In 1904, a man named Orlando Scott from Ontario filed a patent application for a safety device for breechloading rifles and shotguns. His idea was basically a spring loaded grip safety in the fore-end of […]
The MP-18,I was most likely the first true submachine gun to see combat use, issued in the final months of World War One to German Sturmtruppen. These guns were originally fitted with 32-round drum magazines […]
Submachine guns have gone through a distinct evolution over the past one hundred years. Today we will look at these changes, specifically identifying: – 1st Generation guns from World War One and through the 1930s […]
Rollin White was the inventor who patented the bored-through cylinder in the US, and sold an exclusive right to this patent to Smith & Wesson. They would use it as the basis for their own […]
Several years ago, my friend Joe Lozen had an opportunity to fire an original Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon. He kindly sent me this clip – it is the only footage of one of these actually firing […]
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, […]
Spain adopted the CETME Modelo B rifle for service in 1958. These early rifles were chambered for the reduced-pressure 7.62mm CETME cartridge, and had a few other unique features. Some of these were made with […]
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 […]
The first semiauto commercial AK rifles to enter the US were Finnish Valmets. These established a US collector interested but while excellent in quality, they did not quite fit the visual pattern of the classic […]
In 1863, the Bilharz, Hall, & Co firm of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia (now Chatham VA) received a contract to make 1,000 examples of a simple percussion cavalry carbine modeled after the US Model 1855 […]
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