Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Webley-Kaufman: The Improved Government Pattern Revolver

September 8, 2020 Ian McCollum 26

Lot 1328 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Michael Kaufman was a talented gunsmith who worked for the Webley company from 1878 until 1881. While there, he patented a substantially improved clockwork for the […]

Beautiful 16th Century Saxon Wheellock Pistols

September 5, 2020 Ian McCollum 13

Lot 262 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Today, for your consideration and appreciation, a pair of late 16th century Saxon wheel lock pistols…

Hopkins & Allen XL-6 Revolver with a Surprising Swing-Out Cylinder

September 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 5

Lot 1104 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. “XL” was a brand name used by Hopkins & Allen to cover several different styles of revolver, but the first were a series of rimfire, spur-hammer […]

L.E. Tucker’s Confederate Texas Navy Pattern Revolver #1

September 1, 2020 Ian McCollum 1

Lot 1149 in RIA’s September 2020 Premier auction. Laban E. Tucker and his sons Elihu and Argyle were several of the original partners in the Tucker & Sherrard Company, which contracted with the State of […]

Toolroom Prototype Smith & Wesson No.3 Revolver

August 29, 2020 Ian McCollum 7

Lot 3197 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Good inventors are always trying out new solutions to problems. Those solutions may or may not work (hence Thomas Edison’s 10,000 ways not to make a […]

Tribuzio Ring-Trigger Squeeze Pistol

August 28, 2020 Ian McCollum 20

Lot 1235 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. This palm-squeezer type pistol was designed by Catello Tribuzio (sometimes spelled Trabuzio) of Turin around 1890. It is a very simple design, including a clever dual […]

The First S&W .38: The “Baby Russian”

August 27, 2020 Ian McCollum 19

Lot 1249 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Taking what they had learned in developing their series of large-frame .44 caliber revolvers, Smith & Wesson introduced the “Baby Russian” in 1876 as their first […]

The Coolest Volcanic Ever: A Vintage Scoped Pistol-Carbine

August 25, 2020 Ian McCollum 13

Lot 1011 in the RIA September 2020 Premier auction. The “Pistol-Carbine” was a pattern offered by the Volcanic Arms Company combining a 16 inch rifle-length barrel with a pistol grip and detachable shoulder stock (it […]

Hopkins & Allen XL Navy Rimfire .38 Service Revolver

August 18, 2020 Ian McCollum 14

Lot 3204 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. At the top end of Hopkins & Allen’s revolver line were the XL Navy, XL Police, and XL-8 Army. We covered the Army in a separate […]

Neither Fish nor Fowl: the Colt 1903 Pocket Hammer

August 17, 2020 Ian McCollum 21

Lots 102 (round hammer) and 1416 (spur hammer) in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. The 1903 Pocket Hammer was an effort by Colt to adapt the Model 1902 pistol for better civilian sales. They […]