Prototype - Forgotten Weapons

Burton 1917 Light Machine Rifle

July 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 58

America’s first assault rifle? Well, it does meet all the requirements – select-fire, intermediate cartridge, and shoulder-fired. It was never actually fielded, though. The Burton Light Machine Rifle was developed during World War One, with […]

Beretta Model 1931 & 1937 Prototype Semiauto Rifles

July 1, 2016 Ian McCollum 42

In the 1930s, the Italian military (like all major military forces at the time) was investigating options for a semiautomatic service rifle. Beretta’s Tulio Marengoni developed one such rifle, and submitted it in two forms. […]

Q&A #5: Rollin White and Other (Better) Designers

June 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 51

Questions in part I of today’s Q&A: 1:04 – What was Rollin White’s revolver like? 7:09 – Why did pan magazines disappear? 10:14 – Why no pointed pistol bullets? 13:24 – Funky rounds like Trounds […]

Transitional Swiss Sniper K31 Rifles (Video)

June 27, 2016 Ian McCollum 12

During World War II, the Swiss military experimented with two models of K31 carbine with integral optics (the K31/42 and K31/43). These were found to be not sufficient for military service, and after more experimentation […]

Savage Prototype Longslide .380 (Video)

May 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 29

Savage made just a few experimental long-slide versions of their pistols (most of the ones out there are fakes made by modifying existing guns). Personally, I think that this version in .380 would have made […]

Japanese Type 4 Garand Photos

May 24, 2016 Ian McCollum 20

Towards the end of WWII, in 1944, the Japanese Navy developed a copy of the American M1 Garand rifle, chambered for the 7.7mm cartridge. This followed attempts to simply rebarrel captured US guns, which did […]

Detailed Photos: Walther A115 No. 3

May 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 5

I did a video on this very interesting German prototype semiauto rifle a few weeks ago, and took one or two photographs at the same time. The genesis of the Gewehr 41 gas system is […]

BSA 1926 & 1929 Thompson SMGs

May 11, 2016 Ian McCollum 36

In the early days of the Thompson Submachine Gun, the Auto-Ordnance Company was looking for customers globally. General John Thompson had personally run a demonstration of the gun in England in June of 1921, which […]

Disassembly photos: Simson Prototype Blowback 9mm

May 10, 2016 Ian McCollum 12

In the late 1920s, the Simson company built a handful of prototype pistols for consideration by the German military. Noises had been made about replacing the Luger with something more cost effective, and several companies […]

Disassembly Photos: Bendix-Hyde 2nd Model Carbine

May 3, 2016 Ian McCollum 9

This is a second pattern Bendix-Hyde carbine, made for the M1 Carbine trials. The first Bendix-Hyde had a number of features that Ordnance requested be changed (including a pistol grip), and this was the modified […]