Prototype - Forgotten Weapons

Prototype Jungle Carbine: A No1 MkV Becomes a No5 MkI

February 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 15

When the British began developing a shortened version of the No4 Lee Enfield in 1943 (which would become the No5 MkI “Jungle Carbine”), the development process included work with some rather older rifles. What we […]

Britain’s Experimental Viper No.3 SMG/PDW

February 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 27

A series of very compact submachine guns – possibly better described as personal defense weapons – was made in Britain at the end of World War Two under the name Viper (as an interesting aside, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]