Heavy MGs
Vintage Saturday: Maxim’s First Maxim
Not actually a photo, but a good likeness of both Maxim and his first working machine gun. That lever on the side is to set the rate of fire, and one of these is still […]
Prototype
Prototype
Howard Francis 7.63mm SMLE
The Howard Francis carbine was a design submitted to the British Ordnance Board for consideration in 1943 – one of many weapons proposed to help meet wartime requirements. Specifically, the Howard Francis carbine was a […]
Prototype
Mauser 06/08 Semiauto Pistol at James D Julia
Throughout the pre-WWI period, Paul Mauser was working continuously to develop a reliable self-loaiding rifle. Among his many experimental designs was a flapper-locked rifle. The flapper-locking system was first patented by a Swede named Kjellman, […]
Prototype
Mannlicher 1901/04 Carbine at James D Julia
Ferdinand von Mannlicher was a brilliant and prolific European gun designer with more than a few widely-adopted military arms to his name. One of his very last guns was this carbine, which was also one […]
Gunsmithing
Mauser 1902 Prototype Long Recoil Rifle at James D Julia
Paul Mauser was very persistent – if ultimately unsuccessful – in his long-tim goal to create a practical semiautomatic rifle using a full-power cartridge. In total he tried some 17 different designs, including one in […]
Gunsmithing
BSA’s Experimental .34 Caliber Pistols at James D Julia
During World War One, Birmingham Small Arms (aka BSA) grew into a massive arms manufacturing facility to supply the previously inconceivable military appetite for rifles. When the war ended, they were left with a bit […]
Prototype
Pancor Jackhammer
The Pancor Jackhammer was a select-fire combat shotgun designed by John Andersen in the 1980s. He was a Korean War veteran who had used a pump shotgun in combat, and while he liked the shotgun […]
Bolt Action Rifles
RIA: Liegeoise 1888 Trials Rifle
The Belgian Army held rifle trials in the late 1880s to choose a new infantry rifle, and the winner was the Model 1889 Belgian Mauser. Quite a few different guns were involved in the competition […]
Prototype
American WWI Experimental SMG (Video)
Reader Larry sent me this video, which was produced by the US Army Ordnance Corp just recently. It’s a one-off experimental submachine gun built in 1918, and is definitely not something like you have seen […]
Prototype
Furrer M1919 Double-Barrel SMG
We have looked at one of Adolf Furrer’s M1919 submachine guns before, but this one is a much different implementation. The model 1919 Furrer designed was basically a chassis for converting a Luger pistol […]