Prototype - Forgotten Weapons

Walther Volkspistole at James D Julia

March 12, 2015 Ian McCollum 17

As the Second World War started to really take a toll on German industrial production, several companies started to work on alternatives to the P38 handgun in an effort to reduce production cost and time. […]

Nickl Prototype M1916/22 Pistol at James D Julia

March 11, 2015 Ian McCollum 9

Josef Nickl was one of the chief R&D designers at Mauser after the Federle brothers, and one of his pet projects was a rotating barrel military pistol developed from the Steyr-Hahn M1912 pistol. He built […]

Experimental “Joint Safety” C96 Mauser at James D Julia

March 9, 2015 Ian McCollum 5

This particular 1902-made example of the C96 Mauser incorporates several experimental features of the design that would never go into mass production. It was an effort to make a version of the C96 that would […]

Mauser 1912/14 Experimental .45ACP Pistol at James D Julia

March 8, 2015 Ian McCollum 11

Before World War One, the Mauser company tried to make a follow-up automatic pistol to replace its famous C96 “Broomhandle” design with something more modern. The result was a very successful pocket pistol in .25ACP […]

BSA Prototype .45ACP Pistol at James D Julia

March 5, 2015 Ian McCollum 25

BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) was the largest private arms maker in the UK during World War One, and when the war ended it of course saw its huge military contracts evaporate. One of BSA’s efforts […]

Walther MP-PP Prototype at James D Julia

February 26, 2015 Ian McCollum 19

During the late 1920s, it looked like the German Army was going to replace the P08 Luger with a less expensive sidearm, and several major German companies developed prototype guns to meet this anticipated need. […]

Bommarito Rifle

January 14, 2015 Ian McCollum 17

The Bommarito was one of the prototype self-loading rifles presented to the US Ordnance Department during the early 1900s. It was chambered for the standard .30-06 cartridge, fed from 20-round detachable box magazines, and was […]

John Wayne’s .22 Rifle (designed by Jim Sullivan)

January 12, 2015 Ian McCollum 22

One of the many projects that AR-15 designer Jim Sullivan was involved in through his long career was a project to found the Wayne Repeating Arms Company (or WRA Co., not to be inadvertently confused […]

Savage Prototype .25ACP (Video)

December 23, 2014 Ian McCollum 10

So, this is a video I took over a year ago, and then lost track of – a prototype .25ACP Savage pistol. It is plain blowback, not using the rotating-barrel mechanism of the mainstream .32 […]

Slow Motion: VG1-5

December 18, 2014 Ian McCollum 40

This particular rifle is a prototype of the reproduction VG1-5 (or more correctly called the Gustloff MP-507) rifles that are available for sale from Chuck at GunLab.net. I will take some slow motion footage of […]