September, 2014 - Forgotten Weapons

Gyrojet Pistol at RIA

September 8, 2014 Ian McCollum 24

The 13mm Gyrojet pistol was the closest thing to a commercially successful rocket pistol, although not many were sold before the company went out of business. This pistol version (the most common type of Gyrojet) […]

Prototype Dieckmann P66 Pistol at RIA

September 7, 2014 Ian McCollum 36

The P66 was a prototype .22LR semiauto pistol designed by a German immigrant to the United States by the name of Rolf Dieckmann. It never went into production, but had a number of interesting features, […]

Vintage Saturday: Finn Capture

September 6, 2014 Ian McCollum 20

Note the Mosin Nagant PE sniper on the wall, and the AVS-36 machine rifle peeking out from behind the man on the right in addition to the DP-28 LMG on the table.

Krummlauf Curved Barrel StG44 at RIA

September 5, 2014 Ian McCollum 18

Today’s Rock Island Auction item is a very cool piece – a German Sturmgewehr with a “krummlauf”, or curved barrel attachment. This is the 30 degree type, intended (as goofy as this sounds) for firing […]

Chinese Mystery Pistol at RIA

September 4, 2014 Ian McCollum 16

Many unique and interesting pistols were made in China in the 1920s and 1930s, and this pistol is a good example of them. It is not a copy of any specific Western handgun, although mechanically […]

Two Pinfire Harmonica Pistols at RIA

September 3, 2014 Ian McCollum 14

Harmonica guns were a short-lived type of firearm that was developed in an effort to have reliable repeating weapons prior to the the modern centerfire cartridge. They were made in both muzzleloading and cartridge varieties, […]

Type 1 Japanese Paratroop Rifles at RIA

September 2, 2014 Ian McCollum 12

Before standardizing on the Type 2 paratroop rifle (a 7.7mm Arisaka that broke in half at the chamber), the Japanese military tested a variant of the Type 38 carbine with a folding stock retrofitted into […]

Transferable MKb-42(H) Assault Rifle at RIA

September 1, 2014 Ian McCollum 24

The MKb-42(H), or Maschinenkarabiner-42 (Haenel), was the first production iteration of the German Sturmgewehr. It was chambered for the then-new 8x33mm kurz cartridge, and fired both semiauto and full-auto from an open bolt. Approximately 11,000 […]