Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Colt Prototype “Zig-Zag” Root Revolvers (Video)

November 24, 2016 Ian McCollum 9

In the White: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/69/1132 Blued: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/69/1133 The 1855 “Root” pocket revolver was a reasonably successful design for the Colt company, although it was not the best mechanical design. The side hammer design used the cylinder […]

Pritchard Bayonet for the Webley Revolver (Video)

November 23, 2016 Ian McCollum 18

The Pritchard bayonet for the Webley revolver is one of the more photogenic and less truly practical weapons to come out of the Great War. Designed by one Captain Pritchard after he spent a year […]

JoLoAr .45 ACP One-Hand-Cocking Pistol (Video)

November 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 10

The JoLoAr pistol was a combination of a poor-selling and unremarkable Spanish blowback semiauto pistol called the Sharpshooter and an idea by a man named Jose Lopez Arnaiz (whose name is the source of the […]

Mauser C77 Single-Shot Pistol (Video)

November 19, 2016 Ian McCollum 63

The Mauser brothers’ first attempt at a commercial or military handgun was this, the C77 (Construktion 1877) model of single shot pistol. Why a single-shot sidearm in 1877, well into the age of centerfire military […]

Colt Sidehammer “Root” Dragoon Prototype (Video)

November 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 22

During the development of the 1860 Army revolver, Colt did consider mechanical options other than simply scaling up the 1851 Navy pattern. One of these, as evidenced by this Colt prototype, was an enlarged version […]

Japanese Grandpa Nambu with Stock (Video)

November 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 4

The 1902 “Grandpa” Nambu is one of the first wave of successful military automatic pistols, developed by Kijiro Nambu and his team over the course of 5 years, from 1897 to 1902. It was the […]

Bergmann Simplex Pocket Pistols (Video)

November 13, 2016 Ian McCollum 22

The Bergmann 1896 Number 2 pistol was a relatively successful compact pocket gun for its day, but quickly became obsolete as semiautomatic handguns developed and improved. Bergman and his chief engineer Schmeisser spent the late […]

Chinese C96 “Wauser” Broomhandle

November 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 12

The C96 Mauser was a very popular handgun in China in the 1920s and 30s, which naturally led to a substantial number of domestically-produced copies of it. These ran the full range of quality, from […]

Collier Flintlock Revolvers (Video)

November 9, 2016 Ian McCollum 23

Elisha Collier is probably the best-known name in flintlock revolvers – to the extent that any flintlock revolvers are well known. Because of the great cost and required skill to manufacture a functional repeating flintlock […]

Astra Model F (Video)

November 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 25

The Astra Model F was the final evolution of the Astra 900, a C96 Mauser lookalike. The Model F used detachable magazines and was select-fire, with a very effective rate reducing mechanism in the grip. […]