Semiauto pistol - Forgotten Weapons

Neither Fish nor Fowl: the Colt 1903 Pocket Hammer

August 17, 2020 Ian McCollum 21

Lots 102 (round hammer) and 1416 (spur hammer) in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. The 1903 Pocket Hammer was an effort by Colt to adapt the Model 1902 pistol for better civilian sales. They […]

The Coolest Gun You Will See All Day: China’s Type 64 Silenced Pistol

August 14, 2020 Ian McCollum 19

Lot 1487 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. The Type 64 is a dedicated suppressed pistol first introduced in 1965 and used in the Vietnam War. It uses a rimless version of the .32 […]

Prototype Colt-Vektor: A 1911 on the Outside and a Beretta on the Inside

August 10, 2020 Ian McCollum 31

In the late 1990s Colt was looking for pistols it could license for sale in the United States, in the wake of the failures of both eh Double Eagle and All-American 2000. They approached CZ, […]

Prototype .45 Caliber Roth-Krnka for US and UK Trials

August 7, 2020 Ian McCollum 24

In an effort to appeal to American and British military testing commissions, Georg Roth produced a handful of prototype Roth-Krnka pistols in .45 caliber. They used a proprietary cartridge; the 11.5mm Roth (approximately 200 grains […]

Longslide 10mm Javelina 1911: Plate Rack Obliterator (When it Works)!

August 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

In 1977, Arcadia Machine & Tool introduced the Hardballer, the first commercial stainless steel 1911. Stainless steel was a hot commodity, although there were some initial teething issues with slide/frame galling. Eventually, AMT introduced a […]

British Ballester Molina for Special Operations Executive

July 29, 2020 Ian McCollum 20

During World War Two, the British government contracted for about 8,000 Ballester Molina pistols from HAFDASA in Argentina. They were produced between 1942 and 1944, and are easily identified by the application of a second […]

Audley Safety Holster and an OSS Colt 1903

July 28, 2020 Ian McCollum 5

F.H. Audley was a saddler who ran a business in New York City starting in the 1870s. As his business in horse tackle declined with the spread of automobiles, he found himself looking for other […]

Knight’s XM9 Beretta “Hush Puppy” – For USAF Survival Kits

July 24, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

The original “Hush Puppy” was a Smith & Wesson Model 39 pistol fitted with a suppressor for use by Special Forced in Vietnam. The name came back in the 1980s, when the US Air Force […]

New Model Melior: A Remarkably Nice Belgian FN Lookalike

July 22, 2020 Ian McCollum 13

The New Model Melior was patented just before World War One, but did not go into production until 1920. It was a visual lookalike of the FN Model 1910, where the (retroactively named) Old Model […]

Pistols for Royalty: the Mannlicher 1900 Standard and Magnificently Engraved

July 20, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

The model 1900 was a transitional pattern of Mannlicher pistol, intended to be an improvement over the somewhat clumsy and underpowered Mannlicher 1896. Only about 250 of them were made, with an eye towards military […]