Antiques
Colt 1855 Revolving Rifle at the Range
I recently had a chance to take a .36 caliber Colt Model 1855 revolving rifle our to the range. It was pretty interesting to shoot, but unfortunately the video ended up rather sub-par and I […]
Antiques
Antiques
S&W’s Pistol-Carbine for the South Australian Police
In 1880, the South Australian Police service was introduced to the Smith & Wesson No3 New Model revolver at the Melbourne Exhibition. They took a liking to the design, and promptly ordered 250 of them, […]
Antiques
Colt’s First Double Actions: The 1877 Lightning & Thunderer
Samuel Colt disliked the idea of a double action revolver, considering the idea to be wasteful of ammunition and likely to be fragile. However, he passed away in 1862, and by 1873 double action Webley […]
Antiques
Teenagers vs the British Empire: Smith Bateman’s Hall Rifle
On May 20, 1826 the United States Congress formally presented Model 1819 Hall rifles with personalized silver plaques to the 20 members of Aikin’s Volunteers, for their “Gallantry at the Siege of Plattsburg”. The Volunteers […]
Antiques
Model 1881 Trapdoor Forager: Cheap Entertainment for the Troops
This is Lot #1236 in the upcoming December 2020 RIA Premier auction. At the suggestion of Colonel J.C. Kelton (Assistant Adjutant-General, Military Division of the Pacific and Department of California), the US Army adopted a […]
Antiques
Russian Model 1828 Musket from the Battle of Inkerman
For a long time, Russian small arms were patterned closely after French designs – the Russian 1809 family was based on the French 1777 muskets, and the Russian 1828 model – like this one – […]
Accessories
Königliche Marine (Prussian Navy) Colt 1851 Rig
In 1855, Prussian customs officials discovered a shipment of 3,000 Colt 1851 Navy model revolvers (and their accouterments) hidden in bales of cotton being shipped from New York to Russia. Prussia was a neutral power […]
Antiques
The Most Popular Percussion Colts: 1848 Baby Dragoon and 1849 Pocket
The most-produced Colt percussion revolver was not one of the big sexy Army models, but rather the humble 1849 Pocket. It was first introduced as the Model 1848 Baby Dragoon, in .31 caliber. By 1850, […]
Antiques
The 1843 Side-Lever Hall Carbine by Simeon North
The final production version of the Hall was Simeon North’s Model 1843 Carbine, of which 10,500 were made between 1844 and 1853. It used North’s percussion update to the design, and a cleverly simple calming […]
Antiques
Mauser “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 […]