Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Israeli M1919 Brownings and the US Semiauto Market

March 28, 2018 Ian McCollum 37

In the world of converted semiautomatic “machine guns,” the Browning 1919 is a happy example of one of the most iconic and historically important US machine guns and also one of the cheapest semiautomatic belt […]

Merrill-Jenks Navy Carbine Conversion

March 27, 2018 Ian McCollum 39

James Merrill was a Baltimore inventor and businessman who patented an improvement to the Jenks pattern carbine in 1858. His idea was for an improved locking lever for the gun, which would also allow the […]

The Svelte Jenks Navy Carbine of the Mexican-American War

March 26, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

The Jenks carbine was a remarkably svelte and elegant breechloading system patented by South Carolinian William Jenks in 1838. It was tested by the US Navy in 1841, and found to be quite successful. The […]

Swiss 1897 Schmidt-Rubin Kadettengewehr Training Rifle

March 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 33

The Swiss replaced their Vetterli rifles in the late 1880s with the new Schmidt-Rubin pattern, and this eventually trickled down to the cadet corps. These youth programs had been using short single-shot 1870 Vetterli carbines, […]

Semiauto Portuguese AR-10 on a Sendra Receiver

March 23, 2018 Ian McCollum 31

So, you would like to get an original AR-10 rifle to shoot? Well, the original Armalite AR10 rifles were almost all manufactured by Artillerie-Inrichtingen in the Netherlands, and they were virtually all machine guns. They […]

Cook and Brother of New Orleans – A Confederate Rifle Factory

March 20, 2018 Ian McCollum 4

Cook and Brother was one of the largest and most successful of the private ordnance factories in the South during the Civil War. It was formed by two British brothers who had moved to New […]

Scoped Sharps 1874 Buffalo Rifle

March 15, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

This 1874 Sharps rifle is a great example of a been-there, done-that authentic western buffalo rifle. It was shipped from Sharps in 1879 with double set triggers, open sights, and a medium-weight .45 caliber barrel, […]

First Variation Flatside Winchester 1895 Musket

March 12, 2018 Ian McCollum 14

When Winchester first began producing Model 1895 rifles, they made a model that only lasted a short time. Between serial numbers 5000 and 6000, the first pattern 95s were replaced by a second pattern of […]

Porter Turret Rifle (2nd Variation) – Unsafe in Any Direction

March 7, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

The Porter Turret Rifle was patented in 1851 by Perry W. Porter, and is a vertical turret design – meaning that it has a revolving cylinder in which the chambers are aligned pointing outward radially […]

SC Robinson Confederate Sharps Carbine

March 4, 2018 Ian McCollum 6

During the Civil War, the Confederacy was perpetually in serious need of armaments, as the South did not have the amount of industrial infrastructure that the North did. This led to many attempts at arms […]