Artillery
Maxim PomPom 37mm Machine Gun
“Pom-Pom” was the name given to the 37mm Maxim gun by the Boers of South Africa, based on the gun’s sound. It was a Maxim machine gun scaled up to the quite impressive 37mm caliber, […]
Video
Anti-Tank Rifles
Julia: Shooting a 20mm Lahti L39
The Lahti L39 was the Finnish answer to the need for an anti-tank rifle, developed just before the Winter War. The rifle was created by noted Finnish designed Aimo Lahti, who had pressed for it […]
Book review
Book Review: “Star Firearms” and “Astra Firearms” by Leonardo Antaris
Leonardo Antaris has written massive and excellent volumes on two of the major companies in the Spanish firearms industry, Star and Astra. Both of these companies made a wide range of military and commercial handguns, […]
Prototype
RIA: Odd Iver Johnson Prototype .32s (Video)
These unique and unmarked prototype .32 ACP pistols are apparently Iver Johnson prototypes – and I can’t find any information on them beyond that description from their consignor. One is a simpler example in the […]
Semiauto Rifles
RIA: H&K SL8, The Civilian G36 (Video)
The SL-8 was Heckler & Koch’s civilianized version of the G36 military rifle. There was, unsurprisingly, a major interest in semiautomatic civilian copies of the G36, but H&K was in a difficult position to meet […]
Conversion
RIA: Danish 1865/97 Pinfire Conversion Revolver (Video)
The Danish artillery was an early adopter of metallic-case handguns, taking on this pinfire 6-shot solid-frame revolver in 1865 – when most of the world was still using percussion firearms. The thousand guns made served […]
Revolver
RIA: Russian M1870 Galand Revolver (Video)
The Galand was an innovative revolver design created by Frenchman Charles Francois Galand and patented in 1868. It is most notable for using a long lever system to eject cartridges by throwing the cylinder and […]
Semiauto pistol
RIA: Beretta Model 1931 (Video)
With the development of the Model 1931, Beretta had nearly arrived at the first really popular pistol (the 1934/5). The 1931 was the result of taking the exposed-hammer 1923 design, shrinking the frame down to […]
Prototype
RIA: Experimental Semiauto Springfield 1903 Primer-Actuated Rifle (Video)
During the 1920s, a lot of experimental rifle development work was being done in the US. The military was interested in finding a semiautomatic rifle, and plenty of inventors were eager to get that valuable […]
Semiauto pistol
RIA: Luger 1902 Carbine (Video)
With the advent of successful self-loading pistols, one of the additional markets that many companies tried to appeal to was the compact carbine. Self-loading rifles in proper rifle cartridges would not be developed as quickly […]