MENU
  • Contact Ian
  • Contact Ian
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Forgotten Weapons
Head Stamp Publishing Ad
MENU
  • Home
  • Special Collections ►
    • M1 Carbine Development
    • M1 Garand Development
    • Bergmann Automatic Pistols
    • Carbine Williams and Winchester
  • Handguns ►
    • Machine Pistols
    • Revolvers
    • Semi-Auto Pistols
  • Shotguns
  • Rifles ►
    • Anti-Tank Rifles
    • Bolt-Action Rifles
    • Lever-Action Rifles
    • Revolving Rifle
    • Select Fire Rifles
    • Semi-Auto Rifles
    • Single Shot Rifles
    • Sniper Rifles
  • Machine Guns ►
    • Aircraft MGs
    • GPMGs
    • HMGs
    • LMGs
    • Manual Machine Guns
    • SMGs
  • Other ►
    • Accessories
    • Ammunition
    • Artillery
    • Biographies
    • Book Reviews
    • Cannon
    • Flamethrowers
    • Flare Guns
    • Interviews
    • Q & A
    • Rocket Launchers
    • Tours
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Special Collections
    • M1 Carbine Development
    • M1 Garand Development
    • Bergmann Automatic Pistols
    • Carbine Williams and Winchester
  • Handguns
    • Machine Pistols
    • Revolvers
    • Semi-Auto Pistols
  • Shotguns
  • Rifles
    • Anti-Tank Rifles
    • Bolt-Action Rifles
    • Lever-Action Rifles
    • Revolving Rifle
    • Select Fire Rifles
    • Semi-Auto Rifles
    • Single Shot Rifles
    • Sniper Rifles
  • Machine Guns
    • Aircraft MGs
    • GPMGs
    • HMGs
    • LMGs
    • Manual Machine Guns
    • SMGs
  • Other
    • Accessories
    • Ammunition
    • Artillery
    • Biographies
    • Book Reviews
    • Cannon
    • Flamethrowers
    • Flare Guns
    • Interviews
    • Q & A
    • Rocket Launchers
    • Tours
  • Shop
HomePrototype

Prototype

Antiques

Experimental Gras-Vetterli Repeating Rifle

February 1, 2021 Ian McCollum 4

In the 1870s and 1880s, France experimented with a huge variety of repeating rifle designs, including tube magazines hopper magazines, box magazines, and all sorts of other unique systems (more than 40 different types in […]

No Picture
Prototype

Yes, the AR-14 is a Real Gun…Sort Of

January 28, 2021 Ian McCollum 33

The AR-14 was the subject of a widely-seen political gaffe a while back – but what was the real AR-14? Because yes, there was one! It was one of many firearms planned by Armalite, but […]

Prototype

Pistols of Denmark’s Artist-Turned-Inventor Bent Agner Nielsen

January 18, 2021 Ian McCollum 16

Bent Agner Nielsen was a Danish tinkerer born in 1925, who studied art as a young man and worked as a painter. In the 1970s he became interested in firearms, beginning with engraving work. This […]

Bolt Action Rifles

The First SMLE Trials Rifles: Lessons From the Boer War

January 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 41

In the aftermath of the Boer War, the British military needed to address critical issues of practical marksmanship with its troops. The Long Lee rifles it had deployed to South Africa suffered significant problems in […]

Prototype

“NATO Burp Guns” – Winchester’s 1950s Experimental SMGs

January 11, 2021 Ian McCollum 35

In the mid 1950s, the Winchester company designed a compact 9mm submachine gun for military use. It was internally called the. “NATO Burp Gun”, and according to Winchester historian Herbert House, was developed in part […]

Prototype

Tarn: A Terrible British WW2 Experimental Pistol

January 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 30

The Tarn was a 9x19mm pistol developed by a Polish ex=pat designer named Z. de Lubicz Bakanowski. It was a simple blowback design, with a quite heavy slide and recoil spring. It was manufactured by […]

Prototype

Headspace-Operated Prototype Rifle – Yeah, it’s as Weird as it Sounds

December 28, 2020 Ian McCollum 80

  Today we are taking a look at a very unusual prototype rifle, courtesy of Legacy Collectibles. I suspect – but have no direct evidence – that this was designed by one Francis K. Young, […]

Grenade Launcher

Airtronic’s Modernized 40mm China Lake Grenade Launcher

December 18, 2020 Ian McCollum 32

In 2004, a trio of small arms enthusiasts began an effort to reproduce the Vietnam-era China Lake 40mm pump action grenade launcher. They displayed their first prototype at SHOT Show, and (not surprisingly) got quite […]

Conversion

Experimental Pre-WWI Ross .30-06 Automatic Rifle

December 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

In August 1913, the British War Office wrote to Sir Charles Ross requesting a sample automatic rifle for trials in the UK. Ross was able to submit a prototype on May 1914, which was tested […]

Bolt Action Rifles

Gardiner/Scott Prototype Grip Safety on an Early 1903 Springfield

October 22, 2020 Ian McCollum 8

In 1904, a man named Orlando Scott from Ontario filed a patent application for a safety device for breechloading rifles and shotguns. His idea was basically a spring loaded grip safety in the fore-end of […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 10 11 12 … 43 »

Our Awesome Sponsors!

Forgotten Weapons Merch!

Shirts, jackets, hats, and much more!
Sites we enjoy reading
  • British Royal Armouries
  • GunLab
  • Historical Firearms (Tumblr)
  • Joel's Gulch
  • View From the Porch
Research Sites
  • American Society of Arms Collectors
  • Artillery Luger
  • C&Rsenal
  • Carbines for Collectors
  • Gothia Arms Historical Society
  • GunPictures.net
  • James Julia auction archive
  • Manowar's Hungarian Weapons & History
  • Milsurps.com
  • Modern Firearms
  • Municion.org
  • Old Colts
  • Pistols of the German Wehrmacht
  • The Paul Mauser Archive
  • The Spanish Civil War Mosin Nagant
  • Unblinking Eye
What I’m Currently Reading
Subscribe to Forgotten Weapons via Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Contact Us

Forgotten Weapons

6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85704

© 2025 Forgotten Weapons.
Site developed by Cardinal Acres Web Development.