Prototype - Forgotten Weapons

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 […]

New Video Series from the Pattern Room

April 29, 2016 Ian McCollum 18

Nope, it’s not mine (although I do look forward to visiting the NFC again in the future) – my friend Vic has started a video channel looking at some of the guns in the monumental […]

RIA: Pattern 1913 Enfield Trials Rifle

April 28, 2016 Ian McCollum 67

One of the lessons learned by the British military in the aftermath of the Boer War was that modern Mauser rifles were superior to their Lee-action rifles and carbines. In response, British ordnance began experimenting […]

RIA: Walther/Heinemann Toggle Lock Sporting Rifle

April 27, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

In 1928 and 1929, the Swiss Rheinmetall company produced about 50 examples of a toggle-locked rifle designed by Karl Heinemann. It was tested by the United States among other countries, but never found military acceptance. […]

RIA: Thompson T2 Submachine Gun Prototype

April 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 46

The T2 submachine gun was Auto-Ordnance’s entry into the ongoing competition to replace the classic Thompson submachine gun with something more economical to produce. It was a closed-bolt, select-fire design using a progressive trigger and […]

RIA: Japanese Army Pedersen Copy Trials Rifle

April 25, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

The Japanese military was interested in finding a new self-loading rifle to adopt in the 1930s. The development project began with a request to retired General Kijiro Nambu who designed a gas-operate,d rotating bolt rifle […]