George Morse of Baton Rouge patented a design for a remarkably modern centerfire cartridge and breechloading rifle action in 1856 and 1858, using a standard percussion cap as a primer. This was coupled with a […]
Sir Joseph Whitworth is quite the famous name in engineering circles, credited with the development of such things as Whitworth threading (the first standardized thread pattern) and engineer’s blue. When he decided to make a […]
Little is known about the Keen-Walker Gun Company, except for a few Confederate arsenal records that have survived. From those we know that the company delivered a total of 282 of these single-shot .54 caliber […]
Thanks to correspondent Ed Nash (he gave me permission to use his name after I had recorded the video), I have a number of really interesting photos and video clips of YPG (Kurdish) locally-produced anti-materiel […]
Early adoption of new technology is a sword which cuts both ways – you might be getting the first of a fantastic new system, or you might be paying for a flop – and in […]
George Fosbery was the British officer (Major, at the time of this particular design) responsible for the quite famous Webley-Fosbery self-cocking revolver, as well as the Paradox system for shotgun slugs and many other lesser […]
Imported into the US through the appropriately-named Navy Arms company, this is a Greener Martini action built into a “Light Harpoon Gun” by Webley & Scott in the UK. These were built as legitimate hunting […]
Hans Larsen was a very successful competitive marksman (World Champion, in fact) and gunsmith in Norway in the late 1800s. He, and later his company, made a wide variety of guns, from revolving rifles and […]
The wheel lock was one of the first types of early gun or firearm, developed as an alternative to the simple but problematic matchlock musket. The wheellock uses an iron pyrite set against a spinning […]
First patented in 1859 and sold as a sporting rifle before the Civil War (in calibers 32, 38, and 41 rimfire), Frank Wesson added a military model with a 24 inch barrel and chambered for […]
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