inside the frame, Dimancea used a pair of...
View ArticleP7A13: H&K’s Entry into the US XM9 Pistol Trials
The US held three series of pistol trials beginning in the late 1970s to find a replacement for the venerable M1911 handgun. H&K was a participant in all three – in the first the entered a P9 and...
View ArticleHiram’s Extra Light Maxim Gun
Designed in an effort to compete with the then-new Colt/Browning air cooled 1895 machine gun, the Extra-Light Maxim weighted in at just 27 (maybe 28) pounds for the gun, and 44 pounds with tripod....
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