Prototype - Forgotten Weapons

Modern Stocked Pistol: B&T’s Universal Service Weapon (USW)

June 9, 2025 Ian McCollum 31

The genesis of the B&T USW was a two and a half hour car ride home from a youth hockey game, when Karl Brugger and a friend were thinking about how to improve police effectiveness […]

DSA’s Unique Titanium FAL Project

May 28, 2025 Ian McCollum 22

DS Arms got some billet titanium and decided to make a batch of titanium receivers and other parts. This turned out to be a nightmarish amount of work, and two of the receivers had to […]

Haenel’s Prototype Simplified Sturmgewehr StG45(H)

May 26, 2025 Ian McCollum 77

In December 1944, the Haenel company received permission to produce a simplified version of the StG-44 Sturmgewehr. The idea was to keep the mechanical system and controls as similar as possible to the design in […]

Experimental AG-42B Conversion to 7.62mm NATO

April 14, 2025 Ian McCollum 10

Circa 1954, Sweden was starting to look for a new self-loading rifle to adopt for its infantry. The 6.5x55mm cartridge was a good round, but the idea of having ammunition compatibility with its neighbors was […]

One of a Kind Prototype vz.38 Pistol in .32ACP

April 11, 2025 Ian McCollum 8

When CZ developed the vz.38 pistol for the Czechoslovak military, they made a number of attempts to also sell it on the international export market. This involved offering some various changes in configuration for different […]

Stamm-Saurer Model 1907: A New Swiss Straight-Pull Bolt Action Rifle

April 2, 2025 Ian McCollum 4

After leaving the Zeller company, Hans Stamm went looking for work at major gun manufacturers like WF Bern and SIG. He ended up hired in 1907 by a company caller Saurer. This was an automotive […]

Erma EMP36: External Form Factor of the MP40

March 26, 2025 Ian McCollum 24

The German military began looking for a new submachine gun design in secret in the mid 1930s. There is basically no surviving documentation, but the main contenders appear to have featured: Hugo Schmeisser’s MK-36,II and […]

Schmeisser MK-36,II – The Mechanics of the MP40

March 24, 2025 Ian McCollum 9

The German military began looking for a new submachine gun design in secret in the mid 1930s. There is basically no surviving documentation, but the main contenders appear to have featured: Hugo Schmeisser’s MK-36,II and […]

Aimpoint’s Only Gun: The PC-80 Symmetrical Action

February 15, 2025 Ian McCollum 57

Today we are looking at the entire scope of Aimpoint’s firearms development division…which is actually just this one firearm. Aimpoint was founded in 1975 as a partnership between Arne Ekstrand (a Swedish inventor with an […]

Praga I-23: Prototype Belt-Fed Predecessor of the ZB26

February 3, 2025 Ian McCollum 53

Vaclav Holek’s first machine gun design for the Czech military was the Praga I, built in 1922 and based heavily on the Vickers/Maxim system. However, it became clear that the military wanted something lighter and […]