Prototype - Forgotten Weapons

Unique Prototype FN FAL in .30 Carbine

November 2, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

This one-off rifle was produced at FN in 1950 as a testbed for testing different locking systems and manufacturing methods for the Light Automatic Rifle which would eventually become the FAL we know today. It […]

GRAM 61: Sweden’s Prototype Domestic Competitor to the FAL and G3

October 30, 2026 Ian McCollum 3

As Sweden began testing new rifles to replace the Mauser with a self-loader, the two main contenders were the FN FAL and H&K G3. However, there was a Swedish design in the competition as well, […]

First Version of the Czech ZK-383P Made For Bolivian Police

October 26, 2026 Ian McCollum 12

https://youtu.be/gnDE-3kEaVc The ZK-383 as it is known today is a side-magazine SMG with a bipod, but that is not how it began its life. The gun was originally designed for Czech military trials in 1938, […]

Precursor to the High Power: FN’s 1923 Prototype Model Stocked Pistol

October 16, 2026 Ian McCollum 33

The FN High Power pistol began with a request for a new French Army pistol. The initial design was done by John Browning, with later iterations and improvements from his protege Dieudonne Saive at FN. […]

M1E4: Origins of the M14 Gas Expansion/Cutoff System

October 12, 2026 Ian McCollum 19

The E-series Garands were a series of prototypes made at Springfield Armory to test all sorts of different changes to the basic rifle design, from flash hiders to folding stocks. The M1E4 is a design […]

ZKP-541: A Competition Pistol So Complex it was Never Produced

October 9, 2026 Ian McCollum 9

https://youtu.be/uTrQiArjn_I Designed by Augustin Nečas in 1954, the ZKP-541 is a .22 rimfire target pistol, also called the Universal Super Rapid. It is designed to use .22 short, and long rifle, with different bolt assemblies […]

Lercker M53 Experimental .380 Italian SMG (or PDW?)

October 2, 2026 Ian McCollum 28

Between 1952 and 1956 an Italian designer named Cesare Lercker from Bologna developed a series of pistols and submachine guns. He worked with Beretta, although it is unclear if he did the work at their […]

Saco Defense M683: A Super-Simple SMG for the US Army

September 2, 2026 Ian McCollum 12

During the 1980s, the US ran the Joint Service Small Arms Program to reduce the number of different small arms in US inventory. The most significant outcome of this program was the M9 pistol, but […]

MAS SE 1935 SMG: Emblematic of French Interwar Gun Development

August 26, 2026 Ian McCollum 24

Submachine guns made their entrance into military thinking during World War One. The French military saw this and decided to adopt one in the years after the war, although they saw it in a bit […]

A WW2 German Mystery: Knorr Bremse FG42 Prototype?

August 24, 2026 Ian McCollum 77

This is really a mystery rifle, or half of a mystery rifle. It is part of the collection at Springfield Armory National Historic Site, but its exact provenance from World War Two is not recorded. […]