Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

A Connoisseur’s Pistol: Devel’s Full House S&W 59 Conversion at James D Julia

April 9, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

Produced by gunsmith Charles Kelsey, the Devel “Full House” package was a conversion of the Smith & Wesson Model 39 or Model 59 pistol (the 39 was a single stack and the 59 a double […]

Massive Wheellock Hand Mortars at James D Julia

April 8, 2017 Ian McCollum 13

These wheellock hand mortars, or katzenkopf, are an example of a weapon made and used for everything from front line military application to civilian parades to simple decoration. The pair we are looking at today […]

White-Merrill Experimental Model 1911 Pistol at James D Julia

April 6, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

In the aftermath of their rejection in the US 1907 pistol trials, Joseph White and Samuel Merrill continued working on handgun designs. In 1911, Merrill wrote to the Ordnance Department to inquire about whether they […]

High Standard T3 Prototype: An American Blowback at James D Julia

April 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 53

In 1947, the US Army Air Corps (it had not yet become the Air Force) was assessing its pilot survival equipment, and decided that it wanted a smaller and lighter handgun than the Colt 1911. […]

Joseph White Experimental .38 Caliber Automatic Pistols at James D Julia

April 3, 2017 Ian McCollum 7

Joseph White’s experiments in handgun design did not begin with the White-Merrill 1907 submitted to US handgun trials. In 1905 he submitted a patent (US #888560) for features in these two .38 caliber semiauto prototype pistols. […]

Trejo Model 1 Machine Pistol at James D Julia

March 31, 2017 Ian McCollum 34

The Trejo pistols were made by a small family company in Puebla, Mexico from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. They made primarily .22 LR rimfire pistols, in both small (Model 1) and large […]

US Test Trials White-Merrill .45 Caliber Pistol at James D Julia

March 29, 2017 Ian McCollum 29

One of the domestic US made pistols entered in the US military pistol trials of 1907 was this White-Merrill design. It is particularly interesting because White and Merrill submitted a manual along with the gun, […]

Knoble .22 Rimfire Prototype Pistol at James D Julia

March 27, 2017 Ian McCollum 16

W.E. Knoble of Tacoma, Washington is not a well-known gun designer, and was in fact not a successful gun designer. But he did enter a .45 caliber pistol in the 1907 US pistol trials, and […]

US Test Trials .45 Caliber Knoble Pistol at James D Julia

March 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

One of the domestic American pistols entered in the US 1907 pistol trials was this short recoil, toggle locked design by W.E. Knoble of Tacoma Washington. Knoble submitted two experimental pistols to the trial, one […]

Axel Peterson’s Complicated .22 Luger Conversion at James D Julia

March 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

Axel Peterson was a Swedish immigrant who became a very respected gunsmith in the Denver area in the late 1800s, and whose shop remained in business until World War 2. Peterson was best known for […]