Antiques - Forgotten Weapons

Why The Most Expensive US Martial Pistol Exploded A Lot

August 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 35

The Colt Model 1847 Walker is one of the most valuable of all US military handguns in the collecting community, with examples sometimes breaking seven figures. However, the Walker was in many ways a remarkable […]

Japan’s First Military Revolver: the S&W No.3

July 5, 2021 Ian McCollum 29

When Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1853, he began a serious upheaval of Japanese life. Among other things, the insular Japanese society had been virtually the only nation to ever successfully implement gun […]

The Crazy Guns of the Winchester-Bannerman Pump Action Lawsuit

June 9, 2021 Ian McCollum 16

Today I’m at the Cody Firearms Museum, taking a look at two of the guns that were used in the court case between Francis Bannerman and the Winchester company – a prototype Magot pump-action rifle […]

Savage & North “Figure 8” Revolver

May 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

Designed and patented in 1856 by Henry North (the grandson of company founder Simeon North), approximately 450 of these revolvers were made between 1856 and 1859. A first prototype was sent to the Washington Arsenal […]

Salvatore Mazza Gold-Inlaid Percussion Collier Revolver

May 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 6

Before Samuel Colt popularized the mechanical connection between the revolver hammer and cylinder, the revolvers being made were manually operated. This example is a copy of a third type Collier (that is to say, a […]

Colt-Berdan I: Russia’s First Military Cartridge Rifle

May 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 20

In 1867, a Russian delegation came to the United States to source new small arms for the Czar. In addition to purchasing Gatling guns, they met with Hiram Berdan and agreed to purchase a trapdoor […]

Mounties’ First Revolver: the NWMP Adams MkIII

May 3, 2021 Ian McCollum 7

The first handguns issued by the North West Mounted Police (which would later become the modern RCMP) were 330 Adams revolvers, requisitioned by the new police service in March 1874, and shipped over from England. […]

System Kuhn: A Novel Single Shot Breechloader

April 20, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

This is an interesting single-shot breechloading system built by Kuhn of Besançon – a city near Switzerland in eastern France. It is clearly a sporting rifle, firing an 11mm black powder cartridge and probably dates […]

Howard’s Thunderbolt: A Remarkably Compact Carbine

April 16, 2021 Ian McCollum 1

Designed by brothers Charles and Sebre Howard and first patented in 1862, this is a single shot lever action produced by the Whitneyville Armory between 1866 and 1870. It is a really neat compact design […]

Springfield Model 1795 Musket: America’s First Military Production

April 8, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

The first US-production military arm was the “US musket, Charleville pattern” – known today as the Model 1795 Springfield Musket. Copied from the French 1766 model Charleville which made up the bulk of existing US […]